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eBay Find of the Day: 1985 Honda City Turbo II is JDM forbidden fruit you can own

It's always fun to cruise different global eBay Motors sites and check out the cars that we never got here. Thankfully, America's 25-year import limit on cars means that some of the rarities from the 80s are finally legal on these shores. This 1985 Honda City Turbo II is a great example of a fun, little car that we never got new but can be made legal here now.
The City was basically the Japanese company's '80s equivalent of today's Fit, albeit significantly smaller. The little urban runabout was so popular in its basic form that Honda decided to take things up a notch and turbocharge it. That car sold enough to warrant an even higher performance version called the Turbo II, which added an intercooler and the flared fenders you see here. The latter helped it earn the nickname "bulldog" for its boxy, aggressive appearance.
Honda claimed at the time that its little 1.2-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder produced 109 horsepower and 118 pound-feet of torque with a five-speed manual. In a car that weight just 1,620 pounds, you can imagine it was a very entertaining little package.

Honda Expands Takata Airbag Recall To 5.4M Units In The US

While Honda already announced plans to take its front driver's side Takata airbag inflator recall nationwide, the automaker has now officially reported on the number of affected vehicles and the specific models in need of repair. The expanded campaign covers an estimated 5.4 million units across the US, including those already being fixed under the previous regional actions. That number is an expansion of the five million units initially reported by NHTSA. The affected models under the nationwide recall are the 2001-2007 Accord with a four-cylinder engine, 2001-2002 Accord V6, 2001-2005 Civic, 2002-2006 CR-V, 2003-2011 Element, 2002-2004 Odyssey, 2003-2007 Pilot, 2006 Ridegline, 2003-2006 Acura MDX, 2002-2003 TL and 2002 CL. For customers who expressed concern about their vehicle's safety, Honda had already been replacing the inflators nationwide. It's possible for the inflators in these vehicles to rupture when inflating the airbag, spraying metal fragments at occupants. This problem has been blamed for at least five deaths worldwide and at least 139 reported injuries. In its statement, Honda said that it worked with Takata to test the recalled inflators in the original high-humidity recall regions, and there were no abnormal deployments in these evaluations. Honda will begin notifying owners by "over time," according to its statement. Priority will be put on the geographic areas with the highest risk of ruptures. Those in the original recall region were contacted in September. Earlier in December, Honda partnered with Autoliv to supply the automaker with replacement inflators for this campaign. Autoliv predicted it would take six months for deliveries to start. Takata also increased its production of substitute components. Scroll down to read the company's announcement of this nationwide expansion. Statement by American Honda Regarding National Safety Improvement Campaign: Driver's Front Airbag Inflator Supplied by Takata Dec 8, 2014 - TORRANCE, Calif. Honda will voluntarily expand a regional Safety Improvement Campaign initiated in June 2014 (NHTSA No. 14V-351) into a national Safety Improvement Campaign affecting certain 2001 through 2011 Honda and Acura vehicles in the United States to replace the driver frontal airbag inflator, free of charge. Honda is expanding this Safety Improvement Campaign to address concerns raised by its customers whose vehicles were not included in the regional campaign.

McLaren MP4-30 marks Honda's hotly anticipated F1 return

McLaren's Formula One fortunes have drastically dropped in performance over the past couple of seasons. The Formula One team with a dozen Drivers' Championships, eight Constructors' Titles and 182 grand prix victories to its name hasn't won a race since 2012, and finished the past two seasons down in fifth place. But now it begins a new era – or rather, restarts one. And this is the machine that's kicking it all off. After a 23-year parting of ways, McLaren has brought Honda back onto the grid for this season, and will be the only team running the Japanese automaker's brand-new RA615H turbocharged hybrid power unit. Both parties are undoubtedly hoping the rekindled partnership will bring them back to the winning days of the late Eighties when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost memorably drove their equipment to four consecutive World Championships. Largely an evolution of last season's Mercedes-powered MP4-29, the new chassis features a new front-end design to comply with the latest adjustment to the regulations from the FIA, and also incorporates a slimmer rear end built around the new Honda engine and gearbox. It also features a revised livery that adds more black to the red and silver color scheme, and does without a title partner for the time being, but includes the logos of sponsors Mobil1, SAP, TAG Heuer, Johnnie Walker, Hilton, CNN and KPMG, as well as that of Honda. Though this season will likely be more of a transition and development year for McLaren and Honda, all eyes will surely be fixed on the team to see how the new MP4-30 will fare. Fortunately, they've lined up a compelling roster of drivers, lead by former World Champions Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. McLAREN-HONDA BEGINS NEW ERA WITH MP4-30 #McLarenHonda #MakeHistory McLaren-Honda – the name evokes stirring memories of the past; of Ayrton Senna battling Alain Prost for supremacy; of classic red and white machines dominating for season upon season; of an iconic team writing one of the defining chapters in the motor racing history books. Reuniting such an illustrious partnership brings with it the heavy weight of expectation, but all at McLaren and Honda are working to write a fresh chapter in Formula 1, one that respectfully nods to the past, but boldly looks to the horizon. Today's reveal of the new McLaren-Honda MP4-30 – McLaren's first Honda-powered car for 23 years – speaks volumes about the progressive nature of both companies.