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A new set of photos of the new 2009 Honda City have been released, this time a left hand drive version as a preview to the car’s official European unveiling at the Istanbul Motor Show this October 2008.

The European market Honda City will be fitted with a 100 PS 1.4 liter i-VTEC engine mated to a 5-speed transmission, and apparently the new City - like its European Jazz and Civic hatch siblings - will feature a 6-speed i-SHIFT automated manual transmission with steering-mounted paddle shifts will serve those who do not want to bother with a manual clutch on a daily basis.

The 5-speed manual transmission has been improved over the previous version, now featuring a carbon synchromesh for smoother gear changes as well a new set of gear ratios optimised for the new engine.

Other than the left hand drive interior, something new shown with this new set of photos is the fact that the car features an automatic climate control system with digital display instead of the three-knob manual air conditioning controls that were shown in the previous set of photos. The exterior also looks a little different, with some extra side strips somehow giving the car a more stout look. Frankly I prefer the Asian version’s exterior.

Look after the jump for the new set of photos.

Click here to read the rest of 2009 Honda City set to hit the European market

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Honda has released a teaser image of the upcoming fourth generation Honda Odyssey, a 7-seater low-rider MPV based on the Honda Accord platform.

The teaser image only shows the side profile but it reveals the new Odyssey keeps faithful to the third generation’s low-rider look, which despite being lower than your conventional tall MPV, still offers a large interior room thanks to the low floor.

The rear end gets slim and shapely lights while the front you can see hints of the new large grille with silver borders (reminds me of the Mk5 Golf R32 somewhat) that extends all the way to the lower bumper air intake, very much like the Honda FCX Clarity.

The third gen Odyssey only came with an inline-4 2.4 liter engine, so if the new Odyssey carries over this single engine line-up you can expect it to get the same power boost up to 180 PS as the new Honda Accord. Could the VCM 3.5 liter V6 be added this time?

What we do know is that the new Odyssey will get a new multi-view camera system which displays views from a total of 4 wide-angle CCD cameras on a navigation screen to reduce blindspots and help with parallel or garage parking. The CCD cameras are installed on the front and rear of the vehicle as well as on the wing mirrors.

Images from the 4 cameras are synthesized and additional information is added such as a projection line which shows the vehicle’s projected trajectory path calculated based on steering angle information. You can use this trajectory path to help align the car to reverse into a parking lot and position the Odyssey with higher accuracy. Also added is a refernce line which provides a reference for distance between the vehicle and other objects.

Look after the jump for more views from the new camera system.

Click here to read the rest of New 4th generation Honda Odyssey teaser online!

In order to pack enough components and space into such a small little thing, Toyota’s new premium small car the Toyota iQ warranted an all-new platform with many newly designed components.

Some packaging innovations used in the new Toyota iQ includes a relocated differential moved to the front side of the engine to allow the front wheels to be moved further forward, a new steering rack that is mounted high on the firewall, a new wiper motor and mechanism to allow for the new steering rack, a book-thin flat fuel tank located under the rear passenger’s feet, a compact yet powerful climate control unit, ultrathin seatbacks to create more space, and repositioned engine ancillaries around the suspension for a turning radius of 3.9 meters. Because the rear passenger is so close to the rear of the car, there are even rear windshield airbags.

The iQ will have a production volume of only 100,000 units a year which is not enough to recover the R&D costs, so a few more cars based on the Toyota iQ platform is expected to arrive soon. One is a small SUV - likely to be a Cross-iQ, and others would include a compact 7-seater as well as a car to replace the Toyota Yaris.

It seems that the Toyota iQ is actually a challenge to Toyota’s R&D team to rethink how they usually design a vehicle platform, and then use the space-maximizing innovations and platform to create more normal sized cars that offer class-leading interior space. Imagine, perhaps two generations from now we will get an iQ-based Toyota Vios B-segment sedan that offers C-segment interior space.

And it will all be because of the Toyota iQ.

Displayed together at the official unveiling of the new Honda City in Thailand was a version of the City with a Modulo bodykit. The Modulo kit features a new front bumper and grille together with side skirts and new alloy wheels. While it loses its Optimus Prime look, the Modulo front grille still has a very techno design theme to it and features alot more chrome. Look after the jump for one more photo of the new Honda City Modulo.

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2009 Honda City officially unveiled in Thailand

Click here to read the rest of Honda City Modulo with bodykit and grille

Honda Automobile (Thailand) Co., Ltd. has started selling the all-new Honda City in Thailand today. It will be sold in Thailand for between 524,000 to 694,000 Thai baht. We don’t have much details on the wheelbase and some other details yet.

The new Honda City is powered by solely by a 1.5 liter i-VTEC engine mated to either a 5-speed automatic or a 5-speed manual It is 4,395mm long, 1,695mm wide and 1,470mm tall, so it is slightly longer (+5mm), slightly wider (+5mm) but not as tall (-25mm) as the previous model. Making it wider and not as high reduces the whole hatchback with a boot tagged on look that the City it replaces had.

It’s quite an attractive car and the lines flow alot smoother than the model it replaces. I hope that for those who don’t fancy the grille at the front all that much (as expressed in some previous posts), there will be a replacement Modulo grille that they can opt for. This was an option that Accord owners who preferred not having an “empty” grille - they could opt for a Modulo grille that had a little bar running through it.

UPDATE: More photos including high resolution photos of the new Honda City have been added after the jump. The new City is sold in Thailand in three variants: S, V and SV. The S and V variants come with a beige interior while the top of the line SV model comes with a dark interior and all 3 variants also come with different alloy wheel designs.

Six colours are available - Habanero Red Pearl, Deep Lapis Blue Metallic, Alabaster Metallic, Polished Metal Metallic and Bold Beige Metallic and Crystal Black Pearl. Sadly white is not available but maybe it will be in Malaysia if Honda Malaysia deems it as a potentially popular colour, which I think it would.

More details to be updated soon, for the moment please have a look at a collection of photos of the new City after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2009 Honda City officially unveiled in Thailand!

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The Honda Civic facelift or minor model change in Honda speak has been unveiled in its home market of Japan so we now have an idea how our own facelifted Honda Civic will look like. This comes shortly after Honda revealed its American market Honda Civic. Next will be the European Civic hatch I suppose.

True to its namesake, the changes are indeed minor which include a new front grille design which has a thicker chrome bar at the top and reshaped with sharper edges thus giving the grille a wider appearance, a new front bumper with wider air intakes to appear sportier, and new tail lamps with a larger internal lense (no longer round now). That’s about it for the exterior. Thankfully our model does not get the chrome bar between the tail lamps that the USDM version gets.

The interior does not get much changes except for updates to the in-car entertainment system to support the latest inputs like USB as well as new fabric for the seats. The high grade MXST Civic Hybrid also gets an Alcantara interior.

The engines under the hood of the facelifted Civic remain largely the same as the pre-facelift version - a 2.0 liter i-VTEC DOHC engine putting out 155 PS at 6,000rpm (a quick check shows pre-facelift version put out the same 155 PS at a higher 6,500rpm) and 188Nm of torque at 4,500rpm, and a 1.8 liter i-VTEC SOHC engine producing 140 PS at 6,300rpm and 174Nm of torque at 4,300rpm. It’s not known if the engines have any other tweaks or not while remaining with the same power output levels.

Thanks to Vincent for the tip! Look after the jump for more photos of the Civic facelift.

Click here to read the rest of New Honda Civic facelift unveiled in Japan!

Honda has added a new safety feature to its Vehicle Stability Assist system called Motion Adaptive Electric Power Steering (Motion Adaptive EPS). Currently only available with the newly launched Honda Legend, it will be added to the Japanese-market Honda Accord (not the same as our Accord as it is known as the Honda Inspire there) and the next generation Honda Odyssey.

Motion Adaptive EPS provides steering wheel feedback to the driver during an unstable slippery corner to prompt the driver’s action in steering the wheel the right way as sometimes drivers tend to over-correct the steering angle. It can also correct steering input when braking on a surface which causes uneven traction between the left and right side wheels of the car.

While it remains a premium feature for now, like all technologies Motion Adaptive EPS should slowly trickle down to the rest of the Honda range. The only question is how long?

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This is Honda’s second take on a hybrid-only car, to be shown in concept form first at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. The production version of the second generation “Cadillac of hybrids” (as John Travolta’s character called it in the movie Be Cool) the Honda Insight will on sale in April 2009.

Honda UK’s environmental manager John Kingston said earlier this week that this car will change customer’s perception of hybrids thanks to real economical savings compared to just that mostly “green” feeling that other hybrids give.

The 5-door, 5-seater hatchback car will locate the battery and control unit beneath the cargo space. Like Honda’s previous IMA system it will feature an internal combustion engine and an electric motor for assistance. Honda also claims significant cost and weight reduction with the new car, allowing the hybrid to reach more customers.

The new Insight Concept will be displayed alongside Honda’s two other alternative fuel/hybrid cars - the Honda CR-Z lightweight sports car concept and the Honda FCX Clarity. Look for one more shot of the cars after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Second Generation Honda Insight Concept unveiled!

Mugen showcased this concept model called the Honda Civic 5D MUGEN at the 2008 Moscow International Automobile Salon. It’s based on the 5-door Civic hatchback sold in European markets. You can see the family resemblance to the Honda Civic Mugen RR concept shown back in 2007 thanks to the usage of triangular shapes in the various design details of the kit. The Civic Mugen RR went into a 300 unit limited production so we may see the Civic 5D MUGEN entering production as well.

Look after the jump for a few more shots.

Click here to read the rest of Honda Civic 5D MUGEN Concept

According to just-auto.com, Honda UK’s environmental manager John Kingston said Honda’s new “cheaper” family hybrid car will be announced tomorrow and will be unveiled to the public as a concept car at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. The car will then go into production in Spring 2009. The new affordable hybrid will be a 5-door hatchback and will carry styling cues from the Honda FCX Clarity (shown above).

The new hybrid car will feature a heavily revised hybrid powertrain with major components made lighter, more compact and placed under the cargo space instead of behind the rear seats like the current generation Civic Hybrid. Weight savings will be significant, further improving fuel economy.

“It is a very important car for Honda and our future direction. This is a car that will change customer perception of hybrids,” added John Kingston. He did not elaborate on how affordable would this new “more affordable” hybrid be, but he said it would be enough for people to choose such cars for economical reasons rather than just wanting to be “green”.

It was also revealed in the story that Honda will add another 3 more hybrids by 2010 - a sports car hybrid, a new hybrid Civic and a new hybrid Jazz.

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