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Sedans Acura RL 2009 Acura RL
138 messages, Last post on May 14, 2009 at 12:42 PM
You are in the Acura RL Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Hi jjacura, I grew up in Wisconsin, graduated from the U of WI in Madison, and one of our cars is a '99 TL. It's been excellent, and we're happy with it, but I'll amplify on how I feel about Acura below. I think the styling of the 09 RL is improved over the '05-'08, but my main disappointment regarding the RL is that Acura didn't take the opportunity to convert it to rear wheel drive for '05. I think Honda-Acura should have followed the Nissan-Infiniti business model in terms of drive wheel architecture; FWD for Honda and RWD for Acura, with optional SH-AWD for whichever models of each brand is appropriate. AWD makes sense in Wisconsin, but doesn't make much sense in most of the sunbelt, for example. I think that Honda, even more than Nissan or Toyota, is the most promising Japanese company, from the standpoint of engineering resources and corporate culture, to take on the German luxury brands. To do that successfully, in my opinion, the Rl and TL must be RWD, and since the TSX is now a larger car, they might as well make the TSX a RWD direct competitor to the BMW 3-Series and Mercedes C-Class. From what I've read, the next generation RL will probably be RWD. That's good, but also disappointing that it took so long. It suggests that Honda has lost some of the entrepreneurial spirit it used to have, and has been playing it too cautious, hoping that SH-AWD would trump RWD and RWD based SH-AWD. Or maybe they were counting on the fact that most drivers neither know nor care which set of drive wheels move the car. Incidentally, FWD made perfect sense for the first two or three generation Acuras, when luxury cars had significantly less power. The game changer was when, several years ago, horsepower and torque rose dramatically. That amplified the shortcomings of FWD. My conclusion is that each drive configuration involves various tradeoffs. That means that one or another is better for certain applications. Of the Japanese manufacturers, I think that Nissan-Infiniti has done the best job of sorting out the tradeoffs.
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Oct 17, 2008 5:30 am) What is going on with our Badgers this fall?  Your thoughts regarding the RWD based SH-AWD platform are consistent with much of what we have read in the Car Mags. It suggests that you have gone deeper into the competitive engineering aspects of performance based luxury sedans and comparisons are important to you. How do you feel about Acura adding a 420 Horsepower, 4.8 liter, V-8 to the mix? We have seen Spy photos of the 2011 but indications are that the designers have gone back to the drawing board. Many of us really count on THIS one to be designed exceptionally well with show stopper distinction. Acura has an opportunity to knock 'em dead with a true flagship leader this time. I look forward to it.  Good Luck to you. JJ |
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Well, the badgers aren't doing as well as last year, when they won 69% of the games versus only 43% so far this year. However, there's time left in this season, and one can hope that they'll turn it around. Regarding a V8 for Acura, just this morning I read in Automotive News that... " Acura dealers: A V-8 engine is on the way - Acura dealers say they have been told that Acura will offer a V-8 engine option within 18 months. 'It's confirmed,' says Dave Conant, principal owner of the multibrand Conant Auto Retail Group in Cerritos, Calif., which includes one Acura dealership." Since I'm not a subscriber I was unable to access further details, such as which model(s) will get the new V8, its size, power, and features to be relatively fuel efficient. I'm sure more details will come out soon. This will be a big opportunity for Honda to establish Acura as a credible competitor to the German luxury brands, plus Lexus and Infiniti, and Cadillac. It'll be interesting to see how Acura balances the need for a flagship and the increasingly stringent fuel economy requirements. In the meantime, the RL is merely a place holder. That doesn't make it a bad car, but "not bad" isn't good enough in the current environment. With auto sales as weak as they are, the consumer has too many choices and too much power for anything less than an excellent product to succeed. For this reason, and the fact that there's insufficient differentiation between the RL and the new TL to justify the price differential, means that RL '09 sales will be weak, and the cars will be heavily discounted.
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Oct 20, 2008 4:05 am) The v8 has been well rumored for the past couple of years. It's really no secret but the actual specs are. The v8 could be a 8 cylinder version of the NSX replacement's v10. |
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| According to Automotive News, Honda has cancelled plans for a rear wheel drive V8 Acura. | |
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My RL is less than 2 months old and the XM dies after 2-20 minutes. Generally, it just stops. Changing the mode and channels doesn't help, but turning the ignition off and on cures the problem...for 2-20 minutes and then it dies again. AM and FM work fine. The display will say the name of the song that was playing, or XM, or Loading, or Updating, but nothing more happens. It is back with the dealer and they have witnessed the problem multiple times, updated the software, installed a new system, re-updated the software and now are scratching their heads. The only other problem was one episode of all of the idiot lights going off (CMBX, S H-AWD, Antilock, Active head lights...). Any ideas from anyone?? Thanks, Russ |
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Replying to: RussHC (Jan 08, 2009 4:29 pm) After six time to the dealer, and my irritation, they ordered a NEW radio and now it works just the way it was supposed to and no more lost channels et al. Good luck to all and stay safe. jensad
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| I got my RL last Friday. What a car! It's looks great and drives even better than it looks. | |
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I am trying to import the Phone book from a Razor and the Acura Bluetooth system is lying, telling me the phone doesn't have this capability. Well, I know better. This procedure work very well between this phone and my wife's TomTom. Does anybody have suggestions on how to get this working?
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Replying to: jensad (Jan 09, 2009 11:12 am) It seems to have them and the XM people stumped. And now that I think about it, it has me stumped as to what to do as well. It is good to know that they fixed yours and to know that I am not alone (misery loves company), Best, RussH |
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