2013 Honda Accord on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Ward's reveals annual 10 Best Engines list for 2013

Ward's Auto has released its annual 10 Best Engines award winners. The 2013 list covers the full width and breadth of the internal combustion spectrum, from a spate of efficient four-cylinders to the most powerful production V8 on the planet. As always, the entries must be available in a production vehicle in the first quarter of 2013 with an MSRP of less than $55,000. The supercharged 3.0-liter V6 from the Audi S5 held on for the fourth consecutive year, and BMW earned two spots on the list with its turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder and turbo 3.0-liter inline-six.
Ford pulled in two awards for its 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder and and the supercharged 5.8-liter V8 from the Shelby GT500. Honda matched BMW and Ford with two wins of its own. Wards awarded the 2.4-liter four-cylinder from the Honda Accord Sport as well as the 3.5-liter V6 from the Honda Accord. Chrysler, General Motors and Subaru each garnered a spot on the list as well for the 3.6-liter V6 in the Ram 1500, the turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder in the Cadillac ATS and the 2.0-liter four-cylinder the Subaru BRZ, respectively. You can read the full press release below for more information.

Toyota, Honda, Nissan and more collaborating to increase fuel efficiency

Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Daihatsu have announced an alliance that will see a push to improve fuel economy from both gas-powered and diesel-powered engines by as much as 30 percent before the end of the decade.
The newly assembled Research Association of Automotive Internal Combustion Engines put the roughly $20-million project together, with the Japanese government committing to half the cost while the eight manufacturers will chip in the rest.
According to Automotive News, the automakers will team up and share basic research on internal-combustion engines in a bid to cut costs. Eventually, the results of the research will find its way into a production vehicle, although it's unclear just when we'll see the fruits of this partnership on the road.

Boston woman's car finally free from 100 inches of snow

It's a car owner's worst winter nightmare: Snowfall so heavy that you can't dig your vehicle out of it. That's exactly what happened to Jillian Tenen, whose 2007 Honda Civic was buried in the snow in Boston for seven weeks after historic winter storms. Tenen's car was initially stuck after a snowfall in late January, but she didn't dig it out because she had the flu. "I'm 5' 2," and it was all ice, an iceberg on top of my car," she told the Boston Globe. "I couldn't reach it. I couldn't lift it. And even if I could, there was nowhere to put it. I just didn't know what to do," she said. Tenen reached out for help to the city, her insurance company and a tow truck company, but they refused to help her. Finally when the weather warmed up, Tenen used an ice chopper to get into her car. The windshield was damaged, however, the car started on its own. "If I had to do it again, I would definitely do one thing differently... I would not park on the corner," Tenen said.