The German car the Japs got right.

[CSedl87]

Got to drive an Acura RL today. I must say wow. The interior is on par with Audi's, in the new A6. It basically has all the technology, and more, that the German cars have, but it's easier to use, and being a Honda, it works! The car handles extremely well, the pedal is very firm, and the steering very nice, if not a little bit aloof at higher cornering speeds. I didn't really get to push it hard due to alot of cops in the area, and the car they had wasn't a dealers car, so I couldn't floor it off the bat (only had like 40 miles on it). The looks are understated Pheaton, and a bit of the rear is molded like the 7-series, but actually looks good, and fits. All-in-all this car is equal to, if not better than the Audi A6, BMW 5-er, and Mercedes E-class. It's the German the Japs got right.

Edit: The only problems I had with it were that A) It doesn't come in 6-speed manual, and B) the Shift paddles are on the wheel, and not on the steering column. But then thats nitpicking, this car is absolutley amazing.

[ferrarif1fan89]

i prefer the new infiniti M45 Sport over it, but thats it. really, other than that, the acura is the best car out there

[ikon2003]

^ I'm a big fan of Infiniti, tho I like Acura and Audi as well. I like the moves Acura has made recently, starting with the TL. It's a great little car, and I can imagine the RL is nice too. no 6spd does surprise me.

oh, and i saw my first re-designed A6 today w/ big grill etc. very nice looking in sleek black. rear lights might take a while to adjust to, but the rest of the car more than makes up for it. i might take that over the RL...

[TransAm]

Well I thought the TSX was excellent, I have not been in a new TL or RL but I imagine they can only be better.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I saw one on the street the other day. I must admit that it looks pretty good.

Should be a good fight between the three of them now. . .

The new M35, new GS300, and the RL.

I still wonder how much of an advantages does the Super Handling AWD offers.

[DeMoN]

One day, when Im bored, Ill go test trive one and see how it feels compared to my current car.

[23790554]

any pix?

[hemi_fan]

any pix?
I cant picture what it looks like either, maybe a few refreshment pics would help?

[CSedl87]

^ I'm a big fan of Infiniti, tho I like Acura and Audi as well. I like the moves Acura has made recently, starting with the TL. It's a great little car, and I can imagine the RL is nice too. no 6spd does surprise me.

oh, and i saw my first re-designed A6 today w/ big grill etc. very nice looking in sleek black. rear lights might take a while to adjust to, but the rest of the car more than makes up for it. i might take that over the RL...
I wouldn't we had an A8L that we lemoned due to the Air suspension, and MMI, and other parts of the car not working, and from what we've heard they haven't fixed it on the new A6 (shares alot of the A8's components). Whereas the RL has springs, so there's no fidgeting with it while driving (if they did, you could prob. change it through voice control), and it makes the steering feel really weird (on the Audis). The RL is not completely new techonolgy, but its equipment that works, and works well with eachother. Everything in this car is incredible, and it just blows my mind. As for the SH-AWD, it helps extremely well, my dad went into an empty parkinglot and turned the wheel all the way to the left and floored it, it stuck extremely well, with a bit of tire squel, but their traction control helped reign it back in. The SH-AWD is a part of the TC so it knows everything the AWD is doing. The car is just amazing.

[ikon2003]

^that's a shame about the A8L - i find that to be the best looking luxury sedan on the market. i hope audi can get their act together and solve all of those problems permanently (cuz their ideas of MMI, suspension, gearbox etc are really good ones, as long as they can function properly).

[TransAm]

One day, when Im bored, Ill go test trive one and see how it feels compared to my current car.

So its not just me that does that then. :lol:

I've driven quite a few performance cars that way (Z06, 996, 993, S2000)

[CSedl87]

yeah, but the Acura still looks like.....well, an Acura.

which is a bit.......*yawwwwn*

even though they tried really hard to imitate the Phaeton's front lights, unsuccessfully..
Audi, and BMW has been 'yawn' until recently, and Mercedes is still that way. The car is gorgeous compared to Audi's new ugly snout, and more classy than BMW's flame surfacing. And what's wrong with something understated? We've owned high-end cars w/o that 'yawn' design, and do you know what happens? People follow you, people pull up next to you, people try to race you, people cut you off, pedestrians stop in the middle of the road to look at the car, people surround your car while parked and while you're walking up to it, all of those more than a 'yawn'/classy car. The lights look better on this car, than the pheaton does all together. Atleast the RL doesn't look like an overblown passat. The RL has also a bit of agressiveness to it, which I love.

[Anonymous]

Everso - You are right about the lacking character part. Even a top executive at Toyota/Lexus US division said that is the thing they are addressing now. He also mentioned that the new GS430 is a car that has more "emotion". (I'll try to find the article.) We'll see when the new GS launches in March.

On another note about Audis, my friend's A6 is somewhat of a lemon too. For some reason, the ECU/OBC keeps on malfunctioning. And everytime he brings it into a shop, it is always a 2 week visit. This was a 2002 model.

[ferrarif1fan89]

yeah, but the bottom line, to me is....no matter how good the Japanese build large sedans, at its best it will be a good imitation of a german sedan ;)

have ya ever driven an infiniti, moron? it SCREAMS emotion, as it is built on the 350z platform.

[ferrarif1fan89]

the m45 out--handles a 5-series. the g35 out handles a 3-series. the FX45 out-handles an x5. and they all have better accelleration times. i am usually the defender of BMW, but i recognize when a better car is built. the old M45 was mediocre. it was ugly, stodgy to drive(as i happened to have driven one) the interior was bad, etc. the new one is a better value than its german counterparts, and its more liveable. its the same with the g35. the g35 has beaten the 3 series in far too many comparisons for it to be called dull, as the BMW is supposed to be the "ultimate driving machine". i hate to say this, but IMO, the german cars are losing soul, whereas the japanese are gaining it, especially infiniti. lexus, acura have a long way to go to truly best the germans in driving fun, but infiniti seems to have beat them. not by much, but they have. that said, i love german cars, and hate rice. just my 2 cents, asshole.

**EDIT** i like that word fucktard. did a third-grader give that to you?

[ferrarif1fan89]

^^^lol. overreaction. sorry. but i mean, i think the japs are catching up fast. thats what i was tring to say. :wink:

[ferrarif1fan89]

^^^lol. overreaction. sorry. but i mean, i think the japs are catching up fast. thats what i was tring to say. :wink:

that, i agree with.

the rest (whether one actually likes their sedans) is pure opinion, i suppose. they are definitely the kings of reliability as well.

as the owner of a 2002 Lexus RX300 (I WILL POST PICS, DON'T HASSLE ME) I can attest to that. the only problem i ever had with my car is that it was a little too small.

[blah]

the problem i have with the RL is that its to busy. To many buttons knobs switches, and then to even haver an idrive controller in the middle? So whats the point of the button and switches?

[CSedl87]

the problem i have with the RL is that its to busy. To many buttons knobs switches, and then to even haver an idrive controller in the middle? So whats the point of the button and switches?
It's far easier to use than you think. It functions much like Audi's MMI, not like BMW's iDrive, where the Audi and RL has buttons that correspond to certain things (Audio, Car setup, Navigation, etc...), and the joystick allows you to select the different options onscreen, just like BMW and Audi's. Also like Audi's MMI, the climate controls are out on their own isntead of BMW's, where it's inside the system. To Everso, go out and drive an RL, you'd be surprised. It feels like my dads 2001 A8L (got rearended by a hummer, which led us to get the 2004 A8L, which was a lemon). The RL is not only a bit superior to Audi's right now, but it does have that emotion that you talk about. We've owned 'emotional' (aka German), so I know what 'emotion' is in these cars.

[oldsnail]

The RL is the honda legend around the world
has SH AWD.. one of the most sophisticated awd systems around.
packing 300hp from the v6 vtec engine.
http://www.acura.com/images/rl/rl_gall_img_01.jpg

http://www.acura.com/images/rl/rl_gall_img_07.jpg

http://www.acura.com/images/rl/rl_gall_img_02.jpg
http://www.acura.com/images/rl/rl_gall_img_04.jpg