2016 Honda Civic Si Coupe

Honda ’s newly refreshed 2014 Civic Coupe Si is now set to roll out of dealer showrooms, and with the added tech, upgraded powertrain and revised looks, Honda hopes the Si will push the car past its already impressive sales numbers for 2013.

While the Civic Si has been topping the list of cheap car thrills for more than two decades now, there have been complaints about the car lacking ‘spice.’ Thankfully, it seems Honda has spiced up the recipe to bring new life into the car, especially in the Si trim.

Added power, a re-tuned sport suspension, an upgraded interior and a new exterior look are among the changes for 2014. Outside, the Civic Si sports a reshaped front bumper and grille with a more aggressive appearance. Reshaped front finders carry the aggression rearward toward a revamped rear fascia that includes an air diffuser and a mildly boy-racer wing.

Things are still familiar inside the Civic with minor changes only recognizable by Civic fans. The Si trim gets a new unique seat fabric with contrasting red bottoms and black bolsters and the dash gets a faux carbon-fiber surround for the center stack.

The best changes are relegated under hood, as the 2.4-liter I-4 now produces four more horsepower and four pound-feet of torque to total 205 and 174, respectively. The Civic’s six-speed manual returns unaltered and as the Si’s only transmission choice. Despite the slight increase in power, the 2.4-liter still returns the same 22 mpg city, 31 mpg highway and 25 mpg combined.

Audi Will Build The R8 E-tron After All

The Audi R8 E-tron is officially a ’go’ after Audi successfully made revisions to make the electric sports car run longer distances than its initial range.

So, it looks like the on-again, off-again status of the R8 E-tron has now been resolved, and not a moment too soon because Audi has spent a pretty long time coming to this decision. To be fair, the German automaker understood that to green light the production of the R8 E-tron, significant improvements had to be made to increase the model’s range of 134 miles.

It turns out that the solution, according to Ulrich Hackenberg, board member for technical development, was found after significant progress had been made in battery technology, including the way it was packaged, which made them more space efficient.

Ultimately, Audi successfully bumped up the E-Tron’s range, thanks to a re-engineering program, and to be fair, it wasn’t just a marginal increase in range. From the initial 134 miles, Hackenberg’s team of engineers managed to more than double the electric sports car’s range to an impressive 279 miles.

So with that headache resolved, the road to production for the R8 E-Tron just got a lot smoother, even though a specific time frame for its arrival has yet to be announced.

But hey, one problem at a time, right? The important thing is the R8 E-tron is going to be produced after all, even if the decision that led to it took a lot longer than a lot of people anticipated.

McLaren 650S Spider Configurator Launched 2016

Good news for those of you who can spend enormous blocks of time crafting the perfect machine within the interactive confines of online car configurators — McLaren’s 650S Spider configurator just went live.

But before you go building your own mid-engine supercar , check past the jump for all the nitty-gritty details regarding the configurator and the various ways to construct a 650S Spider . The configurator is pretty intuitive and simple to navigate with six main categories — paint, wheels and tires, exterior, interior, equipment, and summary — stacked vertically on the left. Each category has sub categories that list the various choices available for the car. Make sure you select your location, though, as a right-hand-drive 650S with an Italian-language infotainment system and owners manual won’t do you much good Stateside.

Once complete, you can download the build sheet for your specific car, complete with color choice, options and detailed specs. Even if you’re only dreaming, McLaren’s configurator is a hoot to play with.

2016 Gumpert Explosion

For all the financial troubles Gumpert went through for the past a few years, one thing that hasn’t changed is the company’s ability to create, develop and build sports cars . We already know what Gumpert is capable of, thanks to its lineup of mind-bending Apollo models, but during the Geneva Motor Show, the company went with a new twist, introducing the new Gumpert Explosion that’s not quite at the Apollo’s performance level, but is a little more attainable for those who can’t spend $1 million on a car.

The Gumpert Explosion is named specifically to distinguish it from the big boys in the lineup. By sheer looks, it’s already different from the devastatingly fast Apollo and while its specs are also significantly lower than the Apollo, the Explosion does carry the appeal of being an "affordable" Gumpert.

2016 Lazareth Wazuma GT

There are some vehicles that are so outrageous that a test of your sanity is often required before you decide to jump into one. Well, the Lazareth Wazuma GT qualifies as one of these cars. At first glance, you’d think it was a low-volume sports car , but then you look at the back and you notice that the rear wheel is made up of two wheels that essentially share the same axle. Oh, ok.

So is it a three-wheeler ? It’s definitely not a car or a motorcycle, as Lazareth has said. Yet amidst all the confusion, the Wazuma GT is completely drivable and actually has a powerful V-8 engine under its hood. It’s also pretty light, with just a 2,170-pound curb weight, so its 375 horsepower and 387 pound-feet of torque output is plenty to put this near supercar quickness.

The Lazareth Wazuma GT is quite an interesting vehicle, but the details are very thin on it. We are still trying to contact the manufacturer to get some info, but our attempts have been unsuccessful so far.

2016 Fiat 500 Cult

Let’s be real here for a second. There are only a certain amount of things you can to the Fiat 500 to make it more appealing to customers. The car doesn’t exactly look like a million bucks, although its retro-themed design does appeal to a certain segment of the car-buying population.

So when Fiat comes out with a special-edition 500 dubbed the "500 Cult" and describes it as a top-of-the-range version of its 500 line that offers an "exclusive level of style, technological content and performance," nobody’s doing any backflips thinking that this baby can compete with even the tamest of sports cars .

But all that isn’t to say that the 500 lacks in any appeal. Like we said, a lot of people dig the bygone looks and the tradition of the vehicle, so much so that rolling out new duds for the 500 isn’t such a bad idea.

Essentially, that’s what Fiat is banking on with the 500 Cult, offering a plethora of new options for both thecoupe and convertible versions that puts even more emphasis on the hatchback ’s trendiness.

2016 Bugatti Veyron Vivere by Mansory

It’s understandable that Bugatti’s Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse Rembrandt Bugatti Edition will get a lot of the love at the Geneva Motor Show . But don’t start thinking that it’s the only Veyron in attendance becauseMansory won’t have any of it.

That’s because the Swiss tuner brought its own Veyron to the party, or to be more specific, its new Vivere program for the mighty Bugatti supercar .

This isn’t the first time Bugatti has been the subject of Mansory’s tender love and affection. But unlike its predecessor, the Vincero , the Vivere is, shall we say, a little more comprehensive on the facelift front, even if there’s a conspicuous absence of any sort of engine upgrade.

Maybe Mansory forgot to add one, or it just thought the program was best suited for aesthetic and aerodynamic upgrades only. Either way, it sure does liven up the Veyron , even if "livening up the Veyron" doesn’t necessarily translate to a better program.