New Honda New cars review 2009

I’m from Bristol a city with a proud heritage albeit with the notable exception of the slave trade. One of the things we Bristolians do possess is a bit of a mischievous sense of humour which often involves taking the mickey out of surrounding towns. Unfortunately Swindon has long been the recipient of a lot of remarks although in fairness they have often been made by people who are actually from the town, most notably Mark Lamarr.I guess its a bit like when you are running down a member of your family and if your partner joins in you rush to the family member’s defence arguing that its ok for you to criticise them but no-one else. Having said that I have been to Swindon on a number of occasions and I have to agree with the sentiments expressed by Andy Partridge the former lead singer of Swindon band XTC. You’ll have to look these up for yourself.

Despite the amount of criticism Swindon has received, a fair amount of celebrities and stars including the late actress Diana Dors were born there. Who can forget the likes of Melinda Messenger who proved she had hidden talents whilst working at a local Direct Mail company before going on to more dubious fame.

Swindon has a strong railway tradition and was chosen by Isambard Brunel as the location for his Great Western Railway (GWR) works. Part of the site still remains and is the home of the steam railway museum.

Since the demise of the railways and the overall decline in British manufacturing industry Swindon became a centre of commerce with a lot of financial companies relocating from London to provincial towns and cities in order to reduce costs. As a result Swindon became a boom town in the eighties and nineties and even attempted to boost its importance by applying for City status. Unfortunately this proved to be unsuccessful but Swindon did succeed in drawing manufacturing back in the form of Honda.

This was a real coup for the area and for Britain as a whole which didn’t have the best reputation when it came to car manufacturing. We seem to be able to build some of the best cars in the world when it comes to hand crafting luxury or sports models for the rich and famous. When it comes to knocking out utilitarian vehicles for the masses you could guarantee production would last for about half an hour before some kind of industrial dispute would develop.

Honda took a big risk then and entrusted the manufacture of its successful Civic model which had been selling well since 1973 believe it or not. Honda had a brief encounter with Triumph who were part of British Leyland and some pretty ropey cars briefly appeared badged as Triumph and then Rover. Since then two million cars have rolled off the production line at Swindon including about a million Civics.

I must admit that personally I wasn’t a big fan of the Civic especially since the time I arrived back to a car park to find a collection of intellectually challenged young men attempting to remove the spoiler from the roof of my Mitsubishi Colt. They were then proposing to attach it somehow to their Honda Civic although as the spoiler was bolted to the roof they just succeeded in causing about £500 worth of damage to my car.

I have since recovered from this and must say that the latest version of the Civic and come to think of it the one before are very stylish cars.

I do still find it intriguing that the appeal of the Civic seems to be divided between those in their twenties and people above retirement age. Honda is no doubt aware of this but even the retro triangular designs of the latest Civic seem to work for young and old. The Civic shows no sign of losing its appeal though and long may it continue. There is no doubt that the Honda plant in Swindon has contributed significantly to the prosperity of the town.

Just after Toyota’s announcement, that the production of the Plug-In Prius is fastened, Honda revealed the concept of new Honda Insight. The Honda Insight will be the world’s cheapest hybrid car ever, with a price of roughly $18,000, it will undercut the best selling hybrid car, the Toyota Prius, by at least $5,000. Honda announced the company’s goal is to sell around 200,000 Insight’s annually, 50 percent of that in the U.S. The Toyota Prius was sold 181,000 times last year, so Honda aims to build a best-seller.Honda will officially debut the concept of the new Insight at the Paris Autoshow next month. Although only a concept car, the Insight looks down-to-earth and ready for production. Honda declared the new Insight will look almost the same as the concept car, except some minor changes.

The Insight will be offered as a five-door hatchback, with five seats for the passengers. Honda’s new hybrid car will be built on a lately engineered platform. Power will be produced by the Honda Civic’s IMA electric motor coupled with a gasoline engine. The company also revealed the car will feature a lighter and weaker electric motor than the successful Honda Civic Hybrid. Thanks to the lighter engine, Honda managed to reduce the price of this vehicle. The company also promised the Insight will achieve an unbelievable 60 miles per gallon.

The new Honda Insight will be built in Japan and go on sale in the U.S., in Japan and on the old continent, Europe, in the middle of 2009.

The Price

The biggest disadvantage of hybrid cars is definitely the price! For instance, the 2008 Toyota Camry costs about $19,000, while the hybrid version costs almost $25,000. That is approximately a $6,000 difference, which is a lot of money. Another example is the 2008 Honda Civic with a base price of $15,000, while the Civic Hybrid is costs $7,000 more. On average, the hybrid version of a car costs between $2,000 and $4,000 more than the non- hybrid version.

Dangerous in Accidents

Although the electric engine gives you more mileage and helps you save gas, it can be also dangerous in a collision. Most hybrid cars use metal hydride batteries and the high voltage that they store can be really unsafe when the wires are exposed, thus there is a chance the driver will get electrocuted when involved in an accident.

The Battery

As mentioned above, the batteries in hybrid cars can kill theoretically. There are some other issues with the battery. Hybrid car manufacturers include warranties to cover the batteries for 80,000-100,000 miles. The carmakers also say the car’s battery will last forever. But what if something unforeseen happens and the car’s batteries are not under warranty anymore? Unfortunately batteries cost a fortune! The other problem with the batteries is that it needs to be recharged at least every second week. So, if you go to vacation you might need to find a “car-sitter” to take care of your car. Some hybrid car owners also report problems with the battery in cold weather.

Performance

No offense, but most hybrid cars are slow! They have slower acceleration and a lower top-speed than conventional counterparts. If you are in need for speed, hybrid cars won’t satisfy your needs! Hybrid cars will make you drive slow, which is actually not a bad thing!

Despite all these drawbacks, hybrid cars are the way to! Car manufacturers are working to eliminate these disadvantages. I am pretty sure hybrid cars in the near future will be lighter, safer and provide better performance!

Here are the top reasons not to buy a hydrogen conversion kit or invest in a hydrogen car:

1. Do I look like a mechanic? I’ll never figure it out! Hydrogen conversion kits are too complicated.

2. I’m not made of money! I can never afford a hydrogen car!

3. It will damage my car and then I’ll be out of several grand.

4. These are nothing but scams. There’s no way this hydrogen conversion kit can work, despite all evidence to the contrary.

5. I really like spending my money at the gas station. It gives me a reason to stop and buy candy and soda.

Let’s look at these items one at a time.

1. Building and installing a hydrogen conversion kit is a bit of a task, but if you are the kind of person who changes your own oil, you can make your own hydrogen car modification.

2. The instruction manuals are cheap these days. Most starting around the sixty dollar mark and the majority of the hydrogen conversion kits come with a money back guarantee. You can’t beat that.

3. Hydrogen conversion kits give you instructions to only produce hydrogen on demand, making it much safer than a hydrogen fuel cell car.

4. There have been papers written on the subject of hydrogen conversion kits. As well as a plethora of videos uploaded to YouTube from people like you who achieved success. The truth is, whether you believe it or not, people are getting positive results from creating hydrogen cars with hydrogen conversion kits they have bought online. Currently they are being bought and installed on thousands of cars. If hydrogen cars were not a viable option car manufactures such as Honda, Toyota, and Chrysler would not be wasting their time developing hydrogen car prototypes. Whether you believe it or not, it’s hard to deny the fact that hydrogen can be extracted from water and that hydrogen generators are currently working on thousands of cars.

5. If you really like spending an average of fifty dollars a week on gas, or more, then a hydrogen car isn’t for you. If you want to spend this summer home rather than on a family road trip, you should pass on the hydrogen conversion kit. Just keep on walking.

The highly acclaimed Civic and Accord saw Honda make rapid international progress. Today, the company makes everything from cars and motorbikes, robots, jets and jet engines, to lawn and garden equipment. Honda’s current crop of cars includes the Accord, CR-V, Civic, FR-V, Jazz, Legend and S2000.

HONDA HISTORY
In 1948 Honda’s founder, Soichiro Honda, started a new company: Honda Motor Co. They soon came up with the “batabata”, a motorised bicycle named after the sound the engine made which became a huge hit across Japan. Later, Honda’s most popular model, the Dream, could be spotted all over the Japanese islands.

Honda introduced its first car in 1957, the N360. In 1958, the American Honda Company was created. In 1972 Honda entered the American market with the small fuel efficient Civic - just as the energy crisis was hitting economies. In 1986 Honda introduced a luxury line of cars and in 2007 Honda announced plans to launch low-priced hybrids.

HONDA FACTS

• Type: Public company
• Founded: September 24, 1948
• Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan
• Key People: Soichiro Honda, Founder. Takeo Fukui, CEO
• Industry: Automobile & Truck manufacturer & Motorcycle
• Products: cars, trucks, motorcycles, scooters, ATVs, electrical generators, robotics, marine equipment, jets and jet engines, and lawn and garden equipment, Acura vehicles.

FEATURED MODELS

• HONDA ACCORD - manufactured since 1976, first as a compact hatchback and then evolving into a premium large family estate and saloon car
• HONDA CIVIC - a compact car first manufactured in 1972 and now in its eighth generation. The Civic Type-R is a widely respected hot hatch, while the Civic IMA is a hybrid with an electric motor and petrol engine
• HONDA CR-V - public demand for a sport-utility vehicle from Honda led to the creation of this compact crossover SUV in 1996
• HONDA FR-V - a clever six seat MPV, which features three seats in the front and three in the back
• HONDA JAZZ - a five-door hatchback car first produced in 2001. It rivals the Ford Fiesta and Toyota Yaris and is known as the Fit in Japan, China, and America
• HONDA S2000 - a two-seat roadster created to celebrate Honda’s 50th anniversary and launched in April 1999
• HONDA LEGEND - a large luxury car which is currently in its fourth generation

DID YOU KNOW?

• The Honda Cub motorcycle is the best-selling vehicle in history, with around 50 million sold worldwide
• Soichiro Honda was president of the Honda Motor Company until retiring in 1973. He was labeled “the Japanese Henry Ford” by People magazine in 1980
• The first passenger vehicle in the world to have four-wheel steering technology was the Honda Prelude in 1987
• In 1964, Honda entered Formula One racing for the first time, recording its first victory the following year. It’s current F1 campaign is headed by British racer, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello from Brazil
• In 1991, Honda posted its 10th consecutive win in the Isle of Man TT.

Honda Civic gas mileage must be really good! Most top ten automobile rankings based on fuel efficiency have put this model on their lists, with majority of them ranking the Civic as the best car in terms of fuel economy. Why is that? What has this model got that others don’t? Let’s find out.Honda civic gas mileage has been touted as the best in the current market. The 2008 hybrid model in particular has received rave reviews for its fuel efficiency. It records a combined EPA mileage rating of 42 mpg - 45 mpg highway mileage and 40 mpg city mileage. A number of individuals who have driven the car even claimed that it can go to as high as 60 mpg, depending on the skill of the driver and the driving techniques used.

The hybrid features a 1.3 L, 93 horsepower engine with a 2 speed CVT and overdrive capabilities. Aside from its gas mileage, the hybrid has also received high ratings for its sound system and safety features. From airbags to halogen headlights to ignitor unit or ignition disable feature, the hybrid can be said to be complete.

Some car experts have suggested that the fuel efficiency performance of the Civic can be further improved by careful maneuvering. The automobile does not have the ability to launch in all electric mode which actually helps the driver save gas in stop and go road situations. Owners of the hybrid and other 2008 Honda Civic models have claimed that the best performance of the car will occur after its break-in period, normally after six months of regular use. During this time, the Civic has been reported to produce superb highway mileage and a 10 to 15 percent increase in fuel efficiency.

Those who have tested the Civic have warned, though, that the first five to ten minutes of driving will not provide a sterling mileage performance. However, owners and drivers of the vehicle should not feel discouraged because once it has gathered enough time to warm up, the car will produce the mileage performance for which it has been praised.

The Honda brand has received numerous awards and citations throughout the years, and its hybrid and 2008 Civic models continue to prove that the name Honda is parallel to high quality automobiles. The Civic has been built for safety and quality and is offered at around $22,000; a price worth every penny considering its fuel economy, safety features and design.

The Honda Civic gas mileage performance has made its mark in the automobile market mired in skyrocketing fuel prices and environmental problems. Because of its fuel efficiency and environmental-friendly features, the Civic has become a popular choice among automobile experts and consumers.