Archive for Honda

Honda is rolling out the new Honda CR-V facelift across the globe. We’ve already had a glimpse of the US and Japan cars, but here comes the most detailed press unveil so far, the USDM Honda CR-V. The CR-V facelift gets a new grille, front and rear bumper, a reshaped engine hood, and a new 10-spoke alloy wheel design that replaces the 7-spoke version on the EX and EX-L models.

The 2.4 liter version which is sadly not available here in Malaysia gets a 14hp performance boost to 180 horsepower, but that’s about all the changes in the engine bay as there is only one engine available in the US market. The increase in power is mostly thanks to an increase in compression ratio from the relatively low 9.7:1 to a more ‘modern’ number of 10.5:1. The injectors have been improved with a finer spray pattern, intake valves are larger, the spark plugs have extended electrodes, there are better friction-reducing piston rings, a higher-precision timing sensor and a freeer-flowing exhaust.

But despite all of that, the extra 14hp is only achieved higher up the rev range at 6,800rpm while the 166hp engine made its peak power at 5,800rpm, so the improvement is more of an extension of the powerband to be wider rather than the engine making more power at the lower RPMs. Torque remains the same at 218Nm.

Interior changes include some changes to the various controls to make it friendlier to the user. The radio and control layout has changed, and there are also new seat fabric textures and trim panel sections. The radio control displays as well as the MID display in the middle of the control panel gets blue backlighting now.

Front seat armrests (the kind which which fold down from the seat) have been made one inch wider. This is a welcome improvement as I found the pre-facelift CR-V’s armrests a little too narrow to be comfortable.

Look after the jump for a nice hi-res photo gallery of the new CR-V.

Click here to read the rest of Honda CR-V facelift unveiled for the US market

Click for enlarged image

The new CR-V is only supposed to debut in Japan on the 17th but Honda UK has already officially announced the car with two new photos.

The new CR-V gets new bumpers front and back, a new grille, new alloy wheel designs for both the 17 inch and 18 inch sizes, and upgraded fabric and plastics on the inside. The audio console gets a new design, and Honda has also added better engine and cabin soundproofing.

Click for enlarged image

For diesel-crazy Europeans, they get an updated version of Honda’s 2.2 liter diesel. The diesel engine now makes an extra 10 PS and 10Nm of torque, resulting in new power output figures of 150 PS at 4,000rpm and 350Nm of torque at 2,000rpm. Also, previously the diesel was only available with a manual but now Honda has an in-house 5-speed automatic for the diesel CR-V.

Honda have released four new photos of the 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour in red, making it a total of 6 official pix from them so far. Does the Crosstour look better in these angles and shade of colour? Honda isn’t getting too flattering a response to how the car looks on their Facebook page. It’s an absolute slugfest there. Whatever it is, it’s nothing something that we’ll be getting here in Malaysia.

Look at all six photos released so far after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of New photos of Accord Crosstour in red

These are the initial two fully unveiled images of the new Honda Accord Crosstour, the first official images of the new crossover from the Japanese manufacturer after an initial 3 teaser images. The Accord Crosstour competes with vehicles like the Toyota Venza. The Venza itself is some sort of crossover between a Camry and a Harrier. Honda calls their Accord Crosstour a Crossover Utility Vehicle (CUV). It has a higher ride height than a regular Accord but is definitely shorter than a proper SUV. Not much details of the Crosstour yet for now but it will probably come with some form of all-wheel drive as if you look properly there is a “4WD” badge on the bootlid.

There are rumors that a new electric car prototype concept will be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show this October, a move that would seem to go against the Japanese carmaker’s stand that hydrogen fuel cell technology is the way of the future. Toyota is sticking to hybrids for the moment, while Nissan and Mitsubishi has already decided to jump straight to EVs. EVs make a lot of sense but the long charge times and the problem of solving how to implement a charging infrastructure and payment system for charging needs out of one’s own home is not easy to solve.

The advantages of hydrogen fuel cell cars – which essentially are also electric cars but with their electricity generated on the fly with a fuel cell – are that refuelling hydrogen is much faster than recharging a battery and consumers are already very familiar with the concept of plugging something in that refills your car with something in the matter of minutes and you driving off with a renewed vehicle range.

Even though Honda only has hybrids and fuel cell cars in its portfolio right now, it does not mean they are strangers to the concept of the battery-powered EV. They were leasing a pure electric car back in 1999 – the Honda EV Plus, which was a 3-door hatchback. You could lease it for US$455 a month for a 3-year lease. After the lease, you had to return the car to Honda where it would be crushed. It had a 66hp brushless DC motor and travel up to 160km under normal economical driving conditions and even 190km under ideal conditions.

An AP report claims that a Honda spokesperson confirmed that new EVs were in Honda’s development plans, but a release date had not been decided yet. An estimated date for a US production launch is pegged at 2015, a long, long way to go.

Honda has released 3 images of the Accord Crosstour which will be unveiled very soon – one of the grille, one of the headlamps and and another of the car’s rear end curve.

Us Malaysian may not care much about this model as it’s unlikely to be introduced here but it COULD give us a clue as to how a facelifted Accord could possibly look like next when it receives its mid-life facelift.

We see a projector headlamp above. When the Accord was first unveiled in 2008, the sedan model did not get projector lights, however the coupe got them. It looks like the Crosstour will also get them… will Honda please update the Accord with projector lamps during the mid-model change? The yellow turn signals are an American law thing, the rest of the world gets much better looking clear lenses.

Some Accord sedan owners in the US took it to themselves to retrofit projector lamps to their original headlamps with projector headlamps from the Infiniti FX.

Above is the front grille, which still kinda looks like what we already have on the Coupe and Sedan. Most of the noticeable on the Crosstour will probably be from the B-pillar towards the rear.

Honda is set to unveil a minor model change for the Honda CR-V SUV in Japan on the 17th of September 2009. One lone teaser image which basically reveals the whole front end of the car has been posted on the CR-V product page of Honda Japan’s website.

It shows us the CR-V’s new front grille (a much slimmer chrome bar going across it) and bumper (more body colour, less of the bumper guard kind of look). The gaping lower grille that gave the CR-V a two-mouthed look also seems to have been minimized. The changes give the CR-V a more urban runabout look as it removes some typically offroader styling from the vehicle.

Look after the jump for a photo of the pre-facelift CR-V so you can compare easily.

Click here to read the rest of Honda CR-V to get mid-life facelift in September

Honda USA has put up a teaser on their website of the new Accord Crosstour (they’re officially spelling it that way without the capital T in tour) together with a countdown timer that indicates the new crossover D-segment car will be unveiled in less than 20 days. The Accord Crosstour will likely be some kind of competitor to the Toyota Venza – the utility of an SUV combined with whatever they think they’re combining it with – just removing the all-wheel drive system is only going to be a marginal improvement and Honda’s all-wheel drive systems already run in front wheel drive most of the time in the first place. These new crossovers are a plot to push hatchbacks to the traditionally hatchback-hating American customers. More details to be unveiled in under 20 days, but in the meantime visit our previous posts for some spyshots of the Crosstour.

Related Posts:
Spyshots of the Accord Crosstour at Smoky Mountains
It’s official: Honda Accord Crosstour coming soon in Fall 2009

Honda’s Our Challenging Spirit contest this year is in Phase 2 now. Basically Honda associates a challenging spirit with a few qualities and for Phase 2 it is Challenge and Refinement. You can nominate someone that you think possesses these qualities. You’ll stand to win some prizes, but I think the best of all is having that special person up there on the nomination wall together with your story on why that person is special.

Since the contest is a motorsports-related thing after all, I’m going to nominate one Malaysian that we tend to associate with motorsports – Karamjit Singh. I think Malaysians will be quite familiar with this rally driver who has done Malaysia proud, snagging the Group N (Production car) titles in 1997, 2000 and 2001.

Career Highlights:
2004 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
2002 FIA Production Car World Rally Champion
2002 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
2001 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
2001 Group N FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
2000 Group N FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
1998 Thailand National Rally Champion
1997 Group N FIA Asia Pacific Rally Champion
1990 – 1997 Malaysian Rally Champion

But after that sponsorship seemed to have fallen short and Karamjit fell off the radar for awhile. There were even instances where the FIA subsidised participation fees for rallies because they knew his team were facing financial diffiulties. In 2005 he ran the risk of losing his racing license and his means of living as APRC rules stated one had to finish 6 out of 8 races but Karamjit did not have enough money to run sufficient rounds. He ended up getting slapped with a USD20,000 fine. That’s alot of money.

Despite all of that, Karamjit continues to bounce back and the latest is that he is back in a fully manufacturer backed rally team, driving the new Proton Satria Neo Super 2000. He’ll be racing at the APRC leg in Johor this August. “It’s a dream come true, an opportunity of a life time for me,” said 47 year-old Karamjit who began his career in 1985. “I have waited twenty-four years for this car.”

Honda’s definition of Challenge is to stand up to the challenges in life even against all odds and succeed in accomplishing goals otherwise not achievable if not for the challenging spirit. And as for Refinement – the relentless pursuing of perfection, constant learning, patience, and un-ending commitment to strive for the best in everything that one does. Some say Karamjit is already too old to continue racing but I feel with age and experience and constantly doing something you do best and trying to better yourself like in rallying and other forms of motorsports, it helps one get closer in that pursuit of perfection.

I think Karamjit has definitely has these qualities, so he’s got my nomination. If you know of an outstanding person who has made an impact in your life with the qualities Passion, Dedication, Challenge or Refinement, pay a tribute to the person and submit a nomination at the Honda Motorsports Challenging Spirit website.

Honda has added the new Taffeta White colour that first debuted on the Honda Accord to the 3rd generation Honda CR-V. This will increase the amount of colours offered on the CR-V to 5, with the other 4 being Alabaster Silver Metallic, Crystal Black Pearl, Sparkle Gray Pearl and Polished Metal Metallic.

The new Taffeta White colour is doing quite well on the Accord, accounting for a total of 30% of Accord sales since its launch in mid-July 2009.

Related Posts:
2007 Honda CR-V Test Drive Review