SecPole14

There is not much win at Honda/Acura these days. Once the S2000 is (tragically) put out to pasture this year, they will have precisely ZERO RWD cars in their lineup.

I'm surprised Honda hasn't switched their motorcycles FWD for crying out loud!

Also, just to give an indication of the state of the industry, the new Genesis Coupe has larger brakes than a new 911 C4S. And what do Honda/Acura have in the sport/coupe segment? The Accord 2-door? Give me a freaking break.

They've failed out of F1. Despite what their marketing and PR people say, it seems the company is completely abandoning the "performance" part of the equation.

nabbun

just like Toyota!

ffpowerLN

iTrader: (1)

That's actually worse than Toyota being Toyota since Toyota was already the maker of the ultimate A-to-B appliances so no one is going to raise **** when it doesn't do performance. Honda on the other hand was a poor man's BMW back in the 80s and 90s so for them to plunge this low is just unacceptable.

This might sound funny but you know what, I think at the current stage Toyota actually has more "performance" than Honda:

- Toyota is still in F1
- Toyota is in NASCAR
- Toyota has the F-division in Lexus
- Toyota hasn't canned the LF-A yet
- Toyota has RWD and V8s for its luxury brand

LexFather

The "I told you so 8 years ago" feels good right now.I am not defending Toyotas F1 results BUT they did have podium finishes and way more points than Honda did. At least Toyota will continue to be in F1, Honda quits.

Acura is like Tier III on par with Buick. What makes them a luxury brand over Buick? Nothing but maybe some cute NAV. Infiniti is a solid II. Even with a possible flagship the brand will need years of success to move up.

Acura is dead. They sell to loyal customers only, so loyal that looking at this press release, Acura execs don't appreciate them and laugh at their threats to leave for other brands.

When do people talk about Acura?
-how ugly they are
-useless press releases
-what they DON'T have
Thats it. The brand hasn't had any buzz for years. As for the CUV, its clear the only reason Acura will have it is b/c Honda will have a new CUV. Acura execs should be HAPPY they have such loyal Honda owners moving up to them or they would be DEAD.

STIG

But ToMoCo doesn't make jets or awesome bikes.

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

True, but Toyota does occasionally work with Yamaha who makes bikes

FKL

Ha, 1SICk I really don't like Acuras, but I have to admit that they are a better car than a Buick...Hell, an Accord is a better car than a Buick. Tier II I'd say.

mmarshall

Buicks are better cars than a lot of people think. They are fairly well-built, have much better-quality interiors than just a few years ago, have (mostly) a better-then-average reliability record, and are a nice car to get in after a hard day's work when you are tired and don't want something that will pound you over bumps. They suffer (unfairly) in the auto press from a Grandpa-Grandma image, but a lot of that is nonsense...people of any age can enjoy a car like that.


But, to be honest, I'd have to say that Acura's build quality, for the most part, except for some transmission issues several years ago, is still better overall than Buick's.

felixsc300

iTrader: (5)

Acura really butchered their line-up with their new sense of design, IMO.

Why did they axe the RSX in the first place? Wasn't it the 'poor man's NSX' (aka the main attraction for Acura enthusiasts)?

LexFather

Felix, Acura has for years said they are going Tier I and they are moving up. The geniuses at Acura used the RSX as their scapegoat. They blamed the RSX for "cheapening" the brand and attracting the wrong buyer and hurting their image. The thought was who in a RL wants to sit next to an INtegra buyer at the dealer lobby.

Now in theory, I totally understand that thinking as other luxury car makers feel the same way. HOWEVER, Acura didn't follow up on its promise and instead crapped on their loyal buyers AND then CONTINUED to have 4 cylinder entry level cars. WTF? They dropped the RSX then bring the 4 cylinder only Euro Accord rebadge here. They continue to sell the CIVIC rebadge in Canada as the CSX (was Acura EL). They drop the NSX, the CL is discontinued due to poor sales and BLAM, you have a company with not one coupe. They bring a 4 cylinder RDX (with turbo) which never met sales goals.

To add more insult to RSX owners, Acura never elevated itself. They are stagnant if not in worse shape that before (I believe the latter). They haven't done much anything to validate their dropping the RSX.

So in retrospect, they should have KEPT the RSX, which was a fun, lil entry level coupe and kept Acura as the entry level luxury brand instead of fooling themselves and their customers.

In comparison lets look at Infiniti. They had the crappy G20 as a luxury car and the I30 rebadge. They decided that those cars were not what they wanted to do in the future. So the G20 became the Skyline based instead of Primera based and became the G35. The I30/I35 FWD car was dropped. They based all their vehicles on the FM platform. Now results have been mixed but mostly positive and AT LEAST we can say "hey they said they were going to do one thing and they actually followed up with it".

With Acura, its just a bunch of bad smelling bullcrap every week for over a decade.

IS-SV

Today I was driving a better Buick, a loaner ES350 Lexus. It's soft riding, plush, roomy, reliable and boring to drive. And no Grandma image to go with it.

mmarshall

The ES350, because of a firming up of the suspension and lower-profile tires (55-series instead of 60) does not ride as smoothly as its ES330 predecessor. It is also notably less plush inside than the ES300, with a major reduction in the amount of wood used, due to cost-cutting. Many of them develop squeaks and rattles....the brand-new one I reviewed already had a couple of creaks in the dash.

And the ES series, like the LS, does have a older-person stereotype/image with it, but, as you know, I don't agree with stereotypes.....to me, they are nonsense.

mmarshall

Let's get back to Acuras, the thread topic..........between me and a few other posters, we got sidetracked on Buicks and Lexuses.

IS-SV

Yes, stereotyples cannot be depended on, I agree.

I still have the ES350 for the rest of the day and possibly the weekend. It's plenty soft riding with average handling, some torque steer, mushy brake feel and overly light and numb steering. Very roomy and decent looking inside and outside. The car has 17k miles on it.

IS-SV

Back to Acuras, yes hardly the premium car division that they hoped to be.

I don't ding a V8 configuration as much as some. Most V8's have poor gas mileage because of large displacement, not because of their V8 configuration.