when will be reviewed or driven by the press???

 

I would guess not until at least after 11/28

 

Does this mean the thread about the actual first drive will have to be named "Second Drive"?

 

this could prove to be a problem

 

All fail train stops north of Maryland have been re-routed to OPs house.

 

I'm guessing the Press is not going to be kind on a FWD RL

 

Unfortunately, with cars like the Azera and new Avalon out there delivering nearly the same package for over 10 grand less, I'm guessing it shouldn't be.

 

After all of the anticipation leading up to the RLX Acura is going to "wow" us with a FWD debut and delay deployment of the SH AWD the RL has long been known and loved for.

Is Acura stoned?

I've heard many drivers desire a RWD RL, and many desire a V8. Since they have great V6s and great SH AWD I understand Acura's stance on these issues. But I have never heard anyone lament that they can't buy a FWD RL, and never read anything in the automotive press suggesting this was a shortcoming of gen 2 or 2.5. Do any of you need more torque steer? Are we competing with Buick Regal's now?

I'm going to keep my beloved '06 RL but sell my Honda stock while the selling is good.

 

All what you say is true.....4 years ago.

You could read all about it in this forum, or you can choose to live in a vacuum with bitter blinders on.

Synopsis:

Acura DID plan a v8 RWD 3rd Generation RL.

THEN the market crashed, drivers fled the luxury market, the EPA strangle was tightened and Honda decided to protect your stock and NOT make a foolish investment. Creating a new platform and production engine for a small percentage with a longterm outlook not favoring that development cost is the pressure Honda recognized.

And for those automotive 'journalists'.... most cannot afford the cars they review and they would be happy if the ONLY car in the word was a BMW 3 series. Of course they never write 'reviews' about owning one and the long term issues past their 45 minute yahoo ride to justify their proclamation of the finest vehicle in the world. I they know what is best for the consumers of the world.

Honda, instead chooses to honor the masses for their products, and though they have compromised their performance enthusiast much of late, they have a bigger audience....the common consumer. And, many of those consumer are the very stockholders demanding smart(er) business and product decisions be made without cutting into the profits they demand from the board.

You want a RWD V8? More power to ya. Buy one form a brand that offers it. But carping on a brand that chose to turn away from that is like asking for champagne from a dairy farm.

 

Tampa - agree with most of what you say. However, I still think they should debut with the premuim SH-SH-AWD and follow with the FWD. I could give a crap about the press, but many people do read.

 

If my concern is stock value I cannot disagree about your mass market comments. I always thought Honda was the brand for that and Acura was by design a bit less market driven, more design driven, but I realize that does not mean a loss leader which perhaps the RL had become.

I don't personally long for RWD or V8 and actually think Acura has that right; BMW, MB, etc. have their market segment and Acura has theirs. It is just IMHO, the TL is already a very successful premium mass market option. If RL is to be a flagship model - well you know all of the talking points - I think a mass production focus works against that. Maybe the numbers just don't add up. I thought the message was still that RL is something special to appeal to a narrow market segment, and to my mind leading off with FWD diminishes that.

 

I understand and wish the SH-SHAWD would be released first as well.

But remember, this is a new platform. The RWD V8 was already underway when it was canceled. The development and test window for SH-SHAWD is short and if we all want the Honda reliability, we may have to wait 6 months.

The RLX is a new car design in a 4 year development window. Even the Accord Hybrid, and plug in will release after the 4 and 6 versions. And this is not unique to Honda. The Ford Fusion just released will follow with later versions (of newer technology). Hybrid platforms are still relatively new, need longer testing and most are released after the conventional versions. SH-SHAWD is not a simple upgrade from SHAWD (if you even want to consider SHAWD conventional).

Unlike the 30 second Dodge Dart commercial, that would like us to believe developing a new car is lickity split it is not realistic, especially for Honda's conservative philosophy.

And, for the record, the Dodge Dart is not a newly developed car, it is a re skinned Alpha Romeo. Oh, and the 'German Engineered' Routag.....really?

I for one it seems, am impressed that something as revolutionary as SH-SHAWD is being introduced on the RLX first and not the halo NSX. It is a pretty radical approach IMHO.

I can wait 6 months.

 

The RL is not a loss leader. It paid for itself and features the RL introduced has permeated the Acura brand and now Honda. That is what a flagship is supposed to do. This too has been discussed here,,,,4 years ago.

The RL lost market interest relatively quickly, but it outsold the expectations in the 1st year, and did not sell much more after 2006.

If high volume sales it what appeals to you, buy an Accord or Camry. If V8 RWD constitutes a flagship to you, buy one! It just will not have an 'A' on the grille. The initial launch of the RLX will be FWD configuration. Acura is trying new design / engineering with electronic 4 wheel steer, None of us know yet if that will make FWD transparent. But with my SHAWD RL I can confidently say I cannot remember thinking 'this as a FWD based car' because SHAWD nullifies my FWD concerns.

The TL overlaps the RL significantly because they moved it up in lineup as the 3rd Gen RL was intended to be a bigger RWD V8. That got canceled, so now the TL overlaps. Fact of life. No plan was to purposely dis the current RL. Look at the new RDX. The previous one was a turbo and SHAWD....the critics gushed. But that is NOT what most consumers wanted to buy. So now the cushy FWD (and lite AWD) RDX is selling in record breaking numbers. Scan the web boards and the moaning is ridiculous. Who is Acura supposed to please? The ideologues or the the consumers who make the company profit and please the shareholders.

If Acura makes you so unhappy, for not producing the product you feel they should....simply go buy elsewhere, sell your stock and enjoy life.

The carping for something that is not going to happen is old, tedious and destined for unhappiness. That is not Honda or Acura's fault. They never promised you a your personal rose garden.

 

2 things:

Comparing the RLX to the Azera or Avalon and saying they are the same only because the RLX is on a FWD platform is ludicrous, to put it nicely.

If you would prefer to have a dramatic unveiling of a car that the media can hype rather than have an intelligently designed car with reliable technology, you are just like the rest of the hopeless Americans that prefer hype and popularity over logic and reason.



Well said, Tampa.

 

I don't know how this forum survived in your absence, Tampa. Well said.

.....and the FWD RLX model will likely be the volume seller. The SH-SH-AWD model is the halo, at least until the new NSX arrives.

I can only hope that the 4-wheel steering on the FWD model is the shiznit, enough to keep the general public watching until the release of the real RLX (SH-SH-AWD).

 

If the rest of the public didn't care for the RLX and you loved it, would it really matter they didn't like it?

 

Thanks Bob....I think you are too a minority with that viewpoint on this board.

I sometimes have to search for intelligent dialog. I too enjoy some fun and rants, but it seems this board has also surrendered to the mentality that swearing is effective dialog punctuation, bullying and name calling those with opposing views and brand bashing for not delivering personal gratification.

I have my criticisms as well (along with my pitchfork and torch readied), but I try to understand the bigger picture before belittling, berating and pissing in the community pool. We have a presidential race that monopolizes that. I come here to escape that.

I may still be on the fence with wanting the new RLX, but it may be a darn expensive purchase to make in hopes to again find an enthusiast's forum with an environment not akin to a daycare laden with sour milk and soiled diapers.

 

+1

 

Autotrader is suggesting that at the LA Autoshow, that Acura should be showing the AWD RLX V6 with 370hp, but a FWD 300hp version will be coming available for a more aggressive price point. Good move Acura.

 

If Acura introduced the all wheel drive version first then the FWD would be a let down. It makes more sense to come out with the FWD first.

 

The problem with the FWD being introduced first is that the press, magazines and mass-media in general love to write about "new" cars and the RLX is all new. The information that people will remember about the RLX will be what is written within 1 month of its debut in LA and if 6 mos from now they add the fancy hybrid AWD system the seed will already be planted that the RLX is FWD and to many, FWD is a turn-off for a luxury sedan.
Secondly, the AWD version will probably have other bells and whistles above and beyond the FWD version and that will make the FWD version even less competitive in the flagship comparison market. Knowing Acura, for example, you will probably have to buy the AWD version to get the folding mirror option and that will demean the model in comparisons to the other brands top of the line offerings.

 

Like all of us, I have great respect for the very veteran poster who has stepped forward in this thread to defend Honda's role in creating the RLX. But 007, I also must respectfully point out that your rebuttal above to my "hopeless" and "illogical" post is not an accurate representation of my views.

I do not approach the RLX introduction from the perspective of a Honda shareholder, but rather as a consumer who has invested his own dollars in an Acura RL and a Honda CR-V for his own family's daily transportation.

As such, my reaction as a consumer is that the FWD RLX, to quote my earlier post accurately, "delivers nearly the same package" as the Azera and Avalon. I adamantly and shamelessly stand by that statement. Viewed as a package, all three cars are FWD, upper-midsize sedans powered by V6 engines between 3.3 and 3.7 liters. All three offer good but not scintillating straight-line performance and handling, excellent rear-seat room, tasteful but somewhat conservative and even derivative exterior styling, and interior accommodations that are luxurious but fall short of the EXISTING flagship models from numerous makers, including the makers of the Azera and Avalon.

The appeal of our RL's rests in very subtle attributes that not everyone appreciates; that's a lot of the reason we love them but few others bought them. But to deny the basic similarity of the FWD RLX to the other two competitors is a simple denial of the obvious. I certainly empathize with Honda's plight as it made its way through the Great Recession. But the same can be said of General Motors and its decision to drop out of the flagship race and substitute a glorified LaCrosse with the name "Cadillac XTS" -- another car the press has already cited as an RLX peer.

An honest assessment of the XTS must make that point, and Honda is not exempt from the same level of honesty. This does not make the front-wheel drive RLX either a bad car or a poor choice. But neither does it make a clear-eyed assessment of its shortcomings either a hissy fit or an act of adultery. I have great admiration for Honda Motors, but the only person I have ever married is my wife. I am not the one who made this thread personal, and in my humble opinion, nobody else should have either.

Speaking of my opinion, nobody who buys a car in this class will care a whit about what my opinion is, nor that of anyone else on this board. But there is one thing I can predict with confidence: Like me, thousands of them are very fond of milk -- just not at champagne prices.

 

Good discussion. Continue it in the official RLX thread:

Official RLX thread