Find the best price deals on a 2012 Honda Fit Sport.

The Honda Fit has been around since 2001 in Asia, but was introduced to the US for the 2007 model year.  It is a 5-door subcompact hatchback that is currently in its second generation.  On pretty much every continent except North America and Asia, it is known as the Jazz.  When it was introduced in Japan in 2001, it was so popular that it outsold the Toyota Corolla, and was the bestseller in Japan for a total of nine of the twelve months of 2002.

The Fit has been quite popular in the US, and has remained near the top of its market segment.  The Fit is actually the car most cited in reviews of other subcompacts.  Its unique marketing propositions are that it has just a little more zip than other subcompacts, and the exterior styling is both attractive and very aerodynamic.

The 2012 Honda Fit Sport is the higher of two trim levels.  It has a 1.5 liter, inline 4-cylinder engine that produces 117 horsepower and 106 foot-pounds of torque.  It has 16-inch alloy wheels, front-wheel drive, and a 5-speed manual transmission.  It is rated at 27 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway, and goes from zero to sixty in 9.5 seconds.

The Honda Fit Sport comes with a tilt-telescope, leather-covered steering wheel that houses the audio and cruise controls.  It also has front bucket seats, a 60/40 split-folding rear seatback, cloth upholstery, keyless entry, power mirrors, power windows, a 12-volt power outlet, air conditioning, a rear spoiler, a chrome exhaust tip, a rear wiper, a rear defogger, foglights, and a trip computer.  The audio system has 160 watts of output, 6 speakers, AM/FM radio, a CD/MP3 player, a radio data system, an audio jack, and a USB/iPod input.

The Fit Sport also comes with antilock brakes, stability control, traction control, side front airbags, side curtain airbags, and active front head restraints.  There are no US Government tests yet, but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave it their highest score of good for side impact and frontal offset impact, and their second-best score of acceptable for roof strength.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

Honda has done a great job of giving a small car made with lighter, less-expensive materials look like a more expensive car, both inside and out.  The interior, though some of the materials are hard plastic, looks very nice, and the design is practical while still attractive.  A few of the controls are counter-intuitive to some, but they are well-placed once you get used to them.

There is more cabin space than you would expect in a subcompact.  The combined head and legroom measurements are 81.7 inches in the front seat and 73.5 inches in the back seat.  The seats themselves are very comfortable for a compact, while still providing decent support.

In addition, the back seat folds down for a flat cargo surface.  There are 20.6 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seat, and a total of 57.3 cubic feet with the rear seat folded down.  You can even fold the front seat down flat to carry objects up to 8 feet long.

The Fit is very maneuverable, partially because of its size, and partially because of  well-adjusted steering and suspension.    As you may expect from the name, the Fit Sport is tuned for sporty performance, and even trades a bit of fuel economy for extra response from the accelerator.  The steering is very responsive, and the steering radius is small.  The suspension keeps body roll to a minimum and the spoiler helps the Fit Sport hug the road.

The ride is more typical of a subcompact.  It is a little bit stiff because of the tightly-adjusted suspension.  The cabin is very quiet for its price range.  There is some buffering that keeps out a lot of the wind, engine, and road noise.  The aerodynamic tweaks help with the wind noise, too.

All in all, the Honda Fit is a great little car in what is rapidly becoming a competitive market segment.  It is a good choice for a single, couple, or a very young family.   It can be used for short commutes or long trips.  It also proves that a subcompact doesn’t have to be boring.

The verdict: if you can sacrifice a few miles per gallon of fuel economy for a more engaging driving experience, the Honda Fit is a good fit.

Optional equipment and the other trim level:

The Fit can be equipped with an automatic transmission.  The mileage is the same on the Sport, but it increases to 28 mpg in the city and 35 mpg on the highway in the base, because the computer is programmed to use less fuel.  This, of course, decreases performance.  It all depends on what is important to you.

Bluetooth is available as an option on the Sport, as is a touchscreen navigation system with a digital audio card reader and voice controls.

The lowest trim is the base.  It has a more conservative suspension than the Sport does, and lacks the rear spoiler.  Here are the other things you give up with the Base trim: the leather-wrapped steering wheel, two speakers, foglights, the sport body kit with chrome exhaust kit.  Also, your 16-inch alloy wheels turn to 15-inch steel wheels.

We chose the Sport trim because it is different from the rest of the market.  Most of the smaller cars are concentrating on being mileage misers, with great success.  The Fit Sport just lets ‘er rip, forgets about stellar mileage, and gives you a great behind-the-wheel experience.  Despite the extra horses and cleverly fast gear ratios, the mileage isn’t all that bad, either.

The subcompact market segment is one of the most-improved segments in the business right now.  The Honda Fit is one of the reasons why.  We always suggest looking around, but we also don’t think you can go wrong with the Fit.

Anytime a subcompact gets high scores from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, it is great news for the consumer.  It forces everyone else in the market to improve their product.  The bottom line: it is a lot safer to buy a subcompact in 2012 than it was in 2000.

The Honda Fit has been around since 2001, but the first model year in the US was the 2007.  It is now in its second generation.  It is a small, economy hatchback with a very sporty attitude.  With most cars, the “sport” trim involves a tighter suspension.  With the Fit, it just has a different set of conveniences.  The suspension and steering already come tuned for sport on the base model.

The 2010 Honda Fit Sport is the second of two trim levels.  It has a 1.5 liter, inline 4-cylinder engine that produces 117 horsepower.  It has 16-inch alloy wheels, low-profile tires, front-wheel drive, and a 5-speed manual transmission.  It is rated at 27 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway.

The Fit Sport comes with a leather-wrapped, tilt-telescope steering wheel that houses the audio and cruise controls, front bucket seats with a fold flat passenger seat, a 60/40 split-folding rear seat, cloth upholstery, keyless entry, full-power accessories, air conditioning, a rear spoiler, a rear wiper, a rear defogger, foglights, and a trip computer.  The audio system has 6 speakers, AM/FM radio, a CD/MP3 player, an audio jack, and a USB/iPod input.

The Fit also comes with antilock brakes, side front airbags, side curtain airbags, active front head restraints, and traction control, but no stability control.  The US government gave it a perfect 5 stars for frontal impacts and 5 stars for side impact front passenger, but 4 stars for side impact rear passenger protection.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, meanwhile, gave the Fit its highest score of “good’ in side and front impacts.

The absence of stability control makes the Fit more likely to roll over than a car with ESC.  The Fit got 4 stars out of five from the government for rollover protection, and the second-best rating of “acceptable” for roof strength from the IIHS.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

The Fit is one of “those” cars that seems larger on the inside than it is on the outside.  There is plenty of headroom and legroom in both the front and rear seats.  In addition, the seats are comfortable enough that 4 adults could take a long trip in this car with no problem.  There is a total of 57.3 cubic feet of storage space if you fold the rear seat down, with 20.6 of it behind the seats.

Appropriately, the Fit drives and rides like a little sport hatchback.  It is nimble and agile, with great response from the steering and suspension.  Somehow, it doesn’t detract from the ride.  The curb weight is 2,500 pounds, which makes the engine more than large enough to provide a bit of punch to the accelerator during acceleration and highway driving.  The engine is a bit noisy on the highway, though.

All in all, this is a fun car to drive.  It is often the first car mentioned by experts as a point of comparison when talking about other small cars.  We don’t like the combination of sporty performance and no ESC, though.

The verdict: a great car for a talented, “old-school” driver who knows how to keep a car from rolling over.  Otherwise, you might want to opt for the 2011 model, which added ESC and front head restraints to make this car perfect.

Honda might be a Japanese company, but the Pilot is about as American as it gets.  It is made in Alabama, and was originally created to fill US demand for a midsize crossover with third row seats.  The Pilot is in its second generation.  It has the unibody construction of a car, but has been made to look more like a truck and given towing capability.

The 2010 Honda Pilot EX is a midsize crossover SUV that seats eight.  It has a 3.5 liter V6 engine that produces 250 horsepower and 253 pound-feet of torque.  It has 17-inch alloy wheels, front-wheel drive, and a 5-speed automatic transmission.  It is rated at 17 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway.

The Pilot EX comes with a tilt-telescope steering wheel, an 8-way power driver’s seat with height and lumbar adjustments, 60/40 split-folding bench seats in both the second and third row, cloth upholstery, full-power accessories, cruise control, 3-zone climate control, 12-volt outlets in the front, rear, and cargo areas, a rear defogger, a rear wiper, a rear liftgate door with manual window, foglights, and a trip computer.  The audio system has 6 conventional speakers, a subwoofer, AM/FM/satellite radio, a 6-Cd/MP3 changer, and an audio jack.

The Pilot also comes with antilock brakes, brake hill holder, brake assist, side front airbags, side curtain airbags, stability control, traction control, and active front head restraints.  The Pilot got perfect test scores in all front impact and side impact tests from both the government and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

The Pilot has a truck-like interior.  That means it doesn’t have a lot of frills.  The dash is a bit busy with controls, but everything else is straightforward.  It looks more like it was built as a work truck than as a passenger vehicle.  There is plenty of space, though.

The front seats are very spacious, while both of the back rows can comfortably seat three adults.  There is plenty of headroom all around, but the seats are a bit lower to the ground than many people like, necessitating a “knees up” seating position for many.  The seats themselves are firm and comfortable.  The total cargo space with the seats folded is 87 cubic feet, including 18 cubic feet behind the seating area.

If Honda is trying to make this vehicle both look and feel a lot like a truck, they have succeeded.  The handling is very truck-like, with a bit of a lag in steering, and the suspension gives a lot of body roll, partially due to the curb weight of 4310 pounds.  That means you have to slow down a bit on curves and corners.  The engine has enough power to get from point A to point B, and is OK for cruising at highway speeds, but acceleration can be a bit trying.

For all of this, the ride itself is great.  The suspension provides a very lush ride, not quite like a luxury car, but quite comfortable nonetheless.

If you are looking for an exciting vehicle to drive, this won’t work for you.  If you are looking for a very reliable crossover for family use, and would like to protect your family with a vehicle that obtained perfect crash-test scores, you will probably like this one very much.

The verdict: highly recommended for families whose kids play organized sports.

2010 was the last year of the third generation Odyssey.  It has been around since 1995, and was Honda’s first minivan.  It seats five, with an option for eight.  Even though the third generation Odyssey got a “mid-generational refresh” in 2008, the fourth generation in 2011 was a welcome arrival.  It was still a great minivan for the right demographic, but it was in danger of being overtaken by its competition.

The 2010 Honda Odyssey LX is a seven-seat minivan, and is the lowest of four trim levels.  It has a 3.5 liter V6 engine that produces 244 horsepower.  It has 16-inch steel wheels, front-wheel drive, and a 5-speed automatic transmission.  It is rated at 16 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway.

The Odyssey LX comes with a tilt-telescope steering wheel, front bucket seats with driver’s height adjustment, a split-folding, reclining second row seats, a split-folding third row bench seat, cruise control, full-power accessories, 12-volt outlets in the front and rear, cloth upholstery, 2-zone air conditioning, a rear defogger, and a rear wiper.  The audio system has 4 speakers, AM/FM radio, a CD/MP3 player, and an audio jack.

The Odyssey also comes with side front airbags, side curtain airbags, active front head restraints, antilock brakes, stability control, traction control,  and a rollover sensor.  The Odysssey aced all front and side impact tests by the government and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, getting a perfect 5 stars from the government and highest scores of “good” from the IIHS.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

One of the great things about a minivan is that passenger space is never an issue.  The Odyssey won’t disappoint in that department.  It seats seven comfortably, and has an extra eighth seat that can work for a small passenger on a short hop.  Also, there is a total of 147 cubic feet of cargo space if you remove all of the rear seats, 91 cubic feet if you remove only the third row, and 38.4 cubic feet with all of the seats intact.

The design is a bit plain for 2010, and the materials are mostly hard and inexpensive.  This works great for a minivan being used for kids, but adults might not like the aesthetics.  Some have a bit of trouble navigating the controls on the dash, too.

For all of its flaws, the handling and ride are almost flawless.  The Odyssey handles more like a sport coupe, with responsive steering and suspension that gives immediate feedback and keeps body roll to a minimum.  Somehow, this doesn’t detract from the ride, which is one of the best in its market segment.  The engine is powerful enough for good acceleration and smooth highway driving, though you will get a bit of road noise.

Ultimately, this is a great soccer mom minivan.  The hard materials make it easier to clean if kids are making messes, and more durable for the extra wear and tear they often cause.

The verdict: highly recommended for soccer moms and little league coaches.  Anyone else might want to wait for the 2011 model or check out the competition.

The Honda Accord was the second-best selling car in the US the first half of 2011.
The Accord has been around since 1976, and is currently on its eighth generation.  It has undergone a lot of change, but is still essentially a reliable but inexpensive midsize sedan that holds its resale value very well.

The 2010 Honda Accord LX is a midsize sedan, and is the lowest of four trim levels.  It has a 2.4 liter, 4-cylinder engine that produces 177 horsepower.  It has 16-inch steel wheels, front-wheel drive, and a 5-speed manual transmission.  It is rated at 22 mpg in the city, and 31 mpg on the highway.

The Accord LX comes with a tilt-telescope steering wheel, an 8-way power driver’s seat with lumbar support and height adjustment, a folding rear seat, cloth upholstery, cruise control, full power accessories, a power sunroof, a rear defogger, and keyless entry.  The audio system has 8 speakers, AM/FM radio, a CD/MP3 player, and an audio jack.

The Accord also comes with antilock brakes, traction control, stability control, side front airbags, and side curtain airbags.  In government tests, the Accord received 3 stars for rear passenger side impact, 4 stars for front passenger side impact, and 5 stars for all front impact tests.  It received the highest scores of “good” from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in front and side impact tests.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

The Accord’s interior has long been known as the best interior in its class.  They use high-quality materials and go out of their way to provide a great visual experience for their customers.  The rest of the world is starting to catch up, but the Accord still has a very nice interior.  The only quibble many have is the amount of buttons on the dash.  Some find them confusing and impractical.

The Accord is the king of cabin space in the midsize class.  There is plenty of headroom and legroom in both the front and rear seats, and squeezing that fifth passenger into the rear seat isn’t as much of a squeeze in this car as it is in many others.  The negative here is that many find the seats to be uncomfortable for longer trips.  The trunk is average for its class, with 14 cubic feet of trunk space.

Part of the Accord’s unique marketing proposition compared to the Camry was a sportier feel to the steering and suspension.  The eighth generation Accord, though, is tweaked more toward the Camry.  The problem is that it doesn’t succeed in being a Camry, nor does it any longer have its unique marketing proposition.  What Honda has done with the Accord is to make the steering, handling, and ride average, thus losing its edge.

Also, the engine, while enough for conservative acceleration, becomes noisy when challenged, either during acceleration or on the highway.

The verdict: still a decent car, but caught in an evolutionary bind.  We are waiting for the ninth generation Accord.

If it seems like the Honda Civic has been around forever, it’s because, for anyone under 40 years old, it has.  The Civic was introduced in 1972.  Since then, it has become an industry icon.  The Civic has a reputation as a safe, reliable compact car that gets good fuel economy, has great resale value, and just enough of a hint of attitude to keep the driver from being bored.  The EX-L fits right in.

The 2010 Honda Civic EX-L is a compact sedan, and is the sixth of nine trim levels.  It has a 1.8 liter, inline 4-cylinder engine that produces 140 horsepower. It comes with 16-inch alloy wheels, front-wheel drive, and a 5-speed manual transmission.  It is rated at 26 mpg in the city and 34 mpg on the highway.  Estimates of its zero to sixty time are a bit under 9 seconds.

The EX-L comes with a leather-wrapped, tilt-telescope steering wheel with cruise and audio controls, heated front bucket seats, split-folding rear seats, leather upholstery, full power accessories, air conditioning, a sunroof, and a rear defogger.  The audio system has 6 speakers, AM/FM radio, a CD/MP3 player, an audio jack, and a USB/iPod interface.

The Civic also comes with front side airbags, side curtain airbags, antilock brakes, stability control, traction control, and active front head restraints.  The Civic Sedan got perfect scores of 5 stars in front impact tests and front passenger side impact from the US government, and 4 stars for side impact rear passengers.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave the Civic its best scores of “good” in front and side impact tests.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

The interior is a bit different than what you are used to.  It takes awhile to get used to, but the speedometer and gas gauge are at the base of the windshield.  It means you don’t have to look down nearly as far to see it as you would in a “normal” car.  The interior design is practical but not particularly ornate, and the materials are of average quality.

The cabin space is very good for a compact.  The seats provide decent headroom and legroom in both the front and the rear, and the seats themselves are comfortable.  Rear seat passengers may fare better on long trips in the Civic than in a few of the more popular midsize cars.  There are 12 cubic feet of cargo space in the trunk.

The Civic is adjusted slightly more for great handling than a comfortable ride.  The result is very responsive steering, a fairly tight suspension, and a little bit of road feel for the passengers.  The engine is enough for the car, but does get a bit noisy during acceleration and at higher speeds.

All in all, the Civic is a very nice compact, and is slightly more fun to drive than to ride in.  Despite the engine noise, it is still one of the most reliable cars on the market.  The crash test scores are comforting, too.

The verdict: highly recommended.

MSRP:$22,205

The Honda Civic has been one of the most successful cars in the world for a long time, and has been able to run on “auto-pilot” for awhile.  This changed in the last couple of years, as other automakers started putting out some very nice compact cars at reasonable prices with a lot of features.  While Honda’s reliability and high resale value are huge selling points, they found themselves in a position of having to respond to the market instead of dominating it.  Consequently, they have given the Civic a major redesign.  Let’s see how they did with the Si.

The 2012 Honda Civic Si Coupe is a compact coupe.  To make things simple, it has only one trim level.  It has a 2.4 liter 4-cylinder engine that puts out 201 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque to help with acceleration.  It has 17-inch alloy wheels, front-wheel drive, and a 6-speed manual transmission.  It is rated at 22 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on the highway, while covering zero to sixty in a decent 6.9 seconds.

The Si comes with bucket front seats, a height-adjustable driver’s seat, cloth upholstery, power windows and locks, a tilt-telescope leather-covered steering wheel with controls for the audio system and cruise control, standard air conditioning, foglights, a trip computer with a 5-inch monitor, front and rear spoilers, and a front limited slip differential.  The audio system has 6 standard speakers, a subwoofer, AM/FM radio, a CD/MP3 player, a USB/iPod input, and an audio jack.

The Si also has anti-lock brakes with brake-assist, traction control, stability control, side front airbags, side curtain airbags, active front head restraints, and front seatbelt pretensors.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

The Si is set up very well.  The dash is either futuristic or busy, depending on your point of view.  The materials are a bit hard and inexpensive, which used to be OK in this segment, but may be outdated now.  Luckily, the interior space is excellent for its class, with plenty of head, leg, and elbow room in both the front and rear seats.  Cargo space in the trunk is 11.7 cubic feet, and Honda hasn’t provided a total cargo space with the rear seats folded down.

The drive is Honda with a bit of sport attitude.  The steering and suspension are tweaked a little bit toward sport, but the ride is still comfortable.  The extra torque and extra horsepower make acceleration a lot more fun.  You can feel the road a bit as a passenger, and the car does seem to make a bit of wind noise.  All in all, though, this is a fun car to drive, and we see nothing to make us believe that it won’t still have the reliability and high resale values that Honda customers have come to know and love.  Some fuel mileage is sacrificed for power here, but not enough to be a deal-breaker.

The verdict: nice car for Honda drivers with just a little bit of attitude and a couple thousand extra bucks.

MSRP $28,320

Sometimes, when a manufacturer makes a tweener vehicle, it works out really great.  The best of them combine the best features of two genres and come out as the best of both worlds.  Some, on the other hand, just don’t work very well.  Despite the best intentions and decent quality, the vehicle just doesn’t fit the needs of enough customers to command much of a market position.  Let’s see where the Pilot stacks up.

The 2011 Pilot LX is the lowest of 4 trim levels.  It is a midsize crossover that seats 8.  It has a 3.5 liter V6 engine that produces 350 horsepower and 353 pound-feet of torque.  It has 17 inch steel wheels, all-wheel drive, and a 5-speed automatic transmission.  It is rated at 17 mpg in the city and 23 mpg on the highway, and goes from zero to sixty in 9.7 seconds.

The Pilot LX comes with a tilt-telescope steering wheel, cruise control, keyless entry, automatic headlights, a trailer hitch, 60/40 split second and third row seats, front and rear air conditioning, and rear privacy glass.  The audio system has 7 speakers, AM/FM radio, a CD/MP3 player, and an audio jack.

The five standard modern safety features are all included: stability control, traction control, anti-lock brakes, front side airbags, and side curtain airbags.  Under the 2011 government standards, the Pilot got 4 stars out of 5 for overall front crash protection, and 5 out of 5 for overall side crash protection.  It got perfect scores of good in all tests performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

The cabin is practical and comfortable.  The dash is a bit busy but modern-looking, and the rest of the interior, though nothing special, is made of reasonable quality materials.  The seats are comfortable.  There is plenty of both legroom and headroom in the front, and plenty of room in both the second and third rows of seats, which is a rarity in anything but a full-sized SUV or van.

The only quibble taller riders may have is that they may find the seats to be too low to the floor, making their knees point up a bit.  Some may find this uncomfortable, but not all.  If you fold the second and third row of seats, the Pilot has 87 cubic feet of cargo space.

The handling can be described in one word: bus.  It drives like a bus, with a steering lag, body roll, and tepid acceleration.  On the positive side, though, the ride is nothing like a bus.  The Pilot almost feels like a 1970′s luxury car from the passenger side.

Basically, the Pilot only works for someone who wants to haul a lot of people on a regular basis, and likes to drive in a very patient and conservative manner.  That is not a very big market.

The verdict: great for bus drivers who love their jobs.  Not so great for anyone else.

MSRP $25,490

Due to the rise in gas prices, the demand for “green” cars is rising, and will probably grow even more in the future.  Most companies have concentrated on electric vehicles (PEV) and hybrids (PHEV), but one overlooked vehicle is also on the rise: natural gas vehicles (NGV).  We explain NGV’s further elsewhere on this site, but one of the main benefits, especially in the US, is that due to technological advances and stunning shale gas deposits, the US is positioned to become “the Saudi Arabia of shale gas.”

Most NGV’s in the US are industrial fleet vehicles, not available to the general public. The first mainstream NGV available to the US public will be the Honda Civic GX.  It is available in some states now, and is slated to be available in all of the mainland US by the fall of 2011.

The Civic GX has a 1.8 liter, 4-cylinder engine that produces 113 horsepower.  It has 16 inch steel wheels, front wheel drive, and a 5-speed automatic transmission.  It has a range of 200 miles to one tank of natural gas.  There aren’t a lot of refueling stations yet, but Honda has a home filling station called “Phill” that hooks up to your home natural gas outlet.

The GX comes with full power accessories, cruise control, standard air conditioning, and a folding rear seat.  The audio system has AM/FM radio, a CD/MP3 player, an audio jack, and 4 speakers.

The Civic GX has most of the modern safety essentials, but lacks stability control, which is important in preventing rollovers.  It does have traction control, anti-lock brakes, front side airbags, side curtain airbags, and active front head restraints, though.

In government safety tests under the tougher 2011 safety standards, it received 4 stars out of 5 in frontal crashes and 2 stars in side crashes for an overall rating of 3 stars.  The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave it a perfect rating of “good” for frontal protection, and it’s second-best rating of “acceptable” for side impacts.

Conclusions and driver feedback:

The cabin is typical Civic: medium-grade materials and a functional but quirky dash.  For a compact, there is plenty of cabin space for passengers.  There is plenty of both headroom and legroom in both the front and the rear seats.  Because of the fuel cell in the trunk, there is only 6 cubic feet of trunk space, though.

For a “green” car, the acceleration is OK, and both the steering, suspension, and ride are right in the middle.  The Civic doesn’t do anything great, but doesn’t do anything badly, either.  It’s a good, solid choice for a commuter who drives safely and wants to save money at the pump.

The main negative here is the price, but NG vehicles can save close to 50 percent on fuel costs.  The other negative is the lack of a refueling infrastructure in the US.

The verdict: for commuters only, but this could become a major US trend in the coming decade.

2012 Honda Civic

The Civic has been “the franchise” for Honda for awhile now.  Honda will do some tweaking, but it will be more noticable at the gas pump than anywhere else.  The Civic will continue as a coupe or sedan, and will continue to make the hybrid and Si models.   The Civic internal combustion engine will be updated as an i-VTEC 4 that is slated to get up to 40 mpg.   The hybrid model will get a lithium-ion battery pack to reduce weight and hold power longer.  The natural gas version, the GS, will now be sold in all 50 states in the US.

Honda Fit EV

Everybody’s doing it: why not Honda.  The Honda Fit will be introduced sometime in 2012 as a PEV, or Plug-in Electric Vehicle.  It’s projected range is 70 miles on one charge, and it will be able to go 90 mph.  It will have the same Econ, Normal, and Sport driving modes as the CR-Z Hybrid.

Honda isn’t saying, but we’re betting on the lithium-ion battery as a power source.  They are saying that it will  take 12 hours to recharge at 120 volts and 6 hours at 240 volts.  It sounds like they are a bit behind the curve right now, but they do have another year or so to get it right.

Honda CR-Z Turbo

The CR-Z works very well as a three-mode hybrid.  The “sport” setting gives a thrill to a sometimes stodgy market segment.  Honda is apparently so excited about how well it has worked that it is about to produce a non-hybrid version with a 200 horsepower, 1.6 liter, turbocharged 4-cylinder engine.  It was projected to start in 2012, but it is rumored that Honda wants to get this car into production by November or December of 2011.

2012 Acura TL

Acura would like to wish itself a happy 25th anniversary.  What better way than with a revamped TL?  Expect a more attractive grille, better aerodynamics, more power, and better gas mileage.  I would also expect a lot of hype.  It should be fun.

Acura NSX
Honda’s “failed experiment” is Acura’s gain.  To be fair, though, the NSX didn’t really fail; the economic downturn failed the NSX.  Even though this car will wear the Acura nameplate, it is still going to essentially be the Honda NSX, updated for the current economy.

It will most likely emerge as a hybrid with a 3.5 liter V6 in tamdem with an electric motor.  It is slated to have modes by which you can run fully electric, fully ICE, or hybrid.  The combination is aiming for about 400 horsepower.  All this, and it will be on top of an Accord platform.

For now, that’s pretty much it for Honda and Acura.  They will basically be producing a mixed bag of tweaks and improvements, but nothing particularly unique, new, or earth-shattering.  It has worked well for them so far, but one can’t help wondering if they are going down a slippery slope that will cause them to lose even more market share than they have the last couple of years.  Honda and Acura are working harder, but some of the competition may be working smarter and with more imagination.

We would humbly suggest a major reworking and updating for the Civic.  The models and options are nice, but they are still losing market share to their competition.  They are doing a great job under the hood; now it’s time to address both the interior and exterior design if they want the Civic to continue to be a force in the future.  The Civic won North American Car of the Year award in 2006.  The downside is that, in “car years,” similar to “dog years,” 2006 was a generation ago.