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Has anyone had there clock display erroneous times on occaision? This is a minor annoyance, just looking for a fix!
Any advice??
Pink is slow traffic 0 - 27.4mph
Yellow is moderate traffic 27.5 - 52.4
Blue is free flowing traffic > 52.4
Red is the color used for freeways and doesn't have anything to do with traffic.
The colors are displayed for each side of the road based on roadway sensors and traffic reports. Different sections of the freeway will naturally show different speeds. The data displayed is refreshed every few minutes and is only as reliable as the source of information and the last time that it was refreshed. The most accurate information is typically highway sensors, but even this information is refreshed periodically and could be a few minutes out of date. As the usage of this information increases, the quality of the information should improve, but it is still very good now.
In addition to the traffic information additional symbols appear that indicate accidents, roadwork, weather issues, etc.
Hope this helps.
Why would a classic luxury car sell several thousands "below" invoice? reliability issues?
I lived in Germany for a few years, and my best friend overthere is a mechanical engineer. His advice to me was "buy Japanese cars because they're more reliable than German cars"!
The RL forum may be biased to the Acura, but you can check in MB or other forums to see what the owners think and what problems they have. Also resources like NHTSA, JD Power, etc.
I can tell you that my current 2002 BMW M5 with just under 45,000 miles has had 0 unscheduled maintenance or repair trips to the dealer. It is as tight and quiet as the day I drove it home from the dealership. The E39 model 5-series still holds the record for the highest rated car ever by Consumer Reports, not exactly your enthusiast biased magazine. But all of this is anecdotal (except the Consumer Reports rating) and will never meet any tests of statistical significance.
There also seems to a component of urban legendness regarding Japanese relaibility and German finickyness. Lexus and Acura especially seem almost immune to criticism or ratings reconsiderations. We had a 2000 Lexus LX 470 that was reasonably reliable, but did require several (3-4) trips to the dealership in it's first 3 years and 45k miles for little quirks. I am also aware that the GX470 has had significant issues with respect to drive train vibration. One of our friends had theirs replaced (the vehicle, not the drive train) after 5,000 miles of failed attempts to correct the problem. Acura's automatic transmission problems are widely known among Acura owners, but apparantly have been overlooked by Consumer Reports and JD Powers. A business associate has the unfortunate distinction of having two transmission replacements on his TL and one on his wife's MDX. I haven't had a single transmission failure in 30 years of owning BMW's, Mercedes, Porsches, Nissans or Hondas.
I have no doubt that "statistically speaking", tken over 10,000 owners, a basic Honda Accord is going to provide a more trouble free experience than a Mercedes E-class. However, I am not sure that the new RL, which has elected to adress handling and vehicle dynamics with an extraordinary amount of electronic systems, will fare as well 7-10 years and 150,000+ miles down the road.
I may be old fashioned, but I still believe that simpler is better when it comes to long term reliability. There are areas in which Honda/Acura technology has produced significant advantages. As V-Tech technology enabling the Honda S2000's 2.0 liter engine to produce 240 horsepower. I am not prepared to give the RL's SH-AWD system the same credit. One thing is for sure, it will be a hell of an expensive system to diagnose and repair if anything goes wrong after the warranty period.
And, my luck, thus far, has not changed vis a vis the RL -- still none to test drive at THE dealer I would buy from if I would buy the Acura.
As you may see, story of my life attempting to test drive Acura or Chrysler models.
I will HAVE to order a new car no later than March -- unless I want to keep my leased car beyond the original lease term (something I have not done previously.)
FWIW
What part of the country do you live in? There are a couple at dealers in PA."
jmatthe....I'm chuckling over your question a little bit...sorry... but maybe you just have not seen Mark's posts before. He's from Cincinnapolis... er.. I mean Cincinnati. Go over and read his stuff...you'll enjoy it. (The continuing saga of an RL test driver wanabe... :-)
The 300C is, so they claim, available to drive, if it is prepped, on Tuesday.
I apologize for obfuscating my city's identity.
Reliability was a problem with the electronics on the launch of the new MBZ E in 2003. Those "bugs" have greatly improved since then.
The reason the for the big discounts on the E320 are due to a new engine and model year change in March 05, it will become the E350.
(Come to think of it from Louise's hilltop you can see our Acura dealership)
Feel free to contact me offline, or I can post my personal stats on cases I've handled, or general stats from the firm as a whole (5 expert witnesses total).
Sorry, a name and its history doesn't do it for me...I buy products based on what they offer not by their "prestige" or status which apparently is only used to try and impress strangers.
To me the key component of a luxury car is well, the luxury it offers.:) status and exterior appearance take a huge back seat for me.
Anyone here with RLs on the east coast drive this weekend through the heavy snow falls? If so, how did you find the car handling the snow?
As part of my additional testing (the limits) of the RL, I did take one 90 degree corner a lot faster than the posted speed. The RL did a microsecond fishtail, but it then did its magic and pulled me through that corner. I was REALLY impressed!
Note: No other cars were around and this was in an empty business park at night.
My next evaluation is to take it to Mammoth Mountain (ski area) in two weeks to see how it performs in the snow. I'm not sure if we will have a snow storm, if not, it will be another test to see how it performs on a 5 hour trip.
r2917:
I live on the North Shore of Long Island and deliberately chose an area that hadn't as yet been plowed. I drove through eight to ten inches of fresh snow at about 40 mph and taking corners faster than usual, but not at 40. As you experienced, the RL wiggled, but barely, and pulled me through the corners. Under the same conditions, my '96 RL's tail end would have described a substantial arc going through the corners at the same speed. I feel very safe in the RL. The 1,000 miles that I've driven on dry roads, sometimes provoking the SH-AWD intentionally, and successfully, provided me with the expectation that the RL would perform well on snow; it did, but I honestly don't know how "severe" my test was in terms of speed. I do know that I would not have had the same assurance entering those corners on snow in my '96 at the speeds that I chose.There is a husky, protective quality about the RL, though I'd never be fool enough to expect a "pass." :-)
Any others experiencing this problem?
http://homepage.mac.com/spclst/RL/PhotoAlbum57.html
Enjoy!
DF
http://homepage.mac.com/spclst/RL/PhotoAlbum57.html
Lesson 1 - Japanese Luxury/reliability/fit finish beats the BMW/Audi/MB set, hands down
Lession 2 - Acura juiced the RL pricing by about $12K Canadian - leaving their $71K vehicle looking at the tailpipes of the 'at least as equipped' M35x (about CAD$58-60K). Acura gets the 'Dummy' award for mismarketing their vehicle in Canada - too boring to take out German design at equal price, too overpriced for that wide swath of well-heeled $55-65K Canadian buyers who will opt M or LexusGS, 100% of the time. Shut out the lights, Acura Canada.
You are always welcome to come to America when it gets a little dark in Canada! ;-)
Question for the RL Canadian owners...
Can you see how the seats are ventilated? (Is it just a "feed" off the line that cools the back seats?) Does this look like something that could be added to the cars in the US by a dealer or repair shop? (I would think there would not be that much that needed to be added.) Where is the switch located to activate the cooling of the seats?
Thanks for any info on the ventilated seats!!!
It was an interesting trade off. We get XM Satellite and they get the ventilated seats. If you live in Phoenix (Or any warm climate location in the states) the ventilated seats would be an attractive feature to have. Personally, I love the XM and the ventilated seats would be a low priority issue. (We live in Wisconsin)
HONDA PROFIT SLIPS, BUT FORECAST RISES
Honda Motor Co. said a stronger yen dented its earnings for the fiscal third quarter, but the company lifted its full-year profit outlook, predicting cost cuts will drive profit to a record for a fourth straight year ... Overseas vehicle sales grew 13% from a year earlier ... offsetting a fall of 4% in domestic sales ... Sales volume in Asia excluding Japan jumped 79% ... on brisk sales in China and Indonesia, and robust sales in the UK pushed European sales up 34% ... Sales in North America fell 4% ... as a slowdown in sales of its Accord model after brisk sales of the model last fiscal year OFFSET STRONG SALES OF THE ACURA RL AND ODYSSEY [emphasis added]. The rising costs of steel and other materials are within the company's expectations ... Even so, Honda may need to raise its vehicle prices in some overseas markets to offset the impact of the higher costs ...
For more information see:
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/cultural_policies/ca- nadian_content_rules.cfm