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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

If you want the new Honda Stream but can wait until November, you’ll be able to get it from Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd instead of the various grey import sellers around town.

The Honda Stream available from Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd will have a 3 year warranty and free maintenance for the first six months.

Although no specs or price was announced, the Stream offered by Honda Malaysia will likely be the 2.0 liter variant as the current Stream 2.0 iVS like it’s namesake is a 2.0 liter as well, which sells at RM153,800 currently. Expect a similiar price range.

Click here to view more photos of the new Honda Stream.

Related Posts:
2007 Honda Stream imported by Naza World
2007 Honda Stream Photos
2007 Honda Stream Interior

The latest 2007 Honda Stream 7-seater MPV is now available in Malaysia but it is not brought in by Honda Malaysia Sdn Bhd as most of you would expect, instead our automotive landscape is graced with this new model thanks to the folks at Naza World.

The model brought in is the 1.8 liter model powered by the R18A engine found in the Honda Civic 1.8S here in Malaysia. It produces 140 horsepower and 173 Nm of torque and is mated to a 5-speed gearbox with tiptronic shift control.

This Naza World imported Honda Stream also comes with RFZ specs (we saw RS-Z previously, but Naza quotes RFZ so maybe the 1.8 liter version has a different name), so it includes that nice aggressive bodykit we saw previously when the Stream was first introduced internationally.

The new Honda Stream from Naza World costs RM186,000 and is a fully imported CBU unit from Japan. It comes with a 1-year Naza World parts and labour warranty. Read more about the Honda Stream and view more photos in my previous posts:

Related Posts:
2007 Honda Stream Photos
2007 Honda Stream Interior Photos
Honda’s 1.8 liter i-VTEC R18A Engine

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Honda Stream CBU imported by Naza World

Honda is planning three more hybrid vehicles for the European market to be launched over the next few years. Honda currently offers the Honda Civic hybrid, which was named Germany’s greenest car by transport and environmental organization Verhekrsclub Deutschland. The upcoming hybrid cars are:

• A hybrid version of the next generation Honda Jazz
• A new hybrid vehicle to be positioned below the Honda Civic
• A production version of the Honda Small Hybrid Sports Concept

No timeframe for the launches of these new models was mentioned, so we will just have to wait and see for the moment. These are all relatively small cars in the European market. It’s larger cars like the upcoming European Honda Accord will get a more powerful turbodiesel, putting out more horses than the current 140hp level.

Source

The lucky guys at Autocar UK managed to take a preview ride in the next generation Honda Jazz (called the Honda Fit in Japan) that will be making it’s debut soon at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show late next month. We’ve seen what’s supposed to be Japanese brochures of the Fit earlier, but here are some hard facts about the car:

• The new Jazz is 55mm longer, 20mm wider, and has a 50mm longer wheelbase.
• Fuel tank position has been moved to allow for floor to be lower, resulting in better headroom despite the car not being taller
• Engines are based on the current L-series family and are not new smaller R-series engines, but the VTEC valvetrain has been improved and is now called i-VTEC
• 1.3L engine makes 99hp at 6,000rpm and 133Nm of torque at 4,500rpm
• 1.5L engine makes 118hp at 6,300rpm and 146Nm of torque at 4,800rpm

More details to be revealed when the car is officially unveiled at the motor show, but for the moment read Autocar’s writeup.

Related Posts:
2008 Honda Fit/Honda Jazz production spyshots
New 2008 Honda Jazz
2007 Honda Fit/Honda Jazz

Honda’s new Accord Tourer Concept gives us a glimpse of whats in store for the next generation Honda Accord Euro, the Accord’s sportier, more compact little brother that’s sold in the European market. It looks like a modern update of the previously exhibited Honda Sports 4 Concept but in touring wagon form. The final production version will be unveiled at the next Geneva Motor Show.

Two petrol engines and one turbodiesel engine will be available - 2.0 liter and 2.4 liter petrol units and a 2.2 liter turbodiesel. The turbodiesel will be something new also being exhibited at Frankfurt alongside the Accord Tourer Concept - a new turbodiesel engine called the i-DTEC engine which reduces emissions to a level equal to a petrol engine.

One thing I noticed about these concept photos is the excessively long front overhang that this concept car seems to have - as if Honda was going the opposite way that Audi did with their new MLP cars.

More photos of the Accord Tourer Concept after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Honda Accord Tourer Concept at Frankfurt 2007