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2015 Honda CR-V

Predicting the future direction of Honda's compact CR-V would have been difficult based on the Civic-derived model that first arrived on our shores for the 1997 model year. The newcomer, selling alongside the body-on-frame Passport (a hastily rebadged Isuzu Rodeo), was a cute compact crossover with four doors and an awkward curb-side hinged tailgate thanks to its Japanese home-market design. The five-passenger CUV offered generous interior room, but its wheezy 2.0-liter four-cylinder, with an output of just 126 horsepower and 133 pound-feet of torque, required 11.7 seconds to bring the 3,153-pound vehicle to 60 miles per hour. Rear drum brakes didn't help much in the stopping department, but Honda offered safety-minded consumers optional anti-lock brakes on the premium trim.
Nearly two decades after its introduction, the CR-V has matured in spectacular manner. The refreshed 2015 Honda CR-V, now in its fourth generation, is dimensionally within two inches of its ancestor in overall length and nearly identical in height and wheelbase. That consistency of dimension is impressive in this age of size and segment creep, and it stands as a testament to how 'right' Honda engineers got the model's original packaging. Of course, the CR-V hasn't stood still - nearly everything else about the best-selling compact CUV has improved in leaps and bounds.
But Honda is not the only player in this hotly contested segment today, so the automaker has taken the unusual step of updating its fourth-generation model just a few years after its introduction in an effort to keep it seated on the podium. To learn more about the automaker's improvements, and form our own impressions, we spent a day driving the CR-V in sunny Southern California.

Refreshed Honda Civic's first commercial is a minor mea culpa

Honda has officially rolled out the first ad for the 2013 Civic. The one-minute spot focuses on a number of clever inventions that improve on old themes, from rocket-powered parachutes to hover bikes and smart window shades, before shifting to the redesigned compact. Set to Santigold's "Disparate Youth," the ad culminates with the phrase, "Things can always be better." This is likely as close as we'll come to hearing Honda say, "we could have done better."
Unveiled at the 2012 LA Auto Show, the 2013 Civic features revised front and rear fascias, nicer cabin materials and an updated suspension just one year after the ninth-generation model debuted. That car received scaling reviews from critics, most notably Consumer Reports, who felt the 2012 Civic was a step backwards for a company known for producing high-quality, economical vehicles. You can check out the full ad for the 2013 Civic below before it debuts during the Rose Bowl.

Honda protective of Type R name; NSX Type R not in the works

During a roundtable during a recent event hosted by Honda, we joined in on a roundtable interview with Honda Technical Consultant Ko Yamamoto and Honda Civic Type R Project Leader Hideki Kakinuma. Questions were asked about the Type R brand broadly, as well as the potential for some new projects. The answers were both good news and disappointing news for Honda fans. The good news is that Honda takes the Type R name and brand very seriously. Yamamoto and Kakinuma explained that the name and its associated red "H" badge are only for vehicles with a racing connection, such as the Honda Civic Type R that has a couple of racing variants. As such, you won't be seeing a CR-V, Odyssey or Insight with the Type R name. Furthermore, the Type R name is only for Honda-badged vehicles, despite the existence of the Acura Integra Type R a couple decades ago. We also asked about the potential of an NSX Type R, which certainly meets the performance and racing credentials mentioned, but is much more of an Acura product and is badged as such in the U.S. Kakinuma and Yamamoto couldn't go into deep detail, but they said that there aren't plans for one at the moment, and the chances of one for the U.S. are unlikely. They noted that the previous NSX Type R was a Japanese-market exclusive, and if such a car did come to fruition, that might be the case yet again. Kakinuma did say that if he was the one in charge of NSX, he would have already had it in the works. So it's not impossible that there could be an NSX Type R in the future, but don't look for one anytime soon. Related Video: