Tag Archives | Honda Civic

2012 Detroit Auto Show: Chevrolet Tru 140S Concept

By on January 10, 2012 in News

By Chris Haak

Just as GM tried to attract younger, Generation Y buyers to the Chevrolet brand with the Code 130R concept, it rolled out a similarly-targeted, but very differently executed coupe concept called the Tru 140S.

Though the company received feedback from young potential buyers for both cars, and they both have similar horsepower numbers, there is a key difference.  The Code 130R is built on a small rear wheel drive platform, which is obviously great for at-the-limit handling – and has excessively conservative looks.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 2 }

Review: 2012 Honda Civic 4DR EX-L NAVI

By on November 10, 2011 in Reviews

By Brendan Moore

For those of you that have never heard of him, Dan Neil is a great auto journalist. He’s also, by all accounts, a pretty good guy, and I’ve had a couple of brief exchanges with him over the years, and he does seem like a pretty good guy. He also won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 2004 (yeah, an automotive writer- cool, huh?), presented annually to a newspaper writer who has demonstrated “distinguished criticism”. The distinguished criticism the Pulitzer Committee had in mind when they handed him that award was his “Rumble Seat” column for The Los Angeles Times, his then-employer. He reviewed passenger vehicles in that column.

He now writes for The Wall Street Journal. In his review of the 2012 Honda Civic Si published in the Journal on October 22, the header on the review was, “Honda’s Sporty New Civic, Heavy on the ‘Ick’.”

I would have given him the Pulitzer just for that alone. That’s some good writing, there.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 11 }

Review: Scion tC 6MT, Take Two

By on July 21, 2011 in Reviews

By Charles Krome

Here’s a fun little factoid about the Scion tC: According to a recent study by a group called Quality Planning—which provides research for the insurance industry—Scion’s sports coupe is the third-most-ticketed car in the U.S., trailing only the Mercedes-Benz SL and the Toyota Camry/Solara. Of course, seeing the tC so high on the list was no surprise to me, because I’d already been driving one for a couple of days by then and knew full well what a blast the car was. Scion had lent me a tC in “Super White” with a six-speed manual and a full tank of gas, and that turned out to be a surprisingly affordable recipe for some serious driving excitement.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 4 }

Review: 2011 Toyota Corolla LE

By on May 25, 2011 in Reviews

By Roger Boylan

The past two weeks would have been a good time for me to go on a bank-robbing spree. Last week I was test driving a gray Toyota Prius, and this week my tester has been a gray Corolla. Either one would make an ideal invisible getaway car: “’Getaway car?’ said eyewitnesses. ‘What getaway car?’”  Actually, come to think of it, a Prius seems such an unlikely set of wheels for a desperado that even a gray one might catch someone’s eye. But the Corolla would just melt into the landscape.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 8 }

Review: 2011 Chevrolet Cruze Eco 6MT

By on May 17, 2011 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

A few weeks ago at the New York Auto Show, I remarked to a colleague that I was amused by the proliferation of asterisks in some of the claims that auto manufacturers are making.  Depending on who you’re asking, there are more than a half-dozen answers to the question of “what’s the most fuel-efficient small car?”  To wit:

Continue Reading →

Comments { 7 }

New York 2011: Honda Shows Production Versions of 2012 Civic

By on April 21, 2011 in News

By Chris Haak

Back in January, Honda used the Detroit Auto Show to debut lightly-disguised concept versions of its 2012 Civic coupe and sedan.  We covered that here already back then, so there’s no need to rehash all of that.  In a nutshell, the new Civic is safer, more comfortable, and more efficient than the car it replaces.  It’s also slightly – and I mean slightly – better looking than the 2011 car, with a bit more character and visual interest, and more resolved C-pillar treatment, particularly for the sedan.

The car actually went on sale today, April 20, so it’s a good thing that Honda’s press conference wasn’t bumped to day two of the show.  The biggest news that we got today on the Civic was pricing and fuel economy figures, neither of which had been confirmed until now.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 3 }

New York Auto Show Press Days #1

By on April 20, 2011 in Features

By Chris Haak

We’re on the ground here in New York at the scenic Jacob Javits Convention Center enjoying the first day of press conferences (the construction along 34th Street leading to the building was particularly lovely) .  So far, the show has not disappointed, with far more new-model introductions than we’ve seen in past years.

In just the first two and a half hours, we’ve seen Honda release a Civic Hybrid that gets 44 MPG combined and a non-hybrid Civic that gets 41 MPG on the highway.  We’ve seen the amazing Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, which adds 45 horsepower and tastefully aggressive body tweaks.  Ford has revealed what I believe is its first 2013 production model, the revised Taurus.  The new Taurus will get a mid-cycle refresh that changes the front and rear fascias a bit, and adds MyFord Touch to the interior.  The Taurus is also getting a 31-MPG 2.5 liter EcoBoost four cylinder option.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 5 }

Review: 2011 Hyundai Elantra Limited

By on April 5, 2011 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

Having reviewed more than a hundred new cars for this site, and having driven several hundred more over my two decades behind the wheel, it’s kind of hard for a car to make a good impression on me.  I’ve just seen too much, for better or worse.  So after having spent a week in Hyundai’s all-new 2011 Elantra, I was surprised and delighted about just how good a compact car can be.  It’s not perfect, but it’s clearly the best or second-best car in its class.

Hyundai entered the North American market selling cheap cars, then sold cheap cars with a long warranty that looked odd.  That morphed into cheap cars with a long warranty that looked bland.  And now, Hyundai is offering buyers cheap cars with a long warranty and dynamic, organic – and most importantly, original – designs.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 2 }

Review: 2011 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS

By on March 15, 2011 in Reviews

By Chris Haak

If you ask automakers what the hot ticket is likely to be in the next several years, they might say that premium compact cars are a potential growth area.  After all, with gas prices approaching the $4.00 per gallon line in many parts of the US, uncertainty in the Middle East, and increasingly-stringent CAFE standards on the horizon, we’ll have more small cars in the new-car mix.

With more small cars, that means more variety in the style, powertrain, equipment, and even size.  Yes, there are varying degrees of small.  To some traditionalists, the Chevy Cruze is small; to a Smart ForTwo driver, the Cruze is a perhaps large, wasteful near-midsize car masquerading as a small car.  There are also now cheap small cars – like the base Nissan Versa, and small cars that are more premium – like the Buick Verano.  The Mitsubishi Lancer GTS reviewed here kind of falls into the middle of the spectrum.  It’s a cheap car with some premium features.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 5 }

Fiat 500 EPA Ratings Top Out at 38 mpg Highway

By on February 2, 2011 in News

By Charles Krome

The EPA fuel efficiency ratings for the 2012 Fiat 500 have now been announced, with the Chrysler Group’s much-hyped hatchback achieving 30 mpg city/38 mpg highway/33 mpg combined when kitted out with a five-speed manual and a line of 27/34/30 with a six-speed automatic. But as high as those numbers are, they represent somewhat of a disappointment given the competition.

Now, the natural choice of rivals here is the MINI hardtop, since both vehicles are small niche products that will claim a lot of their sales based on style, so here is how they match up against each other in some of the more relevant measures.

Continue Reading →

Comments { 2 }
← Older posts