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Are you the 2014 Honda Fit?

Despite being the oldest model in North America's subcompact sweepstakes, the current Honda Fit remains a paragon in its segment, offering unparalleled packaging, good road manners and robust reliability. In fact, even with far more modern competitors like the Chevrolet Sonic, Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Accent and Nissan Versa Note on the scene, it may well still be the best of the bunch.
All of which explains why we're so nervous about the next-generation model, shown in these apparently leaked stock shots scanned from an in-country magazine (no, that rear end really isn't that wonky, it's the page curl distorting the image).
Will the next Fit retain the current car's incredible seating flexibility? Will it still offer a sweet-shifting manual transmission and a four-cylinder seemingly happy to bounce off its rev limiter all the livelong day? We won't know until we try it, but if these shots are representative of what we can expect in North America, it certainly will look very different. While the same two-box shape with roughly the same greenhouse remains, the front end looks much more aggressive than before, with squinty-eyed headlamps blending into a Civic-like grille, all sitting over a lower fascia with unusually oversized air intakes. The profile view is dominated by the front quarterlight and a new sharply rising character line that originates in the front fenders and terminates in the headlamps.

Honda HR-V gets early reveal

If the Honda HR-V feels awfully familiar to you by now, you're not alone. We've seen it debut in Japanese form (dubbed "Vezel"), caught a prototype in Paris, and Honda first showed us the US-spec version in press-photo form all the way back at the New York Auto Show in April. We're finally going to get all the details on Honda's new subcompact crossover this week as part of the Los Angeles Auto Show, but first, we're getting an early look at the CUV today.
We met the Honda HR-V for a cup of coffee this morning at Randy's Donuts just outside of Los Angeles, and got our first look at the new CUV in the metal. It's a handsome little thing, offering a higher-riding, more butch alternative to the Fit hatchback on which it's based. We particularly like how the rear door handles are integrated into the pillars, for an almost three-door look from some angles.
Technical details are still scarce as of this writing, though we expect those to be revealed during Honda's press conference on Wednesday. For now, we just know that the HR-V should be an incredibly practical little thing, using the Magic Seat system that has made the Fit such a versatile and capacious subcompact. Stay tuned for more, and see the HR-V from all angles in our live gallery, above.

Acura ILX headed for Civic-like early upgrades

The not-yet-ready-for-primetime 2012 Honda Civic saw it quickly returned to sender for refurbishment, now the Acura ILX is headed in the same direction in its very first year. Automotive News reports that the small, Civic-based sedan from Honda's luxury brand isn't meeting sales expectations, with an annualized rate of 22,000 to 24,000 sales instead of the 30,000 the company is after. More telling is that the ILX "is being outsold by the Buick Verano, Volkswagen CC and Audi A4," and, except for two months since it launched, it has also been outdone by the Acura TSX it is meant to replace.
Part of the cause has been the 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine: its 150 horsepower to motivate a sedan that can weigh up to 2,970 pounds doesn't offer the kind of performance or value experience that buyers in the segment respond to. Another big issue is that the top-level 2.4-liter engine is only offered with a six-speed manual even though most buyers of the highest trim don't really want to shift their own gears. Lastly, the ILX might not put enough space between it and its frugal underpinnings - our first drive review pegged it as "the world's nicest Honda Civic."
An automatic transmission is on the way for the 2.4-liter, but it isn't clear when. And while Honda admits that the 2.0-liter is underpowered and Automotive News says it's on the way out, the company hasn't yet said how that situation will be corrected.