Acura RL Prices Paid and Buying Experience

cstiles · April 2005

The RL is currently selling for about $1500 to $2000 above dealer cost, which puts it at around $45K to $46K. Your lease calculations need to start from that price point, rather than from MSRP. We just bought ours recently for $46K, with several extra options thrown in at this price (trunk tray, wheel locks, wood shift knob, all weather mats, trunk cargo net). Good luck!

marko7 · April 2005

The local Acura dealer I am monitoring currently has about 60 RLs in stock. Back in late Feb, they had about 20 of which apparently only 7 were available, and of course MSRP was the name of the game. Now, I am getting e-mails of the "it is a buyer's market, come on down" kind. Somebody on this forum quoted close to a $1k dealer holdback, so a deal under $45k with no goodies thrown in should be possible, IMO. The M stole the show since its rollout in early March.

mg808 · April 2005

Hey fmp, I am looking for an RL also. I am going to wait till the summer (July) to see what deals can be had. A northern NJ dealer gave me $46,900 as a starting point. Definitely look around. Deals can be had. The RL invoice is like $44,000 so their is some wiggle room. Never go into a dealer saying you want to lease. Always say, thinking of buying and then say lease when the final price is set. That way, you get the best price. My friend does that with his leases.

I usually buy my cars because I usually own cars for 5+ years and RL is a sweet ride to own.

Good Luck !

bartalk3 · April 2005

marko7: What dealer has about 60 RLs in stock? Where are you located?

fmp · April 2005

I usually lease only because I do it through my own business. Even though it's a business expense, it's my business, so I'm aways looking for the best price! Negotiating with the dealer based on sale and not lease is a good point though. I'll be sending a few emails to dealers this weekend, perhaps even walking in to some as well. So I'll be sure to let everyone know how it turns out. Appreciate any additional advice anyone has in terms of leasing this car. Thanks.

marko7 · April 2005

> marko7: What dealer has about 60 RLs in stock? Where are you located?

DC area. I'd rather not mention which particular dealer but do a search within say, 50-mile, radius and visit each dealer's site directly. Alternatively, acura.com may offer such an inventory search service, similarly to that of infiniti.com.

Kirstie_H · April 2005

We would actually love it if you'd share the dealership name with our members! Sure would be nice to know where shoppers can locate a store with huge inventory.

kirstie_h
Roving Host
Host, Future Vehicles & Smart Shopper discussions

marko7 · April 2005

I consider mentioning a particular dealer's name a form of endorsement and free advertising. I'd rather not do either since I am not on their payroll or a discount plan. Sorry, kirstie_h.

spenglo · April 2005

My approach to purchasing a vehicle was inspired by DIB's post - use email to contact a bunch of dealers and only speak with a dealer after you've agreed on a price. I am based in CT and communicated with dealers in CT, RI, and MA. I sent each dealership the same email, which included my interest in buying immediately, my color preferences, and my target price. A few dealers did not respond at all. Perhaps one third of those who did told me they were uninterested in a deal at that price. Another third responded with a price significantly above my target price (these were in the $46-47K range), and the final third still had interest around my target price. It took about two weeks of emails to get what I felt was the best price. I paid $44,900 plus a $183 destination charge (and 6% sales tax). The dealership did not have the color I wanted (Carbon Gray Pearl), but found one in three days.

A few thoughts...
* As mentioned, dealers are inconsistent in responding to email. Some didn't respond at all and a number of those that did took days to get back to me. I think it is essential to tell them the terms of the deal (e.g., cash, no trade-in) and that you are ready to buy immediately.

* I was surprised at how much variance there was in pricing from dealer to dealer. I would strongly recommend communicating with as many dealers as possible to maximize your chances of finding one who is willing to negotiate on price. Given that my dealer got the car from another dealer, it doesn't appear that existing inventory factored into their final pricing. One interesting tidbit - the dealer told me they have sold about 15 RLs since its release.

* I might have been able to get a few hundred dollars more off the price, but I think that would have been the limit. The majority of dealers were not interested in selling at my target price (and based on follow-up emails with these dealers, I believe this was sincere rather than posturing on their part). While they might have matched a competing offer, they were uninterested in being the first to drop their price.

I switched from a 2000 Mercedes E320 to the RL. The E had better driver visibility and a larger back seat, but is otherwise inferior in almost every respect. Purchasing a comparably equipped new E320 would have cost me $10K more than my RL. I also looked at the AWD Lexus GS, but dealers appeared unwilling to negotiate on price.

At this point, I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Thanks to all the posters on this forum - the information here is what enabled me to get the car for this price.

dib · April 2005

Spenglo:

Great to hear about your success with the email form of negotiation. You got a great price. Some notes to your notes:

* A particular dealer's inventory has absolutely no bearing on its pricing. They simply get on the phone and call other dealer's until they find your color RL and can have it within 24 hours - they simply have an employee drive an RL they have on their lot to the dealer that has your color and drive your color back, leaving the other one. Each dealer knows it has to agree because there will come a time when they need the same favor. It may even be in their dealership agreement with Acura. My dealer in central CT told me that the furthest he ever had to drive to pick up a car was Syracuse (4 hours) but rarely has to go outside CT (2 hours). I closed my deal around 6:30 PM on a Wednesday night and he had my color on his lot by 2:00 PM the next day.

* I found that if I started my price at 5-6% above dealer cost, almost every dealer (~ 12) replied with an offer. Only one came in at my price. This was in about 1 hour. I then sent a second email out about 4 hours (5 PM) after my first email offer and mentioned what the best offer was at that time and asked for "best and final" offers and got two offers at $1000 below my original offer price. They were not from my preferred, closest dealer, but I phoned him and gave him the courtesy of matching the lowest offer which he did. I then drove out and put down the deposit and filled out the paperwork. From start of my email process to deposit was 5.5 hours. If a dealer phoned me ( and I did not include my phone number but some figured it out), I had them put into voice mail. I may have been able to get another $500 or so knocked off if I kept it up for a few days or a week but it was not worth the hassle to me. My dealer told me that the price I got was $2000 less than the next cheapest price he had ever agreed to. May be BS, but it was the last day of the month and the quarter (which is very important in my view due to the incentives they get at both of those time points).

* I have had the car for 3 weeks now and love it. Just got back from a 6 day tour of colleges with my wife and HS daughter to parts unknown and had the nav system get us everywhere, and even recommend restaurants (using Zagat's), all of which worked out great. The nav system does have its strangenesses (as do all), and if you know a local area well, you will disagree with its routing, but it will get you exactly where you need to be, perhaps a few minutes longer driving then if you were a local. The quickness with which it re calculates directions is amazing.

* My bluetooth Motorola V710 has synced perfectly with the car, except that some of the phone's symbols do not show up on the dash (such as signal strength or phone number of incoming call). I was at my Verizon store today and talked to a knowldegable technician who said that even wiht the software upgrade for the V710, Acura RLs and TLs will not display all info on the car's dash. It is a Verizon/Motorala blue tooth issue; nothing to do with Acura.

I also thank everyone who writes on the board; it has been one of the most useful boards I have ever used.

From rainy CT (where I used my wipers for the first time today and drove intentionally through the deepest puddles I could find with no hydroplaning), drive happy and safely,

DIB

spenglo · April 2005

Thanks for that additional info. After this process, I now feel fully prepared to purchase another car - too bad I'm so happy with the RL.

As an aside, have you gotten the AcuraLink working with your phone?

algoodman · April 2005

The new V710 software will allow the phone to display signal strength and battery charge bars on the RL. It will not allow diagnostic information to and from your dealer to be transferred. That part of the Bluetooth software is still disabled by Verizon.

dib · April 2005

Does the new V710 software upgrade show the incoming phone number or address book name assigned within the phone's address book on the RL display? That way I could decide whehter to answer or not.

DIB

algoodman · April 2005

I haven't got any incoming calls recently but I don't think the new software does anything other than display phone signal strength and battery charge.

mikej1543 · April 2005

Hi:

You got a good deal. Being in New Hampshire, I'd be interested in knowing where you were able to buy your RL, since I'm probably in reach of that dealership.

Thanks

scoop4 · April 2005

Thanks for the additional notes on the best ways to purchase a new RL.

Is the 2006 RL due out before the fall? Is it worth waiting to try and get a better deal on a 2005? Is there the chance that there will be significant improvements to the current model to warrant the wait?

Also, what is the best way to strike a deal before purchase on upgrades like wood steering wheel or wood shifter knob? Also I intend on doing a trade and possibly paying for the car as opposed to a lease or loan.

pjt6970 · April 2005

Good deal?

consult77 · April 2005

Opinions:

The RL just came out so I don't think there will be major changes.

In doing searches of dealer inventories Acura dealers seem to have lots of RL's in stock. They typically have more than they have TL's and yet they sell a lot more TL's. This makes me think they have too many RL's since inventory goals are usually based on days of sales.

Honda doesn't seem to offer customer incentives to move cars but they do offer incentives to their dealers. At present they have incentives to dealers on Accords for example. I believe this is because Accord sales are down and Toyota has rebates on Camry's.

I would have to believe that they will offer significant dealer incentives on the RL's as the new model year approaches and perhaps even large incentives if there is an inventory over-hang of 2005's with 2006's on the lots. You might want to continually check the Edmunds.com section on dealer incentives as the year progresses.

Getting quotes from multiple dealers always seems like the best way to take advantage of whatever market conditions exist.

cstiles · April 2005

The other "incentive" with the RL is that it already has around a $5500 markup when you factor in the dealer hold-back. As it is, there are excellent deals available on this car. The car was priced too high out of the box, and that is surely impacting its sales to a degree, relative to a very competitive field of choices. We paid about $45500 for ours about a month ago. It's an excellent car, overall.

spenglo · April 2005

I've read a number of comments about the RL being overpriced but am not sure I agree. The MSRP of a comparably equipped AWD Lexus GS is $3-4K more. On a Mercedes (e.g., 4matic E350) its about $7-10K more. Prior to purchasing my RL, I drove and priced the Lexus and Mercedes vehicles. In my conversations with dealers, Acura was the most willing to negotiate on price. By buying my RL for just under $45K, I believe I got a car that I would have had to pay $7-10K more had I bought a comparable model from Lexus or Mercedes.

I owned a Mercedes E class for five years. While there were many things I loved about the car, it had lots of problems. The blower was replaced three times and never worked properly. The AC was abysmal (which was in part related to the blower problems). The radio controls were unintelligible and the reception was comical. I actually wrote a letter to Mercedes about some of these problems and got a totally unsatisfactory response from the company. But the thing that really irritated me was the poor resale value. Had I bought either a Lexus or an Acura instead of my Mercedes I would have recouped a much higher percentage of the original car's value at the time I sold it. I have spoken with a number of other Mercedes owners who have had similar problems, many of whom have switched brands (typically to Lexus). The $10K more for the Mercedes seemed unjustifiable in my book. I can't say the RL will be better in all respects, but there are many ways in which it would be hard to be worse than the Mercedes. I strongly considered the Lexus, even at a higher price. I have had two Lexus's and loved them. I was put off by the fact that Lexus will be releasing the 3.5 liter engine next year. It seemed like I would want to wait a year rather than by the AWD GS this year. Had they been more willing to negotiate on price, I might have gotten over this misgiving.

Just to round out my research, I looked briefly at the A6 but felt that Audi had many of the same problems as Mercedes. While I did not consider the Infiniti M, I am aware of the positive reviews it has received and feel I probably should have taken the car for a test drive. As things stand, I couldn't be happier with my purchase (though I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

dano4 · April 2005

Bought my RL at Ed Martin Acura in Indianapolis in December 2005. Price paid is no longer relevant since much has changed since then. At that time, deal was very competitive.
Ed Martin was the only dealer to actually respond over the internet with a price. The other dealers only wanted me to come in and visit. The buying experience was excellent as has been the service since the purchase.
Traded a 2002 LS430. Very happy with the RL. Only complaint is lack of rear seat leg room. The LS was flawless for 48000 miles, but at a $10-15000 lower price, the RL is just fine. Better handling, more features, and a much more sporting driving experience.

nba · April 2005

You can be sure that incentives are right around the corner, their is no choice but provide aggressive leasing rates and possibly higher holdbacks to the dealer. The inventory is way too high at all dealers, with 2006 models to be launched in November, Acura has no choice to try to move them NOW. Production has already been reduced from the estimated 20k units that was slated to be sold for 2005.
Anyone interested in RL would be advised to wait, I could buy at invoice (44k) right now, but it will get better. When Audi had to move their 2004 A4 models for the new body styled 2005 units, the lease rate went under 1%, the new rate could be under 2%? For those interested in a lease, the monthly payment could be close to a payment on a TL with a sub 6% rate. I am sure it will be a sweet deal for the buyers too... I like the idea you won't see many on the road either, slap some nice wheels on it and your'e set! This is a helluva ride~

vince11 · May 2005

Has anyone recently leased the RL? What are the current numbers for a 36 month, 12000 miles per year with no money, except first month payment, down? Are there any experienced negotiators out there, what's the bottom line. Thanks!

rajabhat · May 2005

Hi all, I'm in Eastern NC. I paid $47,000 plus tax etc. on my 2005 RL. Its now got 3000 miles on it. Great car overall. Somewhat stiff ride but the precise handling makes it worth putting up with. Had a rattle going over ruts, service man called and said it was a loose brake pad. Onstar phone won't take incoming calls so they're putting in a new unit today. Hopefully that'll be it! The sound system is truly great, especially the XM satellite radio.
All said and done, I think it is far better than the BMW or Benz. I have not test driven the new Lexus GS300 AWD which I'd like to test drive sometime. I'd recommend the Acura RL 2005.
Raja

clarkfraser · May 2005

I just put a deposit on an RL from the Honda Classic Golf Tournament for $44,500. with 130 miles on it - arrives early next week at the dealer. What should I be aware of before I write that check?

bodble2 · May 2005

"What should I be aware of before I write that check?"

The 130 miles on the odo. How did it end up with that much mileage? Used as demo? Someone took it on an extended test drive and noticed something he didn't like?

kyfdx · May 2005

Courtesy car for the golf tournament... PGA pro or official drove the car for 5-6 days... Those make good deals... The senior tournament here in town always uses Cadillacs...

nba · May 2005

I think you should use one of the many lease calculators out there to get an idea (calculate tax for your state), use $44k (Invoice) as the price and use 2.4% as the money factor or multilply the MF by 2400 which would give you the interest rate of 5.76%. Use 59% as the residual factor for 3 years ($28K).

Approximately: $620 monthly (36 months)

or

$500 if Acura drops the interest rate to 2%

Also, try 2% as an example of what the payment could be if Acura gets that aggressive when they try to stimulate sales to liquidate the excess inventory at the dealers. Hopefully it will be less...

rajabhat · May 2005

Congratulations on your buy...er. steal!! Terrific price. Don't even worry about the 130 miles!
I think very highly of my RL 2005. I'm not giving it up for anything. But....drive it without the sound system on rough roads. Mine had a clanky rattle due to a loose brake pad. Also, the Onstar phone (by Verizon) would not receive incoming calls...they had to replace it.

Raja

jhinsc · May 2005

For all who's interested, I just checked for a price on the RL with an Orange County, CA zipcode on cars direct, and the price quoted was $45,109, which includes destination. Not bad for no negotiating. What's up with TMV? It shows full MSRP for the same zipcode. May have been true months ago, but not now. Certainly it's not up-to-date, because I would think So Cal car buyers in that price class are a bit more savvy than that, especially with plenty of Acura dealers around for competition.

nba · May 2005

I believe the RL can be had at or near invoice, $44K-$44.5k. Dealers can't afford to lose a deal on a car that has not sold well with 2006 models coming soon.

If you want one, I would wait since Acura has to get more aggressive with this car very soon ! They have no choice to offer better financing and leasing rates.

mevande · May 2005

Cstiles, you shared you paid $45,500 for your RL one month ago. Did you trade in a vehicle? .. or was the $45,500 a level market price. As we all know trades really
skew" what we think our deals are. Thanks in advance!

MikeV

mevande · May 2005

Dano4, I live near Indy (Northern suburb) and am 14 miles away from Ed Martin. Does Ed.Martin Acura provide loaners when your car is in for "any" service? This is an important item for me for I own a 1999 BMW 740i and although it has been 100% problem free, I always got a loaner car (BMW Loaner) for any type of rountine service. Thanks in advance for any help!

steveinindy · May 2005

I also live in Indy (Fishers) and I use Ed Martin and they will give you a loaner car if you make an appointment and ask for one. Otherwise, they usualy have given them all out to others who have made service appointments. They gave me a 2004 RSX as a loaner last time. Their service was good. I plan to return to them, but only for service. They do not deal well with new car prices. Hubler Acura blew them away on my RL price.

mevande · May 2005

Hi Steveindy,
What price were you able to get from Hubler? I live in Carmel, hene would use Ed Martin for service. Thanks in advance!

Mike V

cstiles · May 2005

Here is how my deal on the RL was written up (at Rizza Acura in Orland Park)....

Sales price of 05 RL = $46,500
Trade value of 02 Audi = $20,500
Trade value researched on Kelly Blue Book and NADA on my Audi was $19,500, and 3 other dealers (an Audi Dealer, a Honda Dealer, and an Infiniti Dealer offered me between $19,200 and $20,000 for the Audi as trade, so Rizza gave me the best deal on the trade).

This price also included a trunk mat, wheel locks, trunk cargo net, all-season floor mats, and a wood shift knob. They also threw in 3 years of "free" paintless ding repair. A company comes to you and will repair unlimited number of door dings within a 3 year coverage period. This is apparently a routine mark-up item on Rizza cars and although I was somewhat indifferent about it, they included it at the end. Plus, we got 3.5% financing from American Honda Finance to seal the deal. It was the best rate I could find on a conventional loan.

I estimated the price of the RL at $45,500 since I got about $1000 more trade value on the Audi, plus they threw in some options that had a collective retail price of at least another $500. They had about 6 RL's on the lot that day, and as soon as they saw we were serious, they got it done relatively painlessly.

1800 miles on our RL so far, and it is a very nice car.

Good luck!

arache97 · May 2005

I am being offered a quote on the above for $20,850. It currently has 48,423 miles on it. 1 owner (I checked carfax) and mint condition. I live in NY and car is being sold in Texas. Is that price adequate or too much? I checked Edmunds and KBB and the appraisal value is a bit under the selling price? Any help here is appreciated.

Thanks

steveinindy · May 2005

Sorry for the delay in responding, just saw your post today. I paid $46,900 in early February. They threw in a rear deck spoiler, all weather floor mats, trunk liner, wheel locks and warranted paint protection (which appeared to be a glorified wax job, but with a warranty paper). I was extremely pleased, and Ed Martin would not come close on the price--even though the sales person is a client of mine! Good luck!

tonyinoc · May 2005

2005 RL Carbon Gray Pearl/Ebony on May 9, 2005
Price: $43714 (matched Edmunds listed invoice)
Destination: $570 (also matched Edmunds price)
Total $44284 plus TTL, no trade, brought my own money (no financing); dealer threw in splash guards and wheel locks. Didn't want trunk tray or all weather mats.

I think I did ok.

nba · May 2005

The dealers apparently have gotten a little relief on the back end from Acura, I wish I knew
how much? This is the first move into moving 2005 inventory with 2006 creeping up.
Invoice price can be had probably anywhere now, just throw the deal down and walk and tell them to call if they have any interest. They even did an invoice deal with no financing, which is good! If you use their financing so long as it's good, you could probably work a better deal, although every day/week/month we get closer to 2006, the deal will only get better.
I am inclined to wait since we are only a couple of months away from saving a couple thousand more.

satire · May 2005

I have that same car but with only 18,000 miles. Couldn't sell it to you at that price as my lease is still over $25K owed (4 years due June 2006). So that's not a bad price. But under $20K would make it a great price IMHO.

flbuyer · May 2005

Anyone leased RL recently in SW Fla...from Tampa, Ft. Myers, Miami, etc? What kind of deal did you get? I am looking at 36 month/45K lease. I have info on what MF and Residual numbers should be...looking for sale price info. Thanks in advance for any info...

nba · May 2005

Take a look at the acura.com website for the special $599 lease deal for a 36 months/36k, I think Acura will have to get more aggressive to move these cars, there will be some great deals on a 05 with 06 approaching nevertheless. My bet is the dealers will still have 05 inventory on the lot late into late into the year, which is where you will see a great deal on one.

satire · May 2005

Marin Acura (north of San Francisco) is offering the RL for $40 less than Acura is offering. Downpayment is a little more at $4,995.

shs111 · May 2005

I know this question has been asked endless times, but for someone who wants to keep a car for four years, drives about 12,000 miles per year, is it a better deal to lease or purchase the Acura RL? Thanks in advance for your insights.

michaelbmenake · May 2005

From a purely financial perspective, leases are never good deals for individuals. Businesses can write off the cost of the lease. Individuals can't. Leases give you more car for the same payment, but aren't fiscally advantageous.

kyfdx · May 2005

I could give you about 50 examples of leases being financially advantageous for individuals, but in the interest of saving time, I'll just note....

Absolutes such as "never" are usually wrong... (notice I didn't say always wrong..)

Leases have advantages and disadvantages.... At their core, they are just alternative means of financing.. Each situation and each car are different..

The fact that they are tax deductible for business, but not for personal use has no bearing on whether they are right for a particular situation.. Businesses that buy vehicles can depreciate the vehicle to lower their taxable income, but you never hear anyone say you shouldn't buy a vehicle because you can't deduct it.

regards,
kyfdx

bodble2 · May 2005

"Businesses that buy vehicles can depreciate the vehicle to lower their taxable income, but you never hear anyone say you shouldn't buy a vehicle because you can't deduct it."

Good point. For some reason, many people seem to lose sight of that. In fact, Canadian tax laws are designed so that basically the tax benefits of leasing vs. buying are a wash.

I think under a best-case scenario, you will almost always come out ahead if you buy and sell privately vs. leasing or the trade-in route. But the difference is not as much as most people think. And if your car has been involved in an accident and diminished value is part of the equation, then it's a whole different ball game. And also, the hassle of selling privately cannot be ignored, even though it is difficult to quantify. In fact, at this stage of my life, I don't think I want to put up with the hassle of selling privately, of dealing with tire-kickers, test drives, low-ballers, mechanic's inspection, weirdos coming around to your house, etc. I did that when I was younger. Now I've got other things of higher priority to deal with than just to net a few hundred $$ more, if that.

In fact, my preferred mode of acquisition is now leasing. Problem is I own my current car, and I'm not sure there is a way one can trade it into a lease without getting gutted financially. If there is, an '06 X3 3.0 could be in my garage next year! :shades:

jjacura · June 2005

C'mon Bodble...place a classified ad in your Major circulation rag...take some patience to weed thru the time-wasters...sell that bucket of bolts and buy a real car...the 2005 RL!

rotoryfan · June 2005

Ex:

A. Make lease payments for x years...turn in keys and walk away.

B. Make car payments for x years...car is paid for (and you own whatever intrinsic/market value remains).

You lost me on why leasing, for an indivdual, is better than buying/owning...maybe I should drag out my old Ben Graham book.

Acura RL Prices Paid and Buying Experience

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