siegen

It is outfits like Jiffy Lube that have propagated the 3000mile/3month oil change hysteria. My 99 Integra has a 4500mile change interval, and my friend's '01 Civic is a 7500mile interval.

Honda's (and Acura's) are notorious for their front overhang. I'm just glad it's not that bad. And hey, it aint got nothin' on the Enzo.

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Project Driveway was certainly a step forward by GM, but they are still many years behind. The Equinox is like the first Honda FCX; a gasoline vehicle converted to an FCV. The FCX was first leased in late 2002 by Honda, fully certified and safety tested, to fleets. In 2005, it was leased to the first private parties, including some normal non-celebrity families. GM's first foray into giving customers the keys to a hydrogen vehicle came in late 2007 with the test program. The Clarity is the next generation of the FCX. It is a sedan built completely from the ground up to be a fuel cell vehicle, with standard luxury features in line with Acura's Tech packages, and a driving range double that of the Equinox. It rides like an Accord or a TL, not like an SUV, and performs on par with a 4cyl Accord (although low end acceleration is more powerful due to the characteristics of an electric motor). The weight of the vehicle is only about 175 lbs more than the '08 Accord, at 3600 lbs. The Equinox, by comparison, weighs about 500 lbs more than its gasoline counterpart, to over 4400 lbs. The Sequel, or other dedicated fuel cell vehicle, would be GM's counter to the Clarity, and I don't really know when it is supposed to come out, perhaps 2010-11.

Honda Announces First FCX Clarity Customers And World's First Fuel Cell Vehicle Dealership Network Press Release 06/16/2008 - TOCHIGI, Japan - American Honda Motor Co., Inc., today announced five of the first customers for its advanced new FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle and also provided details of the world's first fuel cell vehicle dealership network in the United States. The announcements were made during a ceremony for the start of FCX Clarity production at the world's first dedicated fuel cell vehicle manufacturing facility in Japan. Film producer Ron Yerxa will take delivery of the first FCX Clarity in July. The remaining four early adopters for Honda's next-generation fuel cell vehicle are author and actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her filmmaker husband Christopher Guest; business owner and car enthusiast Jim Salomon; actress Laura Harris; and Jon Spallino, already the world's first retail fuel cell vehicle customer, who has been leasing the current generation FCX since 2005. Yerxa, Harris and Spallino attended the event in Japan. To provide its customers with outstanding sales and service support and as a critical step in advancing fuel cell vehicles in the real world, American Honda announced the establishment of the first network of dealers to facilitate the sales and service of fuel cell vehicles. The three Southern California Honda dealers are Power Honda Costa Mesa (Costa Mesa), Honda of Santa Monica (Santa Monica) and Scott Robinson Honda (Torrance). "This is an important day in the history of fuel cell vehicle technology and a monumental step closer to the day when fuel cell cars will be part of the mainstream," said John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda. "Our customers and dealers share in our vision for a cleaner and more sustainable transportation future, and share in our challenge to embrace a new generation of automotive technology that we think will carry the auto industry and its customers into the future." FCX Clarity Customers The five customers announced today were among the very first people to share with Honda their passion for the environment and interest in the FCX Clarity, dating back to its debut as a concept model at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show. The initial criteria for fuel cell vehicle ownership, including proximity to hydrogen refueling stations, driving patterns and vehicle needs, all played a part in Honda's customer selection process. "Auto companies can't explore the potential for fuel cell technology as the ultimate solution to our world's energy and environmental challenges by ourselves. Our customers are true pioneers and leaders in the effort to bring fuel cell technology to the marketplace," said Mendel. Ron Yerxa, a film producer and partner at Bona Fide Productions, is a long-time car enthusiast and advocate for the environment. He lives with his wife, Annette Ballester, in Santa Monica, California. Yerxa first learned of the FCX Concept vehicle from a car magazine and contacted American Honda to share his interest and enthusiasm. Jon Spallino, partner and Chief Financial Officer of an Irvine, California-based engineering and construction firm and the world's first retail customer of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicle, is excited to trade in his first-generation FCX for the all-new FCX Clarity. Having lived with fuel cell technology for three years now, Spallino and his family, residents of Redondo Beach, California, are looking forward to the all-new vehicle's vastly improved performance, enhanced features, improved fuel efficiency, and advanced four-door, four-passenger sedan design. Actress and children's book author Jamie Lee Curtis and her husband, filmmaker Christopher Guest, also live with their family in Santa Monica. Curtis and Guest have owned other alternative fuel and hybrid vehicles, and they continue to seek out ways to live and advocate a greener lifestyle. Jim Salomon, a business owner and car enthusiast, resides in Newport Beach, California with his family and will be American Honda's first retail customer to regularly refuel at the recently renovated Irvine hydrogen refueling station. Salomon and his family live in a home he designed and built with an emphasis on energy efficiency as well as recycled and sustainable materials. Actress and green advocate Laura Harris learned about the FCX Clarity from a friend and test drove a prototype car at the Los Angeles auto show in November 2007. Canadian-born Harris lives in Silverlake, California, and will refuel primarily in Burbank. Lessons learned from her usage patterns and experiences can help pave the way for eventual market expansion outside of the Irvine, Torrance, and Santa Monica areas. Honda previously announced plans to deliver about 200 FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles in the U.S. and Japan to customers in the first three years of production, with leases beginning in July. The lease program marks the world's first large-scale retail initiative for fuel cell vehicle technology. First-ever Fuel Cell Vehicle Dealership Network Reinforcing its commitment to further advance Honda fuel cell technology, American Honda announced that three Southern California dealerships will comprise the world's first fuel cell automobile dealership network. Power Honda Costa Mesa, Honda of Santa Monica and Scott Robinson Honda are each located in close proximity to hydrogen refueling stations and will be well-positioned to support Honda's growing base of FCX Clarity customers. American Honda is working with its dealer partners to implement processes for fuel cell vehicle lease, delivery and service support for the duration of their leases. Establishing a dedicated sales network and service infrastructure provides customers with the best balance of convenience and the highest quality of service. When the FCX Clarity requires periodic maintenance, customers will simply schedule a visit with their local FCX Clarity dealer. American Honda will perform all required work at its specialized fuel cell service facility, in the greater Los Angeles area. Upon completion of the work, the dealer will return the vehicle to the customer. About the FCX Clarity The FCX Clarity is a next-generation, hydrogen powered fuel cell-powered vehicle. Propelled by an electric motor that runs on electricity generated in the fuel cell, the vehicle's only emission is water, and its fuel efficiency is three times that of a modern gasoline-powered automobile. Based on the entirely-new Honda V Flow fuel cell platform, and powered by a highly compact, efficient and powerful new Honda V Flow fuel cell stack, the FCX Clarity marks the significant progress Honda continues to make in advancing the real-world performance and appeal of the fuel cell car. Significant advances over Honda's previous generation FCX include: * an advanced new four passenger sedan design * a greater than 30 percent increase in driving range up to 280 miles* * a 25 percent increase in combined fuel economy to 72 miles/kg-H2* (74 mpg GGE <miles per gallon gasoline gallon equivalent energy>) * a 50 percent improvement in fuel stack power output density by volume * a 40 percent smaller and 50 percent lighter new lithium ion battery pack Honda is responsible for the development of the world's first fuel cell car (Honda FCX) to be certified for regular commercial use by the U.S. EPA and California Air Resources Board; the first deployment of a fuel cell car with a fleet customer; and the first individual retail customer for a fuel cell vehicle. *Based on official 2008 EPA estimated range and fuel efficiency values

Just to set the record straight (and for myself): The Legend, Vigor, '96-04 RL, and '96-98 TL had longitudinally mounted engines, but were FWD. The 99-03 TL, and 04+ TL have transversely mounted engines and are FWD. The 05+ RL has a transversely mounted engine and is AWD. The new 2011 RL will have a longitudinally mounted engine and be AWD. There is also the possibility of a RWD-only version, but I wouldn't bet on it. What I do not know is what kind of relationship the Accord's platform had with the Legend, Vigor, TL, and RL of the past, if the Accord's engines have always been transversely mounted. I know the current RL, TL, and Accord's platforms are very similar. The new platform of the RL/NSX will be unique to Acura I believe, which is what Acura needs.

Looks photoshopped. Or it's still a mule with poorly fitting body parts and fixtures.

It looks like the GT/NSX will come out in 2010 and be the first of the new RWD Acura's. That is the vehicle which was running around Nurburgring with a chopped up S2000 body wrapped around it (rumored 550HP V10, RWD-based SH-AWD, etc). After that car, every new Acura introduction is supposed to be "tier 1". The RWD RL will come out in 2011. The next TL, barring any drastic changes in the automotive world, will probably come out RWD in 2013 or 14, and who knows about the next TSX. I am still hoping Acura will release a new compact model. Now that BMW has the 1-series and Audi the A3, I feel like Acura made a big mistake dropping the small car. I wonder if Acura will make a RWD small car. A luxury version of the S2000 makes perfect sense to me, yet they don't seem to want to take that route. If any of you have seen the engine bay in an S2000, there is MORE than enough room for an inline 6, or possibly a V6. A retractable hard-top shouldn't be too difficult. It will kick the pants out of the SC and Z4. These are all great opinions, but can you link me to any articles or press releases with quotes from Honda directly talking about RWD? You're acting as if Honda is suddenly going to change their entire lineup to RWD, when it fact it will be just Acura, and it will be a gradual process. FWD is better than RWD for most applications and for most consumers. There is certainly a sizable population of car enthusiasts who can truly appreciate RWD (the engineers at Honda being a part of that population), but they make up the minority. I know you're being sarcastic, but if you want to see the sales figures, you can find them all here. 2005, the first full year of the current gen RL's production, saw the most sales of the RL ever. It declined by 30-50% each year after that though. And the RL's sales have never been even close to the Legend's sales (although then the TL and RL together sell more than the Legend did).

Well it became relevant to them when the RL sales started declining, and in 2006 when overall sales started declining. For some reason the masses started believing that RWD is a requirement even though 98.333% of them wouldn't be able to tell the difference between FWD/RWD anyway. The RL started declining in sales well before any word about the Genesis came about. The next RL and GT/NSX will likely share the same RWD platform. Honda probably doesn't want to spend a ton of money developing another unique platform for their halo car, and sharing it with the RL makes sense.

Honda offers an optional grille, which will probably be more appealing to car enthusiasts. Of course it is a $330 option. And I still don't quite think it fixes it entirely. Regardless, it is a goofy looking vehicle and goofy seems to work well for Honda.

Plug-in hybrids are cleaner than regular hybrids or gasoline cars. Because they shift some of the pollution from the car to the electrical grid. This can be good and bad, depending on how the electricity is generated. A lot of peak power demand is made using coal, so recharging during the day is out of the question. Most people will recharge overnight though, which is off-peak usage. These cars may indeed be cleaner overall than a regular hybrid. The problem with plug-in hybrids is they are like a normal hybrid with hundreds of pounds of extra batteries/larger electric motor/more complexity added to them, reducing the efficiency of the vehicle. A lightweight hybrid with an efficient gas engine makes more sense to me, as it will require significantly fewer resources to create, put less strain on our electrical grid, and be more economical for the user. Isn't the next Prius supposed to cost the same or slightly less than the current Prius? Will this be a plug-in hybrid or is the plug-in going to be more? I don't see how the Volt is going to even have a chance at competing with the Prius if the Prius plug-in ends up being about the same price as the current Pious.

When have they expressed their disdain for RWD? Their very first automobiles were RWD. The NSX and S2000 are both RWD.

the good kind, from growing muscle, not from getting fat! :AH-HA_wink: I sure hope it packs a 420HP V8. The base engine will probably be a 3.7L V6. Even that will be pretty quick when combined with RWD and hopefully a 6-speed auto.

I'm gonna copy what I posted over at TOV: Some interesting differences to the platform compared to the TSX. It is pretty apparent that there is less front overhang, however in the shots below it is easier to see. The front wheels are at least 5-6 inches farther forward from the door, and are possibly a couple inches closer to the front, than on the TSX, although it is hard to tell because it looks like they've butchered the front bumper/head lights a fair amount. Of course the RL will have a different body completely, but this does give hope to a shorter overhang. Most exciting for me is the length of the hood, which just might indicate a longitudinally mounted engine. Also, the TSX body has been stretched in 3 areas. The trunk is the most obvious stretch, which looks like about 3-4 inches. The front looks like it has been stretched 5-6 inches. There is also a stretch in the middle through the back doors, which is covered better, looks like at least 4 inches. Overall it looks like the TSX's body has been stretched a bit more than a foot. The Acura Vigor and Legend at one point had very short overhangs and longitudinally mounted engines (still FWD though). This mule looks like its going back to that look, and is very promising for a longitudinally mounted engine. 1991-95 Legend coupe: Also, the cobbled together exhaust system seen in the other shots would indicate that there is a fair amount of work going on in the rear differential. Hopefully this means they are preparing it for RWD duty. Most people agree this vehicle will use SH-AWD, which isn't bad as it should be, based on rumors, RWD-biased now. Also hoping for a FR RWD only model as the base, which will reduce weight and drivetrain loss.

DBW is very common and essential for many stability control systems. It is a technological improvement, and removes the need for a physical cable which may require adjusting and can rust or become loose. As with all electronics on a vehicle, there is a chance that they could fail where a mechanical device wouldn't have. But that has been an argument ongoing since the very first automobiles. It is clear that electronics are generally better than their mechanical counterparts, although sometimes the first generations of those electronic improvements have issues that need to be sorted out. For the most part, the worst thing DBW has done is have a slight throttle response delay or poor pedal feel compared to mechanical. The GM Hywire uses all electronic controls, no cables or anything, even steering.

Why are there horribly hideous wheels on the Camaro? They should use the original Beat and all its mid-engined glory :AH-HA_wink:

I think we all know that acceleration issues are always due to cheap Chinese outsourced floor mats. :AH-HA_wink: lol, nice.

You're right, Toyota doesn't play fair. And nobody has had a harder time dealing with it than Honda, opposed by government backed Toyota since day one.

Did they say "manual transmission Cobalt" or make a blanket statement that the Cobalt gets better mileage? Regardless of combined rating, it is common place for manufacturers to tout the highway rating, even if the city rating is lower. At least I know Toyota and Hyundai/Kia do it.

You missed my sarcasm.

"We are making history today." Go on.... Oh, that's it?

To my knowledge, the Impreza has always had a longitudinally mounted flat 4-cylinder and has been AWD. A RWD version shouldn't be too difficult, just disconnect the front drive shafts. :AH-HA_wink:

Subaru was ruined with the new Impreza and Forester IMHO.

$20,000 RWD coupe sounds fun, but if the styling is anything like Toyota or Subaru's current direction, I'll pass. Seriously, was there anything wrong with the last gen Impreza? Why'd they have to go and f*ck it up, all it needed was revised tail lights. This is the nicest Subaru ever made:

It's not quite as tossable as the old car, but the performance is more usable and it is far more upscale. The 5-speed automatic (which comprises around 90% of sales) figures for mileage improved from 20/28 to 21/30. The "magic" 30mpg highway figure that seems to get touted a lot is certainly a selling point when comparing to competition. The diesel comment was more of a side point, not having anything to do with current TSX sales.