Thanks to our dutiful following of VolvoXC60 on Twitter, we learned today that Rolling Strength’s revolutionary new crossover has made the list of finalists for Motor Trend’s 2010 SUV of the Year award. Of course to be fair, the XC60 was neither engineered or marketed as an SUV, but the majority of Motor Trend’s other finalists weren’t either. Given the current market and auto maker’s eagerness to distance themselves from the often negative stigma attached to SUVs, however, MT would be hard pressed to assemble a similarly lengthy list if limiting the criteria to only those vehicles explicitly billed as SUVs. Thus, the one aspect all the candidates have in common is ride height, multi-function capability, and an all wheel drive train.

Of the three Japanese automakers (Toyota, Nissan, Honda) that have luxury brands, most would agree that Honda’s Acura line has slowly dropped behind the other two with regards to performance. Not to mention the German brands all three initially set in their sights. A sad state of things given that it wasn’t that long ago that Acura offered the only true sports car in the bunch. But don’t get us started on the demise of the NSX. Instead, start a slow clap for the 2010 TSX which has finally been given enough guts to at least be competitive in the small luxury sedan segment. Now, let’s talk about this whole front-wheel drive issue.

2002 Acura TL Type S

Honda is the latest automaker to catch the recall bug as they announced Friday that they are recalling another 440,000 vehicles, including some of their best-selling Accord and Civic models, for an airbag defect. As opposed to the sometimes mundane warnings for one thing or another, this recall has the potential to cause serious injury. How serious? How does airbag projectile shrapnel to the face sound?

Acura ZDX Concept

Despite some lackluster feelings about the concept, the ZDX “sports coupe” that was first introduced at the New York Auto Show this past April will be arriving later this year as an Acura competitor to the BMW X6. It’s probably the most frivolous Acura since the NSX, which at least was a killer sports car. With a panoramic glass roof, hidden rear door handles and aggressive fender flares, it rather shamelessly adopts more than a little of the X6’s DNA. The question of whether the X6 should even exist is debatable; so is there really enough of a market for two “sport coupes” (three if you count the Cayenne) to be successful?

A few months ago Honda aficionado’s were buzzing over spy shots of the resurrected NSX carving corners around the Nurburgring, with rumors of a GTR-killing V10 under the hood. But a poor economic climate nixed that great return. Or so we thought.

Sources from 7Tune.com have reported that the NSX will indeed be produced, although Honda’s focus for the car has substantially shifted away from world-class supercar benchmarks towards more environmentally-friendly purposes. Instead of the GTR, the “Super Hybrids Sports” NSX will be a direct competitor with Toyota’s FT-HS hybrid sports car, another performance nameplate reslated as a green car to take advantage of an increasingly petrol-phobic market.

Click the jump for more details.

In our last installment we sprung Prince Albert from his can to profile a British minx, the Jaguar XK8/XKR. Today, we’re examining the progeny of Soichiro Honda. Honda love runs deep. We understand and respect this. If you’ve tattooed the phrase “DC5 Forever” on your chest, stop reading now. If not, listen to our sad tale of the car that forgot where it came from.

Also known as the Honda Integra in Japan.

The theme today is stepping out of the shadow of one’s predecessor. The RSX’s pappy was the DC2 Integra of 1994-2001. And the baddest DC2 was the Type R. The name has since become diluted by certain people’s slavish devotion to slapping “Type R” stickers all over anything that moves, but the original Type R was no appearance package. To understand the RSX, you have to understand the Type R.

Popular Used Car: 2006 Acura TL

Not surprisingly, while new cars sales take a steady beating, used car sales continue to stay up.  Naturally, some used cars are more popular than others, not only because of a specific car’s perceived fuel efficiency or utility, but as a result of the longevity or sheer number of each model’s production.  So for those in the market for a newer but not new car, here is a breakdown of the Top 10 Used Cars for 2009 based on sales numbers compiled by the auto information statisticians at Edmunds.com.  Some of these results may surprise you.

2009 Infiniti G37 Coupe

According to the ratings done by Consumer Reports in their June issue; the 2009 Infiniti G37 has conquered competitors from Acura, Audi and Volkswagen for the best overall rating in the upscale sport sedan category.

When teaser photos of the new Acura ZDX crossover concept vehicle leaked late last week, we were struck with this crazy idea that we might actually like it. Perhaps it was the result of too many hours spent secluded in our poorly-lit office hunched in front of our laptop for 20+ hours a day with little nutrition beyond amphetamines and goldfish crackers with which to sustain us, but for whatever reason, we were harboring this idea that the Acura ZDX was going to be a leather-upholstered, luxury version of the ass-hauling Subaru Impreza WRX STi. We were, of course, wrong.

Apparently intended to compete with the BMW X6 (good luck with that Acura, have you seen the X6 M?), the Acura ZDX Concept that bowed at the NY Auto Show is a prototype version of the luxury 4-door “sports coupe” that is tentatively scheduled to hit the Acura lineup around 2010-11. Although the specifications are always subject to change, the design language of the ZDX prototype is just unexciting enough to indicate that the final production model will likely differ very little. Beneath the hood, the Acura ZDX prototype is powered by an aluminum VTEC V6, the specifications of which Acura has decided to withhold for the time being, but rest assured that it will most likely be as uninspiring as the rest of the vehicle.

As a committed Volvo fanboygirl, allow me to start by saying that yes, Acura might be safe now, but Volvo was safe first.

Thanks to what Acura is billing as their “steadfast dedication to passenger safety” (or “steadfast dedication to turning a profit”), Honda’s luxury brand has officially become the first brand to receive top marks from both the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) and the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety) for every vehicle in its line-up. After slowly but surely teaching the safety dance (sorry, there was a thing on VH1 last night, it got stuck in our heads, you know how it is) to every new model, Acura was finally able to claim their victory this week after the NHTSA wrapped up testing on the 2009 Acura TL.