nifty...Honda is going sorta retro with their new CRV

[Cybrvanr]

Take a look at the front-end clip on this new CRV. I had to do a double take when I saw one in the parking lot...it harkens back to some of their earlier models with the way the lower grill wraps upwards at the corners in sort of a smile, and the double-horizontal bars with the logo in the middle. The new CRV also has the classic high beltline too!

 

[Cybrvanr]

This is the predecessor to the Civic. It's the N360. The N600, which was imported into the USA was powered by an air-cooled motorcycle engine...some people used to call these cars "japanese beetles" including my mechanic when I had a honda, who found one to restore

 

[jasonl]

The Honda Fit is totally retro

The Fit looks almost like the 600 coupe.

Video is the commercial for Honda 600.

 

[sudsmaster]

I've seen the Honda 600. A friend had one about 10 years ago. The motor is a small (350cc?) vertical air cooled twin bike motor that sits up front where you'd normally find a radiator... not a whole lot under that hood... Probably gets great mileage, though.

 

[brettsomers]

that commercial is outrageous!

 

[whirlcool]

When I was in college a freind of mine had a Honda Sports Coupe just like the yellow one in the commercial. We used to laugh at him for driving that "Bucket of bolts" as we called it back then. With that strange roofline, it did look sort of like a bucket.
But Honda got it's revenge on us, eventually producting fine reliable cars that were miles ahead of the current US makes in terms of quality!

 

[hydralique]

The Honda 600 had a 600cc engine, hence the name. There was also a smaller engined variant, the Honda 360, but that was hardly sold in the US. I wouldn't say the Fit looks retro at all; both the hood and windshield are very sloped and overall the proportions are quite modern. The 600 is more like a Mini (and in fact similar in size), with a pronounced break between the very horizontal hood and nearly vertical windshield.

I like the Fit a lot, much more than the CRV. The CRV is very tall, which is really detrimental to both aerodymanics and the center of gravity. Over 50 mph aerodymanic drag starts to become more important than weight in affecting fuel mileage, so it will never be as economical as it could be at highway speeds. A high center of gravity does bad things to both ride and handling. For off-road use the height and ground clearance are advantageous, but from what I've seen the CRV isn't built for heavy duty use anyway so I miss the point of all the height.