2006 127k Dealer Trade Civic Absolute Sale $1.00 No Reserve Look! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2021 Acura TLX Type S Road Test Review | Golden and glorious

After spending an entire month with our long-term 2021 Acura TLX A-Spec, I had high hopes for the new TLX Type S. When you start from a good base, that means things can only get better, right? The chassis underneath the base TLX’s flashy sheetmetal is a thing of brilliance. This four-door is taut and responsive the way you expect a high-performance German sport sedan to be, and the SH-AWD system is one of the best in the business, hugely aiding its agility. But not everything about the TLX A-Spec with its 2.0-turbo four-cylinder is perfect in the fun-to-drive column. The 10-speed transmission is mediocre at best, and while the engine makes a good noise, an Accord with its 2.0-turbo can outrun it in a straight line. ThereÂ’s enough thrust to keep things lively, but itÂ’s not going to raise your pulse. Enter the TLX Type S. It marks AcuraÂ’s mighty return to performance cars (beyond the NSX), and itÂ’s a chance for Acura to address our issues with the standard TLX. LetÂ’s get into it. The Type S boots out the four-cylinder in favor of AcuraÂ’s totally new 3.0-liter turbocharged V6. This engine is exclusive to the Type S for the time being, and itÂ’s a winner. DonÂ’t expect a high-revving classic Honda experience, though. Instead, just like the new turbocharged Civic Type R, this V6 is a torque monster. The peak 354 pound-feet hits low in the rev band at 1,400 rpm then carries on up to 5,000. Its peak 355 horsepower is made at 5,500 rpm, and redline comes shortly thereafter at 6,200. Acura still found a way to make this relatively low-revving V6 sound more frenzied than it actually is. The trip up to redline in Sport and Sport+ (which opens the active exhaust valves) is music to the ears. ItÂ’s not punishingly loud, but the pitch increases with revs to a much higher note than you might suspect. Open the windows, and youÂ’ll also get some turbo-spooling noises for even more drama. The personality and character level of this engine is off the charts compared to the standard 2.0T. Only BMWÂ’s inline-six — in the M340i — offers up a similarly enticing noise. The pull from this engine matches the sound it makes, too. Good luck finding a dead spot or weak point anywhere, because it doesnÂ’t exist. ThereÂ’s no cliff of torque at the end of the meaty rev band, and while the Type S might not win every stoplight drag race — Acura estimates an approximately 5-second trip to 60 mph — itÂ’s plenty quick enough to have a hell of a good time in.

Honda signs on as Pikes Peak sponsor, race participant

Honda plans to storm the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 30, entering ten cars in nine classes at the race to the sky, and signing on as a corporate sponsor. Part of the company's return to grassroots racing - if that's what you can call factory-backed efforts - the banners of Honda R&D and Honda North America will fly on these entries: a first-gen Acura NSX, an Acura TL SH-AWD, Honda CR-Z, Honda Fit EV, one CRF450R and two CRF250R motorcycles, a CBR1000RR motorcycle and a TRX450 ATV.
One more entry, details of which are to be announced later, will be driven by IndyCar pilot Simon Pagenaud of Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports. LoveFab (pictured above during practice last year) will be there with its new, NSX-based Enviate, but as a privateer entry.
Honda's been to the mountain before, with high-powered gear in 2012 and record-setting EVs in 1994 and 1999, but it's never made noise like this. Have a read of the press release below for more info.

2016 Acura NSX: Everything there is to know [w/video]

The road to supercar stardom is littered with missteps. For every slam-dunk like the McLaren F1 and Ferrari F40, there are contenders that never quite reach their full potential – think Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and Jaguar XJ220. Fear of building a mediocre halo car is why automakers take costly detours like reverse-engineering a carbon fiber chassis when aluminum just won't do (we're looking at you, Lexus LFA), and it's often those second, third, and even fourth major redirects that can make the difference between has-been and hero. History has been kind to the late, great Acura NSX. Though its final years saw it lagging in power, ballooning in price and burdened by unsightly bubble headlamps, the NSX went to pasture in 2005 with a reputation for being an innovative, driver-focused ride that also happened to be practical enough for daily use. Despite its lofty aspirations and attainable price point, fifteen years of production saw just under 9,000 NSXs on the road, which begs the inevitable question: was Acura's mid-engine top dog too tame to be great, yet too ubiquitous to be exotic? Considering how the NSX redux has been worked (and re-worked as a stillborn front-engine V10 GT, only to return to a mid-engine layout), it's safe to say Acura is intent on securing supercar greatness. While the essential spirit of the original NSX program targeted the "New Sports Experimental" idea, Large Project Leader Ted Klaus says that Shigeru Uehara, the man responsible for the original NSX (and Honda S2000, among others) advised the US-based development team that they ought to be "... open-minded to doing things for the emotional benefit of the customer," and not come from a place that was "hyper rational." In other words, build a car that makes the heart skip a beat. View 8 Photos As such, the next-generation NSX has departed from the 2013 concept and assumed a more emotional, expressive design language that hides a more engineering-intensive drivetrain. Gone is the naturally aspirated, transverse-mounted V6, replaced with a longitudinally mounted, turbocharged, dry-sump V6 that produces "north of 550 horsepower," according to Acura brass. As before, the internal combustion mill works with three electric motors to deliver power to all four wheels. Super Handling All-Wheel Drive, indeed – or, as Acura refers to it in this application, Sport Hybrid Super Handling All-Wheel Drive. Why the shift?