siegen

Aside from the ridiculous concept-only chrome fog lights and exhaust finishers (seriously, why do they do that stuff on concepts?), I think this looks considerably better than the outgoing model. It is an evolution for sure, but a very positive one. The current Accord coupe looks good, but has some odd bulges and looks a bit soft (compared to this). I think they did a perfect job improving the coupe without messing anything up. Now if only it kept that ride height in production form...

Looks like the angle either makes it or breaks it. In that one shot it looks like an Aztek; very ungainly. The concept looked pretty good. This CR-V will probably look better than the current gen in person.

I remember the release of the last gen CR-V; it was destroyed on here, yet sales increased 50% and remained steady for the entire life cycle.

Thanks guys. Haven't been on the forum in a week or so. Not as much time to kill at work at the moment. :-]

It's hard to tell from the videos; when the driver let's go of the wheel, is it turning to the left, or does the car actually drift to the left despite the steering wheel staying straight? Are drivers having to constantly correct the drift by turning to the right? The recall says it only affects vehicles with 18' wheels. Maybe it's just a defect in the tires they used.

Why did they need camera men in the cars? They had dash-mounted cameras.

The problem isn't control. The problem is force. A typical valve spring puts out between 120~300 lbs of force. A solenoid with that kind of power is big and power hungry. This causes three problems... (1) It takes up more room that camlobes and valvesprings (2) It needs a lot more electrical power to operate and is available from a typical alternator or 12V battery. (3) It gets pretty hot and needs to be cooled.

And, in the end what do you get? Infinitely variable valve timing and lift? We can already do that via mechanical means. Better efficiency? Perhaps, but it is really a race between reduced frictional losses and increased electric generation losses.

Would you need valve springs? Why not a pair of electromagnets to control movement each way? I understand that size may be large, but that's how all new technologies start.

Or it could be the software needed to control it.

http://www.launchpnt.com/portfolio/transportation/magnetically-actuated-engine-valve/Here is a company working on magnetic valve actuators.

I've been really wondering why we haven't seen something like this come along yet. With all the continuously variable valve timing technology that exists you'd think that they'd finally do away with the cams all together.

The electricity requirements might be an issue. Not sure how much it would take to operate, with the degree of precision required, the valve actuators. The actuators themselves may be rather spendy. It would also require more initial electricity to start the car, though the reduced friction from no camshafts or corresponding belts/chains may make up for it. It may even result in less electricity being required to start the car. Obviously I have no idea what the trade-offs are. Maybe a higher-output alternator will be required.

It would be nice to have individual electronic valve actuators. Think of the weight savings and reduced losses!

Lol! I deal with this sort of stuff at work all day. I am the unofficial IT guy and it sometimes drives me nuts. Half of the employees here have computer literacy at or near the level of not understanding the difference between a monitor and a computer.

In addition to helping all employees with every computer-related problem, sometimes problems with their computers at home, I also wired the new building for network, phone, and smoke detectors/alarms. No I am not really qualified for any of that, but because I'm the "IT guy"! New computer sourcing and installation too. Great work experience, but it gets irritating because I don't have the time and everyone takes it for granted.

I don't keep a phone at my desk because I don't want to end up being on the phone all the time.

My actual job is online sales and web development. I am seeking a job change soon as well. Going to apply at Google. They're only 20-25 minutes south of me. Would be nice working with computer literate people for a change.

har har!

The Honda SOHC engines do not have continuously variable VVT.

Apologies if that was how it sounded. I didn't intend to indicate that the J-series had continuously variable phasing, just traditional vtec.

White. lol

I still know the name of my Integra's color, Flamenco Black Pearl, but have never bothered with the name of my Audi's color.

All cars have their problems. How old is the CR-V? Has it been treated roughly? First owner? You could probably fix the A/C yourself for a couple hundred bucks. Honda engines are usually easy to work on, though not sure on the K-series (or B-series, if it's an older one). I've had the displeasure of having to do basic maintenance on a Ford and a Chrysler 4-cylinder before. It's like no thought went into those designs at all. But they're older gens, maybe the new ones are better.

I wish my car had a Honda drivetrain. But then I wish my car was a '12 SH-AWD TL 6MT.

Mercedes M113 4.3, 5.0, 5.5 liter V8s. SOHC, 3-valve per cylinder, twin spark. Smooth but not particularly high specific output. The advantage of SOHC, includes narrower and lighter heads (not as small and as light as pushrod motors' but smaller and lighter than DOHC designs), plus lower frictional losses by having half as many camshafts and their bearings (again, not as low as pushrod designs but better than DOHC designs). It is for these reasons that Honda 3.0, 3.2, 3.5 and 3.7 V6es in the Accord, TL and RL are SOHC designs.

SOHC designs do not necessarily have to forgo independent VVT. In fact, so can a Pushrod V8. They can use a Concentric Cam setup (ala Dodge Viper's pushrod 8.4 V10) to achieve that.

Indeed. The J37 in the new TL has independent intake and exhaust vtec, using a Y shaped rocker arm for intake valves. I would love to open one of those up and have a look! Prior to 2009, all Honda J-series were intake-vtec only.

I wonder how a 6.2L SOHC V8 would stack up in this comparison. A high-output one should be good for around 80hp/liter, or 500 hp. The torque curve drop off would probably be in between the OHV and DOHC. I think it would strike a good balance between engine complexity, cost, and efficiency.

Are there any good SOHC V8's to compare? SOHC will weigh less and be physically smaller than DOHC. It would lose the intake and exhaust tuning flexibility, which would make it more directly comparable to a pushrod.

Hilarious!

It's been too long since I last watched the Star Wars trilogy (over a year now!).

Have you experienced the AWD before? Maybe it's an issue with the system.

Ron Paul is very persuasive. Imagine if he had won in 2000. How would he have reacted to 9/11? Would he have had better foresight and been able to see it coming?

It's ultra lame. There is almost no inventory available right now, and it's all LX/EX automatic sedans. Not a single coupe, only a few manual transmission trims scattered throughout the country. When the Si goes on sale, it will probably be very limited in supply as well.

I still haven't test driven one. No point in driving an automatic for me.

Audi S4 or Acura TL SH-AWD. Both manual transmission of course. The Acura would be more realistic. Better mileage and reliability.

I'll buy it just for the one-liners.

From certain angles it looks ok. Other angles, especially ones that show off the way the head lights protrude out quite a distance, it looks really bad. The tail lights on both sedan and 5-door are not liked by me one bit.

I briefly put the new Impreza on my list, but seeing as it won't be out soon enough and I'm not fond of its appearance, I think I will scratch it off.

So what's the difference between this and the Elantra?

The 5-door is a blatant rip-off of the Ford Fiesta, style-wise.

And they both have ugly as sin rumps.