Auto Trends

Toma Woo’s Honda CRX, originally uploaded by RKT Vision

The Honda CR-X was truly an amazing machine back in the 80’s. It was lightweight (1,800 lbs), nimble, superb on gas mileage (18 city/33 highway), and could sprint from 0-60 in around 8-seconds, which back then was pretty decent.

It is no surprise than many of these cars are still being tuned and driven on the road today. Due to its lightweight and well-balanced design, a highly-tuned CR-X in the right hands can actually walk a Lamborghini Murcielogo (3,637 lbs). If you don’t believe me, have a look for yourself…

The CR-X is also much more than a dedicated sports tuner, as it is also widely excepted as a reasonably tunable hypermiler vehicle, capable of 55 mpg without too much effort. The Honda has enjoyed status as the import car of the year for Motor Trends back in 1984, and was announced amongst the Car and Drivers 10 Best List in 1988.

The CR-X was replaced by the much less popular and successful Del Sol in 1993, and then put to rest in 1995. Over the years we have heard talk about a reintroduction of the infamous CR-X in modern gear. Perhaps an updated rendition, with a new VTEC engine designed to compete with some of the top import dogs of today.

While Honda has yet to have made any significant moves towards reinstating the CR-X to their lineup, many automotive reviewers say that Hyundai may have already beat them to it. Hyundai’s Velostar concept has been praised as being everything that a modern day CR-X should be.

originally uploaded by superciliousness

Hyundai has given the Velostar a green light and we expect it will be out on the road no later than 2012. Speculation is the new Hyundai will be packing a 2.0-liter inline-four packing somewhere in the range of 150 to 180 horsepower. This should fit it comfortably between the 2.0 T Genesis Coupe (212 horsepower) and the Elantra Touring Edition (141 horsepower).

Considering the relatively small size of the Velostar (21-inches shorter than the Genesis), it might not be such a downgrade on performance to the upper-echelon turbo Genesis as one might think!

Originally uploaded by EYASU.SOLOMON

It’s always good to keep tabs on where your hard earned tax dollars are going. The Department of Energy has announced its first round of fuel efficient loan winners, and neither Chrysler nor GM were on the list for this round. Here is the lowdown:

This first round of aid adds up to $8 Billion, which is about one-third of the set aside $25 billion for the re-bolstering of the automakers here in the US. This months big winner is Ford Motor Company, who has secured $5.9 billion to retool and update their facilities to produce more hybrids and electric vehicles for the coming future.

Ford and Nissan
Ford plans on restructuring two truck plants with the money to produce smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles, one of which has already been announced as a battery-powered Focus. There are a number of other hybrids on their plate as well. We can expect to see these vehicles begin to roll off the Ford assembly line as early as 2011.

In second place is Nissan Motor Company. They will be getting $1.6 billion to build a new lithium-ion battery plant, plus modify their existing Tennessee plant to boost production of their electric vehicles. They currently have plans for a new electric vehicle to be produced here in the states, but they have yet to give it a name.

The new plug-in is actually being prepared in Japan at the moment and will be shipped over to begin production as soon as it is ready. Nissan has said that it will have a 100 mile radius between each charge.

Tesla Motors and ???
In last place but certainly not least, is the public favorite, Tesla Motors. Tesla will be receiving $465 million to go towards the production facility of their slightly more affordable Tesla S sedan that was unveiled a few months ago. The Tesla S is believed to have a range of 300 miles between charges, but it is also going to cost a cool $50,000 to put one in your driveway… and that’s after the $7,500 tax credit.

There are still more rounds to go in the coming months, so both GM and Chrysler have not been left out completely. Chrysler is currently involved in talks with the government about future “green” loans, while GM, whose Volt has been a favorite among the media this year, has to wait until they settle out of bankruptcy.

Round and round she goes… whose next to get those government loans, nobody knows!

Cash For Clunkers 2, originally uploaded by 1bluecanoe

It goes without saying, you should never give personal information over the Internet, unless you are absolutely 100 percent sure you are dealing with an accredited website. With that said, there have been reports of a number of new websites having hung a business sign off the back of their computer and are busy collecting personal information from unwary ‘Cash For Clunkers’ consumers.

The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) has issued a warning to consumers, stating that there have been a startling number of Cash For Clunkers websites popping up. These websites are claiming that in order to get dibs on the program, interested consumers have to first register. Well, let’s set a few things straight here in case there is any confusion about the program…

Rule 1:
There is only one official Cash For Clunkers Website. If you are looking for official information on the program, this is probably the first place from which you will want to start! Everything else is just opinion.

Rule 2:
There is no registration necessary to take advantage of the Cash For Clunkers Program. This is pretty much a BYOC (Bring Your Own Clunker) program, which necessitates nothing more than you showing up at your preferred dealership, presenting your clunker, and making the deal.

Rule 3:
If you are at all unsure whether or not your vehicle qualifies by its average combined mpg rating, then visit the official www.fueleconomy website, as these are the only qualified ratings the program will be accepting.

There are a lot of websites offering unofficial information and criticisms about the program, but if you run across one asking for your social security and other personal information to pre-register, report them immediately, as there is no such thing!