Archive for Honda

It’s been several months since it was simultaneously launched with its Hybrid cousin, and finally, the media got their hands on the Honda Civic Type-R. It’s been so difficult simply because the car has been selling itself, with the initial shipment snapped up immediately, and the 5 car monthly allocation causing a waiting list of over 8 months.

Those who’ve been fuming as they await their unit to appear on their driveways will be pleased to know that a bumper shipment of 25 units will be landing in January, but by then, it’s likely that the waiting list will not be shorter at all.

For those who’ve yet to place an order on the RM199,800 (OTR) performance car, then Shannon Teoh’s report on the media track day might be helpful.

For those who have, you have his apologies for making you wait a bit longer as two units were seconded for the event on Nov 13. However, you’ll discover after the jump, that you have none of his pity for being able to afford such a car in the first place.

Click here to read the rest of Honda Civic Type-R Track Experience

Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd has launched the new Honda Stream, the second introduction of the car in our local market, but this time its offered by the principals themselves and comes with a 3 years manufacturer warranty, at a cheaper price than grey importers.

More details after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Honda Malaysia launches 2nd gen Honda Stream

Honda produced this advertisement for the Honda FCX Clarity, playing on the fact that the Clarity only emits pure water instead of the usual harmful exhaust smoke that every other car sends into the atmosphere.

Check out the video after the jump.

Related Posts:
Honda FCX Clarity: second generation fuel cell car
The New Honda FCX Concept Driving Experience

Click here to read the rest of Honda FCX Clarity - Waterfight Ad

The Honda FCX Concept is a very interesting car indeed, Honda’s second fuel cell vehicle concept after the original FCV Concept, and now it has been put into a limited run production and named the Honda FCX Clarity.

The limited run production is exclusively for southern California in the US. This is because there is already an existing hydrogen fueling station infrastructure there - 19 between Oxnard and San Diego with 3 more in the works. Even in northern California there are 6 hydrogen stations, with 6 more in the works.

Honda plans for the first delivery to take place in summer 2008, but details of the lease programme will only be known closer to launch. Tentatively, plans are for a three-year lease term with a price of US$600 per month (approx RM2050), including maintenance and insurance.

Honda decided to add the Clarity name behind the FCX concept name to express the idea that the company is offering a clear solution to the challenges of the future in terms of sustainable mobility. Mechanically, it is pretty much similiar to the FCX Concept. There has been a minor increase in power if I am reading the spec tables right - the motor used to put out 95kW but now it is putting out 100kW, or 136 PS. The V Flow fuel cell stack works similiarly and puts out the same 100kW as before - so I am not sure why the extra 5kW was missing from the FCX Concept before.

For full technical details on how the Honda FCX Clarity works, read my previous article on my experience driving the Honda FCX Concept in the linked article below.

More photos of the production Honda FCX Clarity can be found after the jump, including photos of the new updated interior which is more production-ready than the concept-like interior in the FCX Concept.

Related Posts:
The New Honda FCX Concept Driving Experience

Click here to read the rest of Honda FCX Clarity - second generation fuel cell car

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While the earlier HFP Accord Coupe we saw was done up by American Honda, this Honda Accord Coupe HF-S Concept was done by Honda Access America Inc, Honda’s U.S. accessory development team. It conceptually includes both design and powertrain upgrades - which basically means while the prototype shown is a purely cosmetic do-up, Honda Access promises powertrain upgrade in the future.

The Honda Accord HF-S Concept has a new front bumper design that incorporates LED driving lights. It is also shaped in order to create a vortex effect, enhancing high-speed aerodynamics and engine cooling. On the sides, specially shaped panels made of carbon fiber decrease negative speed force around the wheel arches.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Honda Accord Coupe HF-S Concept

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The Honda Factory Performance Accord Coupe was showcased at the 2007 SEMA motor show, and showcases the HFP set of dealer-installed factory accessories developed by American Honda Motor Co.

Ride height of the Accord Coupe is reduced by 25mm with a sports suspension package, and the car rides on larger 19 inch 10 spoke alloy wheels wrapped with high performance 245/40R19 tyres.

The HFP Accord Coupe bodykit includes new front and rear bumper designs as well as side skirts. This kit including wheels and suspension carry the same 3 year/36,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty as the Honda Accord Coupe.

Three more photos after the jump.

Related Posts:
2008 Honda Accord Coupe details and photos

Click here to read the rest of Honda Factory Performance (HFP) Accord Coupe

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During the Honda media trip to Japan for the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show, we also got to visit Honda’s Tochigi R&D Center where we got to see all kinds of interesting and embargoed things, heheh. But one of the experiences we had at Tochigi that I am allowed to write about at this time is my driving experience with both the current generation 3-door Honda FCX and the new Honda FCX Concept.

Read more on my experience with these fuel cell vehicles after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of The New Honda FCX Concept Driving Experience

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Not to be outdone by Toyota, Honda has its own ideas of how one might enjoy relaxed motoring in the future and it comes in the form of the Honda Puyo Concept. The weird name, claims Honda, is an onomatopoeia (words that imitates the sound it is describing, such as “click,” “buzz,” “oink”, “quack”, or “meow”) that, “expresses the sensation of touching the vehicle’s soft body - a warm and friendly sensation.”

And you thought the sexy things at motor shows were the girls. The Puyo’s “gel body” actually is soft, which Honda claims increases safety. A few people “touched the Puyo” (yes, I am aware that sounds kinda dodgy) and it actually feels like silicon. Furthermore, the supposedly glows-in-the-dark as well.

Since the theme of Honda’s display this year is “For the endless joy of mobility on our earth,” the Puyo is unsurprisingly a green vehicle and is powered by a fuel-cell. The design concept is that of a cornerless “Seamless Soft Box” which provides the functionality of a cube-like design with a soft presence lacking any edges. Input methods are equally futuristic, for example the Puyo uses a joystick.

However, the extreme size of those scissor doors are a bit hard to wrap your head around but they do gel with the idea of creating as open a space as possible, hence, the entirely glassed body from the beltline upwards. The tiny wheels are at the extreme corners of the vehicle, and the car is capable of making 360-degree turns in place. smart fortwo, your parking skilz have just been pwned!

Developed to have a ‘Silky Feel’, the interior is designed with a feeling of transparency helped along by features such as an instrument panel monitor and controls that actually rise up when the vehicle starts up and a luminous fluid meter display.

More shots after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of TOKYO 2007 LIVE: Honda Puyo Concept

Update: New Honda Jazz S and V launched in Malaysia!

The new second generation Honda Fit - known as the Honda Jazz in our local market - has been officially announced by Honda and here are the some initial details of the car.

The new Honda Fit is longer than the previous generation by 55mm at 3,900mm and has a longer wheelbase of 2,500mm which is 50mm longer, but it’s height remains the same at 1,525mm. However despite this, interior height has increased by 10mm to 1,290mm. The new Fit is also wider than the previous generation with wider front and rear tracks. This enhances stability and the increase in exterior width also improves cabin width by 30mm to 1,415mm. Driver visibility has also been improved - if you look closely you will notice the A-pillars are relatively thin - they’ve been made thinner by 20mm each compared to the outgoing model.

There are two engine options for the Honda Fit in Japan - one is a 1.3 liter i-VTEC engine putting out 100PS. This is mated to a CVT which now comes with a torque converter. The higher grade Fit called the Fit RS (apparently stands for Road Sailing) with a larger 120PS engine. You will be able to see torque curves for both these engines after the jump.

Like most hatchbacks these days, the rear uses a torsion beam setup to help reduce suspension intrusion into the cabin, while the front uses MacPherson struts.

A trademark Honda Fit/Honda Jazz offering are the Ultra Seats. The Ultra Seats are back with this version of the Fit and they have four modes: a utility mode that increases luggage space to a flat length of 1,720mm, a long mode which places the front passenger seat folded flat down for a further increased length of 2,400mm, a tall mode where you fold up the rear seat cushions to fit in a tall item (as mentioned before, interior height is 1,290mm), as well as a refresh mode where the front seat headrests can be removed and the front seats can be folded down to create a long stretched rest area within the car. This front passenger seat also hides a storage compartment.

The Ultra Seats tall mode has been achieved by moving the centrally mounted fuel tank which was previously under the rear passenger seat to below the front passenger seats.

Something new is the Ultra Luggage system which has a regular mode, a tall mode and an upper/lower mode which divides rear boot space into two levels of storage. You will be able to see diagrams explaining how this works after the jump. However because of the new Ultra Luggage tall mode, the car no longer has space for a spare tyre so it will be equipped with an emergency tyre repair kit instead.

Look at more photos and diagrams after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New second generation Honda Jazz details

This is the Honda CR-Z, which stands for Compact Renaissance Zero - Honda’s third attempt at a modern interpretation of the Honda CR-X. The first was the Honda REMIX Concept shown late last year, and between that and now there was the Honda Small Hybrid Sports Concept but not many consider the latter as an interpretation of the CR-X. The Small Hybrid Sports Concept did however give us an indication that any future CR-X-like model from Honda would come with a hybrid system.

“The CR-Z comes with a new hybrid system developed by Honda whose breakthroughs allowed designers to get around such restrictions to achieve its lean cutting-edge look,” says Tetsuji Morikawa, a Honda Motor Co engineer.

You’ve got the customary LED headlamps that is a must on all concept cars in this age, and the front sports an oversized grille, also something that has been popular with concept car designs. Looks like Audi got it right from day one.

It will be displayed at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show next week.

More photos after the jump.

Source

Click here to read the rest of TOKYO PREVIEW: Honda CR-Z Concept