Car News Articles

Is this Honda’s new global hybrid car? Our latest spy photos from America scoop a new Honda model that looks like a home-grown green car rival to the petrol-electric Toyota Prius. But CAR’s new spyshots raise as many questions as answers.

Honda president Takeo Fukui confirmed in May 2008 that the company would launch a slew of new hybrid models – including a more affordable family car, a hybrid production version of the sleek CR-Z concept, a petrol-electric Jazz and a successor to today’s green Civic hybrid.

So is this secret new Honda one of those hybrids?

That’s the big question. We at CAR don’t like to make false claims – and we’re just not quite sure if this is the new cheaper hybrid, dubbed New Global Hybrid. It’s clearly not the CR-Z, Jazz or Civic, but it doesn’t quite match the description of the more affordable model, either.

Why not? Our sources vow the New Global Hybrid will be smaller and cheaper than today’s Civic Hybrid, and our spy photos depict a much bigger car.

In fact, many here noticed more than a passing resemblance to the Toyota Prius, especially at the aero-fashioned, teardrop rear end, but our man in the US swears this car is being developed by Honda engineers. And it does share many styling tips with the FCX Clarity fuel-cell car, which is destined to influence a new generation of cleaner Hondas.

Click ‘Next’ to read more about the clean new Hondas in the pipeline

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The Charlotte Observer and thatsracin.com are reporting that Tony Stewart will drive the No. 14 Chevrolet next season with sponsorship from both Office Depot and Old Spice. Stewart has always counted Texan A.J. Foyt Jr. among his heroes, and Foyt used the No. 14 for most of his Indy car career and Darren Manning now drives the No. 14 for A.J. Foyt Racing. The Stewart-Foyt connection is much more than a number. Find out more here.

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She was bright orange. She was a hatchback. But the 2009 Toyota Matrix S AWD wasn’t as fuel-efficient (20/26 mpg city/highway) or cost-effective as I expected (just over $24K). She had a lot of work to do to win the heart of this Mom-reviewer.

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There’s been much ado about GM’s quiet launch of the 36mpg iteration of the Chevy Cobalt, both in the autoblogosphere and in promotional, warm-n-fuzzy TV spots (much like the  made-of-unobtanioum Chevy Volt). But the XFE isn’t listed on the  “Shopping Tools” portion of the Cobalt microsite, nor on gm.com’s “Find A Vehicle [any vehicle]” page. So I rang-up a friendly Chevy dealer who was embarrassed by his XFE-gnorance. Once he appreciated the model’s existence, he said he didn’t have any, there were none in Houston, and there was zero product information. “That must be a 2009 model,” he countered. When I mentioned the XFE’s web page on the 2008 Chevy website (sans XFE photos, BTW), there was a brief  pause. “They don’t give us information as quickly you can get it.” Well that sucks.

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A few years ago, when my mother was car shopping for entry luxury sedans, I suggested she “just get an Infiniti G35x.” I’ve never been wild about the G - especially when laden with AWD - but it had more power than any competitors at the time, offered the AWD, the all-important luxury badge, and it was the best price in the class. I cannot count the number of time when I’ve seen in car forums somewhere, a debate or discussion in which the G35 plays the role of spoiler. “Why get a BMW 328i with only 230 horsepower when you could get an Infiniti G35 for the same price with 300+?” Replace BMW 328i with Mercedes C300, or Audi A4, or Lexus IS. That being said, they moved about 5600 G35 and G37s in June, compared to over 9000 BMW 3-Series sold in the US that month. Then again, the BMW 3-Series has a cult following going back 30 years. While the Infiniti G35 wears the legendary Skyline name in Japan, 99.9% of car shopping Americans don’t know that. (Ken Watanabe, Japanese movie star and costar in The Last Samurai, is featured in the ad above). The bottom line is: Infiniti figured out how to get to the bargain breaking point. By that, I mean the position at which they offer the best value in the class, but not so much value that their car is no longer desirable. 

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OK, we get it. If you're texting your BFF <3 whilst driving, cause an accident and kill someone, you do hard time. But if I read the Pistonheads story correctly, that's up to seven years. In other words, it's a maximum– not a minimum– sentence. And why pick on texting? Doesn't The Land of Hope […]

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Bioethanol is so last year. Biomass Magazine (yes, there really is such a publication) reports the latest research in biofuels is directed at producing “green hydrocarbon fuels.’ While biodiesel is becoming relatively commonplace, it’s based on oils derived from plants and animal fats. Green hydrocarbon fuels are second-generation biofuels made from the same biomass materials used for bioethanol, with several advantages. Since they’re chemically identical to the petroleum-based fuels, they carry the same amount of energy. Unlike ethanol, no vehicular modifications are required, AND they can use the current fuel delivery infrastructure. The down side: the process to produce the fuels is much more complex than either petroleum or ethanol production, requiring the conversion of the biomass to bio-oil before the refining process can begin. Researchers are working to simplify the solution, but it’ll still be a few years before there’ll be a bountiful supply of biogas– at least the kind that isn’t produced by a diet of burritos and beer.

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So we’ve had our annual whip around the British Motor Show. And there’s been some pretty cool stuff to report.

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