Somebody just bought a 1999 Acura NSX Zanardi Edition for $135,000 on Bring a Trailer. And to that we say, we're jealous.
The Zanardi Edition is one of the more sought-after NSX models out there. Acura only ever sold 51 of them (named after racer Alex Zanardi), and they were sold during a time that nearly every NSX sold here was an NSX-T with the T-top. The hardtop Zanardi Edition features a number of performance improvements over a typical 1999 NSX.
I live in Denver, where Subarus rule the roads, and that means that all my local car graveyards are packed with worn-out vehicles displaying the Pleiades logo on their battered grilles. These days, most of those discarded Subarus will be second- and third-generation Legacies of the 1995-2005 period, mostly Outback wagons, so I'll be making an effort to document some of the 1990-1994 first-gen cars before they become junkyard rarities. Here's an optioned-up 1994 Legacy sedan, looking very outdoorsy in a yard located near the Dakota Hogback south of Denver.
Mazda recently penned a paean to itself celebrating 100 years in business. This, naturally, meant the document also served as a love letter to the rotary engine, since, "The joy of driving, lightweight design and the rotary engine [are] three elements that define Mazda's DNA." One of those elements has been AWOL for eight years, since the end of RX-8 production. After years of rumor feverish enough to impress Slenderman, two years ago Mazda announced it was prepping a rotary range-extender engine for a model to debut in 2020. Here we are in the anticipated year, and we still don't know anything else about that vehicle — or perhaps we do.
When Mazda debuted the MX-30 battery-electric crossover in Tokyo last year, it bore an e-SkyActive powertrain with a 35.5-kWh battery sending current to an e-motor on the front axle producing 141 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. With a range of around 130 miles on the European cycle, even though the crossover was meant for markets like Europe and Japan, almost everyone chimed, "This would be perfect for that range-extender engine."
TOKYO — Nissan Motor Co has requested a $4.6 billion commitment line from major lenders to cushion the impact of the coronavirus pandemic while it seeks to engineer a desperately needed turnaround, people with knowledge of the matter said.
As the virus decimates car demand and disrupts production across the industry, Nissan is particularly vulnerable, still reeling from sharp drops in profits after decades of aggressive expansion as well as management chaos due to the scandal surrounding ousted leader Carlos Ghosn.
Attention to Honda and longroof fans alike. And frankly, anyone who is into the rad era of automobiles. There is a 1986 Honda Accord AeroDeck for sale on Bring a Trailer right now, and it's very much rad.
For the uninitiated, the Accord AeroDeck is a shooting brake from Honda that wasn't sold here. While we made do with the Accord sedan and coupe body styles in the '80s, some lucky folks on the other side of the ocean were cruising around in these stylish and super utilitarian Hondas. They weren't cruising around all that quickly, though.
The Lexus LC is already one of our favorite cars, and the 2021 Lexus LC aims to be even a little better. The luxury automaker has made a number of minor changes to the suspension, infotainment and color schemes.
Starting under the skin, Lexus found some weight savings in the wheels and suspension. In fact, the new LC has 22 fewer pounds of unsprung weight thanks to lighter rear wheels, aluminum lower control arms, high-strength steel springs, and tubular anti-roll bars rather than solid ones. Lexus says that these improvements along with retuned shocks should give the new LC a softer, smoother ride. That's not all, as Lexus is now including its Active Cornering Assist technology to the stability control system, which brakes the inside wheels in turns to improve cornering ability. Lexus also adjusted the shift logic for the transmissions in both the V8 LC 500 and hybrid LC 500h to be smoother and more responsive.
There are plenty of cars I remember existing, but actually know very little about due to the passage of time or just not particularly caring when they were new. Take the Isuzu VehiCROSS, which I fondly recall as this wackadoo off-roader from the late 1990s and early 2000s. But honestly, that's about it.
So, since I've got a little extra time kicking about, I decided to fall into the rabbit hole labeled Isuzu VehiCROSS for an hour to see how much I could find out about this SUV (or "sport/utility" in 1999 parlance) that shared labeling with the watch I wore in 1999. Enjoy.
WUHAN, China — Temperature checkpoints and posters telling workers to keep more than a meter apart at Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co's reopened plant in the Chinese city of Wuhan show how the coronavirus has created a new normal on the factory floor.
The plant, a Honda joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group, was shut in late January when authorities ordered a lockdown in Wuhan in a bid to snuff out the coronavirus, which emerged there late last year.
While the coronavirus has majorly disrupted practically every automaker and supplier in the world, some things are still going according to plan. During a roundtable discussion, Nissan representatives said that the 2020 Nissan Frontier with the new 3.8-liter engine is still on track to go on sale this spring. No adjustments have been made to the introduction of the next-generation 2021 Frontier either, which should be revealed by the end of the year. In fact, Nissan's representatives mentioned that next-generation Frontier prototypes are on their way to the U.S. for additional testing.
As has been mentioned previously, the big draw of the 2020 Nissan Frontier is that it gets the same 3.8-liter V6 and 9-speed automatic transmission as the redesigned 2021 truck. It's 93% different from the slightly larger displacement 4.0-liter engine of the old truck, and it's substantially more efficient and powerful. Despite the major changes, Nissan's powertrain expert who was leading the roundtable confirmed that it is still part of the VQ series of engines, which has been around since at least the Nissan 350Z, and a 3.7-liter version is used in the current 370Z. The powertrain expert also explained that the truck's increased efficiency is a result of multiple factors. In part, the engine is more efficient all around because of improved design, but it's also lighter than the old 4.0-liter engine.
Nissan is laying off about 10,000 workers in the U.S. as its plants sit idle. These layoffs will largely affect folks who worked at plants in Tennessee and Mississippi, according to a report by Nikkei.
As of now, Nissan has announced plant shutdowns lasting through late April. The report says Nissan plans to rehire the workers that are being laid off once work is possible again, but they won't be getting paid in the meantime. We've asked for comment from Nissan to learn if everybody will be brought back on, or if Nissan has other plans in mind for restarting its factories.
The 2020 Nissan Titan Pro-4X takes the newly refreshed Titan full-sized pickup, adds some kit to give it some off-road grit, as well as a cosmetic treatment to give it a sporty look inside and out. It's not for everybody. Sales lag far behind the Detroit manufacturers, to put it mildly, and even well behind the Toyota Tundra. It lacks the flash of chrome we see on a lot of pickups, and Nissan took an interesting tack with design cues that surely not everyone will love. Finally, there's only one powertrain option: a big, naturally aspirated V8. Its extra equipment is compelling, though; the Bilstein shocks, electronic locking rear differential, big General Grabber tires, skid plates and tow hooks mean you can easily picture yourself far off the beaten path with ease.
The Titan's 5.6-liter V8 provides 400 horsepower and 413 pound-feet of torque. That's more power than most other V8s in the class, short of GM's burly 6.2-liter EcoTec3. But, it's the Titan's only engine offering. Want something more economical like Ford's turbo V6 engines or Ram's mild hybrids? No dice. That said, it's a sweetheart of a V8, providing wheel-spinning torque at stoplights, continued pull at the end of highway on-ramps, and a breathy growl of a soundtrack that pairs well with the motive experience. Its nine-speed automatic gearbox is an exceptional match, optimizing gears for a feel of linearity across the board, feeling quicker than the seven-speed auto in the Nissan Armada, and hesitating and hunting less than the 10-speed boxes of the competition.