Free Republic

A study of car safety released on Wednesday shows that four of the top-scoring automobiles in tests of five new models were small cars or so-called super-minis — including the Honda Jazz, Hyundai i20, Kia Soul and Peugeot 3008. . . Seats installed in the Kia Soul, for example, “achieved a good result in the program’s whiplash testing, again revealing that it is not only larger or expensive cars that achieve impressive results in safety.” . . . It said the Honda Jazz and Hyundai i20 racked up “impressive pedestrian scores”

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid… So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place. So here goes. It’s terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing into a tree, on purpose, so I didn’t have to drive it anymore. Jeremy Clarkson The Sunday Times, May 17, 2009

It’s rare that we test two-year-old cars, but this particular Accord is rarer—in the U.S., anyway—than burlesque houses in a Texan polygamy camp. Under the hood is a 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine. It’s happy as low as 1300 rpm, but power starts at about 1600, with a whopping 251 pound-feet of torque (55 percent more than the current four-cylinder Accord) available at 2000 rpm. There is a nearly imperceptible difference between 70- or 80-percent throttle and flat-footing it, meaning the car feels quick when driven at about 8/10th, but sluggish when it’s really hammered. It took 8.9 seconds to wind the...

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda's new low-priced hybrid. So far, though, you have not been told what it's like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place. So here it comes. It's terrible. Biblically terrible. It doesn't work. Acceleration is poor. And the sound is worse. So you're sitting there with the engine screaming its head off, and your ears bleeding, and you're doing only 23 mph and you're thinking things can't get any worse, and then they do because you run over a small piece of...

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid. We’ve been told how much carbon dioxide it produces, how its dashboard encourages frugal driving by glowing green when you’re easy on the throttle and how it is the dawn of all things. The beginning of days. So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place. So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing...

Much has been written about the Insight, Honda’s new low-priced hybrid. We’ve been told how much carbon dioxide it produces, how its dashboard encourages frugal driving by glowing green when you’re easy on the throttle and how it is the dawn of all things. The beginning of days. So far, though, you have not been told what it’s like as a car; as a tool for moving you, your friends and your things from place to place. So here goes. It’s terrible. Biblically terrible. Possibly the worst new car money can buy. It’s the first car I’ve ever considered crashing...

In a development that realizes a scenario out of a science fiction movie, scientists have developed technology enabling a robot to be controlled by thought power. A user wears a helmet that detects changes in blood flow and brain waves in different parts of his or her brain and converts them into radio signals that are transmitted to the bipedal humanoid robot, operating its limbs and making it speak.

WASHINGTON, DC - April 6, 2009: Amidst charges that embattled American Honda is systematically suppressing its compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle program, the company has suddenly fueled that impression by throwing into bankruptcy its wholly-owned CNG refueling company, Fuelmaker. Toronto-based Fuelmaker was arguably the lynchpin of CNG’s future as a bridge solution to alternative fuel. The firm manufactured and distributed the essential refueling appliance that allowed home-based and fleet refueling of CNG vehicles, including the Honda Civic GX, heralded as the “greenest car in America.”

In crash tests released Tuesday, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that drivers of 2009 versions of the Smart "fortwo," Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris could face significant leg and head injuries in severe front-end crashes with larger, mid-size vehicles. "There are good reasons people buy mini cars. They're more affordable, and they use less gas. But the safety trade-offs are clear from our new tests," said Adrian Lund, the institute's president.

-snip- Taking a page from the aviation industry-and, truth be told, video games-Honda has created what it calls the SMARTrainer (Safe Motorcycle Awareness and Recognition Trainer). -snip-

Honda offering local workers incentives to quit Other cost-cutting measures planned; 13 days of production to be cut Tuesday, March 31, 2009 5:19 PM By Dan Gearino THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH For the first time, Honda is offering Ohio employees incentives to resign. The move, which continues the company's tradition of avoiding layoffs, is part of a wide-ranging set of cost-saving measures announced today. "Regardless of job title or level within our organization, each Honda associate will share the responsibility of doing what we must to remain competitive," said spokesman Ron Lietzke. Among the other moves: • Honda will cut 13...

BURLINGTON, N.C., U.S.A., November 28, 2007–Honda Aero, Inc., officially broke ground on its new corporate headquarters and state-of-the-art jet engine plant in Burlington, North Carolina, on property located adjacent to the Burlington-Alamance County regional airport. Honda Aero also announced that it has successfully run a proof-of-concept version of the advanced and efficient GE Honda HF120 turbofan engine, and that the engine has exceeded the company's internal development targets for both thrust performance and specific fuel consumption (SFP) on its first test run. The company is moving toward its goals of engine certification in 2009 followed by the start of mass...

Although I do not watch it, my wife had GMA on this morning and they had a piece, something like "surviving the recession". To make a long story short, the three cars they recomended included two Toyotas and a Honda.

GREENVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — State police have ticketed an upstate New York man for driving more than twice the 65-mph speed limit on an interstate highway. Troopers said a 21-year-old man was clocked doing 137 mph on Interstate 84 in Orange County on Tuesday. He was pulled over in the westbound lanes near Exit 2 in the town of Greenville, on the New Jersey border 60 miles northwest of New York City. Troopers said the man was driving a 1993 Honda Civic.

Honda Fury bike stirs up a storm Out this spring, it will cost about $13,000 By Matt Degen of The Orange County (Calif.) Register SANTA ANA, Calif. — Honda has just introduced a motorcycle that looks about as far from a Honda as one could imagine. The 2010 Fury was unveiled at the New York International Motorcycle Show, and it’s already creating some serious waves. “The Fury opens the door to the most extreme level of custom looks,” the company said. “But once you’re rolling, the Fury experience is all about that special bond between rider and machine.” The bike...

As unsold cars pile up at docks, Honda halts production for two more months It is an image which speaks volumes about the way the economic slump is crippling the car industry. Thousands of gleaming new Hondas pile up at Southampton Docks after the export market they were intended for dried up. The collapse in global sales has prompted the Japanese firm to announce an unprecedented four-month shutdown in the UK.

A Hawaiian Chevrolet dealership setup a jacked-up Suburban to crush a vintage Honda Accord to send a message to anyone buying Japanese. The message became somewhat cluttered when the tiny Honda broke the SUV. James Severtson, the general sales manager of Island Chevrolet in Hilo, Hawaii, hired a Chevrolet Suburban monster truck to drive over a used Honda Accord before a large crowd in order to highlight the importance and strength of American automakers. Instead, Severtson highlighted domestic quality issues when the truck blew a hydraulic hose and started leaking fluid after its first pass over the Accord. A few...

HILO, Hawaii – A Hilo Chevrolet dealer who tried to crush his Asian auto competition found the stunt a little harder to pull off than expected. Island Chevrolet general sales manager James Severtson arranged for a Chevrolet Suburban SUV outfitted with massive tires costing $5,000 apiece to drive over a Honda Accord. On the first attempt Friday, the monster truck blew a hydraulic hose and leaked vital fluid while the Honda remained intact and ready for more.

Almost 150 years after the American Civil War the struggle to save the country’s carmaking industry is once again becoming a battle between the Union and the Confederacy. In this latter-day renewal of hostilities the union is the United Auto Workers (UAW) whose members are mostly employed in Northern states such as Michigan, the traditional heartland of US motor manufacturing. Union leaders have bitterly denounced Republican Senators from the South for scuppering a $14 billion bailout package for General Motors (GM) and Chrysler which, along with Ford, make up Detroit’s “Big Three”. Many of those who voted against it represent...

The Pro-bailout people in congress as well as the directly affected companies keep talking about bailing out AMERICAN Auto Makers, saving AMERICAN manufacturing. Here's the little secret that they often don't talk about the American Auto Makers go WAY beyond Detroit's Weak Three. Some Toyotas are made here and in 2010 the extremely popular Prius will be made in the US also. Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen, and Hyundai-Kia, BMW and Hyundai also do some of their manufacturing in the US. Here is a big irony, the same liberal members of congress who fight for immigrants who are in the US illegally,...