http://www.edmunds.com/insidel...33767

Vehicle Tested:
2009 Acura RL 4dr Sedan AWD w/CMBS (3.7L 6cyl 5A)
MSRP of Test Vehicle: $54,460 Price It!!

What Works:
Luxury interior; racy feel for a luxury car; SH-AWD handling for inclement weather; excellent navigation system; Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS).

What Needs Work:
Bland styling with an awkward front grille; severe brake fade during high-performance driving; subpar acceleration.

Bottom Line:
Dynamically more engaging, but it's difficult to justify the $10,000 price premium over the similarly sized and higher-performing new 2009 Acura TL.

Quote »
When Acura first entered the market as the pioneer of the Japanese luxury car segment ahead of Lexus and Infiniti, it positioned itself as Japan's answer to BMW, a driver's luxury car, only with reliability added to the equation. But as Acura trailed in the wake of Lexus, the Honda luxury division shifted its focus to advanced technology and electronics. Yet this hasn't improved RL sales, as the company moved just 6,262 examples in 2007.

While we think the 2009 Acura RL is really accomplished in terms of dynamic performance, it still occupies the bottom rung of the luxury car ladder in terms of style and panache. Styling has become increasingly important in all car segments — even determining many engineering decisions during the design phase — but it's critically important in the luxury class. Acura has tried to turn the RL around with more aggressive styling, but it comes off looking like a TSX nose grafted onto an Accord with a body kit.

The greatest threat to the success of the 2009 Acura RL comes internally from Acura: the 2009 Acura TL. The TL is very similar in dimensions and weighs a few hundred pounds less. The TL SH-AWD has the same engine as the RL (making slightly more horsepower) and the same SH-AWD drivetrain and is available with nearly all the advanced telematics as the RL. The only things missing are wood trim and CMBS. You get all this for $10,000 less than the RL.

Despite this makeover, the big story will be the styling and design of the next RL. Will it look great and feature a V8 and rear-wheel drive? Acura needs to make a game-changing shift in strategy, because we're not doubling down our bet on the new RL's success.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=133767

 

Why can't just Acura simply bring back the Legend name, that name meant something for Acura back in the 1990's . Biggest mistake for Acura was changing the name to RL in the first place.

 

^^ because apparently names don't belong on luxury cars anymore.

 

Exquisite interior.
SH-AWD.
The rest? Um, not enough.

 

I'm surprised you left out the paragraph where they called it fang-face

 

That interior is absolutely beautiful, and obviously Acura has been highly praised for their driving dynamics. If they had just done more to the exterior the car would be great IMO.

That said, 0-60 in 7.2? Better watch out for Camrys and Rav4s because they'd smoke you.

 

The last gen RL was great! one of my coworkers has one and I sat in the back on the way to a company picnic. It wasn't very flashy, but it was very comfortable and felt solidly built.

 

Let me correct MeowCat though. The last gen RL had initally a lethargic 210hp 3.5 V-6, that was bumped to 225hp later on. O-60 in 10 days.

I prefer the previous RL styling as well. That car sold just as poorly as this one, like Moose Meat to Obama supporters

 

Are you talking about the first-generation SH-AWD RL? That had a lot more than 210 HP. Its V6 was rated around 260-265 HP.

I think you are referring to the old FWD RL, which was discontinued several years ago, when the SH-AWD RL replaced it..

 

Well the RL has only 2 generations
96-04
05-09 current

Both versions got revisions, I believe the 1st gen RL was in 1999 when it got HIDs and a much better face and we now see the disgusting beak face can opener cheap plastic grill face of the 09 refresh. Revisons are not generation changes.

There is some talk the next RL will move up to the LS/S/7/A8 class but its been a failure so long, people will ignore it, even if it finally has a V-8.

 

i'd rather spend 10k more for an LS

screw this ugly thing

 

Since the introduction of the second gen, I know at least 1Sick and I have been saying that the RL is one very good car. But at the price Acura put on it, no way. Before the refresh I knew you could buy one for under 40K, haven't checked recently. OK, the new Acura "grill" is just awful IMO but the RL anywhere near $54,500 - pass.

 

Yup, we and a couple others saw this was another fail a mile coming. I didn't even realize the asking price until you just posted it again. 55k? They cannot be serious.

Like the last RL and the Q45, Lincoln LS, etc they are a SMOKING used car deal. Easily in the 20k range used today as values plummeted. A lot of car for the money, nothing else in the 25k range is close.

The best sales months for this car was the 2 months before the GS and M35/45 debuted. It missed its first year sales target and its been downhill since.

Its another black mark for Acura, but a HUGE one a this isn't even a true flagship fail like the Q45. Its a mid size competing car. It kills your brand when your best car is simply undesirable.

The reveiws in Europe are even more scolding, its quite a chuckle to read.

 

wow...... this thing crawl to 60mph??

i don't know, somehow the rl has never done anything to us. we checked it out when we shopped for our gs and it was left out pretty early

 

Edmunds must either have been taking it real easy or had a bunch of fat guys in the car when they tested it because the RL is quicker then 7.2 seconds. The 05-08 RL with a 3.5l 290SAE hp did 0-60 in 6.4-6.7 seconds in all the tests. The refresh has 3.7l 300SAE hp or 10 more hp, more torque, improved powerband, and more performance oriented SHAWD system. The only other differences are some interior trim updates, exterior styling treaks, and a little more room in the rear. There was nothing done to the refresh to make it slower, it would only be faster. The 96-04 RL was built on a separate fwd platform and was not available with SHAWD, it had 210hp, then 215hp, then 225hp from a V6 and was a good deal slower then the 05 and up.