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Displaying items by tag: auto - Page-45 | Japan Bullet

Junkyard Gem: 1983 Honda Accord Sedan With 411,794 Miles

Junkyard Gem: 1983 Honda Accord Sedan with 411,794 Miles

I've learned that finding discarded vehicles with astronomical figures showing on their odometers can be very difficult. Most manufacturers stuck with five-digit odometers well into the 1980s and even the 1990s, which rules out a majority of potential high-mile candidates right off the bat. With more recent vehicles, electronic digital odometers won't display unless you power up the main ECU— theoretically possible in a junkyard, but a real hassle. The most likely old cars to rack up interstellar mileage (Mercedes-Benz diesels) are also among the first to have their instrument clusters harvested by boneyard-prowling eBay sellers. Fortunately, Honda began installing six-digit odometers around 1981, and so today's Junkyard Gem (found last winter in a Denver car graveyard) can share its very impressive final odo reading with us.

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Mazda Mx-3

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Mazda MX-3

Back in the early 1990s, American car shoppers could choose from an extravaganza of sporty-looking front-wheel-drive coupes. The Geo Storm GSi may have offered the most performance per dollar, but the early Mazda MX-3 made a lot of sense as a reasonably fun commuter car. The MX-3, based on the 323/Protegé chassis (and thus a close cousin to the Ford Escort of the same era) could be purchased in the United States for the 1992 through 1996 model years, and junkyard examples have become very hard to find. Here's a '92 in a Colorado Springs yard.

2021 Nissan Pathfinder Tipped To Get A New 9-speed Automatic

2021 Nissan Pathfinder tipped to get a new 9-speed automatic

One rumor about the revised 2021 Nissan Pathfinder has cropped up nearly once a month since the beginning of the year. When we covered spy shots of a camouflaged Pathfinder prototype in January, commenter Bryson wrote, "A little birdie told me that the 2021 Pathfinder is ditching the CVT for a 9 speed automatic transmission." In March, a NicoClub forum thread cited a Reddit post for the same intel. In April, Carscoops acknowledged the whispers. Now AllCarNews joins the crowd claiming the disagreeable Jatco CVT is out, a new nine-speed auto is in.

If true, this wouldn't be the nine-speed gearbox going into the refreshed Frontier pickup; a transmission fit for the Frontier's longitudinal engine placement wouldn't agree with the front-wheel-drive Pathfinder's transverse engine placement. The ZF nine-speed that serves Honda and Jaguar Land Rover products among others is a shoo-in for the role if the rumors come true.

Podcast #627: Jeep Gladiator Mojave, Acura Mdx A-spec, Subaru Forester, Honda Cr-v Hybrid

Podcast #627: Jeep Gladiator Mojave, Acura MDX A-Spec, Subaru Forester, Honda CR-V Hybrid

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzweniewski and Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. This week, they're driving a Jeep Gladiator Mojave, Acura MDX A-Spec, our long-term Subaru Forester and a Honda CR-V Hybrid. A little stir-crazy from quarantine, they also derail the conversation for a little bit to talk about beer before launching into this episode's "Spend My Money" segment.

Acura Rlx Big Flagship Sedan Is Being Killed Off

Acura RLX big flagship sedan is being killed off

Only Acura knows why its flagship RLX sedan is still on sale; every year that we had occasion to remember the RLX — which wasn't every year — seemed like a good year to let the car die peacefully. Automotive News reports the deed is finally done, or rather, will be at the end of 2020, when Acura discontinues the model that started with the RL in 1996. Honda told U.S. dealers yesterday that in other markets like Japan, the four-door will continue to sell as the Honda Legend. Honda's comment to AN included, "With SUVs leading the luxury market, the highly successful RDX and MDX now serve as volume leaders of the Acura brand," and, "We will further strengthen our sports sedans, consistent with the performance-focused direction we have been taking Acura over the past four years."

Speaking of the devil, the RL and RLX — and Acura as a brand — never got out from under the weight of the Legend sedan, that ancestor being the second of Acura's three albatrosses after the original NSX and the Integra. The RL never equaled the Legend's worst year of U.S. sales. The RLX, a combination of arousing performance under anodyne styling costing premium German money, might have performed the same feat viz the RL, but the RL sold less than 5,000 units here for the last five years of its life. The RLX has only exceeded 5,000 sales once, in 2013. Last year, 1,019 units found buyers. 

Cupholder Test: Subaru Forester Vs. Honda Cr-v

Cupholder test: Subaru Forester vs. Honda CR-V

When I got our long-term Subaru Forester back from the shop to fix a mysterious source of moisture, I also happened to have a Honda CR-V Hybrid taking up temporary residence in my driveway. After testing out my large son's car seat in each to these two right-sized vehicles, I moved on to the examine their capacity for the second-most-precious cargo they could carry: beverages. 

I counted eight cupholders in each of these cars, which amounts to two per outboard passenger. Two front cupholders on the center console, one in each front door, one in each rear door, and two in the center armrest that folds down in each rear row. That's not Subaru Ascent levels of beverage storage (19 cupholders!), but it should be plenty to keep a family hydrated on a short-to-medium drive. Though these two appear to be equal in quantity, let's take a closer look and see if they're equal in quality, too. I brought along a Klean Kanteen bottle that's about the same size as most other brand of metal water bottles folks carry around, a big Corkcicle 24-ounce insulated tumbler, a standard 12-ounce soda can, and a skinny, 7.5-ounce soda can that's the same width as a lot of canned energy drinks. As a bonus, I — the man known to Twitter as "that one dude with the Nalgene bottle" — brought my trusty 32-ounce Nalgene to see if it fits anywhere.

Renault, Needing Cuts Like Partner Nissan, Will Kill Car Models

Renault, needing cuts like partner Nissan, will kill car models

PARIS — Renault is preparing to substantially reduce its vehicle range, withdrawing well-known but ailing models like the Espace minivans, as part of looming cost cutting plans, four sources in the industry and close to the French carmaker said.

The company, shaken by the downfall of its once star CEO Carlos Ghosn and by setbacks in its main markets, is set to detail at the end of the month how it aims to cut costs by 2 billion euros ($2.16 billion) over the next three years.

2021 Toyota Gr Supra Exhaust Comparison | 2.0 Vs. 3.0

2021 Toyota GR Supra exhaust comparison | 2.0 vs. 3.0

Toyota introduced a new four-cylinder Supra for the 2021 model year and improved the six-cylinder model, too. You can read about what's new and how the two drive in our First Drive story, but here we're going to talk about how they sound. The video clip mashup is at the top where you can get a taste of what it's like to be on the bumper and inside the respective Supras one after another. 

The Supra 2.0 is the entry-level option now, and the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder produces 255 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. We know it's going to be cheaper, but we're not sure how much cheaper yet. One big step up from the 2.0 brings us to the 3.0, equipped with a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six engine. Toyota added power for 2021, bringing the output up to 382 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque — it previously made do with 335 horses and 365 pound-feet of torque. Both engines are pulled directly from BMW and are used in the Supra's platform mate, the BMW Z4.

2019 Subaru Forester Touring Long-term Update: Repairing A Leak

2019 Subaru Forester Touring Long-Term Update: Repairing a leak

I hadn't been doing much driving, so the Forester had spent a good chunk of the rainy/snowy spring week relaxing in my driveway. Finally, it came time to pick up a birthday dinner — Indian food, curbside to-go. As soon as I sat down, I noticed something new: a small crack in the windshield. That fix will have to wait until more businesses reopen. As I eased out of my driveway, another issue emerged. I heard what sounded like water sloshing. Braking for the stop sign at the end of my street … yep, definitely liquid. It sounded like it was below or in front of me.

Later, I was parked in the alley behind the restaurant waiting for my order, and I accidentally dropped my phone down into the black hole on the righthand side of my seat. I reached down and groped for it, but instead of a rectangular personal computer, my fingers found nothing but carpet, seemingly soaked to capacity. My first instinct was to use a disinfectant wipe on my wet digits, but then I got out to inspect the underside of my seat from the second row. There was my phone, sitting in a fabric swamp under the seat.