2004 Acura Tsx on 2040-cars

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7 major automakers to build open EV charging network

A new joint venture established by BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis will build a new North American electric vehicle charging network on a scale designed to compete with Tesla's industry-benchmark Supercharger network. The 30,000-plus planned new chargers will accommodate both Tesla's almost-standard North American Charging System (NACS) and existing automakers' Combined Charging System (CCS) options, effectively guaranteeing compatibility with the vast majority of current and upcoming electric models — whether they're from one of the involved automakers or not.  "With the generational investments in public charging being implemented on the Federal and State level, the joint venture will leverage public and private funds to accelerate the installation of high-powered charging for customers. The new charging stations will be accessible to all battery-powered electric vehicles from any automaker using Combined Charging System (CCS) or North American Charging Standard (NACS) and are expected to meet or exceed the spirit and requirements of the U.S. National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program." Critically, the automakers involved will have a say in how the charging tech is implemented, guaranteeing that the hardware will play nicely with each automaker's in-house charging systems. Hyundai and Kia, for example, were hesitant to jump on board the Tesla NACS bandwagon earlier this year over concerns that the Supercharger network is insufficient for powering the two automakers' 800-volt charging systems; similar tech is used by Volkswagen and Porsche.  In addition to providing much-needed capacity and high-output charging for America's growing fleet of electric cars and trucks, the new network will integrate seamlessly with each automaker's in-app and in-vehicle features, rather than forcing customers to use third-party tools and payment systems, as is the case with some existing public charging infrastructure.  "The functions and services of the network will allow for seamless integration with participating automakersÂ’ in-vehicle and in-app experiences, including reservations, intelligent route planning and navigation, payment applications, transparent energy management and more. In addition, the network will leverage Plug & Charge technology to further enhance the customer experience," the announcement said.

Acura NSX owners receive custom short teaser movies of their personal car

In a neat bit of fan service for those who've ordered Acura's new NSX halo car, the company will make a short film that reflects the way the car's been configured. Those films are on their way to future owners as you read this. In addition, they'll get a 1:18 scale custom model of their own car, reflecting every appearance option inside and out. That's neat. So neat, in fact, that we decided to commission our own video. We got together and configured a car in the lovely Nouvelle Blue Pearl, and sent our build over to Acura. They put together a video that's mostly representative of what an owner would see. You can see our build plate (hint: it says "Autoblog – Precision Crafted By Performance Manufacturing Center" on it), and that's "our" car on the dyno starting about 22 seconds in. If you want to check out someone else's film, you can compare our build to Jay Leno's. The reason Acura can do this is that there simply aren't that many available configurations for the NSX. This is at the root of one of the main criticisms some of our editors have about the car. An NSX starts at darn close to $160,000, and there are eight paint options (not too bad), four interior color options, and three seating options. All well and good, but compare that to the 16 paint and 12 interior color/material choices in a 911 Turbo, for example, choosing a similarly high-performance car at a similar price range. And there's a further wrinkle: Porsche will paint your car to match a sample you provide, so in reality the ability for an owner to make the car uniquely theirs is infinite, if you don't mind paying for it. See also the BMW Individual program, or McLaren's MSO one-offs. We're not just talking about the MSO Defined options, but the MSO Bespoke program itself, which will basically do anything you want to the car as long as it's road legal and your check doesn't bounce. We've been to MSO, and they're not kidding: they'll build anything. So yes, these custom videos are nice fan service, and they'll certainly jazz up the buyers who've already ordered one of these dynamically impressive cars. It's a move that builds loyalty, and certainly doesn't have much of a drawback. But for us, already a bit sensitive to Acura's conservative option list for the NSX, it serves to highlight the gap between Acura and the more established brands in catering to well-off customers' desire for bespoke range-topping creations.

Acura Integra Luggage Test: How big is the trunk?

The new 2023 Acura Integra, just like the original 1986 Acura Integra, has four doors and a hatchbacked trunk. That lends it more versatility than a regular enclosed trunk, and judging by the official cargo capacity numbers, more space, too. On paper, it wows with 24.3 cubic-feet, which would in theory be better than some small crossovers like the Mazda CX-30 and Subaru Crosstrek. It should also kick the luggage-testing snot out of the Honda Civic, with which it shares so much. That car, including the Civic Si, has a 14.8 cubic-foot trunk.  In theory, the Integra should be able to stuff 10 cubic-feet worth of extra luggage in its hatchbacked cargo area than the Civic can. Let's not bury the lede, here: Ah, no it can't. Not even close. The Integra can carry less stuff than a Civic sedan. Ditto a Mazda CX-30 and Subaru Crosstrek, for that matter. No matter what else is about to follow, though, this shot is ultimately an important one. Look at that opening! It's huge and obviously makes loading so much easier. Remove the cargo cover and lower the seats, and you also have substantially better maximum cargo capacity and versatility than any sedan could provide.  It also lets a 2-year-old do this. OK, now that small people storage is out of the way, let's talk about the cargo cover. It is a gigantic mesh piece bracketed my rigid plastic. This means that you're pretty much screwed if you suddenly need space beyond what's below the cover. You ain't storing this thing inside the car. There is a slight silver lining, however, which I'll get to momentarily.  First, let's see how many bags fit with the cover in place (ish).  As in every luggage test I do, I use two midsize roller suitcases that would need to be checked in at the airport (26 inches long, 16 wide, 11 deep), two roll-aboard suitcases that just barely fit in the overhead (24L x 15W x 10D), and one smaller roll-aboard that fits easily (23L x 15W x 10D). I also include my wife's fancy overnight bag just to spruce things up a bit (21L x 12W x 12D). That's all the big bags up there, but as you can see (above right), the blue bag is totally smashed. I couldn't do that if there was actually something in the bag. Ergo, forget this. This would be the four biggest bags plus the fancy bag, which is still a bit squished but usable. There is still an issue, though. The black bag at the upper right forced the cargo cover up and out of its bracket when the trunk lid was closed. The trunk still closed, though.