1997 Acura Cl Premium Coupe 2-door 2.2l / 126k / Recent Service / Financing on 2040-cars

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Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.

Acura NSX EV puts winner Tetsuya Yamano back on Pikes Peak

With Pikes Peak right around the corner, Acura is showing off more details about its NSX-inspired all-electric racer. The four-motor EV will be driven in the Electric Modified Class by Tetsuya Yamano, who has been testing the car at the Hill Climb for the past few weeks. Acura is also running two NSX hybrids up the hill in the challenge next weekend. So, what's different inside this NSX-like EV? Like the all-electric Honda CR-Z that Yamano drove up Pikes Peak last year – winning the Challenge Exhibition class with a time of 10:23.829 – the NSX-inspired EV uses two Twin Motor Units (TMU) from the company's Sport Hybrid SH-AWD powertrain. Each axle has a TMU and that means that the car, "has achieved independent torque distribution to all four corners – true four-wheel torque vectoring," according to Acura. That sounds nice, but the real test will be out in Colorado in just a few days. Related Video: Acura NSX-Inspired EV Concept Ready to 'Charge Up' Pikes Peak Vehicle Features World's First All-Electric, 4-Motor SH-AWD® Powertrain Jun 20, 2016 TORRANCE, Calif. – Acura will campaign an all-electric, NSX-inspired EV Concept in the Electric Modified Class at the 2016 Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The Acura EV Concept features a further evolution of the experimental, all-electric, 4-motor Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™ (SH-AWD®) powertrain that won last year's Pikes Peak Challenge Exhibition class. The supercar-inspired Acura EV Concept will be driven by Tetsuya Yamano, who campaigned last year's CR-Z-based electric prototype. The Acura EV Concept is the ultimate embodiment of the all-wheel-drive Electric SH-AWD powertrain featuring a world's first technology that enables four-wheel independent torque allocation. The Acura EV Concept's Electric SH-AWD powertrain produces three times the total system output of last year's electric prototype and is mated to the NSX body. "We've been tuning the car for several weeks at Pikes and have advanced its performance significantly," said Tetsuya Yamano. "We're honored to be running at Pikes in this historical, anniversary year – an event respected by racing fans all over the world." 4-Motor Development Honda R&D has been developing "super handling" technology for more than 20 years in the pursuit of ideal vehicle handling.

Acura NSX prototype gets back on track

Developing a new vehicle is not without its complications, we're sure, but usually things follow a fairly predictable progression: you develop a prototype, you test it, test it and test it again, then you put it into production. What you don't expect is that your prototype will burn to the ground, but that's what famously happened to the NSX which Honda engineers were testing a few months ago.
Fortunately, the Acura NSX prototype is back on track, both literally and figuratively, as you can see from this latest batch of spy shots snapped at the Nürburgring. This camouflaged prototype looks pretty much the same as the last one, only, you know... less crispy. Which is to say, it looks pretty much ready to hit showrooms.
The naysayers may point out that Honda chose colder and damper weather to put the NSX back into testing - thereby mitigating the risk of another fire - but we're sure the Japanese automaker has been working hard to fix the flammability issues, whatever may have caused them, over the past few months. At least, we hope they have.