2002 Honda Civic Ex 2dr Coupe Automatic Cruise Control One Owner on 2040-cars

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Consumer Reports explains its disdain for infotainment

One of the perks of reviewing all manner of cars and trucks is that we're exposed to all the different infotainment systems. Whether Cadillac's CUE, Chrysler's UConnect, BMW's iDrive or MyFord Touch, we sample each and every infotainment system on the market.
Not surprisingly, some are better than others. It seems consumers have come to a similar consensus, with Consumer Reports claiming that Ford and Lincoln, Cadillac and Honda offer the worst user infotainment experiences. Not surprisingly, you won't find much argument among the Autoblog staff.
Take a look below to see just what it is about the latest batch of infotainment systems that grinds CR's gears. After that, scroll down into Comments and let us know if you agree with the mag's views.

April 2014: The ramping-up-for-summer edition

Americans appear to be gearing up for further increases in US gas prices, as green-car sales last month had their largest year-over-year gains of 2014. Domestic customers bought almost 56,000 hybrids, plug-ins and diesels in April, marking a 2.6 percent increase from April 2013. Plug-in sales were particularly strong, jumping 41 percent from a year earlier, as sales of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range plug-in and Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S battery-electric vehicles all showed gains. April's big winner among the automakers was Honda, moving 1,442 units of its newer Accord Hybrid And April's big winner among the automakers was...Honda? Yes, Honda, which has long operated in the advanced-powertrain shadow of fellow Japanese automakers Toyota and Nissan, came up big by moving 1,442 units of its newer Accord Hybrid. And while sales of the Civic Hybrid, CR-Z and Insight all fell, the Accord Hybrid drove Honda to boost its green-car sales by 78 percent from a year earlier to 2,839 units. Per usual, Nissan and Tesla also showed year-over-year gains. Nissan boosted Leaf sales by 7.8 percent to 2,088 units. And while Tesla won't release its first-quarter results until May 7, the California-based automaker would've increased Model S sales by 34 percent to 2,300 just by maintaining its fourth-quarter 2013 sales pace. Volkswagen and low-volume advanced-powertrain vehicle makers like Audi, Porsche and Daimler AG's Smart division also fared well in April. VW increased its diesel and Jetta Hybrid sales by 25 percent to 9,583 units. Audi's diesel sales quadrupled to 2,088 units. Smart sold 203 units of its newer Smart ED battery-electric vehicle. Such gains more than offset sales declines from General Motors, Ford and Toyota, though Toyota's April was less painful than previous months. GM's big mild-hybrid sales declines more than offset the 19 percent increase in Chevy Volt sales to 1,548 units and the sales of 491 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel vehicles. All told, GM's green-car sales declined 25 percent to 3,103 units. Fusion Energi Plug-in Hybrid sales doubled and C-Max Energi PHEV sales jumped 28 percent. Ford's green-car sales were down 12 percent to 7,554 vehicles. While Fusion Energi Plug-in Hybrid sales doubled and C-Max Energi PHEV sales jumped 28 percent, Fusion Hybrid sales were little-changed while C-Max Hybrid sales tumbled 50 percent to 1,586 units.

Fire up your 3D printer! Honda releases data for several of its past concepts [w/video]

Futurists have been treating 3D printing like it is the second coming of the Industrial Revolution for years. Everyone will have a 3D printer in their garage and be able make practically anything at home before you know it, right? Well... not quite.
While we can imagine a piece of trim breaking on our car and being able to download the file to print a new one at home, the reality is that 3D printing is still in its earliest stages as a consumer device. Still, Honda is capitalizing on the technology by allowing people to make models of its concept cars at home.
The Honda 3D Design Archive currently consists of five models based on the Fuya-Jo, FSR, Kiwami, Puyo, and NSX concepts. The printer files can be downloaded from the web and carry Creative Commons 4.0 licenses, which allow them to be freely shared. Honda promises that more files will be added to the archive soon.