By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

When you write about cars every day there are two things you're looking for in a car company: exciting cars and drama. And there are lots of car companies who provide one or both of these things in spades. Toyota, for example, in their quest for world domination, has NASCAR fiascos, Tundra recalls, gets both love and hate for their hybrid technology, and is starting to struggle a bit with their Scion brand. The car companies formerly known as the Big Three provide non-stop action as they teeter on the brink of total disaster while putting out some truly inspired cars like the ZR1 and new Challenger. Then there's Nissan, who is embarrassing just about everyone with the new GT-R, and BMW, who fights off the Bangle controversy while putting out a killer new M3 and 135i. Subaru sometimes confounds but rarely bores. VW and Mazda are always fun, and Audi does something exciting from time to time. Heck, Suzuki, Hyundai and even Kia showed off some pretty cool stuff at NYIAS.

But then there's Honda. What the heck has Honda done lately? I walked through the Honda area at NYIAS and almost fell asleep. It was the same with the Honda booth at SEMA last year. Is it just me or is Honda boring? Are they doing anything with the S2000? And does anyone care? I'm sure the new Accord is a great transportation device, but it's dull. The Fit and current version of the Civic leave me cold (and I honestly thought Civics were pretty hot in the 90s). What happened to the other cool cars Honda used to build? CRX? Gone. Prelude? Gone. And on the Acura side of the fence it's just as bleak--sorry, but the RSX just isn't as cool as the Integra. And there is no drama at all. No soap operas, no weirdness, no stupidity. They just seem to sit there, boringly revising each boring car in their boring model lineup every four years, and boringly make huge piles of money. Come on Honda, do something interesting!

Comments

Zooty
May 1, 2008 5:42:12 PM

Are you SERIOUS? The new civic si can spank a prelude or crx all day. AND it's practical unlike the s2000. Dont get me wrong I love all honda's but to say they're boring is just ignorant. GO have fun wasting all your gas in your 'fast' american cars or whatever you choose... god what a douchebag..

I own an integra and I cant WAIT to upgrade to a 05-06 rsx..

retroman
Apr 3, 2008 6:16:42 PM

I think one thing that would set the automotive world on fire is if Hon-duh announced that they were going to build a really hot car(call it the S3000 if you will) and drop an in house designed V8 in it. A factory Hon-duh with a V8, now that's something to go crazy about!!!!

GTwildfire
Apr 3, 2008 5:56:34 PM

I think Honda and Toyota are both excitement-challenged. Yeah, Toyota pumps money into racing... BIG DEAL because it amounts to nothing in their showrooms. They would fare better by pumping money into developing desireable sports cars.

eric
Apr 3, 2008 11:59:57 AM

Yeah the ridgeline looks like it tried to be An ESCALADE EXT, but didnt eat it's vegetables.

i_luv_dusty
Apr 3, 2008 11:26:14 AM

Meh. The only hon-duhs I ever liked were the Prelude and the S2000. The Prelude, sadly, is no more, and the S2000 has not had any new developments to it in years.
.
And the hon-duh Ridgeline? What a frackin' joke! You call that a truck? It's a soccer-mom-mobile. It can't even tow more than 5,000 lbs.

kap0w
Apr 3, 2008 11:19:06 AM

Don't forget how they got popular before - it wasn't for making tuner cars that were exciting. It was by making small, cheap, efficient, and LIGHT cars that just happened to be perfect for tuners. Manual tranny aside, they don't do a whole lot of that anymore. Let's see a return of the CRX on the low end and the Prelude on top... and for god sakes, don't follow Acura and turn all the names into letters!

unknown2u
Apr 3, 2008 10:51:37 AM

Honda is boring the new accord looks like a sad copy of a BMW. Even their Acura line of cars look boring the one that looks a little bit exciting is the TL.

Eric
Apr 3, 2008 10:12:21 AM

Plus look at the guy in the pic above LOL, Hello whitey.

Eric
Apr 3, 2008 10:11:39 AM

Yeah HONDA puts all of us to sleep. Which is funny cause if your forced to drive just transportation then you should make it exciting. The honda lineup is so dull looking, way to conservative.

Dale
Apr 3, 2008 10:09:06 AM

What about the CR-Z concept? It actually looks alright.

Adam
Apr 3, 2008 9:31:57 AM

One thing I have to give them credit for is continuing to offer a manual transmission in the Accord. Along with the Sonata and Camry (though good luck finding one of those on a lot) the Accord is one of the few full-size cars you can still get with a stick.

retroman
Apr 3, 2008 7:40:10 AM

On the bright side, at least I haven't seen any brand spanking new Civics running around with chicken wire grills and coffee can sized mufflers that sound like a hive of bees. As a matter of fact, I haven't even heard any tuners brag about the new Civic.

Josh
Apr 3, 2008 6:54:41 AM

They need to bring back the Prelude and CRX. Hell, step it up a notch and make an affordable RWD compact.

Highspeedhijinks
Apr 3, 2008 5:12:47 AM

I totally agree on all fronts. Honda makes transportation now... not cars. The need to look back a few years and see what really made them popular.