What Happened to Honda?

Remember the NSX?  One of the greatest cars to ever come out of Japan.  Developed with the help of the late Ayrton Senna.  Light, refined, mid-engined.  Timeless.

Or how about the Prelude?  A great looking, affordable, sprightly front driver.  No?  How about the CR-X?  A wonderfully fun hatch.  Still no?  The Acura Integra.  Or its successor, the RSX.  They hit the sweet spot of sport and functionality.

Or the fantastic S2000.  240 horses from a 2.0 liter engine.  Sublime chassis.  Great looks.

All these cars have two things in common.  They are all Hondas (Acuras).  And they are all out of production.

For the longest time Honda was the brand that defined Japanese cars.  Hondas were all superbly engineered.  They were all fantastically reliable.  And they were all great fun.

Sadly it seems that, in the quest for more profit, Honda has lost some of its soul.  Certainly their cars are still some of the most refined in the world.  They still offer reliability, economy, and some of the best chassis in their segments.

But what about the fun?  Today it's mostly sedans, crossovers, and minivans.  There is the Accord coupe, which is not a Prelude.  Only the Civic Si remains, which, unchanged for a number of years, is no longer competitive.  Even worse, their recent additions to the lineup have been received with little fanfare and near disappointment.  There's the new Insight, which appears to be a carbon copy of the Toyota Prius, only cheaper, smaller, and worse on gas.  Then they unveiled the CR-Z, a rather strange, supposed hybrid successor to the CR-X. 

Honda CR-Z - What?

The styling department seems to have gone a bit awry as well.  The new Crosstour, a sort-of Accord station wagon, sacrifices cargo space for a sleeker appearance, but the end result is a car with peculiar shapes and styling cues.  Meanwhile, over at Acura, the once handsome and respectable TL is now down right bizarre looking, with pointed front and rear bumpers, and an odd, squid-like beak. 

There's one Honda left, however, that retains all those great Honda traits:  the Fit.  Affordable, sporty, and practical, it shows that Honda still knows what it's doing.  So why can't they replicate that formula in its other offerings?

This all makes me quite sad since I've long been a Honda fanboy.  They've been in my family for decades:  an Acura Legend, two Accord coupes, an Integra, and, more recently, an Accord sedan.  But with very few cars left that deliver on the fun factor, what's a fanboy to do?