AUTOMOBILE101 BLOG

Honda's  CR-V  has been a top-seller for the Japanese automaker almost from the get-go when it was launched in the late 1990s, and it has benefited from Americans' seemingly unquenchable thirst for  crossovers , setting an all-time-high sales mark as  Honda's  best-selling model in 2017. Honda redesigned the CR-V for 2017, introducing an upgraded version of the 1.5-liter turbocharged engine also found in the  Civic , stretching the body to give it more interior space, and refining the driving experience. Nothing significant has changed for the 2018 model year. The CR-V is available in LX, EX, EX-L, and Touring trims. Is the 2018 Honda CR-V safe? The  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gives the 2018 CR-V an overall five-star rating, the highest possible. The federal agency also gives the CR-V five stars for front- and side-crash protection and four out of five stars for protecting passengers in rollover crashes. The CR-V earns a cove...

If we must remember that a kiss is just a kiss, then it seems doubly likely that a grin is just a grin. Not long ago  Motoring said it believed  Ford was working on a Fiesta RS ; when the mag asked  Ford  Performance Europe boss Leo Roeks if he planned something hotter than the  Fiesta ST , Roeks put on "a broad grin" and said, "I can't tell you, but I'm very busy." Turns out that grin meant nothing, at least according to  Ford  of Europe design director Amko Leenarts. He told Dutch publication  AutoRAI , "The performance of the new  Fiesta  ST is already such a high level that a more powerful model is not necessary." While Leenarts believes the Fiesta ST doesn't need any more performance juice beyond its 197 horsepower, the competition takes a different view. At the beginning of the year,  Volkswagen suggested its 197-hp Polo GTI  chassis leaves potential performance on the table, so a  harder, more powerful Polo  wo...

Th e outgoing Acura MDX has nothing to be ashamed of , but the thing about refreshes is that the engineers and product teams always have something to fine tune. Some of it is planned in advance — the cosmetic upgrades and the A-Spec trim were probably always part of the product roadmap. But there are also some tweaks that seem to be a response to customer feedback. Let's take a closer look. Most important, some of the goodies reserved only for the old Sport Hybrid will now be available on all  MDXs . Notably, the Active Damper System — a continuously adjustable valve that controls the flow of hydraulic fluid within the damper — is available on non-hybrid MDXs for the first time. The system has several settings, from plush to firm.  We found this system worked very well  on the Sport Hybrid during our first drive, so it's a useful upgrade that buyers will be able to readily appreciate. Next up is an A-Spec appearance trim, which looks sportier but doesn't offer any add...

Florida man ... it's a term that always delivers on its promise to readers. In today's installment, a Florida man was arrested after a woman complained that his vehicle had butted into the back of her car repeatedly in a McDonald's drive-thru line in Vero Beach. The woman pointed out the vehicle to a responding deputy, and the police report says the driver, Earle Stevens Jr., had an open bottle of Jim Beam in a brown paper bag in his front seat. As they made their introductions, he reportedly told the deputy he felt "pretty good." The deputy reports that Stevens said he'd never had a valid Florida  driver's license . When asked if he had been drinking, Stevens allegedly said yes. Ah, but not while driving, according to this distinction: "He further explained that he was not drinking while the car was moving and only when he stopped for stop signs and traffic signals," a court document states. Stevens allegedly said he'd had "about three ...