Costco

Front end looks like a Chrysler Sebring/TL + MDX/ugly ass grill

They should have just changed it back to the Acura Legend. That alone probably would have gotten some more sales, instead of wasting the time and money for R&D for the new front end. I agree about moving that ugly block of silver to the middle of the grill and lowering the top of the grill to line up with the fenders/headlights. Makes it look very nice, but as it is I can't believe how bad it makes the car look. Just lower the grill a little bit... and move the Acura 'wings' into the middle of the grill.

db22

The inside is almost identical. The wheels are still ugly although 1 inch larger. The front may have to been seen in person. Most of the new features should have been an evolution on our model - heated cooled seats, 3.7 liter, Ipod, USB, weather etc. If the audio system is not a hard disc based system then it will never compete. How about the Bose HD system? Needs a 6 speed badly to make up for the lack of torque on a VTEC.
To state that it is all new is a little misleading when it's almost imposible to tell the difference between the interiors of the 2 models. I like the rear design but a spoiler will change the apparent aspect ratio of the rear and make it appear too high.

lumpulus

Well, after a nights sleep and some rational thinking..... IT'S STILL FUGLY!!!!

Ganplosive

"But over the years, vehicles have lost that individuality and brand identity. Well, at Acura, we're determined to bring it back with striking styling statements such as the powerful grille, distinctive silhouette and edgier styling on every model we produce. By the end of this year, I guarantee you won't mistake an Acura for anything else on the road."



no one will confuse an Acura that's for sure.. T__T

cai06

The silver RL doesn't look bad at all. I think the color tones down the grill's lip.

Very mean looking.

cai06

eaglewatch

Acura Designer #1: What if we made the front look like the last generation Suburu B9 Tribeca vomiting up an Alfa Romeo?

Acura Designer #2: Brilliant!

SpicyMikey

OK, new day, different perspective.

I think I overreacted a bit yesterday. Yes this asymetrical grill design sucks. It's almost universally agreed. No amount of "good night sleeps" will probably change that for me. But hopefully Acura will hear the outcries and fix that pronto. The rest of the exterior is OK and keep in mind we haven't seen it in person yet. That makes such a difference in final impressions.

To me, Acura listened to us very well and made a good effort to fix many of the complaints I hear over and over from people;
1) too vanilla looking. Not anymore. That's certainly been fixed

2) 17 inch wheels standard. They gave us 18's and improved the styling a bit.

3) Performance sucks. They reworked the j37 and rammed it into the RL as an MMC! Give them credit. There's more torque now and the engine is lighter then the current engine. They didn't give us a 6AT but how could they? They don't have one yet. However, they did say the tranny has been regeared, so that also may address some of our complaints. I can't wait to see how this new power train performs

4) Handling to soft; They've stiffened the suspension. Not sure how much tighter it is (A-Spec package standard now?) but I find that very exciting.

5) FWD bias; They retuned and improved the SHAWD system to be responsive right from first gear and also more rear wheel biased. That's great!

6) No Cooled Seats: They fixed that ridiculous omission with the MMC

7) Some new interior features and tech such as improved Noise cancelation, weather maps, redesigned seats, shifter, etc. etc. All looks to be good changes.

So we have to look at this in total. I think it's a good thing for the RL. Now JUST FIX THE GRILL please.

platinum1

Nice looking car from the front . A lot better compared to Acura's own design team (totally ugly) . I guess they were completely drunk or put their brain in their a## when they were debating / designing the grill.

Rexorg

Hello from sunny FL. I have been so busy I forgot all about the '09 RL, and I think that is good since it is fugly. Hopefully, the 3G RL next year will be better, but by then I will probably be driving a '09 TL-S unless it is fugly too.

bearcat2000

This is a quick photoshop how they could have simply changed the rear taillight units and added a different trunk lid. Simple and effective. Any thoughts?

http://gallery.mac.com/schmidtfamily#100201

login/pass: acura

Dr. Decatherm

I'm reminded of when Audi changed their grill design to the upright trapezoid. Enthusiasts hated it. But now, they are actually selling kits to retro fit older models with the newly designed grill. The dramatic design change took time, but on the Audi Boards at least, people love the grill now.

I've been without my RL for six months now, and maybe because I haven't been looking at it everyday and have fresh perspective, I actually like this new look. I can imagine the "down the road graphics" this car will have and I'm looking forward to driving one.

Shotgun

Yes, that's all they had to do!!! Along with the other stuff they added

cai06

Exactly!

I remember when the new Audi grill came out the Audi forums exploded. I still remember "looks like a vagina" LOL.. now they don't want to go back.

btw whats your specialty?

lumpulus

Perfectly descriptive, and hilarious.

Change that abomination of a front fascia, or we will be seeing allot of dealer incentives by summer.

SpicyMikey

Hmmm, but I don't like the Audi grill either. That may explain why I hate this one.

However your point is well taken. Regardless of the initial reaction, a design will ALWAYS become more accepted as time goes on. Being unique and obnoxios can actually become a status symbol eventually.

I still think the shield should be centered and the borders thinned out a bit. Even this guys simple mod looks much better

http://img174.imageshack.us/my.php?i...6174206aq9.png

lindros2

At the end of the day this change was "polarizing".

For folks like myself who own a 2G RL, there's no chance I'll get a new one (unless they give me a Tech package car for $42k). I don't think that's what Acura wants to hear.

For those who passed over the RL, there is little chance they will buy one now. Unless they're cross-shopping a Lincoln Navigator (oh wait - that also has a V8, 6-speed auto, and Dubs...).

dwboston

[QUOTE=SpicyMikey]Regardless of the initial reaction, a design will ALWAYS become more accepted as time goes on. [QUOTE]

I disagree with this point. Some designs are just too awful to become accepted - like this one.

I slept on it and went back and looked at it again. It's still horrible. As others have pointed out it's not just the shield, it's the way the hood doesn't line up with the fender line and the headlights. The close up side view is revolting - it just looks wrong. I said it yesterday and I'll say it again. There's a reason this design didn't leak beforeheand and that there were no spy shots. They knew they had a dud and wanted to hide it as long as possible.

SpicyMikey

In case anyone didn't see this yet. Here's the press conference with the RL in motion.

http://vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=739107

Rexorg

Good old Dick said by the end of the year no one will mistake an Acura for anything else on the road. I hope this does not mean all Acuras will be fugly from now on.

Rob L

Yet another indication of the decline in society. HTF could anyone butcher the current rl to make it look like that? Yuck. Again, yet another REGRESSION by humans. Websites are getting worse, car designs are getting worse, commercials worse, movies worse, more reality tv bullshit, sports worse...it doesn't end. Sheesh.

Anyway, the new interior stuff/tweaks and the upgrades seem nice but wtf no 6 speed auto? Get with the times Acura. It'll be funny when you will be able to buy a 15k Kia with a 6 speed auto but not a 50k supposed luxury car from Acura. SHEESH

Glad I have a 05 RL and can guarantee you I won't ever consider buying another RL if this is the shit Acura will continue to do. Way to take an already poor selling car and makes the sales worse. Although, I seem to be way diff than the mass market humans and predictions I am sure of usually backfire so watch this car sell way better than the current guy.

Sheesh. When it comes to the Acura line Honda sure is an idiot company.

Rexorg

The '09 does have some improved features like the 10-way seats in front and they are cooled and heated to six different levels. Have no idea what Bluetooth Audio and XM Note is, but they must be good. Also read the windshield sprayers are more powereful and have a wider coverage area. Seems the '09 will be quieter inside so you will not be able to hear other drivers shouting how fugly your car is. From all the different pics it's really hard to say what the '09 RL reallly looks like. I guess I will have to see it in person and in different colors. If the price is right I might buy one, but not $50+ for the Tech model.

TampaRLX-SH

I know I am upset with this restyle,

but I do not find Colliver sincere or with finesse. I do like the highlighting of features BEFORE skirting over the styling. But I read smug and arrogance.

He seems to follow the idiology that bad publicity is better than no publicity.

I cannot imagine Honda tolerating this philosophy. I am bewildered.

SpicyMikey

True, the passenger seat is 10 way now. That was another annoying thing when I was in the passenger seat. They DID seem to listen and fix a lot of these shortcomings. I still won't buy one since I just got mine 11 months ago. However, I'm happy they seem to be going in the right direction (except for the grill)

krio

first impression yesterday: awful restyling (many restyling are awful). I was shocked. But maybe better to be shocked than nothing!
second impression: not bad at all...
I like this car, I don't why, but it seems to me, the RL is really "growing up" in the right position in the market.
The front grille, derived from the TL, and even more, from the ridiculous Concept that Acura presented in november 2006 at Los Angeles, will be the new branding shield for the next TL too... But in the more sharp and angular TL will be a state of the art, in the RL looks odd.

taitando

I agree about what's been said about the Audi grill when it was first introduced. It was a very WTF type of thing which drew either a love it or hate it reaction. In contrast to Acura though, Audi's grill was executed with symmetry, lining up nicely with the headlights and so on.

Symmetry is BIG. The human mind subconsciously will gravitate towards symmetrical things. Aside from obvious features, ever notice that the faces of super models are very symmetrical? It's what people are attracted to, and it's what saved Audi's grill design.

Instead, with the RL, you've got the opposite. It's symmetrical from left to right, but from top to bottom? You have at the top of the grill, a big metal slab followed by space. The subconscious mind tends to think "beak" or "overbite". Ever seen a model with an overbite? Yeah, not sexy. And then to top it off, it doesn't line up with the eyes/headlights. Kinda like a gigantoid nose.

Hopefully this RL will be more beast than beauty, but I doubt that as well.

SpicyMikey

They obviously tried to give the RL more edges to better work with this new grill. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have worked.

Maybe your right though. Matched with a new car design, the grill may not look as ridiculous. But for now, it really doesn't work. It looks stuck on as an after thought. Oh wait. That's what it is.

cai06

I would disagree in part. Symmetry is much more important horizontally (Right/Left). Vertical symmetry not so unless you want a square or rectangle or circle; otherwise all current grills of all brands would be ugly (usually pointed downwards).

Mike_TX

One has only to look at Dick Colliver's tie in the introduction video to understand why the RL got styled the way it did.

But let's think of it this way - designers, whether they be car designers or fashion designers or even architects, often use exaggeration to make a design statement. That's exactly what they've done with the new RL's grille (and what they did with the MDX's grille before that). At first it's shocking, but in time, we come to overlook the exaggeration aspect of it, and it begins to look "normal".

The real payoff, design-wise, is when OTHER cars begin to look funny because they DON'T have that styling element. That's how styles change. It's a gamble, but when it works, it works.

So, The Grille looks 'way overdone right now, right? Given some time to get used to it, it may well start looking fine. And then it may start looking normal. That doesn't mean you have to like it, but if Acura's right, we'll adjust to it and it will become a signature styling element.

The REAR, however, is a different matter IMO. The drooping corners of the tail lights are just a styling mistake AFAIC, since they make the car look sleepy and anything but athletic. Just straighten those suckers out (like the photoshop job Shotgun showed), and all is well again.

The bustle in the back, though, is a bigger issue. Sure, it allowed for some more trunk room (though not much), but it creates too many bends and twists and creases in an otherwise flowing design. And the big lip on the top of the trunk is obscene. Small lip spoilers are fine, but let's not go overboard here.

Like most of us, I'll have to see it on the street for awhile before I draw a final conclusion, but for now it's a restless and incohesive design that leans too much toward the TL and not enough toward the Big Boy luxury sedans.

.
.

123456SPEED

I know when Audi brought out their dropjaw grill it looked ugly and wrong. Now it doesn't look so weird cause you get used to it. but I generally do not like the new styling cues on the Accord sedan and the 09 RL. very mechanical looking with styling all over the place. It looks overdone. I like understatement.
It's a lowrent way to design, to add more and more elements rather than create a more unified, cohesive overall design IMO. The Civic coupe achieves this IMO.

White92

It's been to long and I don't remember, but what were the reactions years ago when the 2G RL was first shown?

Jackzilla

Auto styling, like fashions, seems to follow trends. So if you look at the front ends appearing on many other high end marques, BOLD (and also UGLY) is in.

The front ends on Cadillac's new CTS line is certainly BOLD and attention getting. But, to me at least, it is "UGLY" -- I wouldn't even consider one if they were free. And the just announced CTS-V is worse still -- like a cross between a space ship from an old Flash Gordon movie serial and a 1930's Art Deco steam locomotive.

Similarly, the front end styling on the new Saturns bear a striking resemblence to the direction that Acura and many other makes are headed. Un-graceful, with lots of slathered on chrome seems to be the styling direction for the immediate foreseeable future. The number of homely, but BOLD front end styles seems to just proliferate with every new car introduction. It's probably safe to say it all really started with the current Chrysler 300 -- few cars have a front end design more assertive and eye catching than that monstrosity!

Looked at in this context, the new RL is right in style. It is to my eye, butt ugly, but only when compared to the prvious graceful RL front. Most all of us may think it is awful, but in terms of the numerous other designs appearing now it's right up to date.

In the PR business it is said that "NO PUBLICITY IS BAD PUBLICITY". Viewed that way and just by the seemingly endless commentary on these forums, Acura has finally succeeded in priducing an RL that's generating buzz. Only time will tell whether it's good (RL sales go up) or bad (it's the final nail in the coffin of the current RL).

Rob144

Based on the pictures and press releases it is clear that (grille notwithstanding) Acura did as much as they could with the car and tried to respond to dealer input, customer input, and their own engineers. Some things overlap, too.

Customer input resulted in the hood being raised, armrest cubbies, more padding, more quiet, roomier back seat & trunk, 10-way seats (what is the 9th & 10th way, by the way?).

Dealer input resulted in a "new look", larger tires, cooled seats, more wood, roomier back seat & trunk, 300hp, wood wheel from the factory.

Engineers got to improve noise cancellation, tweak the underbody and fittings, tailor a new engine, update SH-AWD.

The designers got to revise the sheet metal and give it the new corporate look.

Now its up to the marketeers to price and sell the car.

I've been racking my brain to think about other MMCs that have taken a fairly balanced and delicate design and upset it so much. When I look at this one, I still see the delicate shape of my '06 lost in all the updates. I'm reminded of the new M5 -- what used to be a subtle Q-ship has become a gilled and bumpered-up statement car.

The other car I think of is the Ford wagon that Chevy Chase drove in National Lampoon's "Vacation" -- yes, the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. Yes, its the Acura Queen Family Sedanster.

Rob144

JAB00

I like the grille on the MDX. It fits the overall concept of the MDX. The same grille probably will work on the new TL because the TL is a much more muscular looking and angular car. The new TSX probably would look bad with the grille. However, it does not fit on the refreshed RL's body. The RL current and refreshed is not muscular looking. It has the same proportions and shape as a honda accord. The grille looks odd.

I'm sure people who are not Acura enthusiasts seeing it for the first time will be more forgiving. Those people probably don't even know what the current RL looks like. Like others said it will eventually grow on people. The 07 TL-s was widely lampooned on the TL forum. The wheels were said to be atrocious yada yada yada. Now most praise it, granted it wasn't to divergent from the base.

I get what Acura is trying to do. The grille will be on all it's different division. Sort of like Audi. I think Audi executed it better because from an A4 to the A8 the cars looks relatively the same. The only way to tell is that the car gets bigger going from an A4 to A8. The TSX and TL have a familial resemblence. If Acura based the design theme on the TL but upped the size (interior space) and technology in the RL it would be similar to Audi in concept.

TampaRLX-SH

The 1979 Lincoln Versailles....

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...%3Den%26sa%3DN

TMQ

If the new TSX and TL come in similar grille, people will run away screaming.

The current RL looks boring, but the mmc change just makes it a laughing stock. And for the consumers in the target segment, this is just ridiculous.

I guess the next generation of RL will still be MY 2010? and make this a quick experiment?

lindros2

Generally-speaking, the production car (not the concept) was received as "bland" both here and in the UK. On the other hand, the TSX (European Accord) has received acclaim for its understated - yet sporty - styling.

Imagine, for a moment, that you were the lead designer or chief engineer. Would you take all of the input - and then use everything even if it contradicted itself?

The job of someone in this position is to take pieces and put them together in a logical, sustainable fashion. And then make a vehicle which Civic and Accord owners strive to own - not laugh at.

Looks aside, Acura did not address one single concern of mine as an RL owner. No 6-speed transmission, no V8 (or diesel - yet), no fold-down rear seats, trunk is only minimally larger, top-half of seats still do not tilt (see: comparable Audi/BMW vehicles do), and the interior still looks like a mish-mash of 1980s and 21st century designs. With all of the recalls on my TL and RL for transmission issues, the same piece of sh1t gearbox is an Acura deal-killer - especially if one isn't installed in the 4G TL.

Okay - there was one improvement - the larger 18" wheels...

Rob144

Bingo! The MMC of the Versailles was a real hound dog (not that the first one was a beauty by any means).

And the 1980 Chrysler LeBaron: http://photos.aaca.org/showphoto.php?photo=8169

Rob144

Type34

Wow, it looks like they decorated the new RL instead of designing it.

- - that - - is - - awful - -

kssod

NEWSFLASH: Captain America's lost shield has been found at the Chicago Auto show Acura display.
My current RL exterior has an understated if not bland exterior, but to some eyes it is somewhat like an S class. The new design has no flow, no sex appeal. Look at classic designs all swoopy and curvy (Cord, Jags, Maserati, Ferrari) the looks evoke emotion, passion, desire regardless of the underhood performance. The new RL has no cohesiveness to its look. The M and GS are now way better even if the substance underneath is less.