For a certain breed of car lover, today is a red letter day. Yes, at long last, the coveted “Honda Civic Type R” is finally available to American fans of the “hot hatch,” or performance hatchback. While most of us think of Honda Civic hatchbacks as that first car for college grads and urban dwellers, the “Type R” variant – which has only been available in non-US markets until now – is a unicorn for street racers – er, we mean, “performance drivers.”
The new Honda hot rod doesn’t exactly look like it’s more demure siblings, either: lots of ducts, splitters, wings and other go-fast bits make it hard to miss. Under the hood is a 306-horsepower four-banger, and the handling has been tweaked as well. It seems to have worked, as the Type R set a record for the fastest lap around the Nurburgring for a front wheel drive machine – and probably for a hatchback as well.
While we didn’t get to circle the famed German racing circuit in the car, we did get in some track time stateside, and even drove it to the grocery store for the heck of it. Check out our full review right here.
Mario gets Rabbid and ridiculous
E3 is in full swing in Los Angeles, and DT gaming team leader Brad Bourque and crew are on the scene, playing every new game they can get their twitching mitts on.
One of the most unusual new entries: a mashup of Mario and. the Rabbids. Or… the Rabbids dressed as a number of characters from Mario. Whatever. Oh, and weapons. Lots of weapons. Hey, what could go wrong? Hopefully, everything. The game is called Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle and its packing about as much lunacy as you can imagine. Players roam the Mario playverse looking to repair the rip in Mario/Rabbids space-time, and …. well, there’s that and more.
No one ever said video games can’t be filled with kooky cross-game silliness, and frankly, the world is a better place for it. Kingdom Battle is set to arrive on August 29th.
June, July, August, September…
Apple has its work cut out for it when it comes to the next iPhone, and Consumer Reports has hopefully given them even more reason to get it right.
A new review for the Samsung Galaxy S8 has placed it above the typically top-rated iPhone. Consumer Reports noted the S8’s display quality and edge-to-edge format, low-light photo abilities, waterproofing, and the overall design of the handset. In the not-so-good part of the review, they knocked the performance of Bixby and the high price, which can top $1,000 for the 256gb S8 Plus variant.
Apple is expected to reveal at least three and perhaps four iPhones in September, including a halo phone called the “iPhone Edition” that may feature a slate of cutting-edge design and tech features that will hopefully raise the bar once again. You can read the rest of the Consumer Reports review of the S8 at this link.
We’ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Close to the Metal (computers and such) on Tuesday, Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans) on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.
