2001 Mitsubishi Galant 4 Door Japanese Sedan 100k Clean on 2040-cars

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Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.

DoJ fines Japanese parts firms $740M in massive automotive price-fixing scandal

Nine Japanese suppliers have pleaded guilty in US court over charges of price fixing in the automotive parts industry, resulting in the Department of Justice doling out a total of $740 million of fines, according to a report from Bloomberg. The scandal, which has resulted in General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler spending up to $5 billion on inflated parts and driving up prices on 25 million vehicles has sent the DoJ hustling into investigations. "The conduct this investigation uncovered involved more than a dozen separate conspiracies aimed at the U.S. economy," Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured above) said during yesterday's press conference.
As the investigation stands, the DoJ has issued $1.6 billion in fines against 20 companies and 21 individual executives, with 17 of the execs headed to prison. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott Hammond said, "The breadth of the conspiracies brought to light today are as egregious as they are pervasive. They involve more than a dozen separate conspiracies operating independently but all sharing in common that they targeted US automotive manufacturers."
Big-name suppliers indicted in the investigation include Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Hitachi Automotive and Mitsuba Corporation. A list of fines and other corporations named in the investigation is available at Bloomberg.

F1 champ Nigel Mansell is selling Mitsubishis in Jersey

Formula One drivers have a pretty short shelf life, so when they're done racing in grands prix, retired pilots can have a whole second career ahead of them. Jody Scheckter, for example, runs an organic farm. Niki Lauda started an airline. Most move on to other racing series, provide television commentary during race broadcasts, or start their own racing teams. But not Nigel Mansell: he's got a Mitsubishi dealership. Situated on Jersey – not New Jersey, but the British channel island – Mansell Mitsubishi is run by Nigel and his son Leo. It grew out of the service station the Mansells opened fourteen years ago, and out of the Mansell Collection, a used car dealership based in an old Art Deco movie theater, but recently expanded into selling new cars recently with the acquisition of a franchise. The Japanese brand may seem a bit of an odd choice, especially now that it's getting away from performance models and putting more emphasis on plug-in electrics. After all, Nigel won his 1992 Formula One World Championship in a Renault-powered Williams, before that raced for the likes of Ferrari and Lotus, and won the CART title on his debut season in a Lola-Ford. But the Mansells are adamant that they wanted a volume brand, not to deal with the high-priced exotics with which the name might be more readily associated. After all, there are only 100,000 or so people residing on the isle of Jersey, which wouldn't make for a very big customer base for high-end machinery. He and Leo (with whom he raced at Le Mans a few years back) even participated in a two-day training session for new franchisees, where few initially recognized the former champ. And they've got plans to expand as well. But the biggest draw may very well be the star factor, and the Mansells haven't shied away from playing it up, displaying memorabilia from Nigel's racing career around the showroom. After all, the prospect of being taken on a test drive by a former F1 champion may be enough to bring new customers into the showroom who might not have otherwise.