Just in time for Christ­mas, Honda’s dropped the all new, 5th gen­er­a­tion Inspire.

The new Inspire fea­tures styling cues seen on the new USDM Accord, and a V6 3.5-liter i-​​VTEC engine fea­tur­ing a Vari­able Cylin­der Man­age­ment (VCM) sys­tem. The VCM enables cylin­der switch­ing (based on dri­ving con­di­tions) between 6, 4 and 3 cylinders.

The V6 pro­duces 206kW (280PS) of power and 342N�m (34.9kg�m) of torque while main­tain­ing emis­sion lev­els 75% below 2005 Japan­ese gov­ern­ment standards.

Other fea­tures include

• Col­li­sion Mit­i­ga­tion Brake Sys­tem (CMBS)
• ABS (Anti-​​lock Brake System)
• EBD (Elec­tronic Brake Distribution)
• G-​​CON (G-​​force Con­trol) technology
• VGR (vari­able steer­ing gear ratio)
• Intel­li­gent, dual fully auto­matic air con­di­tioner (uses GPS infor­ma­tion and a sun­light sen­sor to deter­mine the direc­tion and inten­sity of the sun�s rays and reg­u­late tem­per­a­ture and air out­put accordingly.)
• HID (High Inten­sity Dis­charge) Headlights

Unfor­tu­nately, the Inspire is only avail­able in a 5 speed auto­matic transmission.

[Source: Honda]

Accord­ing to Left­Lane and the Acura TSX Com­mu­nity, there’s some spec­u­la­tion as to wether Acura is going to offer the TSX in a Type-​​S guise.

Known as the Honda Accord in other mar­kets, the TSX is a highly pol­ished, front-​​wheel-​​driven, mid-​​size sedan pow­ered by an i-​​VTEC 2.4L DOHC 4cylinder motor. The new 2009 model is expected to develop between 220-​​230HP, but rumours are abound of a new TSX Type-​​S pro­duc­ing any­where from 260HP from a tur­bocharged i-​​VTEC motor. Cou­pled with Honda’s SH-​​AWD (Super Han­dling All Wheel Drive) and the pos­si­bil­ity of a DSG gear­box or 6 speed, this could be a seri­ous bit of kit.

We’re tak­ing this with a grain of salt. The Acura/Honda’s i-​​VTEC 4cyl is a con­sid­er­ably advanced peice of motor, and is known for tech­ni­cal wiz­ardry in terms of it’s man­age­ment sys­tem. Honda hasn’t pro­duced a tur­bocharged car in quite some time, at least one with a wide adop­tion rate, let alone on a main­stream, pop­u­lar model.

Cou­pled with V-​​TEC tech­nol­ogy, a tur­bocharged motor may be a steep chal­lenge to Honda — but we wouldn’t dis­miss them on this alone. After all, Honda have sur­prised us before with fan­tas­tic tech­ni­cal achieve­ments. We also hope Honda/​Acura con­sid­ers a turbo-​​diesel vari­ant of the 2009 TSX as well to round out a solid model lineup.

We haven’t heard any­thing on the tech­ni­cal side of this rumor from Japan, but we’re watch­ing with inter­est. Fin­gers crossed, we’ll see a boosted Type S in 2009.

[Sources: Left­Lane, Acura TSX Com­mu­nity]
[Cred­its: Thanks for the tip, Kris!]

At this years Frank­furt Motor­show, Honda hasn’t been rest­ing on it’s lau­rels. Instead they’ve given us a beau­ti­ful con­cept tourer (or wagon, depends on what your idea of a wagon is). It’s clear Honda have their sights set on giv­ing us back a solid Honda wagon along the lines of the Accord Wagon, not seen in the US and Aus­tralia since the fifth-​​generation Accord — although wagon pro­duc­tion con­tin­ues in Euro­pean and Japan­ese markets.

Spec­i­fi­ca­tions remain rel­a­tively unchanged from the Accord Euro, with the the 2.0– and 2.4-litre gas engines, although Honda’s 2.2-litre diesel will be an option when it goes into pro­duc­tion. The Tourer con­cept also sports 4 doors, a longer track and width to improve han­dling and cargo space.

Honda Accord Tourer Con­cept Pics: