2008 Honda Lx on 2040-cars

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Sunday Drive: Variety is the spice of life

If there's any one new vehicle the entire world is anxiously waiting for, it's the Jeep Wrangler. Yes, of course the iconic off-roader has a loyal following here in America, but you could plop a Wrangler pretty much anywhere on the globe and everybody will know what it is. Put simply, the redesigned 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL has big, muddy shoes to fill, and the readers of Autoblog are just as interested in the Wrangler's rebirth as anyone else. Moving along, we were fortunate enough last week to spend a bit of time in nearly every version of the venerable Volkswagen Golf all in one day. There isn't a Golf we don't like, but there's one, easily identifiable by its three-digit name, that stands above all the rest: GTI. We think it's the best Golf you can buy, even if there's an R-badged variant that slots above the GTI in VW hierarchy. Rounding out our recap are three vehicles that could hardly be more different. The 2019 GMC Sierra, which was seen wearing pretty light camouflage, is a truck. The Lamborghini Terzo Millennio – which isn't going to go on sale, ever, at any price – is a conceptual supercar. And the Honda CB1000R is a retro-themed naked standard motorcycle. Variety really is the spice of life. 2018 Jeep Wrangler spy shot mega gallery Driving nearly every VW Golf: Base, GTI, R, Alltrack — here's what we learned 2019 GMC Sierra spied sporting just a thin wrapping The Lamborghini Terzo Millennio is a brutally fantastic EV supercar concept Honda unveils 2 new motorcycles, including retro-flavored CB1000R Image Credit: Brian Williams GMC Honda Jeep Lamborghini Volkswagen Technology Truck Convertible Crossover Hatchback SUV Performance sunday drive vw golf gti lamborghini terzo millennio

Sampling toys and tools in the Honda Dream Garage

I have two Hondas in my modest garage. One is a 1972 CB450 that I cherish but rarely ride, the other a 2014 HRR216 mower that my neighbors probably wish I'd use more often. Not quite dream garage material, but I like my trusty Hondas all the same. So I was pretty geeked to visit what Honda calls its Dream Garage. Spoiler alert: There was no actual garage. The various Honda products were spread out over a few acres of private land. And before you ask, no, the HondaJet wasn't in attendance. No confining garage meant I got to try a bunch of this stuff out. Honda makes such a wide variety of products, and so many of them, that it is the number one maker of engines in the world, having built 28 million in 2014. Highlights included a smattering of motorcycles, some rugged side-by-sides, the Uni-Cub assistive mobility device/powered stool, a few boats, Honda's latest cars, and snowblowers. Yep, in Southern California in July. They used damp sawdust for demonstrations, which meant I got to run a giant snowblower in a t-shirt. Watch the video above to see me ride, drive, walk behind, and be assisted by some of Honda's latest gear that isn't a car. Some of my favorites: The Grom. I've wanted to ride one since it came out a couple years back. This miniature motorcycle is hilarious and surprisingly rideable given its 125-cc single, which puts out about eight horsepower. It'll do 45 mph pretty easily, which feels fast on this baby bike. The only thing that takes getting used to is the time required to glance down at the instruments – they're way down there. Otherwise, it's a normal motorcycle with tiny wheels and a tinier engine. Riding the Uni-Cub was another dream experience of mine. It's much more intuitive than a Segway and makes you look slightly less goofy. I felt like I was in an OK Go video. It was neat. One item that didn't make the video is the NM4 you see here: crazy anime-inspired styling, a dual-clutch transmission, and then more crazy styling. The DCT means your left hand and foot get a rest. I still grabbed for the clutch every time I started the bike, though. Old habits and their hard deaths. Honda is also putting a dual-clutch transmission into one of its newest side-by-side offerings, but it was only on display and not available to pilot. I drove one with a traditional auto and another with an automated manual – and paddle shifters!

Honda may recall up to 1M vehicles for airbag issue, following Toyota's lead

It seems Toyota won't be the only one recalling the faulty Takata airbag inflators for long. Honda insiders in Japan claim that the company is getting close to announcing its own worldwide campaign that would begin before the end of June.
Unnamed sources close to Honda in Japan tell Automotive News that the company is pursuing an internal investigation into possibly affected models and is working with Takata to gather more information. They claim that it could involve even more than the 1.14 million cars worldwide that the automaker covered under the first recall for the problem in April 2013, including 561,000 vehicles in the US.
Toyota jumpstarted this process last week when it recalled over 2 million cars worldwide, including 844,277 in the US. Soon after, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began a preliminary evaluation into the issue following six reported incidents, and started assembling data about potentially affected models from Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Chrysler. NHTSA also began investigating Takata itself.