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Acura NSX GT3 racecar bares all in raw carbon

Acura slowly and dramatically revealed the NSX over a period of years. There were previews, concepts, and lots of teases before Acura finally showed us the whole thing. It's a different story for the racecar. And today, the wraps come off the FIA GT3-spec NSX to show all of its bare-carbon glory. The NSX GT3 strips away more than just the paint from the standard road car. The racecar comes sans hybrid system, meaning all the power from the twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 is sent solely to the rear wheels. Modifications to the body include a large rear wing, underbody diffuser, and bigger hood vents for engine cooling. While the hybrid system may be gone, the NSX GT3 uses the same block, heads, valvetrain, crankshaft, pistons, and dry sump lubrication system as the road car. Power is sent through a six-speed sequential gearbox instead of the road car's nine-speed. The NSX GT3 will be built alongside the street version in Ohio. Honda engineers in Japan and North America shared in the development. Final GT3 homologation will be completed by the company's Honda Performance Division in Santa Clarita, CA. Related video:

Kia leads J.D. Power's Vehicle Dependability Study for 2022

For the first year ever, Kia leads J.D. Power's annual Vehicle Dependability Study with a score of 145 problems per 100 vehicles. Buick (147) and Hyundai (148) round out the top three. The highest premium brand on the list is Genesis, with a score of 148. It's common for so-called "mass market" brands to lead this particular study, according to J.D. Power, as "premium" brands "typically incorporate more technology in their vehicles, which increases the likelihood for problems to occur" and aren't necessarily built to a higher standard that less-expensive brands. The highest-rated single nameplate is the Porsche 911. It's the third time out of the past four years and the second year in a row that Porsche's quintessential sports car has taken top honors. Porsche as a brand sits in seventh place (162) just behind Lexus (159) and ahead of Dodge (166). At the very bottom of the list is Land Rover with a dismal score of 284; the SUV specialist held the same unfortunate distinction on last year's list. Ram (266), Volvo (256), Alfa Romeo (245) and Acura (244) also performed poorly. The overall industry average score sits at 192 — mass market brands average a score of 190 while premium brands sit 14 points lower at 204. While Tesla is unofficially included in some of J.D. Power's results, the agency says the sample size it has access to for this study is too small to include. As has been the case for the past several years, infotainment systems dominate the list of problems reported by owners. Popular (or unpopular, depending on your point of view) complaints include built-in voice recognition (8.3 PP100), Android Auto/Apple CarPlay connectivity (5.4 PP100), built-in Bluetooth system (4.5 PP100), not enough power plugs/USB ports (4.2 PP100), navigation systems difficult to understand/use (3.7 PP100), touchscreen/display screen (3.6 PP100), and navigation system inaccurate/outdated map (3.6 PP100). While problems with the car's infotainment and technology packages are indeed bothersome, it's important to remember that such issues aren't usually leaving owners stranded with an immovable vehicle like a broken transmission or blown engine would. Culling infotainment complaints from the results would reduce the average problem-per-100-vehicle score by a staggering 51.9 points. The vehicles included in this study are from the 2019 model year. That means owners have had three years to get to know their cars and trucks. It's the 33rd year that J.D.

2019 Acura ILX gets a makeover with more standard safety features

The 2019 Acura ILX compact luxury sedan has finally been redesigned to fit the look introduced by the TLX and RDX. According to Acura, the entire nose from the A-pillar forward and the whole rear fascia have been changed. Up front the car has the pentagonal grille and angry LED lights that are Acura signatures, and they're complemented by crisply creased sheetmetal across the rest of the car. The results are a far sportier, far less anonymous machine. The car will continue to be available in normal and A-Spec versions, with the latter consisting mainly of appearance items such as 18-inch wheels, dark trim and lights, and a rear spoiler. Exterior enhancements are the primary change to the new ILX. The interior is nearly unchanged except the A-Spec has some stylish sport seats similar to those in the RDX A-Spec. Acura also says the infotainment system has been upgraded to be faster, and it has fresh graphics and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. But this is not the system found in the completely new RDX, just an updated version of the current infotainment. The last big upgrade to the ILX is the inclusion of the complete AcuraWatch suite of safety features on all ILX models. This includes automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control and road departure mitigation. Aside from these changes, the ILX is still pretty much the same as the old one. Under the skin is the same naturally aspirated 201-horsepower 2.4-liter four-cylinder as the current model. It's still coupled to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and powers solely the front wheels. The 2019 ILX goes on sale in October, but pricing has not yet been announced. Related Video: