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2016 Honda HR-V officially finds its fit in Los Angeles

Honda's extended tease for the 2016 HR-V compact crossover is finally over. The CUV debuted in Japan late, last year, and the company has trotted various versions to shows around the world since then. The time has finally come for all of the details about the US version to be revealed at this year's Los Angeles Auto Show.
Honda has been keeping the HR-V's powertrain a closely guarded secret - until now. All of them get a 1.8-liter four-cylinder that makes 138 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque with the choice of either a six-speed manual or CVT. Either front- or all-wheel drive is available, but the six-speed is only available on front-driving models.
Based on the same platform as the Fit, the HR-V actually doesn't seem to share much with its smaller sibling in terms of looks and instead borrows more cues from its big brother - the latest 2015 CR-V. Bits of Honda's larger crossover peek out in the grille and roof shape, but the HR-V reinterprets the design in its own funky way. Hiding the rear door handles near the rear pillar is an especially clever touch. The compact's wheelbase is 102.8 inches, just 0.3 inches shorter than its larger sibling. However, overall length for the new model is 169.1 inches, about 10 inches shorter than the CR-V.

2015 Honda CR-V

Predicting the future direction of Honda's compact CR-V would have been difficult based on the Civic-derived model that first arrived on our shores for the 1997 model year. The newcomer, selling alongside the body-on-frame Passport (a hastily rebadged Isuzu Rodeo), was a cute compact crossover with four doors and an awkward curb-side hinged tailgate thanks to its Japanese home-market design. The five-passenger CUV offered generous interior room, but its wheezy 2.0-liter four-cylinder, with an output of just 126 horsepower and 133 pound-feet of torque, required 11.7 seconds to bring the 3,153-pound vehicle to 60 miles per hour. Rear drum brakes didn't help much in the stopping department, but Honda offered safety-minded consumers optional anti-lock brakes on the premium trim.
Nearly two decades after its introduction, the CR-V has matured in spectacular manner. The refreshed 2015 Honda CR-V, now in its fourth generation, is dimensionally within two inches of its ancestor in overall length and nearly identical in height and wheelbase. That consistency of dimension is impressive in this age of size and segment creep, and it stands as a testament to how 'right' Honda engineers got the model's original packaging. Of course, the CR-V hasn't stood still - nearly everything else about the best-selling compact CUV has improved in leaps and bounds.
But Honda is not the only player in this hotly contested segment today, so the automaker has taken the unusual step of updating its fourth-generation model just a few years after its introduction in an effort to keep it seated on the podium. To learn more about the automaker's improvements, and form our own impressions, we spent a day driving the CR-V in sunny Southern California.

Honda Civic Tourer caught testing ahead of 2014 launch

Honda showed off its Civic Tourer concept at the Geneva Motor Show in March, and at that time, we were told that a production version would be coming to market in the very near future. Obviously, the sleek lines of the concept car will be dumbed down slightly for consumers, but that doesn't mean the Civic wagon will be a bland machine. The Euro-spec Civic's angular front end looks like it will blend nicely with the rakish rump that we saw on the concept.
Our sources suggest that not only will the Civic Tourer be a class-leader in terms of cargo capacity, but it will likely be a pretty engaging car from behind the wheel, as well. Honda is hoping that the Tourer will account for roughly 20 percent of all European Civic sales after it goes on sale.
Expect to see the production car debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show this September, with the first customers taking delivery in early 2014. In the meantime, have a look at the camouflaged swoopy wagon from all angles in our gallery above.