Honda Advances the VTEC Engine

Honda announced a slew of new engine technology today. Earlier we told you about Honda’s clean diesel engine and now the company is saying its tried and true VTEC gasoline engine has been radically improved. The technical aspects of the improvement are a bit complex but all buyers have to know is that the Advanced VTEC will see an estimated 13% improvement in fuel efficiency while being more powerful and cleaner.

The current VTEC engine in cars like the Honda Civic gets 30/40 mpg city/highway and can also be tuned to focus on performance in models like the Civic Si. Honda says this new generation of VTEC will be used in a production car in the next three years. A Japanese Accord Euro R is shown here, known as the Acura TSX in the U.S. market. We think the engine will be more than worthwhile; we just would like to see it sooner.

Comments

Honda, what a great car company. If anybody can do it and do it right, it's Honda. Just another reason why Ford should close it's doors. I've owned a Honda Pilot, Honda Accord, and a Honda lawnmower and can say that they all put their competition to shame. There is no comparison.

Just to take up for Ford
I bought a 1994 Mercury Marquis 5 years ago with 100,000 miles on the odometer.
After 5 years and 80,000 miles more and only one set of brake pads and one tune up.
No tire alignments, never has eaten tires one sided. Can a Honda beat this ?

I have my Honda Civic for 7 years now with over 110,000 miles. Other than regular maintenance (oil change, coolant, timing belt, etc...), never had any problem. Great gas mileage too.

What did you say the gas mileage was on that 94 Mercury Marquis? And when you a drive a Honda with 180k on the odometer and a Ford with 180K on the odometer ... yea Honda beats it by light years. Rattle, rattle, squeak, squeak, groan, groan, whine, whine, clunk, clunk ... Ford.

Hm...my opinion to this is...Will this Advanced VTEC hurt the reliability of the engine? Because as we all know, with the same displacement, Honda's are usually having a higher hp than competitor Toyota's, because Toyota's focus is reliability, therefore the engines are de-tuned a bit.
And that is exactly why Mugen could not squeeze out much juice from the Honda engines...

Speaking to the reliability of the high rev VTEC engines I can testify that Honda knows what they are doing. My S2000 has 180k hard driven miles out here in Arizona. I have driven the car 5x across country and just did so three weeks ago. Sure the car has been dealer maintained, but with NOTHING out of the recommended maintenance schedule ever being required I am sold on Honda's. I only wish I would have found them prior to living with a Corvette roadster and several 3 Series. I will forever be a Honda fan.

I just rode in a Honda with 170,000 miles on it. It was a 5 speed manual. It made terrible rattling, vibration, screeching, and howling noises as the entire drivetrain sounded like it was re-arranging itself under the car, as we accelerated. It idled rough as well. My '87 Astro with 180,000 miles on it puts it to serious shame in the smoothness, noise, vibration, rattle, and solid feel categories. My Astro doesn't leak a drop at 20 years old, has never had drivetrain repairs, and still gets 21 mpg with a 4.3 liter V6 with 262 ft lbs of torque, and still has the original timing chain. I have discovered why Honda can make their 'better depreciation' claims. They charge $28,600 for what is $21,000 from GM. Then after each car depreciates $15000 in the next 6 years, the Honda with 120,000 miles is supposedly worth $13500 and the GM car is worth $5900. They both dropped $15,100 in value, but the percentage drop is higher for the GM car. Who, besides a Honda worshipper, would pay $13,600 for a 6 year old Honda with 120,000 miles on it? My resale value data is from edmunds, who, unbelievably can attest for those who will pay that and support Honda's claim to lower depreciation. If you factor in the likely available GM rebate OR any GM card earnings, Honda loses even the percentage comparison.

I drive a 2000 Honda Accord Coupe with 157K on it, and I have been driving it since October with no problems. The only 'problems' it had was that it needed new engine/tranny mounts, which is typical for a car with that many miles. Even though the engine is 10 years old, it still rivals the acceleration of modern day V6 powerplants. It has a 2-stage VTEC system, originally designed for racing. I can sell this car @ 180K and still get close to what I paid for it. Honda's technology is amazing, and it's Advanced VTEC system will be no different. I have a good feeling that it'll outperform Nissan's VVEL and BMW's Valvetronic.

Someone brought up smaller engines...

Ever hear about a few companies by the name os Suzuki or Kawasaki?

Hands down they beat the crap out of Honda motorsports every year :)

WOW! This is an ANCIENT TOPIC! (I even forgot I did leave message before.) Anyway, Suzuki and Kawasaki? Excuse me, are they the motorcycle makers?

Actually,I've had both a Ford Escort and a Dodge Grand Caravan and the both sucked. Actual suspension components broke on the Escort and the Caravan got an astounding 13 MPG - from a V6. Pathetic. The Escort's transmission blew, but not after delivering the worst performance I thought possible from a 2L engine (105 HP). Seriously, .52 VE?

I had a Honda Civic, which gave me zero issues to 155,000 miles, when it was hit by a drunk driver. I was unhurt but the car was done. I replaced it with a Honda Del Sol and the only maintenance, which has never failed to start in my entire time owning it. Both of these cars delivered substantially better performance on significantly less fuel, all while having smaller, lighter, more reliable engines. Oh, and the build quality is vastly superior and the styling is far more sophisticated. My 1993 Del sol has more modern styling then the 1997 Escort or the 2000 Caravan.