2008 Pilot 5 Door, 4 Wheel Drive, Ex-l Model. Original Owner, Studio City, Ca on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Ugly Moto makes beautiful motorcycle art [w/video]

Ugly Moto is a horrible name for a company that makes such wonderful motorcycle art. The creation of artist Francis Ooi, the company's illustrations focus on some of the iconic racing bikes of the 1960s and 1970s.
The artwork has an elegant simplicity that really makes it pop. It would fit just about anywhere from a home office to the bedroom of a young gearhead. Ooi has completed six illustrations so far covering classic cycles from Honda, Ducati, Yamaha and even Harley-Davidson. According to his site, the Suzuki RGB500 ridden by Barry Sheene will be the next one released. All of the prints are priced at $65 and are limited to 100 copies. They are all about 16.53 inches by 23.58 inches in size.
According to his website, these prints are just a hobby for Ooi and his real career is as the creative director at an ad agency. He creates the illustrations on his Mac, and he estimates that each design with about 800 components and layers takes about a month to complete. You can get idea of the process involved in the time-lapse video below.

Euro Honda Civic Type R engines are American-made

With 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, the latest Honda Civic Type R stands among the top of the current front-wheel drive, hot hatch heap. Sadly for the time being, it's exclusive to European buyers, and folks on this side of the pond might be waiting until 2017 to experience one. American Type R fans can be proud in the meantime, though. That's because the 2.0-liter turbocharged heart in each car doesn't come from Japan or Europe, but instead from Honda's Anna Engine Plant in Ohio. In a new video, the company is showing just a little of what goes into that production. Honda has been building engines at the Anna plant since 1985 and added the capability to produce the new, turbocharged units last year. The automaker currently employs 2,600 people there. In addition to the Type R mill, the factory makes the four- and six-cylinder powerplants for models like the Accord, Civic, CR-V, Acura ILX, TLX, and RDX. Honda intends to offer the next-gen Civic in coupe, sedan, and five-door hatch body styles in the US, and based on the company's concept, the Type R engine might come here in a two-door body. Regardless of the shape it's wrapped in, we look forward to experiencing the turbo 2.0-liter on America's roads.

Honda Civic Type R Concept to hatch in Geneva

As if the Geneva Motor Show isn't exciting enough, now we have word that a new version of a certain iconic Japanese hot hatch will make an appearance there in a few weeks time. Honda has announced that its Civic Type R Concept will be revealed during the show's media days, which take place March 4 and 5.
Since this is Honda we're talking about, we should point out that the "Concept" part of the Civic Type R's name is usually a bit of a misnomer. For the past few years, the Japanese automaker has made a habit of attaching "Concept" to the end of several near-production models in the name of drumming up auto show excitement (see Exhibits A, B, C, D and E). So really, this is almost certainly the next Civic Type R, a car we've kind of already driven.
The latter car was a "development" model, but we aren't expecting a lot to change between it and the production model. As previously reported, a 2.0-liter, turbocharged engine should deliver north of 280 horsepower to the front wheels via a six-speed gearbox. Have a look up top at the sole image of the hot Civic released by Honda, and then scroll down for the official press release.