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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
"Lipstick on a pig" is just a figure of speech meaning trying to make something plain more attractive. Didn't mean to offend anybody's RL. I don't find the car that unattractive and almost bought one myself, but bought the TL instead. Even Acura admits that this car just didn't have the sales they anticipated. To begin with, the car was overpriced and the competition was furious: the prestige of the Lexus (in the GS), the engineering reputation of BMW (3 and 5 Series), the sudden acclaim of the Infiniti M35/45. And now even the Cadillac CTS. Some said the problem was lack of a V-8, but that won't be a problem going forward because with $3-4 gas, many companies are abandoning V-8s. I think Acura thought that SH-AWD would be a sensation, but Consumer Reports said the car didn't handle any better than traditional rear-drive cars. And they didn't really like the car that much and rated the TL much higher. As we all know now, the '09 revision is just a holding action until the car is redesigned for 2010. I guess what Honda/Acura had to do for the redesign was take out a clean sheet of paper and start over.
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| They did a good job on making the interior more luxurious but the ugly "reversed" front door handles should also be changed. Rear styling looks really sharp, not sure about the front end MDX look. A bigger engine is ok but fuel economy is now a poor 22/16. Basically not enough changes to make me run back with my 06 'Bargain Priced" RL. Some have said that the 2010 will be a complete redesign...Acura you need more gears in your transmission...6 or 7 speed in the class you want to be in is not uncommon. This will make the car smoother, quieter and more fuel efficient. | |
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I saw the new RL in person before I saw the pictures. At the show, I thought the car was pretty good looking. Interestingly, I don't care for it in pictures. I think most pictures are taken at a low stance, almost grille level, so that become a dominate feature. Standing up and looking down at the car the grille wasn't so obvious. The backend treatment looked better in person too. However I was left with the feeling "I wonder how much the 2008 will be discounted when the 2009's get released?" I was hoping Acura would sell the remaining inventory at a deep discount to clear the lots so customers wouldn't compare. That possibility, a sale on the 2008's, is my big interest in the 2009's. |
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| Dealers have already have ordered their final 08 RL's but there should be plenty. Build out is the last batch of the current model year. | |
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Replying to: balla (Feb 06, 2008 1:52 pm)
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Replying to: ex007 (Mar 21, 2008 4:56 pm) |
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Was at the Accura dealer in Bedford Hills, NY yesterday. There are deals on the 2008 RL. Does anyone know the amount of $$$ give backs and other incentives now being offered to dealers by Accura on the "pig without lipstick?"
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I'd like to share my RL experience with rainbow11, carolinabob, ex007, rv65, djdj and many others......(p.s. I am from S. California) I am a die-hard RL fan since Y2006. To show our loyalty to Acura, both me and my wife each got new '06 RL in silver, with all the same options/stuff - "his and hers" as joked by dealer every time we go in for an oil-change.....been tracking/researching RL since then. Here are my comments: 1) When RL was first out in '05....."Tech car of the year" - proven Acura's tech. was at leat 3-yrs ahead of competition (e.g. Real-time traffic in '05). 2) No face-lift since then. 3) Best car-buying experience from Internet....goto Carsdirect.com and I got the best deal in town, bought two new RL's in a month; the discount was so huge I thought there might be some "discount on warranty" - No, same factory warranty all the way, and really trouble-free shopping with no nego. needed whatsoever....entire car-buying time was less than 30-min. 4) '09 "Inventory control" someone mentioned in the discussion.....if you goto Carsdirect.com now and you'd see huge (close to $10K) discount off MSRP on '08 - I figure that's what it means "Inventory control" - they are NOT SELLING, and Acura would think twice about how many RL to produce in '09. 5) If Edmunds Inside-line's recent saying is true that after listening carefully to the market, Acura's to bring its Y2011 new RL with long awaited 420hp-v8, real-wheel-drive w/SH-AWD, etc. to compete in this segment. Could Inside-line talk to Mr. Jon Ikeda of new Acura R&D center in Torrance California that: a) Honda should be more aggressive than Toyota from my perspective....being an ex-Marketing-exec in one of the giant Japanese "Kai-Sha" in the past 20-yrs. b) RL is Acura's flag-ship, and I am a die-hard Acura's fan as evidenced above,....like to see RL's continuous winning. c) New Y2011 RL needs.....STYLING, STYLING, STYLING, in addition to all other stuffs to compete in that segment. d) U.S. market needs - Styling, Power, and especially with Acura's Tech and Performance when considering $5-$6/gallon in the near future (if you do market research carefully all over the web, that's what market is saying now-a-days). If Mr. Jon Ikeda and Acura can pull all those together, then I think Y2011 RL might be the "Car of the year" winner again with its traditional "pricing-competitiveness" market position (of couse, let us not to confuse Acura's next NSX marketing strategy with its new RL). e) But I can not wait, and I think Acura can not wait.....just look at it now - RL is simply not selling. Can Acura bring its NEW RL SOONER to the market....? f) Look at Acura's "Advanced-Sport-Sedan" concept, it reminds me somewhat of "Aston-007". .....could Mr. Jon Ikeda talk to Ian - the infamous Chief-designer of previous Aston-Martin's DBS and now behind Jag's new XK-coupe and XF-sedan, or something......? Well, I figure Ian might not be "too happy" after Ford's selling Jag/Range-Rover to Indian Tata-auto. Dear Mr. Ikeda and Mr. Acura.......STYLING, STYLING, and with all of your Tech and "stuffs", bring your NEW RL to the market sooner, then you'd be striving again, and I'd be your loyal RL fan again, hopefully in Y2009/end....save RL's sales.
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Replying to: rainbow11 (Apr 02, 2008 7:41 am) If it's not too late, go to Carsdirect.com now.....they are now with huge $10K discout off MSRP on '08 RL - best deal in town (I'm from S. California). See my other posting about RL's future along with my car-buying experience as followed.....Good luck. ----------------- I'd like to share my RL experience with rainbow11, carolinabob, ex007, rv65, djdj and many others......(p.s. I am from S. California) I am a die-hard RL fan since Y2006. To show our loyalty to Acura, both me and my wife each got new '06 RL in silver, with all the same options/stuff - "his and hers" as joked by dealer every time we go in for an oil-change.....been tracking/researching RL since then. Here are my comments: 1) When RL was first out in '05....."Tech car of the year" - proven Acura's tech. was at leat 3-yrs ahead of competition (e.g. Real-time traffic in '05). 2) No face-lift since then. 3) Best car-buying experience from Internet....goto Carsdirect.com and I got the best deal in town, bought two new RL's in a month; the discount was so huge I thought there might be some "discount on warranty" - No, same factory warranty all the way, and really trouble-free shopping with no nego. needed whatsoever....entire car-buying time was less than 30-min. 4) '09 "Inventory control" someone mentioned in the discussion.....if you goto Carsdirect.com now and you'd see huge (close to $10K) discount off MSRP on '08 - I figure that's what it means "Inventory control" - they are NOT SELLING, and Acura would think twice about how many RL to produce in '09. 5) If Edmunds Inside-line's recent saying is true that after listening carefully to the market, Acura's to bring its Y2011 new RL with long awaited 420hp-v8, real-wheel-drive w/SH-AWD, etc. to compete in this segment. Could Inside-line talk to Mr. Jon Ikeda of new Acura R&D center in Torrance California that: a) Honda should be more aggressive than Toyota from my perspective....being an ex-Marketing-exec in one of the giant Japanese "Kai-Sha" in the past 20-yrs. b) RL is Acura's flag-ship, and I am a die-hard Acura's fan as evidenced above,....like to see RL's continuous winning. c) New Y2011 RL needs.....STYLING, STYLING, STYLING, in addition to all other stuffs to compete in that segment. d) U.S. market needs - Styling, Power, and especially with Acura's Tech and Performance when considering $5-$6/gallon in the near future (if you do market research carefully all over the web, that's what market is saying now-a-days). If Mr. Jon Ikeda and Acura can pull all those together, then I think Y2011 RL might be the "Car of the year" winner again with its traditional "pricing-competitiveness" market position (of couse, let us not to confuse Acura's next NSX marketing strategy with its new RL). e) But I can not wait, and I think Acura can not wait.....just look at it now - RL is simply not selling. Can Acura bring its NEW RL SOONER to the market....? f) Look at Acura's "Advanced-Sport-Sedan" concept, it reminds me somewhat of "Aston-007". .....could Mr. Jon Ikeda talk to Ian - the infamous Chief-designer of previous Aston-Martin's DBS and now behind Jag's new XK-coupe and XF-sedan, or something......? Well, I figure Ian might not be "too happy" after Ford's selling Jag/Range-Rover to Indian Tata-auto. Dear Mr. Ikeda and Mr. Acura.......STYLING, STYLING, and with all of your Tech and "stuffs", bring your NEW RL to the market sooner, then you'd be striving again, and I'd be your loyal RL fan again, hopefully in Y2009/end....save RL's sales. |
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Replying to: loverlbut (May 05, 2008 5:04 am)
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