RAdams

IIHS Rating Euro NCAP Rating

Someone better tell Honda that www.hondacars.com has bogus info on it. From their website (regarding the Civic hybrid): "The electric motor can propel the car from a stop to speeds up to 35 mph." I'll admit I'm not sure if the Insight can run on battery only, but edmunds.com seems to think so: "Under the new Insight's hood is Honda's familiar Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) hybrid system. IMA starts with a 1.3-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine that produces 88 horsepower and 88 pound-feet of torque, and it adds an electric motor that generates another 13 hp and 58 lb-ft, enough to propel the Insight up to 30 mph without the gas engine's help."

The current Civic Hybrid can accelerate up to 35 MPH on battery alone as well.

This is incorrect.

They haven't discontinued it yet... it's back for 2009. If I wasn't 8 inches or so too tall for it, I'd have one in a second!

That color has been available since the Element was launched and the facelift takes obvious cues from the Ridgeline which debuted in 2005 for MY2006.

What exactly is a combined fuel efficiency and safety rating? Given that the Escape manages 1 additional highway MPG (but the same city figure and 23 combined figure) as the CR-V and they both have 5-star front and side crash safety ratings it seems a bit disingenuous to group these two items together for what amounts to marketing schtick. Would it have been any less impressive to say the Escape acheives a 5-star safety rating and has better mileage than the CR-V?

That grill looks like it came off of a car/truck/space ship 4 times the size of the car it's on. Give me my '04 back, please!

It's laughable that alternative energy sources are becoming more and more important every day but the fact that this isn't a Ford story makes it a PR stunt. Honda actually DELIVERED these vehicles -- HUGE difference between that and mules in a test fleet. The FCX was the first fuel cell vehicle to be delivered to actual retail [lease] customers and now their second-generation (and much improved) FCX Clarity model is being delivered to its retail customers. If that's not worthy of mention in automotive news circles, I don't know what is.

I didn't say there would be no need for any military spending, but you do realize that active combat is a *LOT* more expensive than the military presence we may have anywhere else in the world, yes?

It'll be more than covered by the savings from ending the war.

Though I know you're aware of what a daily selling rate is, I'm going to lay it out for you anyway: There was one fewer selling day (i.e. one more Sunday) in March 2008 versus March 2007. Since you can't sell a product when your dealers (or whatever portion of your dealers) aren't open, many automakers use DSR as a comparison tool. No one is arguing it sold more in 07 than 08... if you reread my post it said the DSR was up. And now that you've demonstrated being able to compare two numbers and determine which is bigger, I'm assuming you'll let the CR-V vs. Escape sales issue die.

Range, you're barking up the wrong tree. What theory of mine are you referring to? I am looking at the CR-V sales figures and the Escape sales figures. Where does theory come into play? My reply was directed towards the person who claimed the one-engine CR-V was in trouble. I simply stated that it doesn't seem to be hurting it thus far, as it has still outsold the Escape (which is available with 3 powertrains). That may change but it hasn't so far. I'm not speculating or theorizing, just comparing two numbers. Also, corrected for one less selling day in March 08 versus March 07, the CR-V is *up* 3.9% and up 7.9% for the year. Where the hell did the Edge and Pilot come from? Are you on medication?

There's no hope for them.

The IMA system does make use of regenerative braking and the gas engine does have an idle-stop feature. It cannot, however, propel the car in fully-electric mode.