dom

Do you think he said that with a straight face.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

this scares the shit out of me for the up coming TSX and TL launches. Either they are moving the RL wayyy down market to make room for something bigger or the TL is going to be stuck under 300hp, unless they pull what they did when the 2nd gen TL's were launched and let them surpass the RL in terms of power.

charliemike

Wait, which car is that? The Accord or the RL?

badazzTL

I don't know, the more I look at the pics the better its starting to look. The rear kind of looks like a MB S-Class. The pic of the silver one does make it look pretty bad, but the shots of the one from the show look pretty sweet IMO.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

btw Hyundai has officially embaressed the shit out of Acura with the Genesis

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

He's not necessarily wrong there. Note he didn't say anything about design...

biker

badazzTL

And I suppose that Hyundai has officially embarrassed the shit out of BMW, Infinity, Lexus, Mercedes, and Audi with its Genesis coupe?

marcdevon

I see the where the old Pontiac Aztek design team found new work.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't go so far as to say that, they might steal a few customers but I don't think it will be many. Acura on the other hand who is a value luxury brand won't sell any RL's once the Genesis drops.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

Crazy Bimmer

hmm

JediMindTricks

be careful. those are fighting words around here.



the interior looks good. but i like the layout of the previous design. i liked the turning knob higher up.

but this is probably more ergonomical.

mrdeeno

Anyone want to revisit biker's question of whether I think Honda (and in particular, the RL product team) is being run by idiots or not?

They must've hired every single person that approved the aztek from GM, because how this thing can make it to from design to approved for production just boggles the mind.

elessar

^^ I seriously hope that zebrawood shit isn't the only option.

sho_nuff1997

iTrader: (2)

the ass looks great.
the front looks crappy, to say the least.
i am one of the few that likes the MDX grille, but that looks horrible on this car.

JediMindTricks

looks better in black. but still don't like it.

bgsm1th

Hyundai is building their brand image better than anyone out there right now, but BMW, Infiniti, Lex, Merc and Audi are all bettering their respective brand images as well.

Acura on the other hand, appears to have plateaued for some time now...

charliemike

Looking at the photo that dom posted, the car looks so close to an Accord that if I didn't know better I would have thought that was a photoshopped Accord sedan (seriously).

So yes, they are being run by idiots. No one is going to pay $50k to be asked if that's the new Accord.

JediMindTricks

sho_nuff1997

iTrader: (2)

i wonder how it would look if the grille was body color

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I'm not looking for that. it's funny cause everything else on the car is fine, the interior and the new rear end looks like it's slightly better too. But come'on 300hp is just not enough, and I think most will agree that the front end is a disgrace along with those wheels.

JediMindTricks

and that's one reason why people didn't want to pay $50k for the previous design.

how long is this MMC expected to last?

for the 3G RL?

sho_nuff1997

iTrader: (2)

they will have to change it again next year, due to lack of sales

EDIT:
i could get used to it if the interior features are worth it.
ill wait till saturday to form my final opinion

JediMindTricks

i know you're not looking to start another hyundai war. i was just playing.

i agree with what you say here.

but we have to remember that this is a MMC.

300hp was just under the initial estimate. i think expecting anything like 330ish was hoping for too much.

the grille, well. i guess this is where acura's leaning towards on all their models now. i like the grille on the MDX. but this one is just :shakehead

and honda's just bad with wheels.

to me the biggest problem is that it just looks like a rebadged accord. other than the interior, there's nothing that really differentiates it from the accord.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

maybe they deliberatly botched the front end so that at the end of the year they can release the 3rd gen RL early in all nations

JediMindTricks

chill_dog

Some of you need to borrow my glasses...this car doesn't look good from any angle. The interior is good, but the exterior is crap, with the back being the worst. With some work, you could possibly salvage the front.

biker

Again, the idea was right but the implementation went horribly wrong. They either never showed this design to anyone with any taste or the few folks who saw it were blind.

dom

I'm more bothered by the stop gap ancient J series motor and 5AT tranny.

The days of Honda leading the way as far as HP/liter and engine technology are clearly over.

JediMindTricks

are the stock wheels still 17" or did they at least upgrade to 18s?

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

ya it should pretty much be an accord premium model

JediMindTricks

[/IMG]http://images.leftlanenews.com/content/february2008/rl-press-3.jpg[IMG]

[/IMG]http://images.leftlanenews.com/content/february2008/rl-press-5.jpg[IMG]

biker

It's times like this I wished some early design photos would have leaked - they could have gotten this reaction much earlier and perhaps done something about it.

dom

Look at that angle at the rear

People spent 4 good years complaining about the RL looking too much like an Accord. Acura's response? make it look even more like an Accord.

JediMindTricks

the second to last pic that i posted reminds me of a sharper camry SE.

The Dougler

iTrader: (1)

I hope this was not the first thing to come out of the new american based design office.

biker

Between the pic yesterday at TOV and this, I'm worried about the TSX.

dom

Although that dark grey one up there looks decent.

badazzTL

Unfortunately, it does look very much like the Accord...