Colin

^^ Haha, flash + exposed on sunset.... Unfortunately, the potential customer may be photoshopped. I can't believe she didn't wait 18 months for the car!? So impatient.

TampaRLX-SH

It's not REAL! Only members of this forum can see it.

To prove my point I showed that post to my nephew and he could NOT see it! Instead he asked 'Chevy Cruze?'

It is a figment.

neuronbob

DEEEETAILS please Colin. Have you driven it? Is it sold? Huh? Is is even solid? Yes?

You mean I can't call it vaporware anymore?

TampaRLX-SH

I see a 12 Step Program Group forming.....

On the Road to Recovery:

Step 1: TOUCH the car.


*discuss*

Colin

I think it's fair to call the 2015 Vaporware...

I haven't driven this one, but did have a good deal of seat time in an earlier one back in June(ish). They shipped one to us for training then returned it to California. I did a write up in a post here, but can't find it now.

neuronbob

Cars.com now has 14 Sport Hybrids on the ground or in transit to dealerships. Nearest one to me is in Louisville, 300 miles away.

Who's gonna be the forum's first owner? I'll have to see if I can find my old Acurazine stickers to send to the first owner.

TampaRLX-SH

Colin, do you say that because there are yet 2015 SH RLXs to be built? Or because you do not expect the SH RLX to be offered as a 2015 model ?

My thinking was by the pattern of recent years,,,they would build out the PAWS RLX and then build a pre-determined number of SH RLXs and manage the distribution.

It makes me dizzy trying to think if I should wait until 2016 for changes,,,,if any.

Where are my meds?

Colin

^^ I was just saying it as a joke. Vaporware is something not here yet, and clearly this applies to '15s for now.

hondamore

Hello group, my name is Hondamore and I'm hooked on SHAWD.

I first developed my addiction to SHAWD 10 years ago in an Acura RL. Now I find myself dreaming and fantasizing about the Sport Hybrid SHAWD RLX constantly. I check the Acura Canada website about 10 times a day, I have signed up for updates from Acura (none yet received???) and I have one salesman and two sales managers on speed dial.

For now, I get my fix by taking freeway offramps at ludicrous speeds in my RL just to feel the SHAWD beneath me. Ten years of driving my RL and the brakes are practically new because I don't slow down for corners, I just turn and the SHAWD gets me where I want to go.

Please help me.

Thank you group, my name is Hondamore.

Malibu Flyer

To all of you other folks who are addicted to the SH- AWD don't forget the side effects of our obsession....

1. Horrible stress waiting for the one car to show up in your local dealer.
2. Physical distress fighting off all of the other potential buyers. Much worse than waiting in line for the iPhone 6 -- SH-AWD RLX buyers are not a tame group. We are so frustrated we will stop at nothing to get our fix.
3. Financial distress as we have to put up with the Dealer auctioning off the only SH-AWD they expect to have for the foreseeable future.
4. The end to any existing relationship with a partner of spouse as our new love object leaves no energy or time for any other activity.
5. Likely unemployment [for those of us who aren't yet retired] since work will be missed or poorly preformed as we spend full time (1) getting familiar with a 400+ page Owner's Manual and (2) spend the rest of the time speeding around corners on the local mountain roads. No time or inclination left for work.
6. Potential jail time or heavy fines from the unbridled driving enthusiasm that is sure to ensue.

Be careful for what we wish for.....there will be side effects.

Anyone interesting in a 12 step group please contact me so we can schedule a Face Time call on our iPhone 6's for a meeting right from our new SH-AWD RLX.

TampaRLX-SH

awwww shit.

There, I said it.

eladts

There were 15 cars there this morning. Is one of them already sold?

TSX69

Uh oh - Piazza Acura has a pomegranate pearl hybrid - too bad it is only the tech pkg tho. If only Acura would make this color with the ebony interior - I probably would have bought that. Not sure if I want to drive ~300 miles to this thing:

New 2014 Acura RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD with Technology Package For Sale | Ardmore PA | 41026 | Serving Philadelphia, West Chester and Jenkintown PA

neuronbob

17 on cars.com today. The closest silver moon and graphite luster metallic Advances, which are how I'd take mine, are in California.

Many are apparently in shipment, though, as no color is listed.

eladts

I just saw yesterday pomegranate pearl RLX P-AWS in traffic and it looked great. This color is much darker in real life than in pictures.

George Knighton

It's not bad at all.

If you're scared of screaming red, you shouldn't be afraid of Pomegranate.

But...I'm more or less permanently afraid of any interior other than Honda Ebony leather. All interiors are just too easy to stain, sometimes just by getting in and out of the car in jeans.

stagefoursurvivor

WTH?

Every Advance listed thus far is white or no color identified and they're all on the left coast.
Given they're scarcity, I wonder if dealers will allow a demo drive...a rigorous drive?
I may need to deactivate my membership on this forum lest I start seriously considering buying one of these now at likely full MSRP if an Advanced shows up in CBP!

Colin

I wrote this a while ago:

neuronbob

^^^^^^^
Thanks! Can't wait.

Me, too. I'm doing the best I can to maintain resolve as it is. Now that the release is officially here, I'm half tempted to put a deposit down.

hondamore

What I'd really love to know is Acura's planned production run for the 2015 RLX Sport Hybrid. If the 2015's are going to as scarce as the 2014 then getting a deal is going to be difficult and I might as well buy sooner rather than later. If they make 5000+ of the hybrids this model year, then eventually, the price will come down a bit after the initial buying binge and then I'm all over it. Now where did I put my crystal ball????

cyler

The Silver Moon in Glendale, CA is already sold. I called the dealership yesterday. The sales person informed me they can only sell to CA residents (unless Acura gives them permission to make an exception).

The nice folks in customer care in Torrence gave me a work around for finding more info for the cars.com vehicle listings that don't show a color (or are missing other info). Go to https://owners.acura.com, log in and cut and paste the VIN from cars.com. You can research the car by VIN without saving the car to your account. The system will verify the VIN, Trim, Internal Color and External Color.

getakey

Thre's 1 in Marin Acura - this is the Dealer that always had the most inventory of PAWs.
2014 Acura RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD with Advance Package $65,950

White Pearl, Seacoast Leather

They also have 3 2014 PAWS
1 Advance $60,450

1 2014 RLX PAWS TEch
$54,450

mgalbr22

If anyone takes a test drive, we would be curious to know whether it has the same defective "amplitude reactive dampers" as the gas model. ( they are listed in the features in the press release.) also, is the a/c noisy, whistle, whine? If not, did they wrap the lines as described by Ken in the other thread.

Pens Fan

I too am curious about the status of the 2015 RLX Sport Hybrid and when production of these will start. Perhaps Colin can advise if dealers can order them and if not if there is any information from Acura yet as to when they can (hopefully) be ordered.

neuronbob

Oh, well! I'm sure there will be more in 2015. We hope.

There are A LOT of Techs floating around on cars.com, and only a few Advances so far. I guess they figure the Tech will be the big seller with this car. Alas, I have a kid and a mother-in-law to chauffeur, so need the butt warmers of the Advance trim.

Thanks! I put that advice to good use over the weekend.

Another question about the mythical 2015 RLX Sport Hybrids.....are they going to be Ohio-built? If they are built at all?

Colin

I haven't heard anything about a move in production location. I believe they're going to be assigned by Acura vs. dealers ordering them. I'm looking forward to hearing your impressions when you get a chance to try one.

eladts

Aren't J-series engines built in Ohio anyway? It make little sense to built engines in the USA, ship them to Japan and then import them back to the USA inside completed cars.

Colin

This is true, but it's not clear if ALL J's are made in the US (though I think they are). I will admit that I was surprised to see the RLX being made in Japan, it's so hard to gauge the correct selling price with the currency is fluctuating by as much as 30%.

TampaRLX-SH

^^^

In general it appears Honda is moving much of the auto assembly offshore (from Japan) with exception of domestic consumption.

From a business perspective it makes sense to localize the assembly to the demand market. But I for one, will still choose a Japan assembled Honda / Acura over a US assembled car.

I admit the quality gap is closing, but I believe that is one part improvement on US assemble and one part decline in Japanese assembly (due to economic pressures of JDM assembly?).

I will need to due some digging, but when I read the Sport Hybrid powertrain and NSX would be US assembly, it hinted that this would include the SH RLX, if not all RLXs. Let me see if I can find it.

hondamore

If the RLX assembly were to be moved to the US, I seem to recall it was going to be the same plant that makes the NSX. If this is the case, it is being staffed by only the top associates from Honda's US plants and I believe that would certainly result in a build quality equal to or better than Saitama's best efforts. Of course, I can't find where I read that the RLX production was going to be at the NSX plant, so maybe I dreamt it all.

JTRADAR61

Acura of boston shows one graphite luster advance in stock . Msrp 66,845

2011TL

Pohanka Acura in Chantilly, VA is showing one RLXh in stock. Advance trim in CBP with Seacoast. MSRP $66,845.

JonFo

Here in Atlanta, several dealers have them now, mostly tech packages.

Jackson Acura in Roswell has a White Tech package SH

New 2014 Acura RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD with Technology Package (White Sedan) | Serving Atlanta, Alpharetta & Roswell Georgia | Jackson Acura

Same for AcuraCarLand:
New 2014 Acura RLX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD with Technology Package ( Sedan) | Serving Atlanta, Roswell & Duluth Georgia | Acura Carland

JonFo

BTW- this feels more like a rare bird spotting group than a car fan forum

neuronbob

Motorcars Acura here in Cleveland finally has one in stock, or inbound. Unfortunately, it's a Tech and it's in CBP. Still gonna call for a test drive. Stay tuned for an official neuronbob™ test drive in the near future.

http://motorcarsacura.com/Cleveland-...-Car/33157995/

hondamore

neuronbob, I wouldn't get my hopes up for test driving the SH RLX...it may already be spoken for or they may not allow test drives since it is their only unit and they will want to sell it as new, not as a demo. I know if I were plunking down $60K+ for a new car, I wouldn't want it to have been driven by anyone other than the guy driving it 50 feet off the transport.
Believe me, I sympathize with your desire to drive one, but I'm just playing devil's advocate here and giving you a heads up that you may be disappointed when you ask for a test drive. On the other hand...If you give them a $10K deposit, pretend you want to buy it, test drive it, use every fiber of your being to remove the smile from your face and tell them that you hated it and wanted your deposit back...then that might work.

Bottom line...I look forward to the neuronbob review.

neuronbob

LOL! It could be tough to wipe the smile off my face. I'm personally just happy I don't have to call this vaporware anymore. Of all the recent Acura releases, this is the one I've really been really wanting. What will be really hard is calling the dealer, only to be told they are expecting no more this year because of low supply.

TampaRLX-SH

Step 1: Touch the car

George Knighton

Today I'm going to drive an hour up and an hour back to take a look at the closest one to me.

It doesn't look good, though. It's a CBP which means the interior is likely to be parchment or something like that (seacoast?). Black on black...that's too much. And I'm already kind of turned off to black exteriors because of the occasional 100+ heat around here. And light coloured leather...have we finally fixed the indigo transfer?

Financially looks even worse. Estimated 37,000 for my car with 17.5K on the clock makes it look like common sense is going to take over, unless they're offering good deals (doubtful).

Also...even though I'm on the list where they let you decide what to finance, I've noticed that Acura Financing has climbed from 0.9% to 1.9% or even 2.9% on the most desirable cars.

I don't know about all this. Doesn't look like it is going to end up being an intelligent thing to do on my part.

If part of the delay didn't have to do with fixing the brake feel, it's just off, I think.

:-)

hondamore

I'm of the opinion that the brake feel issue noted by reviewers is not so much a problem but a result of hybrid braking feeling "different" from non-hybrid braking. When the regenerative braking activates in addition to the "normal" brakes it will obviously have a different feel than a car with only regular pad friction braking. My suspicion is that once you drive the car for a while and get used to the new feel, the brakes will actually be an improvement over "regular" brakes and actually inspire more confidence because I suspect they will provide shorter braking distances.

Also, brake by wire systems often include a fuzzy logic component that can "learn" the braking preferences of the driver. During a brief road test done for the purposes of writing a review, an inordinate amount of time is spent jumping on the brakes to assess the braking distances, brakes during aggressive driving etc and so the brakes will be "grabbier" than normal thinking that the driver prefers to brake agressively. Again, just my suspicion, but I believe with days and weeks of "normal" more sedate driving, the brakes will adapt a more "normal" feel.

Again, just my suspicion which seems to be at least partially supported by Colin's review of driving the RLX-SH - he noted the brakes began to feel more normal the more he drove it..."additional seat time help make it easier to "feel" the braking better".

Bottom line: I wouldn't rule out buying a SH-RLX just because the brakes feel different...over time that "different" might turn into "better".

My two cents.