Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Yes, Marco-I like the headlights.


Get ready boys, these lights are about the same on the new NSX coming too.

F23A4

HEY! Don't hate on the Wagon Queen Family Truckster.

UA6

The headlights are different. Curious to see how they look switched on.

Moog-Type-S

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

I sat in a new RLX today at Jay Wolfe Acura in Kansas City. It was really bad weather, so I didn't get to drive it. But I got to hear the sound system-very sweet.

I played with the navigation and screen below it (for the sound system, etc). Navigation is still non-touch screen. The screen below is a touch screen.

NwTSXmt

yep its all good until you take it in for service...that were Acura's suck their dealer network blows

DiabloSVRacer

61k for advance package. Kerell audio system is crazy. ill wait for the hybrid RLX AWD

Opus360

More pricing at Acura website now, but it did not say if this is for FWD or AWD. I assume it is FWD as it says "starting at". It seems the FWD base RLX is $48,450 with fully loaded FWD at $60,450. In any case, pricing is above the Audi A6 level.

http://www.acura.com/future/RLX?ef_i...0219152947:s#9

compewterbleu

AWD is coming and this was the TECH model. I adore the headlights, what's going to be funny is that Porsche is adding similar headlight to it's lineup starting with a new Panamera model...I bet it get's a much warmer reception being that a German car company did. Or if Lexus had of done it. It's actually 8 LED constructed like projectors at different angles. Pretty savvy.

4dr4bangrAccord

48k-55k will get me a benz? lol

KeithL

Not that well equipped, maybe in a C Class.

Ant$

a fully equipped Hyundai Genesis 5.0 R-Spec could be had for $48K. I'd probably get that before getting the $47K RLX...

KeithL

True, but the current Genesis is about 15 months away from being replaced. And while I like the Genesis (almost got one a few years back) I find they interior a little below par. Mostly the switches and controls feel cheap like you are in a Sonota, same with Equus.

TSX69

Here is a video for those wondering about the Jewel-Eye lights. Disappointed that they do turn on sequentially like in the NSX video I have seen - they all come on @ once. I do wish that they had tiered/staggered them instead of stacking them right on top of each other.

You Tube

Glashub

Go to the Genesis forums and you'll see there are a lot of R-specs burning oil like crazy. DI is a troublesome tech. Research it. Honda probably gets it right. They only seem to include tech they know they've gotten right.

SpecialEdition

rlx $49345
rlx nav $51845
rlx tech $55345
rlx Krell $57845
rlx Advance $61345

tech+ is the only way to go. And you're crazy if you don't just pony up to get the advance.

GoHawks

Oil ingestion in direct injected engines is discussed a lot on the Cadillac and Camaro forums too because of GMs 3.6 DI V6.

The issue with the GM 3.6 DI engines was aggravated by extended oil changes.

Some oil consumption is normal. Think about it, oil has to be sprayed on the cylinder walls to lubricate the piston rings. Once detonation occurs that oil on the cylinder walls will be burned along with the fuel. The question is how much is normal? I think each manufacturer has a different opinion based on how much oil their cars ingest.

The old rule of thumb used to be that a quart every two to three thousand miles used to be normal. That now becomes an issue with the extended oil changes that occur today given oil life monitors.

Think about it.... Let's say you do a lot of highway driving and your oil life monitor doesn't call for an oil change until you hit 8k or 9k miles. If you are burning a quart every 2k to 3k miles, by the time you go in for an oil change, you could be 3 or 4 quarts low. If you never check your oil during that time you could have issues.

BMWs have even longer oil change intervals since they call exclusively for full synthetic oil. As long as 15k miles in some cases. To help compensate for people who never open the hood of their cars, BMW has an oil level monitor too. It doesn't just warn you of low oil pressure, but the computer also tells you what the oil level is and will warn you to add oil, even if you are only a quart or two low.

With the Cadillacs, they recently had a recall where they reprogrammed the oil life monitor to not go beyond 8k or 9k miles before calling for an oil change. Also, the CTS at least, as an oil pressure gauge, but I would venture to guess that most people have no clue what that gauge does.

The other issue with DI engines is dirty intake valves that is compounded by any oil ingestion. In traditional port injected engines, the intake valves are exposed to fuel that helps keep the valves somewhat clean, provided you used top tier fuels with detergents. Since DI engines spray fuel directly in the combustion chamber, the detergent in today's fuels and fuel injector cleaners do nothing about keeping the intake ports and valves clean. That becomes even more of an issue with oil ingestion.

An additional contributor are crankcase fumes. For those of you who are older, do you remember older cars with breather filters that captured crankcase fumes? you would change the breather filter along with your air filter. Today, due to tighter emissions, modern engines engines feed crankcase fumes (which contain oil) back into the intake port to burn off those fumes. This leads to oil in the intake ports and valves. With no fuel (and detergents) to keep the intake system clean, you begin to get oil and sludge buildup and could gradually affect performance over time. So gradual that you could be close to 100k miles before it might an issue. Some people may never notice.

There are reports on the Cadillac forums of guys getting their cars dyno'ed before and after an upper air induction cleaning. The after test have shown that they reclaimed as much as 20 - 30 HP. The problem with relying on upper air induction cleaning is that it tends to dislodge particles in that get burned in the combustion chamber, risking scoring of the cylinder walls (that's why you have air filters).

What some Camaro and Cadillac owner are doing is installing catch cans in the crankcase ventilation system. These catch cans capture and trap the airborne oil before it goes back into the combustion chamber. Every other oil change or so you simply empty the can.

As for oil consumption on my CTS. I am at about 6k mile since my last oil change and I just recently checked my oil (my car has 13k miles on the odometer), and I was low about a quart, so my engine is burning about half a quart every 3k miles or so. My oil life monitor is at 22% so I still went ahead and added a quart.

KeithL

That is what is stopping me from doing an Audi right now, German un-reliability and DI on the A4 people are complaining of oil consumption and valve issue sin under 50K miles.

GoHawks

I haven't noticed an oil consumption issues to speak of in our X5 yet.

Glashub

Here's a link to the R-spec DI/Oil issues thread, http://www.genesisowners.com/hyundai...ad.php?t=10687

Below is a link to support what gohawks wrote,

"The reason these issues have slipped through to production is that they won’t show up in a 500,000 mile torture test. These types of issues will appear after years of short trips (preventing the engine from reaching operating temperature), bad batches of fuel, etc."

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...in-a-nutshell/

KeithL

So what makes us think the Honda DI engines will not have similar issues?

Glashub

^^^

I may be deluding myself but I always felt like Honda cared more about its rep for reliability over all else. That is the one attribute it has over all cars and as a result they are slow to market because they only include tech that will support reliability. Based on this unscientific feeling of mine I feel they've been late with GDI because they have been perfecting it. But what do I know?

GoHawks

I tend to agree with you, that's why their engines are pretty much bullet proof, same pretty much goes for SH-AWD.

That said, they have had their issues in the past. The most notable was issue was with their 5 speed transmissions that were introduced on the 2nd gen Acura TLs, MDXs and Honda Odysseys. It took them a long time and several recalls to figure that one out. While I never had a failure with my 2001 TL, they replaced my transmission once and then it was recalled two more times with follow-up fixes.

SSFTSX

Honda takes Reliability and Safety the most seriously among all manufacturers. see this 1.6L diesel introduction in Europe. The point isnt that Civic is 1 second faster 0-60mph or the most fuel efficient in the test. but why such small car need to be 500lbs heavier than competition.
Remember it is not RLX so expensive manufacturing and materials cannot applied.

KeithL

I agree Honda does take reliability seriously, but as was pointed out there are jsut some know issues with DI that seem hard to engineer around. I don't think any car maker wants to have the kind of issue they have had with DI, after all, recalls, extending warranties or even doing major engine work in warranty costs them hug money. I'd be curious to understand how Honda feels they have addressed the issues.

Glashub

^^^
Car manufacturers kind of have no choice...DI gives them lower emmissions at start up, etc (govt. mandates) and they can extract more hp from the same block and keep mgp the same or a little better. They are trying hybrid DI/port sytsems on some cars as a work around.

Fabvsix

Anyone have head on pictures side by side comparison with an 2004 RL and 2014 RLX.....sure seems to me they brought back that long sleak 2004 RL (Legend) back as the RLX with all the modern bells and whistles and to lure back the old folks they abandoned targeting the "yuppies" with the 05+++ and listened somewhat that they should have never dropped that body style....they sure look similar to me....That 05 to 12 RL looked like a Honda Accord on steroids.....NO PUN INTENDED. HMC still didn't listen as the 2013 Accord has similar lines to the new RLX......SMH..... I'm still enjoying my 04 RL as she just flipped past 25,000 das original miles...remains CHERRY.....
I not jumping up and down about the new RLX via pictures as I've yet to go see one in person....they would jump on me like flies on cow manure for my 04 RL....
Has anyone got a picture of a BLACK/EBONY 2014 Advanced RLX? Not sure I've seen it in that color....

jhr3uva90

I have seen the RLX in person and I agree with Fabvsix. The new RLX is a throw back to the first generation RL. I mean this in a good way. The RLX is wide and somewhat boxy like the first RL and it is FWD like the first RL. Remember, the second-generation RL debuted spring 2004. Those yuppies Acura tried to entice back then aren't so young anymore. Therefore, the RLX is growing up with the customer base. I was 35 when I got my 2005 RL. Whenever I get my next car, I need to consider the likelihood that I'll still have that car when I'm 50.

Colin

This topic is interesting. IMO, the family resemblance is deliberate. Perhaps HMC is more interesting in selling 300K Accords vs. several thousand RLXs? I'd like everyone who says the new Accord and RLX look alike to look closely at the flagship(s) of Honda and Acura through the years.

IMO the first Legend looked like the contemporary Accord (compare to '87 generation). A 1991 Legend shared styling cues with the 91 Accord. The first generation RL and Accords from 1998 shared styling themes and the 2005 RL had the same trunk lines as the contemporary Accord. It happens too often to be a coincidence so I'm guessing that Honda is creating a resemblance on purpose.

Fabvsix

I don't think the 03 or 04 Accord resembled the 04 RL......Infact till this day I still get folks asking if my RL is a BMW or a MB.....NEVER has anyone ask if it was a honda accord...The rear end of my 04 RL resembles a 740 BMW for sure....folks still stare at my ride "when" I take her out which is not often....Im approaching a bit over 25,000 miles and turning 9 years old next month! She still looks and smells brand spanking.....I took my mother & father in law to see The Fab Four in San Mateo this summer. I live in the East Bay so about 1.0 hour drive each way....He fell asleep as he said it felt like a limo back here....LOL

Colin

Those were offset. 1G RL went from 1996 to 2004. The "lookalike" Accord started in 1998.

jhr3uva90

The North American Accord was sold in Japan as the Honda Inspire, the model directly below the Honda Legend (NA Acura RL). That's why they resembled each other.