Edmo83

iTrader: (10)

Hey all, Been reading thru this thread, and its pretty informative. i mean, given everyones got an opinion so heres mines

Acura is a good "sub luxury" car. I dont mean it offensively, cause i have a older MDX. Its not "true-luxury" its there with well equiped other cars. Acura as a company i can say really fights the odd ball companys that also fall into this segment, like Volvo, or Saab, or i'd say caddy, but they seem to be chasing the upscale too now-a-days. Acura makes a solid vehicle, and like Lexus in the early 90s/ late 80's was a huge bargain (also had a 89 Legend LS ). Acuras are still an excellent value in my opinion.

The way i see acura improving themselves is the obvious RWD or AWD platform, and the V8 or V10 options. The V10 is rumored to be what is fueling the next gen NSX, if the RL got that with a form of the variable cylinder shutdown (forgot the name) to make it a V6 for highways, it'd be a stellar hit. also the next gen TL is supposed to get the SH-AWD from RL and RDX, with a 300HP 3.5, although i think a 4.0 V8 rwd would be excellent against even Lexus GS!! Also we need to bring back another RSX or other entry level car off the Civic or potential future Prelude.

If Honda/Acura was really to go "upscale" and fight Lexus, Merc, and BMW, They have to lose their roots of Honda "fuel saving econo-fwd-car" and need another hit like the Legend was back in the 90's

Just my $.02, sorry for the long @ss post, lol

RON430

I didn't think about it when I first put the question up but what is a "top luxury brand" going to be? I'm not sure I know the answer to that either. I would have agreed about the large sedan but I think Lexus, bimmer, MB, and Audi are probably going to change that end of the line whether they want to or not. If I were Acura, the question may be very complicated now.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

If it were me, and keep in mind I'm no business major so what do I know? But as a former Acura owner who is now a Lexus and BMW owner, to get me back to Acura they would have to offer a larger car above the RL with a V8 RWD and SH-AWD option to compete against the LS and 7 series cars. The RL should remain the same with the V6 and SH-AWD, but it will no longer be the top model so I think it will eventually come back around and fill its market well. They need to bring back some sort of Coupe. That is the same thing I say for Lexus as well. It doesn't matter if it is a volume seller or not. It should just look and perform well to get people talking about the brand and engineering again. I would also bring back an RSX/Ingegra type car.

As for the NSX, I personally as a former owner of an NSX wont accept anything other than a mid engine. If Acura wants to build that front engine GT car that would be fine to fill my coupe desires I mentioned above, but not under the NSX name. The name NSX came about because the code name was New Sports car eXperimental. It was indeed just that and lived up to that name IMHO. A front engine V10 GT car is nothing new and definitely nothing experimental about it.

Last but not least, I actually like most of the interior designs of the new Acura cars. The only major complaint I have with the interior is the steering wheel design. However, for the exterior I have problems with the front grill and the trend they are going with carrying on the triangular theme front eh front grill to the back of the car. I would stop that personally. They also need to step up their design. IMHO, the exterior design is becoming too American like. They should keep or more European or Japanese like.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

As for "Top Luxury" that I don't know either. I don't even care if Acura is classified as such one day in the future or not. I'm just thinking of what they can do to be successful again in a wider market range. If I had to classify luxury cars, I would put Acura, Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Infiniti and such all in the same consumer luxury brand category. I would put Bently, Rolls Royce, Astin Martin and such as top luxury, and that is it. Any of these brand can sell an entry level luxury car within their segment.

RON430

I have been thinking about this more and more. To tell you the truth, I could care less about the NSX. A bigger flagship might be nice but I am not sure how long that will take. If Acura took the RL and put a hybrid power train in it, maybe a four or a smoother small six, and got it up to as close to 30mpg +/- 3mpg as they could get, and got it out the door for say 40 or 42K, I would write them a check by COB today. There wouldn't be any competition for that car. The best Lexus is offering us is to sell us a Prius (Prixus? Leius?) in 2010 and they don't seem to have any interest in an ESh because they are stupid. A decent mileage RLh with a sharp pencil could generate a lot of sales. They would need to make sure there was a pipeline that was going to follow it up but it might get them some new Acura buyers that could move up in the brand in the future.

bagwell

sounds like a good plan

I'd build the RL-h then move on to a slightly larger flagship model....again with hybrid tech built in from square one.

RON430

I'd get the RLh right now and look very, very seriously at the bigger one when they had it ready assuming my experience with the RLh is what I believe it would be. If they'd only do it. Sigh.

LexGuy2

As a previous RL owner and current GS owner, I must say that the RL has one of the best interiors and craftmanship in its category, it does lack power, though.
SH-AWD is also superb especially when taking exit ramps at 55mph!, ahead of its time.. now others are starting to copy it introducing vectoring-AWD too.
I read that the new 09 RL has a rear-biased SH-AWD, so that should be good.

Regarding the RX, that is one ugly SUV, -subjective, I know- but looks like a mouse and they are ALWAYS driven by women!. The new MDX is almost always driven by guys. for what thats worth..

Pearlpower

iTrader: (2)

Must be a Illinois thing as my corworker has a RX and he is a guy and my neighbor bought a MDX and she is a woman. Not that gender matters as the neighbor knows more about cars than most on this board. Even so she bought it because it was cute.

RON430

Don't tell your neighbor, the one who is a guy, but most of the RX's I see are being driven by women as well (as if such things really matter). Maybe he was just trying to get in touch with his female side.

leedogg

Its the coworker thats the guy....but I wonder if his female neighbor lives with a...partner

RON430

Sorry, I should always engage my brain before I let the clutch out on my keyboard.