Why Acura's stopped production of the Sports Hybrid RLX.....check out this article posted yesterday....Numbers don't lie and we all know how super conservative HMC is....

Check out this article from USA TODAY:

Earth Day, bah! Hybrid, EV owners shift to SUVs

Earth Day, bah! Hybrid, EV owners shift to SUVs

 

so for those of you who got this great ride.....enjoy the exclusivity and let's see what the future holds....

 

As Austin Powers said, "yea baby yea!" What an awesome car it is.

 

dumb ass people.
the gas prices will go back up.

 

But then the new SUVs that are being sold will be the next group of used vehicles on the market and the hybrids will be in high demand. As Warren Buffet says, buy when everyone sells and sell when everyone buys, or something to that effect. People are people and generally do dumb things over and over again.

 

I can't speak for all Sport Hybrid owners, but the PERFORMANCE improvement of the Sport Hybrid over the PAWS version and NOT the improved fuel economy is BY FAR the primary reason that I purchased the car. The acceleration, cornering and overalll handling of the Sport Hybrid is the cake and ice cream, the fuel economy is the cherry on top.

What I'm trying to say is that Acura can market the RLX Sport Hybrid's electric motors and their low end torque as the perfect complement to the VTEC engine's high revving power REGARDLESS of the fuel economy benefit. Also, the eSHAWD of the rear motors is superior to the regular SHAWD that so many RL, TL and MDX owners have already fallen in love with. The RLX Sport Hybrid is a SPORT hybrid built for performance and not a "run of the mill, tree-hugging, save the earth" hybrid (although the fuel economy is a nice side effect of the power train's design).

All of that said, if, five years from now, the price of gas is triple what it is now, that smile on my face from the handling of the Sport Hybrid will only get bigger as I drive past every gas station.

 

^ I agree. The RLX Hybrid was not primarily intended to be a gas saver nor was it marketed that way - oops was it marketed?

 

It doesn't matter what people want to buy if the government won't lower CAFE.

It is an issue of strategic importance. We have to do it.

So.

The answer is the all new MDX Sport Hybrid SH-AWD.

 

Where do I sign up to buy it? Now? How about Now? Dibs!!!!

 

if i could afford the SH-SHAWD RLX, i would be in it.

 

I could afford the sport hybrid it would be pushing it, but I opted out of it because if you keep this 10+ years you will have to change out those batteries and that will cost as much as the savings in gas. I got 29 MPG in mine on a almost 500 mile trip. (non hybrid)

 

The test mules had more than 250,000 miles on them and they were still working to manufactures specs so that is very encouraging (according to my conversation with Acura Client Relations).

 

^ interesting to see them put those test mules to work that hard in such a short time frame. Going back to Krava's statement, this unfortunately does not test the longevity and "age" impact to the batteries and how well they will continue to keep charge over years and years of use.

I'm not an expert or even a novice by any means in car battery design, but knowing how other batteries work and age being a huge factor in their longevity, I wonder how they will hold up in 10+ years from now.

 

The batteries are warranted to 140,000 miles.

So they must have at least a little confidence in them.

 

George - My warranty book says eight years/100,000 miles for the battery pack. Acura info I downloaded about the SH before it all disappeared from their web site says that the battery pack warranty varies by state. You have 140,000 miles? I'm moving to Virginia today; don't wait dinner.

 

^

 

I thought it was 160,000 miles. Maybe I'm wrong. I trust George. If Uncle George says it is so, it is...

 

The Canadian warranty on the RLX Sport Hybrid "IMA system" (includes: Motor Stator, Motor Rotor, DC-DC Converter, Motor Control Module, Battery Assembly, Motor Power Inverter Module, Battery Condition Monitor Module and Voltage Converter Module) comes with a warranty of 8 years or 160,000 km (pretty close to 100,000 miles).

To krava and others who are worried that the battery replacement cost will exceed the fuel savings, I would like to reiterated that the fuel economy is only a small part of the benefits of the sport hybrid system. In the 10 years + that you drive the car before having to replace the battery, you will have generated about a million smiles with the acceleration and handling of the Sport Hybrid system. That is an outstanding smile/mile rating.

 

Well, hang on, now. I'm getting old. I could be wrong. I haven't looked yet.

 

Because of what was said, I thought I'd better go right to the warranty book and look.

On the last page of the warranty book, it says 8/100.

I'm sorry about that.

 

There's lots of reasons to be in the country in Virginia, but the Acura warranty does not appear to be one of them, especially.

:-)