Recent content by Colin

I don't know where people get the idea the CR-Z isn't fuel efficient. In 2011 when it was released, it was the fifth most fuel efficient gas car sold in NA. While it's true it's not the fastest around, with a manual transmission, it's 'peppy' and can certainly keep up with traffic. I agree...

Yeah, I for one would miss the manual transmission. Otherwise, the other things are probably a good thing since 'most' can't drive anymore BUT the purists. Having said that, performance that was accessible by anybody, and reliability that meant you could drive it as a daily driver were also...

Currently the most sophisticated version of SH-AWD uses wheelspeed sensors, steering wheel sensor, a yaw sensor, and little sensor that detects the amount of suspension deflection to determine what to do with the torque split(s). Honda recently partnered with battery manufacturer Yasua to...

Yes, that Car and Driver article was very helpful. I'm currently working (very late I know) on a review for the Tokyo motor show, and how one applies to Acuras plants in North America. I wanted to reference some of the information from the Tokyo motor show in my write up on Detroit but it's...

I'll add that if this gets an all new factory as speculated here: It would have the newest tooling available.

I think we could see both scenarios. Personally, I think publicity is going to win the day. I can already envision the "making of" video. They'll have Dario Franchitti out there along with Ashley Judd talking about how they're "helping" the Honda engineers with the development of the next...

Actually, Sebastian Vettel is a Renault driver, and Renault owns Nissan, and Nissan makes Infiniti. I think the Infiniti booth at Detroit had Vettles race winning car or on display, and he recently took delivery of the "Sebastian Vettel Edition FX" SUV.

Nothing stated so far suggests this will be a plug-in hybrid. If so, the "how can it be green if the electricity used to charge it comes from burning coal" argument wouldn't apply. All of the energy would be generated by scavenging kinetic energy and not from the grid.

I think that depends. If they're quoting just the battery or the battery and IPU in their figure. If so, then battery weight wouldn't double since two IPUs aren't needed. Still, my thoughts of "two pounds of battery per HP" seems fundamentally sound, if not a little high. I don't think...

Not to be too 'picky' but your weight figures don't match what I see on Honda's site. (http://automobiles.honda.com/civic-hybrid/specifications.aspx). They're saying the battery weight is 48 lbs. That's less by half and changes the dynamic of your discussion. When I go back to the Tokyo...

I think that too many have been stuck behind "that" Prius driver doing 55 in the fast lane that they haven't invested the time to understand the potential that electric motor offer. I know that TCroly understands, and his concerns are warranted. And no matter what Honda does, there will always...

Yeah, but Hamilton isn't a Honda driver, and I couldn't see them tapping a Mercedes pilot to develop a new Acura.

There is a lot to be gained publicity wise by using a 'known' name to aid the development of the car. I'd bet on Dario Franchitti. He's a two time Indy 500 champion, 4 time series champion. Ganassi will be a Honda team next year, and probably the flagship team. It would be a shame to miss out...

Personally, I think it's going to be less than that. I think we could be underestimating the benefit of directly powering one wheel from energy harvested from the other wheel. Since you're not converting kinetic energy to chemical and then back to electrical, we could see a jump in efficiency...

On this point alone. The current Civic Hybrid uses a 48 lb battery pack for a 27 hp motor. Who knows what we'll see in 2 1/5 years?