HONEST JOHN AWARDS - The Honda Civic Type R takes the Best performance award at this years ceremony.

Honda’s race car for the road, the Civic Type R, has been named as the most popular performance car at the annual Honest John Awards held yesterday in London.

Having won the ‘Best Real MPG’ award at the Honest John Awards last year with the frugal Civic 1.6 i-DTEC, this year sees the polar opposite with Honda’s sporting heritage triumphing with the aggressively styled Civic Type R, which hit showrooms last July.

The honestjohn.co.uk awards come from the best experts of all: the website users.  The awards are not decided by judges or a panel, instead recognising and rewarding the cars and vans that the users search for most on the site. Put simply, the reviews which create the most interest among honestjohn.co.uk users are the winners.

The British built Honda Civic Type R is powered by the most extreme and high-performing Type R engine ever built. The direct-injected turbocharged 2.0 litre VTEC TURBO petrol engine delivers power, torque and performance figures unmatched in the front-wheel drive hot hatch segment. Peak power output is 310 PS at 6,500 rpm, and peak torque is 400 Nm at 2,500 rpm – both higher than for any previous Honda Civic Type R model.

Dan Harrison, editor of honestjohn.co.uk commented: “One of the most highly anticipated cars of recent years among performance car enthusiasts, we rate the new Honda Civic Type R as one of the most engaging, enjoyable and exciting cars on sale. And honestjohn.co.uk users clearly agree with the Civic Type R proving popular enough to win Most Popular Performance Car for 2016. If you want a thrilling hot hatch, look no further.”

Phil Webb, head of cars at Honda UK, commented: “The latest incarnation of the Civic Type R continues to win awards but this award means more as it is simply down to the mass appeal of the car and the number of people searching for it on the Honest John website.”

Two of Honda's new model's, the HR-V and Jazz are both up for "Britain's Safest Car" Award.

Honda’s all-new HR-V and Jazz models are in contention to be crowned ‘Britain’s Safest Car’ after reaching the final 14 in an annual award judged by leading safety authority Thatcham Research, as part of the What Car? Awards 2016.

Cars qualifying for the ‘Safety Award’ must have been launched in 2015, on sale in the UK from 13^th January 2016, achieve five Euro NCAP stars and feature Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB). 

Those reaching the final 14 are also assessed against several other stringent safety factors, with new safety innovations also taken into account, all under the watchful eyes of Thatcham Research and an independent panel of safety experts. The top three, as judged by the panel, will be announced at the What Car? Car of the Year Awards on Wednesday 13^th January 2016.

Among a host of advanced safety features both the all-new Jazz and HR-V offer Honda’s City-Brake Active system (CTBA) as standard, using laser technology to scan the road ahead and automatically apply the brakes if a low speed collision is likely. 

Both models were awarded the maximum five-star Euro NCAP rating in November, with the Jazz becoming only the second supermini to achieve such a feat this year. 

All current Honda models on sale in Europe have now received the maximum five-star Euro NCAP rating.

Matthew Avery, Director of Research at Thatcham Research comments: “Improved protection for drivers and passengers has helped lower the UK’s road death toll significantly over the past 20 years. 

This year’s long list of contenders shows that active safety systems like AEB, which are proven to reduce accident claims by 38 per cent, are increasingly being fitted as standard. Which is good news for consumers. And means it makes judging more difficult this year.”

Jim Holder, Editorial Director of What Car? comments: “Safety is one of the key concerns for new car buyers, particularly if the vehicle in question is to be used as the main mode of family transport. What Car? believes it important that such a key consideration is reflected in our Car of the Year Awards. 

Not only does the Safety Award highlight the incredible, yet often unsung, work manufacturers do, it also allows us to both commend and encourage it.”

Phil Webb, Head of Cars for Honda (UK) comments: “Driver, passenger and pedestrian safety is absolutely paramount for Honda and we remain committed to bringing some of the most advanced technologies to the market and making them accessible to the widest customer base possible. 

With every model in our current range now carrying the maximum five-star Euro NCAP rating Honda owners can have complete peace-of-mind that they are driving one of the safest cars on the market.”

Toyota's ME.WE concept nominated for design award.

A Toyota concept car conceived to challenge traditional thinking about vehicle design and engineering has been put forward for a prestigious design honour. ME.WE, a highly adaptable, no-frills model developed in a ground-breaking collaboration between architect and designer Jean-Marie Massaud and ED², Toyota’s European design studio, has been nominated in the Designs of the Year awards at London’s Design Museum. 

The awards focuses on cutting-edge innovation and original talent across a broad spectrum of design disciplines, including architecture, digital fashion, furniture, graphics, products and transport. ME.WE, first presented at Toyota’s Le Rendez-vous brand centre in Paris last spring, will join all the nominated designs in an exhibition at the museum from 26 March.

As well as being considered for an award by an eminent panel of judges, the concept will also be in the running for the competition’s new social vote. During the course of the exhibition, two award contenders will go head-to-head in a popular vote among museum visitors and its worldwide Twitter and Facebook followers, via the www.designmuseum.org website.. The Toyota ME.WE will be facing off against another competitor on 22 April. 

Social chatter about the nominated designs will also be taking place, using #designsoftheyear.

For more information about ME.WE visit http://media.toyota.co.uk/product_info/me-we/.

The ME.WE car for today video can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fscel1tQPHA