Honda Civic Type R given the green light?

With official announcements yet to be released, reports indicate Honda has given the green light on the next generation of its zippy Civic Type R.

Are you a fan of Honda’s performance-tuned hatchback? Wishing a new breed of Civic Type R would get here already? Well you’re in luck (sort of) as reports suggest that a next generation Civic Type R is on its way.

Apparently, “company insiders” at Honda have confirmed to Autocar that the Japanese automaker will officially announce the Civic Type R at this year’s Paris Motor Show, with plans to debut the speedy, hot hatch at the Geneva Motor Show next year.

The triumphant return of the Type R has been speculated for some time now, but if reports prove true car could go on sale as early as March of 2013.

As of yet nothing has been confirmed, but certainly some big changes are expected to make their way into the next-gen CTR. Honda will reportedly do away with the current interation’s existing naturally aspirated K20 VTEC – which had difficulty meeting Euro emissions regulations, subsequently causing its demise – in favor of a new 210 horsepower, 2.0-liter turbocharged Mugen-developed four-cylinder. On top of newly designed engine and heightened bodywork, expect to see further enhancements like larger wheels and tires, upgraded brakes, as well as a sport-tuned suspension.

Of course this is all just speculation and concrete details have yet to materialize. Still, we’re exciting to see how a next CTR pans out. 

Now for the bad news — at least for those of us in U.S. – we don’t anticipate snagging the keys to Honda’s race ready Civic to be an easy ordeal. Like with most Type R models, it’s highly unlikely the Civic Type R will make its way to our salty shores, and instead be restricted to Japan and Europe only.

It’s okay though, at least you have the weekend to look forward to.

Speed Camp 2012 is just around the corner!

Speed Camp 2012 is coming!

What is it: With instruction from the best in the biz, not only can you make driving a whole new experience, but become a better and safer driver in the process.

When: Monday, August 27th

Where: Thunderhill Raceway Park

For more information, head to http://SpeedCamp2012.com/ and sign up now! Don't wait, space is limited and filling up fast

2013 Honda Fit Delivers Unmatched Combination of Versatility, Efficiency and Fun

The award-winning Honda Fit returns for 2013 with a new exterior color and a host of awards and accolades that reinforce its leadership position in the competitive subcompact-car segment. After receiving extensive updates for 2012 - including an upgraded interior and additional new standard and available features - for 2013 the Fit returns with the introduction of the vibrant new Midnight Plum Pearl exterior paint, replacing the previous Orange Burst Metallic. On sale tomorrow and starting at only $15,325¹, pricing for the Honda Fit is unchanged for 2013.

A multiple award-winner due to its class-leading safety scores, fuel economy, versatility, residual value and overall excellence, the Honda Fit has built a loyal following over six years and two generations. Now it enters the 2013 model year with more honors, including winning the "$16,000 Subcompact Shootout" competition by Cars.com, USA Today and MotorWeek that evaluated gas mileage, practicality, and user features and comfort.

The 2012 Honda Fit also earned a TOP SAFETY PICK rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), received a 2012 Residual Value Award from ALG, topped J.D. Power and Associates' Initial Quality Study℠ (IQS) for 2011 in its segment, and is a six-time Car and Driver magazine "10Best Cars" award winner.

Powertrain
The 1.5-liter, i-VTEC® four-cylinder engine produces 117 horsepower at 6,600 rpm and 106 lb-ft. of torque at 4,800 rpm, and is tuned to deliver an engaging combination of responsiveness and fuel efficiency. A five-speed manual transmission is standard and a five-speed automatic transmission is available. Steering-wheel mounted paddle shifters on Fit Sport models equipped with the available automatic transmission allow for manual gear selection.

When equipped with the available automatic transmission, the Fit has an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) city/highway/combined fuel economy rating of 28/35/31 miles per gallon². The Fit Sport with the available automatic transmission has an EPA city/highway/combined fuel economy rating of 27/33/30 miles per gallon². All manual transmission-equipped models have an EPA city/highway/combined fuel economy rating of 27/33/29 miles per gallon².

Body
A windswept body design, body-color exterior mirrors and racy five-spoke wheel covers (Fit) or 16-inch alloy wheels (Fit Sport) give the Fit an upscale appearance. But it is the Fit's compact size and tight turning diameter (34.4 feet, curb-to-curb) that help it conveniently navigate space-confined urban areas and fit in small parking spaces.

Chassis
A sporty, refined and dynamic driving experience is provided by the front MacPherson strut suspension and an H-shaped torsion beam rear suspension. Fifteen- and 16-inch wheels (Fit and Fit Sport, respectively) feature 175/65 R15 84S (Fit) and 185/55 R16 83H (Fit Sport) tires. The standard anti-lock braking system (ABS) with Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD) uses 10.3-inch ventilated discs in the front and 7.9-inch drums in the rear.

Interior
Though the Fit has an overall exterior length of just 161.6 inches, a surprisingly roomy and versatile interior provides an impressive 90.8 cubic feet of passenger volume. There's comfortable seating for up to five passengers, and behind the rear seats, there's 20.6 cubic feet of storage space - much more than you'd find in a typical sedan.

For enhanced versatility, the exclusive 60/40 split rear Magic Seat® offers multiple seating and cargo-carrying configurations. With its one-motion dive-down functionality, it can fold flat into the floor to provide a maximum 57.3 cu-ft. of rear cargo volume. Compared to any other vehicle in the subcompact class, the five-passenger Fit provides the lowest, flattest cargo floor and the most cargo volume. The Fit's interior thus can easily be converted to tall-object mode or long-object mode based on the shape of the cargo.

Standard comfort and convenience features include air conditioning, cruise control, remote entry, a 160-watt AM/FM/CD audio system with four speakers, a USB audio interface³, an auxiliary audio input jack, MP3/WMA playback capability, Radio Data System (RDS), power windows, power mirrors, power door locks, and a security system.

Safety
All Fit models are equipped with a wide range of standard safety equipment including Vehicle Stability Assist™ (VSA®), the Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) body structure, anti-lock brakes and more. Dual-stage, multiple-threshold front airbags, front-side airbags with passenger-side Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS), and side-curtain airbags are also standard equipment for 2013.

Fit Sport
The top-of-the-line Fit Sport adds a host of useful features and amenities, including fog lights, "machined surface" 16-inch alloy wheels, a body-colored underbody kit and rear roofline spoiler, and a chromed exhaust finisher for a high-energy look. A rear stabilizer bar and steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters (on automatic transmission-equipped models) widen the performance envelope, while a 160-watt AM/FM/CD audio system with six speakers and illuminated steering wheel-mounted audio controls get the tunes pumping. Other Fit Sport interior enhancements include upgraded seat fabric, dark metallic dashboard components, chrome accents around the instrument displays, console ambient lighting and floor mats.

The Fit Sport is also available with the Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System™ with Voice Recognition⁴, which features a 6.5-inch screen, more than seven-million points of interest and 16 GB of flash memory. Like other Honda navigation systems, this system allows simple, intuitive operation and has an extensive on-board database. When equipped with the Honda Satellite-Linked Navigation System™ with Voice Recognition, the Fit Sport also includes Bluetooth®⁵ HandsFreeLink® to help make hands-free telephone calls more convenient. The Navigation System also features Bluetooth® Audio capability with compatible phones and devices.

Manufacturing and Warranty
The Fit is manufactured at Honda's plant in Suzuka, Japan. It is covered by a 3-year/36,000-mile Limited Vehicle Warranty, a 5-year/60,000-mile Powertrain Limited Warranty, and a 5-year/unlimited-mile Corrosion Limited Warranty.

Dublin Honda summer special!

Honda Leverages Fuel-Cell Savvy to Extend Fit EV’s Range

Honda Motor Co. (7267), the first automaker to lease fuel-cell cars to retail customers, said advances in hydrogen-vehicle technology helped it create a battery-powered Fit that has the highest efficiency of any car in the U.S.

The company will start leasing the Fit EV hatchback on July 20, for $389 a month, in California and Oregon. The car’s 82 miles (132 kilometers) per charge and 118 mile-per-gallon equivalent ratings top Nissan Motor Co.’s Leaf and Ford Motor Co. (F) (F)’s Focus EV, aided by components adapted from the hydrogen- propelled FCX Clarity, said Sachito Fujimoto, who’s overseeing both projects.

“Motors, motor controllers, braking, the AC system, these components we tried to make as usable as possible for both,” said Fujimoto, a senior chief engineer for Honda, in a June 26 interview in Pasadena, California. “Clarity team members are also involved in our EV development.”

Honda has tried to spark demand for fuel-cell cars, which make electricity for propulsion from hydrogen on board rather than storing it in batteries, since the company began leasing the Clarity sedan in Los Angeles in 2008. That effort has been stymied by the limited number of stations dispensing the fuel.

California emissions rules pushed Honda and other major carmakers to offer battery-electric models starting this year, making the Fit EV program a near-term priority.

“From an R&D standpoint, there’s a lot of common components between battery-electrics and fuel cells,” said John German, a project manager with the International Council on Clean Transportation, an environmental public-policy group in Washington, and a former Honda engineer. “Honda’s got a huge amount of fuel-cell experience that’s applicable.”

Better Brakes

Advances in the braking system for the Fit EV that recaptures 8 percent more energy from deceleration and stopping also will be applied to the Clarity, Fujimoto said.

Tokyo-based Honda plans to deliver 1,100 of the cars to U.S. customers in model years 2013 and 2014, Robert Langford, the company’s U.S. manager for plug-in electric sales, told reporters in Pasadena this week. Fit EV availability will be expanded to New York, Massachusetts and other U.S. states in 2013, Honda said.

Honda executives, including former President Takeo Fukui, have been skeptical of the mass-market appeal of battery-powered cars because of their limited range and lengthy recharging time compared with gasoline-engine autos.

Market Potential

The Fit EV is intended to help Honda understand the market potential for such cars, said Robert Bienenfeld, senior manager at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Torrance, California.

“We’re trying to come up with a formula for success for EVs,” Bienenfeld said in an interview in Pasadena. “For an older driver, some of the limitations of battery electrics make them unappealing, but for younger customers that may not be the case.”

With the addition of the Fit EV, Honda’s U.S. lineup includes vehicles powered by batteries, hydrogen, natural gas, gasoline and hybrid-electric powertrains.

The goal for the Fit EV was to get as much driving range as possible using the smallest possible battery pack, Fujimoto said. The model uses a 20-kilowatt-hour lithium battery pack supplied by Toshiba Corp. that’s smaller than the 24-kWh and 23- kWh packs used in the Leaf and Focus EV, Honda said.

The smaller battery size allows the Fit EV to recharge in three hours from a 240-volt outlet, half the time of Nissan’s Leaf, Honda said.

EPA Ratings

The Environmental Protection Agency this month said the Fit EV’s 118 mpg-e rating is the highest given to any vehicle so far. EPA’s range rating for the Fit EV of 82 miles in combined city and highway driving also compares with 73 miles for Leaf, Focus EV’s 76 miles and 62 miles for the “i” from Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (7211)

Honda, which has leased only 25 Clarity sedans to California customers since 2008, needs to be ready to mass- produce zero-emission hydrogen and battery cars within a few years as energy and environmental circumstances change, Fujimoto said.

“The market doesn’t dictate the future; engineers do,” he said. “We developers have to far outdo and get ahead of the market or there will be no future.”

Sign up today for Speed Camp 2012!

What is it: With instruction from the best in the biz, not only can you make driving a whole new experience, but become a better and safer driver in the process.

When: Monday, August 27th

Where: Thunderhill Raceway Park

For more information, head to http://SpeedCamp2012.com/ and sign up now! Don't wait, space is limited and filling up fast

Honda Offers Free Insurance

If the thought of free car insurance gets you excited, Honda has a deal for you: free collision insurance. Notice we said "free" and not "stipulation-free" -- the deal is applicable only under certain conditions. That is, if you're in the market for an electric vehicle; you live in California or Oregon; you want to lease instead of buy; you can afford payments of $389 per month; and you don't care to purchase the car at the end of the three-year lease. Still interested? 

Yes, the free insurance deal is available only for Honda's Fit EV, which also comes with all of the above caveats. Honda is hoping the allure of free insurance for the duration of its three-year leases will draw buyers in. 

It's a marketing tactic to get drivers into the car, of course, but Honda says it's also a practical move. According to reporting by The Detroit News, the fact that only 1,100 vehicles are poised to hit the streets this year could have given pause to insurers attempting to rate the financial risk of such a low-volume vehicle. The insurance freebie gets around that possible snafu.

Is this likely to catch on within the industry? General Motors offered a year of free insurance to drivers in Washington and Oregon last year, but didn't subsequently renew or expand the program. The problem: It was difficult to administer. 

But with such low volume -- just 1,100 cars total -- administrative logistics are likely to be minimal for Honda with the Fit EV. And for drivers of the new, unproven vehicle, the added assurance of complimentary insurance, maintenance and roadside assistance could make the difference -- along with the financial break, which comes to an estimated $600 per year. 

Fit EV drivers will still have to pay for their own liability insurance. According to Jerry Hirsch of The Detroit News: "Consumers leasing the Fit will be required to carry liability insurance at $100,000 per incident and $300,000 overall coverage."

Check out our July specials!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Untitled

Speed Camp 2012 is coming, and it'll be here before you know it! Starting Monday, August 27th, at Thunderhill Raceway Park, YOU can learn how to drive like the professionals.

With instruction from the best in the biz, not only can you make driving a whole new experience, but become a better and safer driver in the process. For more information, head to http://SpeedCamp2012.com and sign up now! Don't wait, space is limited and filling up fast.

KEN'S 500 USED CAR SALES EVENT!

Starting tomorrow, the 4th of July, Ken's 500 Used Car Sales Event is beginning. The first 500 used cars we sell on a Ken Harvey lot will come with 0% financing! You heard right, from the 4th to the 8th, the first 500 buyers we see will get 0% financing on their used vehicle. Don't wait until the 8th, you never know when that 500th buyer will come in through those doors. Click anywhere to start shopping online now.

New Accord will feature Honda's answer to Ford's SYNC

Honda desperately needs to hit a home run with its all-new 2013 Accord, a car that's perennially on the best-seller list in the United States.

The current Accord, which is in its eighth generation, debuted in 2008 before most of the latest and greatest technological advances began filtering their way into the interiors of mainstream cars and trucks. As such, Honda's family sedan offering is a ways behind in the infotainment and navigation categories.

For 2013, Honda will launch HondaLink, its next-generation infotainment package, in the Accord. Though the technology will see a much smaller debut in the Fit EV (as seen above), that rollout won't hit the masses the way it undoubtedly will in the Accord.

According to Wired, it's not yet clear if Honda will rely on satellite data or if the automaker will incorporate a cellular modem into the package, but either way, Honda's Aha Radio service will make its first appearance in the 2013 Accord. There's also a possibility that the Accord could be the first machine to use Siri integration from Apple, though that's nothing more than speculation at this point.

We certainly look forward to see what Honda has cooked up for its bread-winning model. After all, as shown most notably by Ford, having the most built-in technology, especially in its first generation, isn't always a slam-dunk with mainstream consumers.

Thanks for the great 5-star review, John!

When I pulled up to the service window I was greeted promptly and politely. My service advisor was Kipp. He listened and got my Honda Civic all fixed up. I had been dealing with Honda of Oakland for some time trying to fix a warranty issue with my rear suspension in which they openly did not want to fix for some reason and put me off. Kipp went above and beyond and made sure Dublin Honda was able to fix this issue for me. They also did a major service on my car and everything's great. I feel that I can trust bringing my civic to Dublin Honda in the future for all my service needs.