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Honda shows us 'The Challenging Spirit of Honda'... in Japanese

Just as Porsche has done with its lengthy Le Mans gear-up, Honda is is laying the table for its Formula One return more than a year before we'll actually see it on track. We've heard what it's 2015 engine will sound like, reminisced with the 1988 McLaren Honda MP4/4 and the 1964 Honda RA271 and spoken to the company's CEO about what F1 involvement could do for its production car engines.
The automaker has now released a video called The Challenging Spirit of Honda that traces the development of its in-house F1 program and the jump from motorcycles to the first RA270 F1 chassis in 1962, to the RA272 chassis that won the 1965 Grand Prix. The only catch: the video is in Japanese. However, you can read about the winning car in English, and the video ends with another sound check of the 2015 power unit. That is a universal language, and you'll find it being spoken below.

Acura ILX Type S could get 300-hp turbo four

There's good news and bad news when it comes to the new Honda Civic Type R. The good news is that after more than a year of prototypes and concepts, the Japanese automaker's new hot hatch is about to make its production debut next month. The bad news is that it's not coming here, but there is a silver lining in even that dark rain cloud – namely, that Honda plans on slotting its 2.0-liter VTEC turbo four into something that it will actually offer Stateside. Earlier rumors suggested the US donor vehicle would also be a Civic, but the latest intel indicates it could be something different, albeit related. According to Car and Driver, which spoke recently with Acura product planning manager Gary Robinson, Honda's luxury division could be gearing up to shoehorn the engine into the recently updated ILX – which itself is based on the Civic. "Acura is always going to get the best engines Honda makes," said Robinson. "Obviously a 2.0-liter turbo is more of a must-have in the luxury world than it is in the mainstream" market, suggesting that an ILX Type S could be in the works with upwards of 300 horsepower. Getting it to fit, though, could prove a rather large challenge – and could mean the engine swap would have to wait until the next-generation model comes around. Considering that the ILX was just updated for 2016, C/D doesn't expect the full redesign to come until 2018 at the earliest. Here's hoping that if it takes that long, Honda will slot the engine into something else for US showrooms in the meantime. The revival of the Type S badge in and of itself, however, makes for an enticing prospect. The last time we saw it used was on the larger TL sedan, which upgraded the 3.2-liter V6 from the 225 horsepower to 260. Before that, the RSX jumped from 160 horsepower in the base model to 200 in the first Type S, 210 in the second and 217 in the ultimate Type R. As it stands, the new ILX (after dropping the hybrid and base 2.0 models, is powered exclusively by a 2.4-liter inline four with 201 hp on tap.

Translogic 189: 2015 LA Auto Show

The LA Auto Show has become known for its green cars and concepts, and 2015 was no exception. Translogic host Jonathon Buckley gets all the details on BMW's 330e plug-in hybrid straight from BMW President of North America Ludwig Willisch. Then we get up-to-date on Honda's latest FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell car. We round out our tour with a stop at the Elio Motors booth for a look at their updated, three-wheel P5 concept and a chat with CEO Paul Elio. But first, we jump in a time machine at the Volvo booth to discuss Concept 26, an interpretation of how car interiors might evolve in the era of self-driving cars. "The reason why we talked about it as a time machine [is] because, really, Concept 26 is giving you back something that is so precious," explained Volvo senior director of design Tisha Johnson. "We're letting you delegate driving to the car, so that you can then have that time to yourself." Click here to learn more about our host, Jonathon Buckley.