The 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour is schizo. On the one hand, it is glomming onto the trend that Europe has known forever – 5 door hatches are the most efficient layout, but at the same time, I think the intention was to semi-obscure its hatchiness because looking too much like a wagon is a big Brady Bunch no, no these days—unless you’re a weird sta-wag fetishist. However, isn’t this just the emperor’s new Accord Wagon, with better handling?

I also think Honda was excited by the Crosstour’s hauling capabilities, at least compared to the sedan, but with just 51 cubic feet of cargo space versus the Venza’s 70 cubic feet, it means 1.5 fewer sorority girls will fit back there and that alone might make the Venza more attractive to some, not to mention the fact that the Crosstour goes from 0-60 in just 7.5 seconds, a whopping half-second lower than the Venza. Plus, girls don’t like schizos. Ok, Jennifer Connelly did in “A Beautiful Mind”, but I don’t think she’d be riding in the back of a Honda Crosstour. Or the front for that matter, but I digress. Let’s talk about the basics.

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Honda fans can finally rejoice at the official unveiling happening at this year’s Tokyo Motor Show, sort of, of the CR-Z coupe. Honda, ever the conservative Japanese car company says that the 2009 CR-Z coupe you see here “remains a concept”, but the car seems production ready to anybody with eyes. Especially since the CR-Z will go on sale in Japan this coming February of 2010 (that’s four months away) and then arrive in North America in the fall. If there’s going to be any major changes, it will be very surprising to see Honda pull it off.

The rather attractive grill from the original 2007 concept has been largely carried over, and still seems like a Honda toned-down interpretation of a Maserati nose to me. The most noticeable changes to the CR-Z being, to some extent, the taller roof and a less raked windshield with A-pillars now blacked out. The higher roof (and the more upright front glass that would have to follow) seems to be compromises allowing people over 4 foot 10 to fit inside.

View gallery after the jump
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By Gary Chan

Pros

• Good gas mileage
• Steering is tight and responsive
• Low-price

Cons

• Rear visibility
• Acceleration - slow and steady wins the race
• Noise, Vibration, Harshness (NVH)

Honda has a tough job playing catch-up to Toyota, who already built two-generations of the Prius, in the hybrid market . Sure Honda had the original Insight, but “practicality” was not used to describe the original version and the Civic Hybrid was never really compared to the Prius. How does the new Insight stack up as a direct competitor to the Prius?

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Finally, the aftermarket has gotten to modifying hybrids, and wouldn’t you know it, Honda gets in first. What we have here is Honda’s Prius fighter, the Insight. Honda’s latest entry into the hybrid game has been faulted here and there, but one of the main dings against it has been its looks. Although Honda denies it, plenty of people see it as looking very much like the car it’s trying to go head-to-head with: The Prius.

Perhaps a little aftermarket tweaking can help. Well, if it can’t help it in the looks department, it might be able to help with performance – a regime that hybrids have always put last on their list of things to do.

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Featured Review: 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid

by Louella M. Harty

Price Paid: $28000.00 from Schaumburg Honda
Review Date: July 4, 2009
Overall Rating: 4 of 5
Value Rating: 4 of 5
Used product for: Less than 1 month

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By Derek Mau and Melody C. Yang

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More word that Honda is not only getting into the hybrid thing in big ways, but also that the company’s upcoming hybrids will be performance oriented. This is good news, not only for car people with a green bent, but also for sports car lovers. A few months ago, Honda publicized the end of the S2000 Roadster’s 10-year production run, which left the Japanese company without a proper sports car. Now news is out that in addition to the launch of the front-wheel drive CR-Z hybrid coupe in 2010, Honda is also working on a larger and more powerful coupe as a replacement to the S2000. No exact word has bubbled up whether it will actually be a coupe, or hopefully a convertible, although some sources point to the S2000 successor being a 2+2 coupe that would feature the company’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system.

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Here’s a rumor that sounds like a win-win and that I sincerely hope is true: Honda might not be making just one, but TWO hybrid sports cars. Now that Honda has rolled out its Prius-fighting Insight into dealer showrooms, they are purported to be moving onward & upward in the hybrid game. Honda has confirmed that a production version of the CR-Z concept will arrive within the next year as a hybrid coupe. No, it’s not a pure sports car like a Miata since it’s a coupe, but it will feature some interesting doo-dads. Such as a 2.5-liter four cylinder engine with direct injection, which would be Honda’s first direct injected production engine.

The second hybrid sports car rumored is reportedly a successor to the discontinued S2000 roadster. According to Japan’s Best Car magazine, the hybrid S2000 replacement will get power from a Honda 3.5-liter V6 mill and will also use Honda’s all-wheel drive system. Dubbed the FF-S2000, it may even use a flywheel based KERS system like those experimented with in Honda’s now-dead Formula 1 program. Best Car is unsure if the KERS will be addition to the hybrid drive, or whether that IS the hybrid drive, but if Honda does implement a KERS layout, the standing start acceleration could be highly impressive.

So what’s not to like? We’ve got the possibility of not one, but TWO fun cars that are also easier on the environment.

C’Mon Honda, bring it on!

Source: AutoBlogGreen

Photo from Flickr user JMRosenfeld

The hydrogen fuel-cell powered Honda FCX Clarity sedan was declared the 2009 World Green Car. American Honda Motor Co. Inc. announced yesterday at the New York International Auto Show. The FCX Clarity was chosen from an initial entry list of 22 contenders nominated by 59 World Car jurors from 25 countries worldwide.

The Clarity, available on a limited lease-basis, is powered by an electric motor that runs on electricity generated by an on-board fuel cell stack. The vehicle’s only emission is water, and its fuel efficiency is up to three times that of a gasoline-powered auto and two times that of a gas-powered hybrid vehicle, Honda reported.

This award is a good sign for hydrogen fuel-cell technology, which has undergone a lot of criticism lately. One of the main issues people have with hydrogen is that there aren’t enough fueling stations in this country to support it. Another one is that one tank of fuel on these vehicles can only take you approximately 100 miles. This recognition will hopefully give this segment a much-needed boost that will fast track it with many other carmakers.

Honda is canine-conscious and they’re proving it with a new dog-friendly car that has mutts drooling and wagging their tails worldwide.

The Japanese automaker exhibited a “Dog Friendly” version of the Honda Element SUV at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday.

The concept features a cushioned pet bed with safety restraints in the cargo area, a spill-resistant water bowl, and even a ventilation fan to keep canines comfortable. A folding ramp gives animals an easy way to get in and out.

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Here’s some good news from Honda for or pocketbooks and our planet. It seems that the rumors are going to be true, and Honda intends to bring its Prius fighter, the 2010 Insight to dealer showrooms for less that $20,000.

One of the complaints the eco-conscious have against most available hybrids is the cost. Their reasoning, and it’s pretty sound reasoning, says that it will do the planet more good if a company sells more hybrids, not less. So rather than selling a few high-buck eco-cars, someone should figure out how to make cheaper hybrids, and sell tons of those.

Honda, it seems, is the company to crack that nut. Their Insight Hybrid, which is due as a 2010 model, should hit showrooms with a projected price tag of $19,999 when it goes on sale this spring. The insight just went on sale in Japan with a sticker price of 1.89 million yen, which works out to $20,640 at current conversion rates, so Honda should be able to trim that last 600 bucks with ease.

The 2010 Insight should go on sale in the U.S. on April 22, but Honda officials said that the company will start shipping the Insight to dealers as soon as the first boatload makes landfall, which should happen in late March.

Source: Edmunds

Here’s another car that we should have in the U.S., but sadly, it’s Euro only for the moment.

At Honda’s Geneva Motor Show booth this year will see the debut of the Accord Type-S decked out with a new 180-horsepower derivative of the firm’s 2.2-liter i-DTEC turbo diesel engine. Yes it’s a wagon, but that from-factor is very popular in Europe, and if you think that wagons can’t be fun, you need to play around with more Audi & BMW wagons.

Anyway, since this is a diesel the torque is impressive: 380Nm at a low-low 2000rpm. Fun. And the wagon also features a discreet aero-package. Oh, and in case this “Accord” looks familiar, yet odd, to some, that’s because it is, in reality, the Euro version of the Acura TSX (there’s no Acura nameplate outside of North America).

According to Graham Avent, Manager – Corporate Operations, Honda (UK), the new car, “…will be a welcome addition to the Accord range, especially for company car drivers that want a high-specification car in an even sportier package. This model will undoubtedly appeal to high-performance diesel enthusiasts, looking for that something extra, but we hope it will also create a halo-effect across the diesel Accord range.”

And we agree with him. Just one thing Graham: BRING IT TO AMERICA!!

Source: CarScoop

A sad, if inevitable moment, please: Honda has decided to cease production of its highly respected S2000 sports car. Yes, there have been rumors about this happening since before the world wide economic downturn, and of course Honda is using that downturn to justify this as a cost cutting move, but this has been in the cards for a while.

Honda said 2009 will be the last year for S2K high-performance roadster. Although Honda gave no official reason, they did mention that the program was originally conceived as a limited-edition tribute to the company’s 50th anniversary. That was something I was unaware of, and, if you ask me, Honda should have made a bigger deal about. A little dash plaque or some such would have been nice.

Dash plaque or no, no more S2000 means Honda is effectively out of the sports car business completely given the recent termination of the NSX program. Coming from a company so deeply involved in racing, it can’t mean a great confidence booster for the guys on the factory floor, and for us gearheads out there, it’s pretty damn depressing as well.

All might not be lost though. There have been recent rumors of an Acura-badged roadster similar to the S2000 hitting showrooms within the next two production cycles. How sporty would an Acura drop top be though? Remember when the Miata set the sports car world on fire and the answer from Lexus was the SC? A great tourer to be sure, but not a real canyon carver. So we’ll see if this rumor holds, and if Honda decides to get back into the sports car game sometime soon.

Source: Edmunds

By Kurt Gensheimer

Whether or not you’ve grown up as a car buff, unless you’re a troglodyte who still walks barefoot from point A to point B, you’re probably familiar with who “The Big 3″ automakers comprise. And if you’ve watched any of the executive groveling before our esteemed panel of D.C. dunderheads we call our “leaders”, then you’re absolutely familiar with The Big 3. However in the aftermath of Toyota’s recent ascension past GM to become the number #1 selling automotive brand in the world - in addition to its involvement in NASCAR and multiple American manufacturing plants - the old Big 3 moniker may need revision to include Toyota.

And who would be “The Other 2″? Honda and Nissan seem to fit the role quite well, with similarly expanding market share and multiple U.S.-based factories. Yes, it seems that when people nowadays refer to “The Big 3″, there needs to be some level of clarification - New School or Old School?

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by Gary Chan

Pros

• Gas mileage
• Storage flexibility
• Structural rigidity
• Perfectly weighted steering

Cons

• Engine size = limited power
• Driver’s cup holder have are not in best locations
• Triangulated A-pillar blocked visibility at times
• Fold-down driver’s arm rest thin and high

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