2002 Honda Civic Lx on 2040-cars

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Five bikes from EICMA you need to know about

Each and every year, the world's biggest motorcycle manufacturers gather together in Milan, Italy to show off the latest and greatest machinery that will soon be offered to dealerships the world over. It's called EICMA (Esposizione Internazionale Ciclo Motociclo e Accessori), and this year's crop of new motorcycles is just as exciting as ever.
We've selected five of the coolest motorcycles shown at this week's show, including models from Aprilia, BMW, Ducati, Honda and Yamaha. Join us down below for a high-performance, two-wheeled Italian journey.

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.

Honda rolls out new N-Box Slash kei car in Japan

Honda may not compete with the likes of the expanding Fiat 500 and contracting Mini families in the North American or European markets, but back home in Japan it has a whole series of retro hatchbacks, grouped together as part of its N series. And now there is one more. Called the N-Box Slash (or N/ for short), the boxy but stylish new hatch is built to fit into Japan's rigid Kei car class, which means a tiny footprint no longer than 11 feet long and five feet wide. That makes it even smaller than the already-diminutive Smart Forfour or Renault Twingo, but into that compact form, Honda has fit five doors and four seats under a tall roof. In fact those front seats even fold flat and flush with the rear ones to make for as big a bed as you could possibly fit inside its compact dimensions. Technical details remain scarce, but power likely comes from the same 600cc three-cylinder engine - turbocharged or not, driving the front wheels or all four - as the rest of the N series, which already includes the N-One, N-Box, N-Box+ and N-WGN. Feel free to read the original Japanese or Google-translated press releases below, just don't expect it or any of its stablemates to show up in a North American showroom any time soon. 2014.11.27 ???????N-BOX SLASH(?????? ?????)????????????? Honda??12?22?(?)???????????N??????1?5?????????N-BOX SLASH(?????? ?????)?????????11?27?(?)?Honda????????????????? N-BOX SLASH?????????????N??????????????????????????????????????????????"???????"?"??????"??????????????????????????????????????????5???????????????Honda?????????? ???????????????N???????????????????? ?????????????????????? http://www.honda.co.jp/Nboxslash/new/ ?1 ?N??????????????????????????????????????Honda??????????????M?M(????????/???????)?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????N??????1?????N-BOX(??????)???2?????N-BOX +(?????????)???3?????N-ONE(????)???4?????N-WGN(?????)? ?????????????? ?????????? 0120-112010(???????)?????????? ### (translated) 2014.11.27 Preceding publish new mini passenger car "N-BOX SLASH (NTT box slash)" in the home page Honda is, December 22 (Monday) to have plans to release "N" series ? 1 information about the fifth installment of the new mini-car "N-BOX SLASH (NTT box slash)", November 27 ( I was preceded published in Honda's home page on the tree).