1994 Honda Civic Dx Coupe 2-door 1.5l No Reserve! Stock! on 2040-cars

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Meet the Kanjozoku, Osaka's infamous street racers

Street racing is obviously illegal and incredibly dangerous, but that has never stopped people from doing it. While we don't hear nearly as much about the scourge of Japanese tuner cars as when The Fast and the Furious first hit theaters over a decade ago, illegal street racing is still bubbling under the surface all over the island nation. An excellent new documentary short from Bowls Films takes a look at the Kanjozoku from Osaka, Japan; a group that claims to be partially responsible for the tuning style known as JDM.
The group gets their name from their preferred route known as the Kanjo. It's a 4.77-mile long loop of connected highways running right through the city of Osaka. You might expect a hardcore group of illegal Japanese racers to show up with highly tuned Nissan GT-R and Toyota Supra coupes, but the Kanjozoku evidently eschew all of the others in favor of one particular car that they love: the Honda Civic.
According to the video, that vehicle of choice came in part from the city's location. Osaka was relatively near the one-make Civic races held at Japan's legendary Suzuka racetrack. The hatchbacks thus became the default weapons for the Kanjozoku's street battles.

Honda has finally killed the unloved CR-Z hybrid hatch

Last week we told you that the CR-Z would bow out in Japan with a Final Edition, a typical limited-run job with some badging and unique cosmetic elements. Now Honda has announced that the CR-Z is going away in the US, according to Car and Driver. But there won't be any fond farewell for the two-seat hybrid hatch here. It won't return for the 2017 model year. We expected this – a long time ago, frankly. It's not so much that the CR-Z was a bad idea, or that the car itself wasn't fun to drive on some level. It's more about the promise it failed to fulfill. The car's predecessor, the first-generation Insight hybrid, was more fun to drive in spite of having no pretension of sportiness. And although Honda tried to claim a spiritual connection, the CR-Z had very little to do with the pulse-raising CRXs of yore, which in sportier trims were a flat-out riot to drive. Instead, the CR-Z paired lukewarm driving dynamics with some appalling styling and ergonomic choices. It was heavy and not terribly powerful or efficient. Its only real enthusiast calling card was an available manual transmission, something no other hybrid offers, sporty or otherwise. Given that it was unloved by Americans from the start, the most surprising thing about the CR-Z is how long it lingered on the market. Not every car works; that's the nature of things. Whatever was wrong with the CR-Z could have been addressed with the sort of emergency refresh that the last-generation Civic got in response to being widely panned by critics and consumers. Instead, the CR-Z rotted on the vine rather than getting an investment to fulfill its original promise. In the meantime, the highest-zoot supercars and Honda's own Acura NSX have made hybridization cool again. There's no reason a small hatch couldn't benefit from some on-demand electric torque. In many respects, the CR-Z's time is now. It wasn't quite the right thing and arrived at definitely the wrong time. That's a shame, but don't cry over the CR-Z. It's gone to a better place. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. News Source: Car and Driver Green Honda Coupe Hatchback Hybrid Performance

2015 Honda Fit set for Detroit reveal

We've got one more debut confirmed for next month's Detroit Auto Show, as Honda has announced that it will be showing off the 2015 Fit in the Motor City. Honda has released a singular image of the new Fit's rear taillight, above.
From the sole image, we can see that the American-spec Fit will share at least its taillights with the Japanese variant, which we've helpfully included an image of to the right. Now, technically, the blue car to the right is the Fit Hybrid, a car we aren't expecting to see in the US market. But the gallery of images we've included below should give those interested in the car a very good idea of what the new Fit will look like when it hits the auto show stage next month.
As for what will be under hood when it debuts in January, Honda is touting its Earth Dreams Technology engine, which we take to mean some sort of four-cylinder, gas-powered mill. Expect excellent fuel economy from the new car, and according to the Japanese brand, "leading-edge connected car technologies."