2013 Honda Civic Gains NHTSA Five-Star Safety Rating

The 2013 Honda Civic sedan has earned the highest safety rating of five stars from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the automaker announced Thursday. This adds to the top honors the 2013 Civic received from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program, the Civic sedan received a five-star overall vehicle score despite scoring four stars in frontal tests. It received five stars in side-impact crashes and has a four-star rollover rating.

The 2013 Civic sedan and coupe previously received a Top Safety Pick+ rating from IIHS, which included a top score of Good in the stringent new small-overlap frontal collision test. Honda noted that the Civic sedan and coupe are the first and only small cars to earn the IIHS’ Top Safety Pick+ rating; however, IIHS is still implementing the new test, and in the past, we've seen additional vehicles added to the organization's award lists.

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Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: February 2013

All the talk these days seems to be on spending cuts and frugality, but you wouldn't know it from looking at February sales. Overall, the market was up more than 4%, with only half of the top automakers posting gains over February 2012. Growth was solid, but not breakneck like we've seen in the last couple of years, indicating the auto industry may be slowing down. Declines for Nissan, Hyundai and Honda indicate some possible softening of the market.

Most-Read Car Reviews of the Week

Despite some midlist musical chairs, this week's most-read reviews played a familiar tune. The 2013 Toyota RAV4 and 2013 Ford Explorer held their ground at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. The 2013 models of the Toyota Avalon, Acura RDX, Subaru XV Crosstrek and Ford Escape simply rearranged third through sixth place. Meanwhile, the 2013 Ford Fusion entered at No. 7, bumping the Nissan Altima to No. 8; the 2013 Mazda CX-5 ascended one spot to No. 9, forcing out the Honda Accord to make room for the 2013 Cadillac ATS in 10th.

Check out what was popular this week:

• 1. 2013 Toyota RAV4
• 2. 2013 Ford Explorer
• 3. 2013 Toyota Avalon
• 4. 2013 Acura RDX
• 5. 2013 Subaru XV Crosstrek
• 6. 2013 Ford Escape
• 7. 2013 Ford Fusion
• 8. 2013 Nissan Altima
• 9. 2013 Mazda CX-5
• 10. 2013 Cadillac ATS

Most-Read Car Reviews of the Week

There wasn't a lot of movement among our most-read reviews this week, with six of the top 10 spots going unchanged and the 2013 Toyota RAV4 holding onto first place. The Toyota Avalon jumped two spots to No. 5, bumping the Acura RDX and Nissan Altima down to sixth and seventh place, respectively. The Chevrolet Equinox entered the list in eighth place, knocking the Audi A4 off completely as the Honda Accord and Mazda CX-5 held their places at ninth and 10th.

Check out what else was popular this week:

1. 2013 Toyota RAV4

2. 2013 Ford Explorer

3. 2013 Subaru XV Crosstrek

4. 2013 Ford Escape

5. 2013 Toyota Avalon

6. 2013 Acura RDX

7. 2013 Nissan Altima

8. 2013 Chevrolet Equinox

9. 2013 Honda Accord

10. 2013 Mazda CX-5

Most-Watched Videos of the Week

It was a something of a comeback for the Honda Accord when the 2013 model took first place in the $26,000 Midsize Sedan Showdown following its previous generation's fifth-place finish in the 2010 contest; judges said it goes to show what an automaker can accomplish with a sincere redesign. Piggybacking on the Accord's success, the Showdown's video is the most watched of the week. Check out that video above and see which other videos were popular this week:

• 1. Cars.com/USA Today/MotorWeek $26,000 Midsize Sedan Shootout
• 2. First Look: 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and 2014 GMC Sierra
• 3. Raptor vs. Ram Runner: Head to Head
• 4. 2013 Subaru XV Crosstrek
• 5. Icon D200 at 2012 SEMA

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: May 2012

Toyota dominated the sales landscape last month, with May sales up nearly 90%. That's versus a weak May 2011, when Japan's earthquake and tsunami had shoppers thinking Toyota, Lexus and Scion showrooms would have few cars in stock. It actually wasn't the case, noted Toyota spokeswoman Carly Shaffner; Automotive News data show Toyota maintained higher inventory in May 2011 then it did this past May, but the perception dried up demand and the automaker lost a third of its sales. Last month, it more than made them back: Camry and RAV4 sales more than doubled, Corolla/Matrix sales jumped 87.5% and Prius sales tripled. Even sales for the Lexus RX, which topped last month's Buzz Index, gained 82.1%.

Toyota wasn't the only mover.

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: April 2012

Eight of March's 10 best-sellers returned to the table in April, but one of the newbies may surprise you. In March, an incentive-heavy Nissan Altima fell just 1,517 cars short of the redesigned Toyota Camry, clinching the No. 2 best-selling car position. Incentives remain high, but Altima sales dropped drastically enough to knock it off the top 10 list. Instead, shoppers drifted toward the Honda Accord and Toyota Prius.

The Accord, one of April's two newcomers, gained 25.6% last month, snapping three months' sales malaise to fall just 1,435 cars short of the hard-charging, recently redesigned Camry. The shift surprised us, given the Accord is in its final year before a redesign while incentives are about the same as a year ago.

There's little surprise that the Prius' sales catapulted 101.7% despite gas prices leveling off this month. Three new Prius variants — a subcompact Prius c, larger Prius v and rechargeable Prius Plug-in — accounted for 76% of that rise. Strip those away, however, and even the original Prius handily outpaced its year-ago sales.

For Honda, Next Accord Must be a Hit

Randy LeBlanc has owned a Honda Accord for more than 20 years. A 41-year-old real-estate agent in New Orleans' suburbs, LeBlanc bought his first Accord, a used 1988 model, in the early 1990s. He replaced it with a brand-new Accord in 2001. Some 125,000 miles later, LeBlanc and his wife are looking for another sedan.

LeBlanc says he's 90 percent sure it won't be a Honda.

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars: June 2010

As we near the dog days of summer, the general malaise of the summer months seems to be taking its toll on car sales earlier than usual.

Many large automakers saw only incremental sales gains in June, with Ford up 13.3%, GM up 10.7%, Toyota up 6.8% and Honda only up 6.2%.

Despite the lull, some automakers managed to outperform. Beleaguered Chrysler saw a 35% sales boost in year-over-year sales; to be fair, the automaker was just exiting bankruptcy this time last year, making any comparisons between the two months extremely misleading. Korean automaker Hyundai also continues its sales gains, up 35%.

Significant changes on June’s top 10 include the Nissan Altima falling off the list and the Honda CR-V making the top 10. It’s the first crossover represented on the top 10 since April.

Find out which cars came out on top below. If you want to follow our breaking sales coverage every month, follow us on Twitter @kickingtires.

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars June 2010

• Ford F-Series: 46,502
• Chevrolet Silverado: 30,994
• Toyota Camry: 28,435
• Honda Accord: 26,792 (includes 1,848 Accord Crosstours)
• Honda Civic: 26,474 (includes hybrid)
• Toyota Corolla: 21,876 (includes Matrix)
• Chevrolet Malibu: 20,720
• Ford Fusion: 18,412
• Hyundai Sonata: 17,771
• Honda CR-V: 16,041

2010 Honda Accord Crosstour Pricing

If you’re interested in buying a new Accord Crosstour be sure to check out Kelsey Mays’ full review. How does the pricing of the new crossover hold up to its competition like the Toyota Venza and Nissan Murano? For V-6 models, it’s pretty competitive; it’s the only way you can get the new Honda, which starts at $29,670 before a destination fee. The Accord Crosstour goes on sale later this month. A full list of pricing is below.