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Entry Level Luxury Performance Sedans

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Messages Page 1518 of 1610

#15163 of 16087 Trickle UP?!? by markcincinnati

Oct 31, 2012 (12:40 pm)

Beginning on page 62 of the Dec '12 issue of ROAD & TRACK and continuing through page 65, Honda has spent however much it takes to buy a 4-page, full color advertising spread dedicated to the "theme" and title "The Name of The Game." There is a boat load of text describing in the best copy writing money can buy, probably, the technologically advanced 2013 Honda Accord. From LED headlights to a feature-laden interior to the description of how the '13 Accord is both smaller on the outside and bigger on the inside.
 
Of course the patient reader is told about the achievement of the "neat trick" of being more maneuverable, more powerful and more economical. The damn thing is safer, too -- it says so right in the ad copy.
 
The car is full of such amenities as Pandora radio, Bluetooth this and that, a rearview AND sideview cameras , sat-nav, a voice activated bidet, collision warning, lane departure warning, LaneWatch, a George Foreman fryer with GreaseBlock technology, and even an available 6-speed MANUAL shifter, and to motivate the thing, you can get a 278 horsepower V6 that actually reverses the greenhouse effect of SMOG (on a planetary basis) and (apparently) push-button start and hands-free ingress if you are so inclined.
 
Don't forget adaptive cruise control -- Honda didn't overlook this tech either.
 
I'm sure I've missed stuff, I mean, c'mon the ad is four pages in length and mostly uses a small font as if this is an article about the thing, not an ad.
 
OK, so I read this and I see the picture of the interior which approaches handsome, not Audi handsome but a far cry from any Honda I've ever been turned-off by (including my '12 Acura TL, which, while quite functional is hardly grin inducing when you get behind the wheel.)
 
Now, then, as to the title of my post -- I'm used to the Audi A8 getting the bells and whistles long before the A4 and usually before the A6 and way way way before Audi's "cousins" the VW clan. I'm at least aware that Cadillacs [used to] get features, functions and other high-end content (aka, "stuff you'd like to have in your Chevy or Pontiac or Buick, even) before the lesser aspirational models. I assume that the new ATS, CTS and XTS all have content that is, for the time being, exclusive to Caddy's -- wouldn't want a lowly Buick LaCrosse to have blind spot monitoring or adaptive cruise control or whatever gimcrack or gewgaw du jour marks a Premium Car's territory (these days).
 
The top o' the line from any car maker or "family" of cars usually gets the new tech, new toys, new safety kit or partridge in a pear tree BEFORE those poor cousins downstream, er, down-market.
 
So, this 2013 Accord gets content, tech, etc, etc, that certainly seems like prime beef from as recent as 2011 in many of the world's high buck, high zoot, high prestige makes. Hell, this Accord seems awfully close to being premium-car state-of-the-art insofar as content and even safety engineering (high strength steel, and "ACE II" a body structure engineered to evenly distribute full-frontal crash energy [or nudity] more effectively for instance). Now the engine choices are hardly revolutionary, but they do (claim) to now include direct injection powerplants, CVT transmissions with paddle-shifters (yawn) and "double-downshifting" conventional 6-speed autos with rev-matching.
 
My point is, shouldn't all this content, kit, performance and safety rigging be introduced FIRST in the Acura line? Then after two-years, one at-least, and only then be trickled DOWN to the Honda's?
 
What a world, what a world -- The Wicked Witch from the Wizard of OZ.
 
Drive it like you live.
 
DOH!
 
Homer.

#15164 of 16087 Honda Accord Re: Trickle UP?!? [markcincinnati] by rayainsw

Oct 31, 2012 (12:40 pm)

Replying to: markcincinnati (Oct 31, 2012 12:40 pm)
I drove one a month or so ago.
V6 automatic.
Dynamically satisfying, to me.
- Ray
Currently a BMW 3 driver....

#15165 of 16087 Re: Trickle UP?!? [markcincinnati] by stickguy

Oct 31, 2012 (1:08 pm)

Replying to: markcincinnati (Oct 31, 2012 12:40 pm)
They needed to make an impact with the Accord more than they needed to give Acura a head start. But I assume a lot of this will arrive there shortly (and some already is on the new RDX, at least with tech),
 
and for this piece: a 278 horsepower V6 that actually reverses the greenhouse effect of SMOG (on a planetary basis), not sure if you were being funny (as with the grill, a feature I actually liked!), but Volvo actually did this. They had a coating on the radiator that absorbed CO2 (or something bad) and converted it to water vapor or some such good thing. Not quite sure it was a net positive, but just might have been.

#15166 of 16087 Re: Trickle UP?!? [stickguy] by markcincinnati

Oct 31, 2012 (1:31 pm)

Replying to: stickguy (Oct 31, 2012 1:08 pm)
You mean you didn't find the bidet amusing?!? I must be slipping.

#15167 of 16087 Re: Trickle UP?!? [stickguy] by victor23

Oct 31, 2012 (1:45 pm)

Replying to: stickguy (Oct 31, 2012 1:08 pm)
Volvo actually did this. They had a coating on the radiator that absorbed CO2 (or something bad) and converted it to water vapor or some such good thing
 
Just pandering to their traditional customer base. Like "organic" foods. Just wait until water vapor is bad too. Oh, wait, it is the most potent greenhouse driver...

#15168 of 16087 Re: Trickle UP?!? [markcincinnati] by victor23

Oct 31, 2012 (1:55 pm)

Replying to: markcincinnati (Oct 31, 2012 12:40 pm)
This is because Hyndai turned the business model upside down. The basis of the car business always was: add a gimmic, bundle with a load of unneeded cr... um... features, charge over the nose. Hyndai, in order to enter the market (although being far from a technical innovator), showed everybody that you can get a nonexpensive car with all most recent bells and whistles, even in pretty basic trims. Thanks for that! Hopefully, there is no way back. Although VW, for example, still requires you to upgrade to V6 AWD top-of-the-line at $42k just to get heated mirrors (which is a must in our climate).

#15169 of 16087 Re: Trickle UP?!? [markcincinnati] by habitat1

Oct 31, 2012 (6:12 pm)

Replying to: markcincinnati (Oct 31, 2012 12:40 pm)
George Foreman fryer with GreaseBlock technology
 
The 2013 Accord may have all of those extra goodies, but I'm still betting that after I got behind the wheel, I'd still claim my 2002 Honda S2000 was the best car Honda ever built under the Honda label. Manual seats, no tilt, telescoping steering wheel, a standard two speaker stereo with about 12 watts. But when you pushed the start button and started driving it, none of that other stuff mattered.
 
Don't fall into the trap that thinking do-dads are what makes a car great. 278 horsepower to the front wheels and a weight balance that is still at least 60%+ nose heavy isn't going to get me all worked up over the new Accord, even if that standard George Foreman fryer has a self cleaning function.
 
In fairness, the new Accord may be the best FWD mid size, mid-priced family sedan on the market. And congratulations to Honda for bringing upscale technology and safety to the mass market. But what I think needs to trickle up to Acura is a new attitude. I said it 5 years ago, and it's more true today. Acura could use Honda engineering technology to build a couple of RWD 3 and 5 series competitors with class leading driving dynamics.
 
Sorry, I'm just grumpy because I'm about to dish out $75k for a new Boxster S or pre-owned 911 partly because Acura is too friggin boring to put out a $50k S3000 a decade after Honda showed they could kick ass with a $32k S2000. I've been hoping for some trickle up for a long time. Guess it's time to face the fact that it's probably not going to happen for my little niche.

#15170 of 16087 Re: Trickle UP?!? [habitat1] by sweendogy

Oct 31, 2012 (7:28 pm)

Replying to: habitat1 (Oct 31, 2012 6:12 pm)
Grumpy - you are obviously not Hondas target audience with the Fwd accord. I mean 75k for a boxer, or used 911, wow, last month you talked about the Tesla you had on order- maybe you should just wait for the NSX - it's an Acura.

#15171 of 16087 Re: Trickle UP?!? [habitat1] by flightnurse

Oct 31, 2012 (11:36 pm)

Replying to: habitat1 (Oct 31, 2012 6:12 pm)
I'd still claim my 2002 Honda S2000 was the best car Honda ever built under the Honda label.
 
Really, I have to vote the NSX as the best Honda car ever built under the Honda label...
 
I'm just grumpy because I'm about to dish out $75k for a new Boxster S or pre-owned 911 partly because
 
What happened to the Tesla? Also how does someone cross shop a Boxster S, 911 and Tesla?

#15172 of 16087 Re: Trickle UP?!? [flightnurse] by kyfdx HOST

Nov 01, 2012 (4:33 am)

Replying to: flightnurse (Oct 31, 2012 11:36 pm)
Also how does someone cross shop a Boxster S, 911 and Tesla?
 
Because they can...

Messages Page 1518 of 1610

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