Just thought it'd be interesting to share...here's the Legend, in sexy blue. Different grille, that's all I can tell from the pic.

oohh, JDM. Where did you get that picture, I want to see more, I love JDM pictures of Acura, Infiniti, Lexus.

The article was linked in the Edmunds board. That's the 1 of only 2 JDM pics (I didn't show the back because it's exactly the same), the interior pic oddly enough still had the Acura logo on the steering wheel, which was on the left side, which tells :captainobvious:me that it's not JDM.

Link (translated)

I think by "GMs" he meant General Managers not General Motors. I am aware of Honda little engine deal with GM, but I also got the impression you misread Justin's comment.

Not in the real world. Now go somewhere else!

nope...I meant General Motors... It was aside from what Justin said. Honda supplied Saturn with some engines...so maybe in return (along with $$$), GM might help them with R&D for a V8... Just a thought



Though what would ya'll think of the NSX with a C6 engine?

I think that would be

Someone photochopped that back in April and I thought it was a worthy improvement back then. This just confirms it. Why wouldn't they keep the brand identity intact with grills similar to the TSX and TL?

Yeah, I didn't want to say anything, being that I whined quite a bit about the interior, but I like the Legend's grille a little better, it just retains the Acura look better.

Man, this interior is sick... kinda look alike a g35/TL

How does it look anything like the G35 interior? I see Mercedes & VW Phaeton in the interior design w/ a little modern BMW influence.

The center stack looks like the same one found in the G35. Except the G35 doesn't have the knob in the middle. If you look at how the buttons are laid out, and the color, that's where they look the same.

I don't see it. I don't see the RL center stack looking any more like the G35 than any other center stack looking like any other car's in this class.

(did that make any sense at all? )

Exactly! If the RL interior looks like the G35 because of the silver colored center stack, than I guess it also looks like the Scion tC, Chrysler Crossfire, Nissan Maxima, etc.

It's not just the color, but the shape. I see what he's talking about. Why are you guys getting so offended? It's not like he's saying it looks BAD.

I'm not offended. I just don't agree.

Does anyone have any pics of the paddle shifters?

I don't even know what paddle shifters look like, so I can't start looking for them.

And I don't think the RL's center stack looks like the G35's...shape or metallic-wise.

Yeah, I'm not offended by it...I just don't see it. It's a center stack...with buttons and accent colors and wotnot...that's about where I see the similarities end...in which case, it looks like any other center stack. Like jwaters said, it doesn't look any more like a G35 than it does a tC or a Maxima or a (enter car name here).

Talk about misleading the public.....

HEY, this forum package is editing out the word (can I write it now?) '.com'. Maybe I should write 'a c u r a w o r l d . c o m' here. I also tried turning off the 'automatically parse links in text' choice.
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I think the left hand (downshift) paddle shifter can be seen here:
http://www..com/forums/showthread.ph...threadid=48379

In the second image (annoying double-exposure image), it's about a 2" curved piece that you can see some of behind the left-side of the steering wheel, a few inches above the center spoke (aka: arm?). It's where your left-hand fore and index fingers might be placed.

The link for the second image is:
http://www..com/~hafid/05RL/rl_test_drive002.jpg

I really like reading the Acura forum sites over the last month or two. including this one. This is my first post here.

I don't have a problem with it because I think if you're going to have a sport shift feature on an AT what does it matter if it's shifted at the steering wheel or at the stick? I know they're trying to give the impression that it's a sequential manual but there are a few cars that have ATs with paddle shifters. The SLR is one that comes to mind.

RL interactive showroom is up and running at the Acura site.

I was checking out the headlights, they don't swivel as much as I thought they would...is that any different than the competition? Taillights light up real nice. Gauges light up nicely, but I feel Acura didn't really distinguish it enough from the TL; the new Lexus GS does it one better with the classy metal backing (see below).

are you sure? I checked the site and it says it's coming soon. Neither the tech demo or interactive showrooms are working. As for the RL Instrument Panel, true it looks like a TL one, but is that a bad thing? I understand in a sense of paying more to get a better product, but Acura is keeping the common blue trend going in their Instrument Panels, and frankly I love it. The TL's instrument cluster is GREAT, our TSX's is great, and the RL is awesome. I like the direction.

I think it's getting overwhelmed. I tried it several times before, it would tell me that I wasn't allowed in, or some BS like that. But I finally went in. I also had to open up Internet Explorer cause Firefox kept giving me a blank new window; so if you're not using IE, try that.

I'm not knocking the RL's gauges, but I do think Lexus did a better job this time around. But that's only with the gauges, I don't find the rest of the Lexus's interior to be visually exciting at all.

Not sure if other people will notice it but considering how much time you spend on looking at gauges, it is very important designers make them easy to read and appealing to the eye. I think Acura makes some great gauges.
Lexus was the first company to bring electrolumincent gauges to cars (now used by Benz, Infiniti and the Accord) and no other car uses the Optitron gauges the GS series has.
The IS is designed after a chronograph watch. Makes it all very interesting and clearly, a lot of money and research is used there.

i got it to work. It looks great, but some very little givens are missing here. Power 8-wat driver's seat should be more like 10 (including passenger). The rain-sensing wipers and lack of cooling seats is a shame too. Enough with the ranting on how it sucks, because it doesn't. I'm starting to appreciate what SH-AWD can potentially do, and am looking forward to a test drive with daddy and I takin it out. Should be fun.

And by the way, I can't agree more with Siclex, people in this class want an appealing yet practical instrument panel. The RL's get the job done right. Sicklex, although Lexus did pioneer whatever gauge they did bring 1st, the ideas of Lexus itself came straight out of MB to such a point where people thought they were affiliated with MB. I'm not saying I don't like Lexus because if and when I buy a luxury car in my life on my own it WILL be a Lexus, Infiniti, or Acura (as of right now), but you must admit Toyota has a knack of using other ideas.

I think Acura resists rain-sensing wipers because the glass has some special hydrophillic coating. From what I can understand from it, supposedly it catches raindrops and forms a thin water layer on the windshield that renders it almost invisible. The cooling seats issue is still not resolved...we now know that Canadian models get it; perhaps Acura USA might change its mind and incorporate that as well. IMO, it would be a smart move.

I have a feeling many features/issues people have with the 05 is either already know and will be in "new" in 06 or Acura will listen to the feedback and offer later on. You gotta save some things for later model years - just think - this RL could be around for 8-10 years.

i disagree :P
you can't beat these

I'm kind of partial to blue.

I dunno....I kinda like the RL guages better...

I was browsing the Hondanews site and noticed that the price of the AK and HI versions of the RL are over $2000 less than the 48 state model. I assume that is due to the lack of NAV. So if one wanted an RL without NAV just go to your friendly AK or HI dealer and order one?

For 2005 Hawaii will also recieve NAV Just with a different DVD. Alaska will be a non NAV model.

So I assume the Acura site will be updated and the AK model will be 2K less than the regular model. I wonder if the AK model gets the cooled seats?

i love the tsx, tl, and rl gauges. acura has consistently had the best guages over the years.

Here you go:



Taken from the following thread over at acura-tl.com:

http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showt...t=95512&page=1

Like I said before, Acura is trying to slip a fast one by average Joe. How much you want to bet salesmen will be pitching this thing to uninformed people as an SMG. I guess with all the other buttons already there was no room on the wheel (a la the 02 GS).

By the looks of it, the paddles are on the wheel itself not in true SMG fashion on the steering column. If true, I can see it now: owner incorrectly shifts car cause the steering wheel was upside down (granted very unlikely)