Showing posts with label Announces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Announces. Show all posts

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Acura Announces Pricing For 2013 RDX Crossover


The 2013 Acura RDX crossover is set to go on sale this spring with a base price of $34,320, before a $885 destination charge.

The new Acura RDX is slightly longer, roomier, and sharper than its ancestor. Gone is the turbocharged four-cylinder engine that was an interesting experiment in Honda’s powerplant history, replaced by a more powerful 3.5-liter V6. Sleeker (some dare say, more conventional) styling dispenses with any fears that Acura might revive the previous, controversial shiny-beaked grille.

And with these improvements comes a higher base price: an increase of $1,425 for the base Acura RDX FWD model. The all-wheel-drive 2013 RDX starts at $35,720, or a $1,400 premium for all-weather capability.

Of course, no luxury car is complete without its usual assortment of techno-goodies, and Acura tries to play in this same field. For a not-so-trifling $3,700, what does the 2013 Acura RDX Technology Package get you? Satellite navigation, life traffic and weather updates, dual-zone automatic climate control with location-based temperature sensing, a 60-gigabyte hard drive for MP3 files, Acura’s excellent ELS digital sound system, xenon headlights, a power tailgate, and fog lights.

Acura was mum on its sales target for the RDX, but the price of the AWD model undercuts the BMW X3′s  $37,100 base price by about $1,380, and the Audi Q5 starts at the same price ($35,600). If your cute-ute tastes aren’t as sybaritic, however, the Volkswagen Tiguan starts a cool $12,000 less than the RDX

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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

NHTSA Announces New Crash-Test Dummy for Older, Obese Children


The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration uses specially designed dummies to simulate crash testing with children and adults of all different ages, heights, and weights. But one it didn’t adopt into its family of child dummies until now is its 10-year-old weighing more than 65 pounds.

Largely due to the rise in childhood obesity, the new dummy is designed to be an in-betweener, as six to eight-years-old is the cutoff in most states for having to use child seats. However, most seats weren’t designed to be used for children over 65 pounds, creating a situation where the child seats could actually further endanger heavier children in a crash instead of help them.

Interestingly enough

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