2007 Honda Ridgeline Review

The Honda Ridgeline is more closely a mid-size pickup than a full-size, but really it's like no other truck available. It vies for the title of most innovative pickup.Think of Honda's best attributes, then apply them to a pickup truck. We mean qualities like refinement, fit-and-finish and innovation the Honda way. The Ridgeline features an easy-to-reach, locking storage box under its bed that no other pickup can match. Other companies have been building pickups for 100 years, and none of them had thought to try this storage system.
Yet the differences between Ridgeline and more conventional pickups go all the way to the core. Ridgeline is the first mainstream pickup with fully independent rear suspension, which improves ride quality considerably. Other pickup trucks have traditionally been built with a separate nose section, cab section, and cargo bed, bolted to a separate ladder frame. Honda's pickup uses both a one-piece unibody and a steel ladder frame, welded together. Its cab and bed are built as one piece, with separate subframes for the engine, front suspension and rear suspension. Honda claims Ridgeline is 20 times more resistant to twisting than any other pickup truck, and 3.5 times more resistant to bending.
We can't swear by those figures, but we assure you that the Ridgeline is one of the nicest pickups we've driven, measured by comfort and ease of use. It's smooth, quiet and very maneuverable, with a load of useful features. While it can't do the work of some full-size pickups, its 1550-pound payload and 5000-pound towing capacity are more than enough for many buyers.
For 2007, Honda introduces the value-priced Ridgeline RTX model, which adds popular equipment such as alloy wheels and a trailer hitch for a nominal price increase compared to the base RT model. At the high end of the line, the 2007 Ridgeline RTL adds a power moonroof and XM Satellite Radio as standard equipment.
The Honda Ridgeline doesn't look or act like any other pickup truck we've driven, and it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg to own or operate. It makes pleasant, comfortable daily transportation, and it's as much pickup as many drivers will ever need.

2007 Honda Odyssey Review

The Honda Odyssey might be the best minivan on the market. It's certainly one of the most enjoyable to drive, and it lives up to Honda's reputation for refinement, convenient features and great fit and finish. Its flexible seating system can accommodate up to eight passengers.All Odyssey models are powered by a 244-horsepower V6 engine with a five-speed automatic transmission. Four trim levels make it affordable to a wider group of buyers, yet all deliver car-like ride and handling and a comprehensive set of safety features, including electronic stability control and side curtain airbags for head protection.
In its third year of production, the current generation Odyssey still seems fresh. The base LX starts at about $26,000 and includes most of the features that make family travel easier. The line-topping Touring has as many bells and whistles as a good luxury sedan.
Odyssey's range of models has some drawbacks, to be sure. Certain desirable features such as the navigation system or fuel-saving Variable Cylinder Management are included only on the higher-priced models and not available as stand-alone options. With the Odyssey Touring approaching $40,000 out the door, it's out of reach for many buyers.

2007 Honda CR-V Review

The new, 2007 Honda CR-V is more powerful, more stylish and more comfortable than the previous-generation 2006 models. Its new suspension geometry delivers an improved ride and better, more responsive handling.Buyers choose from three models, the LX, the EX and the EX-L. The latter comes trimmed in leather and can be fitted with an optional navigation system that incorporates a rearview video camera for safe and easy backing. All have four doors and seat five.
The engine, still an inline four cylinder, employs variable intake valve timing to optimize horsepower and torque for acceleration and cruising speeds. The transmission is a new, five-speed automatic. Real Time all-wheel drive is offered on all three models. The U.S. EPA rates the front-wheel drive CR-V at 23/30 city/highway miles per gallon and the all-wheel drive at 22/28.
Inside, compared with the 2006 CR-V, there's slightly more room in the front seat and slightly less room in the rear seat, except hiproom, which is up by about an inch. There's also marginally more cargo room. Everything by way of instruments, controls and storage is, respectively, logically arrayed, properly placed and reasonably plentiful.

In terms of safety, the new CR-V is fully featured. In addition to the required three-point seatbelts at all five seating positions and front seat airbags, people protection includes front seat-mounted side airbags, front and rear seat side air curtains with roll-over sensors and front seat active head restraints (which work to reduce whiplash in rear impacts). For crash avoidance, antilock brakes, brake assist, electronic brake-force distribution and Vehicle Stability Assist with traction control are all standard.
As for how the '07 CR-V stacks up against the competition, well, in a number of ways, it could do better. Several, especially its arch rival, the Toyota RAV4, offer seating for seven, more powerful and smoother V6 engines and moderately more-capable systems for driving all four wheels. The Mazda CX-7, which seats five, is more fun to drive and to look at. And the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage carry substantially lower sticker prices.
Thus, buyers looking for peppy performance, snazzy styling and easier financing have better choices. But for Honda loyalists looking for something better than their current CR-V or an SUV to step up into from their Civic, the '07 is the logical way to go.

2007 Honda Civic Review

The compact class remains one of the most competitive in the new car market, in number of entries as well as price. Honda in 2006 re-staked its claim to the head of the class with the introduction of a completely reworked and updated Civic. And not just in the mainstream, family-car niche, but in the sporty subcompact arena, too, with the return of a hopped-up coupe, the Si, the latest reincarnation of the late, lamented CRX.For 2007, everything pretty much remains the same, with one notable exception. Civic buyers with families may now have their cake and eat it, too. Honda has expanded the four-door sedan line to include an Si version, in almost every measure save the number of doors the equal of the Si coupe. It has the same 197-horsepower engine, the same six-speed manual transmission, and the same four-wheel disc brake setup. Honda's engineers tweaked its suspension to compensate for the sedan's longer wheelbase. Front-seat passengers get the Si coupe's sport seats. And both Si editions come standard with an electronic stability program for added control in emergency maneuvers.

Honda also continues offering a natural gas-powered sedan, the GX, which the company introduced during the 2006 model year. Availability is limited to residents of New York and California and fleets there and elsewhere.
The Civic Hybrid sedan uses a 1.3-liter four-cylinder coupled with a permanent magnet electric motor and a continuously variable transmission. This reduces emissions dramatically, while improving fuel economy.
The 2007 Honda Civic is available in coupe and sedan versions. The DX, LX, and EX models share a 140-hp, 1.8-liter four-cylinder with a standard five-speed manual transmission and an optional five-speed automatic. The base coupe with a 140-horsepower, four-cylinder engine and five-speed manual transmission starts at $14,810 MSRP. Other cars in the class may undercut the Civic on pricing, but the Civic includes important safety features, including side-impact airbags that others leave on the option list.

2008 Honda Accord Review

Eight generations ago the Accord was Honda's biggest car but no one foresaw it as a large car. Enter the all-new 2008 Honda Accord, a mid-size sedan that's grown enough to move into the EPA's Large Car segment. Introduced at the same time, is an all-new, two-door Honda Accord coupe.The all-new, 2008 Honda Accord continues refinement and adds more power, room, safety, and features-to-cost value. Content and engines determine the model designator, though all have the same roomy, functional cabins, array of safety equipment, and driving characteristics.
For 2008, the Accord is available with a choice of four-cylinder and V6 engines, two transmissions, and LX and EX trim levels. Further subsets include a new premium package that adds more convenience bits to an LX, and EX-L models that add leather and luxury features. (The hybrid model and V6 sedan with manual transmission have been dropped.)
The Accord is big on efficiency, be it getting the most power and range from a gallon of gas with the least emissions, making the largest interior available given the exterior space it takes up, or providing the smoothest, quietest ride possible in the lightest weight. Whether moving four people comfortably at 30 mpg or enjoying the long way home, the Accord is up to the task.

Anyone interested in a four-door sedan should consider the Accord, as only very modest budgets and those seeking substantial luxury and high performance couldn't meet those needs with one. Accord is not the perfect car in any single respect but it approaches that point in so many significant aspects you can't talk about family sedans without mentioning it. And if the past is any indicator, there's implicit reliability here.
The 2008 Honda Accord competes with the Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, Mazda 6, Saturn Aura, and the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu. The extra space offered by the 2008 Accord means that shopping list might also now include the Nissan Maxima, Toyota Avalon and VW Passat.
The stylish, two-door 2008 Honda Accord coupe competes directly with the Nissan Altima coupe. Sportiest is the EX-L V6 Coupe with six-speed manual and V6, the only Accord with that combination; it happens to be the lightest V6 model, giving it the best power to weight ratio, and it comes with larger anti-roll bars and low-profile 18-inch tires and wheels.