2009 Honda Pilot Touring Auto123 Review

[Quoted from Auto123.com]
"The family van from Honda seems to have grown somewhat. At least is sure feels that way when you have seating for up to eight and some luggage space left over. That's only on the inside. When you look at the outside, there are wheel flares that broaden front end and if you walk around to the front there is a grille that is dominated by the Honda "H". Headlights blend in with the rest of the front and below the main grille there is an opening in the front fascia that takes more air into the front."


What do you think of the new Pilot? Comment!

Honda Insight






The 2009 Insight is here! It will be arriving in showrooms on Earth Day in April to be priced around $15,000 US. Fuel consumption will be around 50-60mpg and around 4.5-5.0L per 100km in city/highway. This is one of the vehicles on Toyota's radar at the moment. With similar fuel consumption, just slightly lower but with thousands less, how will Toyota keep competitive with this new hybrid? There have been reports that Toyota will keep the current Prius for a few years longer and make it cheaper to compare with the Insight. There will be two Insight models, LX and EX.

What do you think of it? A viable competitor to the Toyota Prius? Comment!

There are some road tests and reviews done on the Insight, for more, click on the links below:
http://www.autonet.ca/autos/search/newmodels/2009/01/19/8074651-autonet.html
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09029/945279-97.stm
http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1409662
http://consumerguideauto.howstuffworks.com/2010-honda-insight.htm
http://www.thecarconnection.com/bottomline/honda_insight_2010?utm_source=Yahoo&utm_medium=Yahoo%2BBuzz%2BBeta&utm_campaign=Yahoo%2BBuzz%2BBeta

For the 4th Time, Honda Cuts Profit Forecast

Honda has cut its profit forecast down to an operating profit for the year to end-March of 140-billion yen ($1.6-billion U.S.), down from a record 953-billion yen last year and below its previous profit forecast of 180-billion yen. Honda has announced further cuts to production in excess of 50,000 vehicles + making total cuts to around 370,000 less vehicles on the road.

"The sales environment is changing faster than we were able to predict," Honda executive vice president Koichi Kondo told a news conference, noting that four profit warnings in a single year was probably unprecedented in Honda's history.

"We don't expect conditions in the U.S. to improve in the first half of next year, and we can only hope they will start to recover in the second half," he added.

One of Honda's UK factories is expected to close in February for an unprecedented 4 months.

Honda said it now sees losses from soured credit and falling residual values of used cars to total almost 100-billion yen this year, double what it had foreseen three months ago.

"Honda is relatively better positioned than Toyota because it has focused on smaller cars and hasn't aggressively expanded its global operations like Toyota. It also helped that the Chinese market fared relatively well," said Koichi Ogawa, chief portfolio manager at Daiwa SB Investments.

Honda Settles Odometer Suit


[Quoted from the Toronto Star]

Honda Canada is proposing to settle three class-action lawsuits with the owners of about 900,000 vehicles over allegations of inaccurate odometers that overstate mileage.

In a recent notice to customers, Honda said it will seek court approvals soon to resolve the cases by extending mileage on leases and warranties by 5 per cent and paying for repairs that would have fallen under that extra distance.

The settlement could affect owners and leaseholders of 2000 Honda and Acura models after November 14, 2000; all vehicles in the 2001 to 2006 model years for both brands and 2007 Fit subcompacts.

The number of autos that would fall under the settlement's terms could reach 900,000, the company confirmed yesterday.

Honda said in the notice that although the odometers were within the design tolerance standard of the Society of Automotive Engineers, the company agreed to settle the class action claims in "the interest of customer satisfaction."

"It has agreed to do so without any admission of liability," the company noted.

Despite meeting the standard, Honda spokesperson Richard Jacobs said the company has also improved the accuracy of the odometers in its vehicles starting in the 2007 model year.

Michael Peerless, the lawyer for a London plaintiff in one lawsuit, said yesterday it is difficult to assess how much the settlement would cost Honda but it could involve costly repairs that would fall under warranties.

"Most people are just getting an extension on their warranties but we think there will certainly be some people with very significant, legitimate cash claims," said Peerless, a lawyer for the firm Siskinds LLP.

"They will receive compensation for those claims. I spoke to a client who indicated he had replaced his transmission in the period when his warranty had expired. It takes $3,500 to do that."

In the notice, Honda used a hypothetical example of a driver of a 2000 model who leased it for three years with permissible mileage of 60,000 kilometres a year with a 15 cent per kilometre charge for any distance exceeding it.

The driver paid $600 for 4,000 extra kilometres.

But the settlement would entitle the driver for a reimbursement of $450 because of the inaccurate odometer, according to Honda.

Pending court approval, Honda said it would automatically extend the mileage for warranty and lease purposes, but claims for reimbursement will require some proof.

Honda said the company and the plaintiffs in the three suits in Ontario, Quebec and B.C. "strongly disagree" on the liability and the amount of damages.

The company would not comment on estimates of possible damages.

Settlement hearings are set for London in March, Vancouver in April and Quebec in May.

Honda owners would be bound by the settlement terms unless they opt out and file a form by May 18.

Complaints about odometer readings started in the U.S. and triggered numerous lawsuits earlier this decade that eventually led to settlements south of the border.

Canadian plaintiffs filed three claims here in 2006 including one in London where Geoffrey Butler, the owner of a Honda Odyssey minivan, bought a six-year or 160,000 kilometre warranty in 2002 but later alleged the odometer inflated mileage by 3 per cent.

Butler said in his statement of claim that as a result he did not receive the full benefit of the warranties and possible resale value.

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