Where is the automotive market heading?

Looking at the current automobile market and its eco-trends, we can wonder how the automotive world is going to evolve in the upcoming years.

The past few years have already seen a shift in trends and tendencies on the automobile manufacturers’ side, where more and more hybrid concepts are featured in auto shows and steadily making their way to production. Some models, such as the Honda CR-Z don't even offer the option of having a regular gasoline only power plant, and tuning companies are now working on developing new options for modifying hybrids.

These tendencies are not just a temporary fashion trend, but a real industry shift, and while Honda's Prius endured a lot of teasing when it was first launched, the recent decision by Mitsubishi about putting an end to the Evolution version of the Lancer in order to be more in line with their new eco-friendly image is taken as a grim forecast of things to come for petrol heads around the world.

Taking a step back from this very recent news, it was actually a decision that we could have seen coming: in 2005, Mitsubishi had opted out of the WRC Rally Championship, which lead to last year’s decision to put an end to Ralliart (in April 2010). The next logical step was indeed to kill the Evo.

It's not just about the loss of an iconic sports car model, it's the hard reality kick in the face fact that the Japanese manufacturer is ready to drop its spearhead product in the motorsports industry in favor of eco-friendliness, disregarding all the motor heads out there. Now this is just one model and one brand, but what if others follow?

Well, the trend has already started, with Honda for example, who never came up with a successor to the NSX after ending this mythical car in 2005, and that decided to end the production of the S2000 in 2009, without offering a new model to replace it. There are rumors of a next generation S2000 out there, but nothing has ever been confirmed by the manufacturer.

Imagine the end of the Nissan Z, Impreza STI, Focus RS, who knows, even BMW M series, etc. Where will that leave us enthusiasts?

That's where the manufacturers pop their heads in the room with a big smile while waving a big "performance hybrid" flag.

Really? How can that even be possible?

Try whacking a hybrid vehicle around a track and you'll notice that the electric engine doesn't kick in once, and the gas consumption will be as bad if not worse than a normal gasoline car for much lower performance.

Some will argue by citing Tesla's all electric Roadster. Point given that the performance of this ride is quite impressive: doing 0-100kph in 3.7 seconds, but as much as 393km on a single charge is remarkable considering it's a performance electric vehicle, the recharging times are just plain scary. Imagine a future electric version of the 24 hours of le Mans, starring 8 hours of driving and 16 hours of recharging, or the next Formula 1 championship, in silence with barely the sound of the tyres on the asphalt, with Duracell stickers replacing Shell's and batteries replacing the fuel in the pits.

What a funny future we're heading in, and as much as we want to prevent the sweet sound of a V8, a blow off valve, the adrenaline rush increasing along with the melody of the exhaust as the RPM dance to the red line from disappearing, there is unfortunately nothing we can do against this trend but accept it and try to find a way to keep our passion alive in the new generation green vehicles.

What do you guys think? Feel free to comment on this post and share your thoughts about the current and future automobile market around the World!

The True Meaning of Passion - Charles' AS53 CRX

Passion is, in my opinion, the strongest drive a human being can have, as it transcends efforts, time, money, well, just about anything that can hinder or motivate people. Some passion are spontaneous and others are induced through other people who we love or admire.

Charles is a mix of both. As spontaneous as his passion for motorbikes and cars is, his love for the Honda CRX was born from his childhood: he lived part of his young days on the backseats of his mom's 1.5L AF53.

Now 26, Charles is driving an 1986 1.6L AS53, powered by the famous 125hp ZC engine.

He bought this CRX about six months ago in a good rolling state. Any ordinary person would have kept the car as-is, but Charles is no ordinary driver, and the grease monkey in him demanded more from the little red Honda.

Thus, the surgery began.

First up was the chassis. The technology behind the chassis being 26 years old, Charles had to face challenges that few of us encounter during this build, and he started by reinforcing the frame with top and lower strut bars at the front and rear.

The question is: where can you find aftermarket support for such an old car?

After searching offline and online, the only solution he found to get these bars was to fabricate them himself. As of today, he just needs to finish the lower suspension arms bar to complete his custom-made, body strengthening set of bars.

The rear axle itself was another challenge since the CRX is equipped with a single rear wheel axle, supported by a Panhard Bar.

A panhard bar is perpendicular to the car and is attached to the rear left undercarriage, and links to the right of the wheel axle. The bar makes the axle move up and down on a circular motion. For example, when driving over a hump, the axle is not moving down and up, but sideways from down to up. To strengthen this bar, Charles had to reinforce the main attach of the panhard bar, under the chassis.

After the chassis came the suspension system as, stock, the chassis has a clearance of about 70cm, and handles quite awfully.

Upgrading the front suspension wasn't a smooth ride as the car sits on very soft torsion bars. The struts are resting on independent mounts, and guide the whole suspension system and the wheel mount. This system was quite often used in the 80's and only a very limited number of brands offer suspension systems for this car. Charles called Upgrade Motoring, in California and upgraded the torsion bars from the OEM 18.5mm thickness to 24mm, which is firm enough for street use.

Upgrading the rear suspension was, once again, not an easy feat as the ancient tech sees the struts and springs resting on separate mounts. This resulted in the inability to use more recent and common suspension systems such as bolt-on coilovers.

There are currently only few brands that still offer a coilover system that can fit the AS53 and allow lowering of the ride height. Charles contacted Ground Control to get his suspension system, their services giving the opportunity to choose the desired spring rate.

A common misconception is that harder is better, and Charles personally experienced that this saying doesn't always apply. Running on a 6.3kg/mm spring rate for a car that weights 350kgs on the rear axle made the car's rear bunny hop on every gravel on the road.

Listening to reason, Charles toned down the spring rate to the current 4.2kg/mm - 4.4kg/mm setup, giving a firm but comfortable ride that allows for a better handling while avoiding a back-breaking ride.

The shocks are Koni fully adjustable shocks, set to the smoothest at the front and middle stiffness at the rear. These shocks feature a linear adjustment, as opposed to the now more popular "clicks" adjustments systems, giving a much more precise but harder to dial setting.

Following this, Charles overhauled the brake system with aviation brake lines and fed them with Dot 5.1 brake fluid. The front rotors are OEM size (242mm) mated with TRW brake pads.

Engine wise, Charles preferred to keep everything stock. The internals are 24 years old and running smoothly, and the only element that was overhauled are the fuel and vacuum system hoses. He did try to get more power out of the ZC by swapping its heavy, 15kg stock header with an '86 integra OBX-R header, which has a much wider end diameter, (60mm compared to the OEM 43mm). He coupled it with a fully upgraded exhaust system, and amazingly the CRX lost power.

Unhappy to let some horses run free, Charles found the optimum setup by keeping the OBX-R header and using the OEM intermediate pipe. He also installed a Mugen ECU, rebuilt all the joints of the air intake system, and dropped a Green, full cotton high flow filter in the OEM box.

After spending many hours dialling in the engine timings, Charles met the best power/torque ratio with the OBX-R header and a gutted intermediate silencer, the combination pumping out between 135hp and 140hp, for a car that weights 840kgs

The AS53 is equipped with BBS RZ 15" rims with Toyo T1R 195/50/15 tyres, and Charles considers this project complete.

But his passion for the CRX is far from being over, and he has just recently acquired another AS53 CRX, with a ZC engine, codenamed "CRX Too (Much)". He bought it for a mere €300 and plans to put it on a severe diet, gut the interior, remove the soundproofing, and bring it to the racetrack.

This current CRX will still be influenced by the CRX Too (Much), but will get its rear seats back and will only keep its BBS rims and the upgraded chassis

Hopefully the CRX Too (Much) will grace the pages of this blog in a few months...

Sneak peek of CRX Too (Much)'s current state, courtesy of Charles...