Displaying Items By Tag: Pioneer

Back in early 2007, when the late Davey G. Johnson got me my first job writing for an automotive publication (well, unless you count writing for the Year One catalogs back in the mid-1990s) and I took on this goofy pen name for real, I didn't quite grasp that any readers might be interested in the stuff I saw during my frequent junkyard trips. So, when I took my crappy Nikon Coolpix 2500 to the now-defunct Pick Your Part in Hayward, California, and saw a super-rare Mazda 323 GTX among all the Tercels and Rabbits in the IMPORTS section, I just took a few shots of this interesting car for my own enjoyment. These days, I'll take more than 100 photographs of a junkyard car of such great historical significance, editing them down to the best couple of dozen, but in March of 2007 I got just three of the 323 GTX. Robert Capa had his Magnificent Eleven at D-Day, and I've got the Magnificent Three of the GTX. Here they are.

The Autoblog Show returns to Fios TV this Sunday for its third episode, this time, from the country of Japan. 

Senior Editor, Green, John Snyder, Senior Producer Christopher McGraw and Producer Alex Malburg head to the headquarters of Nissan and Subaru to test out the companies' latest in autonomous and electric vehicle technology. Afterwards we travel to the Honda Collection Hall in Motegi, to travel through the company's long history, from motorbikes to champion F1 cars and everything in between.

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor James Riswick and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. This week, they're driving a 2020 Acura NSX, two versions of the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe (M235i and 228i) and the updated 2020 Honda Civic Si. Then, the gang gets to talking about what they'd drive in 1975 and 1985, along with plenty of other tangents. Finally, they wrap it up with news about the upcoming 2021 Acura TLX Type S and the fate of this year's Woodward Dream Cruise.

Last year, we learned that Honda would be wrapping up production of the Honda Civic hatchback in the U.K. in 2021, and production would move to North America for the next generation. This meant that we were probably only a couple of years away from a new model being revealed. That seems even more likely now that a next-generation 2022 Honda Civic Type R has been caught by one of our spy photographers.

It maintains a number of Type R basics from the current model. It has very wide bodywork, a black mesh grille, aggressive front fascia, and of course a gigantic rear wing. But there are some major changes, too. The body looks to be lower and longer. The hatch has a gentler descent to the stubby deck, and it loses the split rear window. All of these cues give it a bit of a coupe-like appearance. The car's surfacing is cleaner, too, and the rear bumper looks pretty much devoid of fake vents, though there is a provision for a center exhaust tip. Returning to the front, the headlights look lower and not as swept back, but they still have an LED array similar to the current car.

PARIS/TOKYO — Europe's car industry was put on alert for more job losses on Friday as a French minister warned Renault could disappear if it didn't get help soon and a Japanese news report said partner Nissan was considering 20,000 layoffs, with many in Europe.

Renault and Nissan have been in a carmaking alliance for the past two decades and are due to announce a strategy update next Wednesday.

There's no need to explain the Toyota Land Cruiser, one of Toyota's earliest successful products. The 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser Heritage Edition celebrates some 60 years of popularity of a vehicle that has survived the segment's "mall wagon" phase and the rise of crossovers. Its already-sterling reputation has received an additional recent push from the rise of overlanding — an outdoor pastime that has always existed but only recently got a press agent.

By comparison, the Lexus LX is a more recent development. Debuting in 1996, the LX 470 was little more than an 80-series Land Cruiser with cladding, a Lexus badge and a higher price. The amount of styling differentiation and luxury specialization has increased over the years to the point that the newest LX 570 actually seems like a completely different vehicle.

Just a few months after being unveiled in prototype guise, two production-ready versions of the new Subaru Levorg have been spied testing in Japan.

Mazda has officially started production of the electric MX-30. For the time being, the small electric car hasn't been announced for the U.S. yet. Mazda hasn't declared otherwise, though, so we still have our hopes up. The first MX-30s are rolling off the line in Hiroshima, Japan. Europe will be one of the first places where these MX-30s end up. The car starts at £30,495 in the UK and €33,990 in Germany. That's around $38,000. Certainly expensive, but the price would surely be different here, plus we'd be eligible for the full $7,500 tax credit.

Those lucky European customers will be met with an electric car that likes to do things a little differently than others. The modest 35.5 kWh battery pack is good for just 124 miles on Europe's optimistic WLTP testing cycle. It would surely achieve a much lower number in the EPA test. Mazda has made it front-wheel drive, placing a single motor on the front axle that's good for 143 horsepower.

At three years old, the 2020 Honda Civic Type R is getting its first midcycle refresh. You'll recognize it by its body color grille accents, a bigger grille opening and a little less mesh over some of the fake vents. But it's the mechanical tweaks and added features that make the newest Type R better than before in almost every way, and slightly worse in another.

Under the skin, Honda has focused on brakes and suspension. The new Type R now has two-piece rotors that Honda says dissipate heat better. While we didn't notice any major improvements on the street from the rotors, we were pleased by the new pedal tweaks. Travel has been reduced for more rapid response, which is clearly noticeable. There's basically no dead zone in the pedal anymore. It provides a firm, communicative feel, and it's a breeze to dial in the exact amount of stopping power you want.

Authorities say this Dec. 30, 2019, image from security camera video shows Michael Taylor, center, and George-Antoine Zayek at passport control at Istanbul Airport in Turkey. Taylor, a former Green Beret and his son, Peter Taylor, 27, were arrested Wednesday in Massachusetts on charges they smuggled Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of Japan in a box in December 2019, while he awaited trial there on financial misconduct charges. / Getty Images

Nissan and Italdesign teamed up for the first time when they unveiled the GT-R 50 in 2018. Nearly two years later, the limited-edition coupe has entered pre-production and it's undergoing shakedown testing in Italy.

Images showing the coupe giving it all on the Tazio Nuvolari circuit confirm it hasn't significantly changed as it transitioned from a futuristic concept to a low-volume production car. That's good news, because the head-turning, straight-off-the-drawing-board design was a big part of its appeal. The GT-R 50 is based on the regular-production GT-R, but Nismo tuned its twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 engine to 710 horsepower.

The 2021 Acura TLX will revive the sporty Type S model after a 10-year moratorium, and this time around, it's getting a turbocharged V6, further setting it apart from other sedans in the Honda corporate family. 

Acura says the new TLX will draw heavily upon the styling shown on two of its recent concepts: the Precision, which was shown in 2016, and the Type S, which was shown last year. The evolution of the styling is obvious even from Acura's darkened teaser image, which depicts a slightly more curvaceous take on 2019's Type S while retaining most of the same key design elements, including the quad-outlet exhaust and pronounced underbody diffuser.

It's easy to roll your eyes at many of the tiny "crossovers" that are flowing out of carmakers these days. Though marketed as crossovers and given a few token styling cues to go with a modest increase of ride and seat height, most are simply glorified hatchbacks. That description certainly applies to the 2020 Nissan Kicks, which doesn't even offer all-wheel drive to satisfy the crossover M.O. But here's the thing: Being a hatchback isn't bad, and the Kicks is quite a good one. It supplies a massive amount of space for a vehicle its size, comes with a wealth of safety features for a vehicle with its modest price, and doesn't feel like a penalty box to sit in or drive despite the hatchback reputation. For those seeking an efficient, inexpensive urban runabout that can swallow enough stuff for a weekend getaway, it makes a lot of sense.

Indeed, it makes more sense in that scenario than other subcompact "crossovers" that usually cost more and provide less space. Upper trim levels are also quite nicely adorned, with a few key trim pieces drawing your eyes away from understandably cheaper ones. However, there are reasons it's not a slam dunk. Nissan's engineers did their best to make the Kicks feel quick enough, but there's only so much one can do with a wheezy 122 horsepower. Its lack of all-wheel drive is another issue, and the unusual steering can frustrate. This is by no means a fun car to drive, and it's hardly a comfy, quiet, long-distance cruiser, either. So it's not perfect, but within the segment company it keeps, it doesn't need to be. 

The new generation Nissan Juke will arrive at dealers across Australia next month, but the company has already announced the pricing and specifications of the subcompact SUV for the local market.