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2014 Honda Civic priced from $18,190*, new CVT boosts city mpg

For the third consecutive model year, Honda has given its Civic lineup some substantial improvements, and with the 2014 Civic Coupe and Sedan going on sale this week, the automaker has released pricing and fuel economy numbers for its gas and non-Si models. Honda has not released any images of the 2014 Civic Sedan yet, but we got our first look at the updated Coupe last month at SEMA.
Aside from styling changes introduced on the 2013 Sedan being carried over to the 2014 Coupe, the biggest update to all 2014 Civics might be the addition of the continuously variable transmission (CVT). Fuel economy figures carry over for cars with the manual transmission, but models swapping the previous five-speed automatic for the new CVT are seeing a boost in city fuel economy by 2 mpg helping the Civic max out at 31 mpg city for the fuel-miser HF trim level.
In terms of pricing, the 2014 Civic is getting a modest price hike of $225 for the base LX models, which now start at $18,190* for the Coupe and $18,390* for the Sedan (*not including $790 for destination charges). The sedan-only HF trim level is up $175, there's a $275 price increase for the EX and EX-L Coupe and EX Sedan models and an extra $475 has been tacked on to the EX-L Sedan.

Honda working with new supplier Autoliv for Takata inflator recall

Takata is fighting against US regulators over whether to expand its airbag inflator recall nationwide, but the affected automakers are continuing to broaden their own campaigns to get these vehicles fixed. Honda is the first company to take the bold move of partnering with another supplier for its replacement parts. It just announced plans to work with Autoliv to create components for models needing repaired in the US. "The agreement is made in order to meet the expanded supply of inflators needed by Honda and is subject to definitive documentation," Autoliv said in a statement. The company plans to add the extra capacity for these replacement parts at its existing factories, and deliveries are expected to begin in six months. The decision to switch suppliers was quite surprising because the choice was largely considered impractical previously. Automakers believed that changing manufacturers could take as long as a year or more to implement. However, Autoliv apparently found a way to accelerate that. According to Reuters, Honda said at a hearing in the House of Representatives on December 3 (pictured above) that it was in talks with Autoliv and another supplier called Daicel about building more inflators. The extra parts are sure to come in handy for Honda, as it is now officially expanding its driver side inflator recall nationwide. Although, that that option was already available to any concerned drivers who asked for the remedy. Even with added capacity, Takata had estimated it would take two years to manufacturer enough replacements to fix all of the affected vehicles from all of the automakers. Scroll down to read Autoliv's statement on its new role. Autoliv to supply replacement airbag inflators to be used by Honda (Stockholm, December 3, 2014) – – – Autoliv, Inc. (NYSE: ALV, and SSE: ALIV sdb), the worldwide leader in automotive safety, will supply replacement airbag inflators to be used by Honda Motor Company in support of the ongoing field action initiatives in the United States. The agreement is made in order to meet the expanded supply of inflators needed by Honda and is subject to definitive documentation. In order to be able to meet increased demand, Autoliv will build additional inflator capacity in its existing manufacturing facilities. Deliveries are estimated to commence after a period of about six months from today.

Acura ILX Type S could get 300-hp turbo four

There's good news and bad news when it comes to the new Honda Civic Type R. The good news is that after more than a year of prototypes and concepts, the Japanese automaker's new hot hatch is about to make its production debut next month. The bad news is that it's not coming here, but there is a silver lining in even that dark rain cloud – namely, that Honda plans on slotting its 2.0-liter VTEC turbo four into something that it will actually offer Stateside. Earlier rumors suggested the US donor vehicle would also be a Civic, but the latest intel indicates it could be something different, albeit related. According to Car and Driver, which spoke recently with Acura product planning manager Gary Robinson, Honda's luxury division could be gearing up to shoehorn the engine into the recently updated ILX – which itself is based on the Civic. "Acura is always going to get the best engines Honda makes," said Robinson. "Obviously a 2.0-liter turbo is more of a must-have in the luxury world than it is in the mainstream" market, suggesting that an ILX Type S could be in the works with upwards of 300 horsepower. Getting it to fit, though, could prove a rather large challenge – and could mean the engine swap would have to wait until the next-generation model comes around. Considering that the ILX was just updated for 2016, C/D doesn't expect the full redesign to come until 2018 at the earliest. Here's hoping that if it takes that long, Honda will slot the engine into something else for US showrooms in the meantime. The revival of the Type S badge in and of itself, however, makes for an enticing prospect. The last time we saw it used was on the larger TL sedan, which upgraded the 3.2-liter V6 from the 225 horsepower to 260. Before that, the RSX jumped from 160 horsepower in the base model to 200 in the first Type S, 210 in the second and 217 in the ultimate Type R. As it stands, the new ILX (after dropping the hybrid and base 2.0 models, is powered exclusively by a 2.4-liter inline four with 201 hp on tap.