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By the time this version of the RL fades away, it will be better equiped, higher powered(?) and far more expensive. It's up to you to decide at what point you're fully satisfied. Me? I'm going to save $20K and get an Accord EX. Love the RL but not willing to pay for it. Sorry but my car needs are such that I don't need to spend $50K to be happy.
We RL-types don't need the "satisfaction" that owning a BMW, Mercedes, or Jaguar brings. From my perspective and experience, those cars end up "owning" you .........
There are an extreme few cars in this world that will actually give you a return on your investment. I'm sure any consumer with a quarter of a brain will realize that. Buying a car is a bad financial decision right off the bat if you're an investor type. Buying a NEW car is even more dumb, and the dumbness grows exponentially as the price of the car goes up! SO WHAT??? It's somebody else's money so why should the el-cheapos care what they spent on it?
Granted, I still maintain that the RL is overpriced for what you get, but that is my opinion, based solely on my own criteria of what I expect/want from a car costing that much. Some will agree with me, some will disagree. That's the beauty (and agony) of having a free will. You don't have to agree with what others think.
We all work hard for our money and deserve to pamper ourselves from time to time. For folks whose idea of luxury is being inundated with electronic gadgetry, the RL is a jewel for them. For others whose idea of luxury is comfort and pampering for driver and all his passengers, the RL might not make a whole lot of sense. I'm a member of the latter group. I feel you get more for less in the TL rather than the RL.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE gadgets, but not at the expense of comfort for me and my companions.
Anyway, if someone opts for an Accord EX V6 over an RL, that's cool. Congratulations. But also try to remember that the guy across the street in the Kia Amante also feels that you paid too much for that Accord. (And when that new Hyundai Sonata hits the streets, it's REALLY gonna look like you paid too much for that Accord. But there's always the trusty, standby justification of "reputation for quality.")
The new 2005 RL came out in October and I new it was the right car for me. The electronic gadgetry didn't "Sell me" on the car. The overall design and refinement of this car outside and inside was perfect for me. Simply put.
This guy had a horrible looking combover, and drove a 1974 GREEN (yes, THAT green) 4 dr Dodge Dart with a slant 6.
I told him if he had to ask, he certainly couldn't understand.
I agree it will be significantly upgraded, but I don't think it will be far more expensive. If you look at Honda's pattern of mid-model upgrades, they hold cost increase to a minimum. That's how they maintain sales momentum as a model ages.
If $5,000 is meaningless and you've fallen for an RL that's deemed by many to be overpriced, then so what? Generally, when one feels "taken," it's the result of an absence of options - of not having a choice. I never feel "used" if I buy something whose price seems excessive to someone else....even if their assessment is correct.
I do feel used when I receive my monthly phone bill and find that taxes and surcharges comprise almost 40% of the total. There, I have no choice but to pony up.
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The phone bill issue...I am with you all the way on that one followed closely by the way we have been pummeled in recent years by gas and energy rate hikes. Regardless of our financial positions we have a right to our beefs...that's the beauty of living in the good old USA.
OK, jj, how did you meet my father? We always tease him about his car purchase process. He'd think and think, then waits for the annual auto show to "check out all alternative", then think some more, and wait because the new models are "just around the corner". Repeat same cycle when new model year starts, and it goes on and on. Usually when you walk into a dealer the sales guys and gals pounce on you like locusts. Well, when my father walks in, unless they've never seen him there before, no one makes a move for him 'cause they know he's a thinker, not a buyer.
Then, after finally getting a new car, he doesn't want to drive it, so he ends up with something like 5,000 km in 2 years!
And he's not penniless. He can probably afford any car this side of an Enzo.
When I worked part-time at a UnoCal station during high school (mid-'60s), my classmate's father had his car serviced there. 30,000 miles on the odometer after 13 years .......
A client of mine drives her 2000 Protege LX a bit more. Bought it in early 2002 with 6500 miles on the clock. Now has 16K miles.
Now to the bad news. In my case, the taupe wood wheel took 12 weeks for delivery. Longer than delivery of the car (5 weeks). I was originally told that taupe was in short supply. But I later found out that it had more to do with a safety check-out of how the wood interior reacted in safety crash tests. It appears that because all the wood in the '05 RL is cut in a vertical, front to back fashion versus horizontal, it could present a safety issue when the wood splinters in a accident. I was told that all original cars were grandfathered, but that newly manufactured cars were being held up until the wood passed safety tests. This included the wood steering wheel.
Is this the reason? Possibly. But Acura also may not have anticipated so many requests for wood steering wheels, especially in the taupe version.
Hopefully you will have yours much sooner than I experienced. It didn't bother me so much as my accessories were thrown into the deal.
In either case, you will enjoy the final look and feel of your RL. By the way, I insisted that the dealership give me the old leather steering wheel when they installed the new one. You may find yourself selling it in the future as a part offering. It's yours, so take it.
The only complaint, but a minor one: low end torque. The car is described glowingly. Skid pad and cones:impressive. Interior and exterior refined. Hints that BMW checks its rearview mirror.....RL coming up fast!
That is an over-simplification, but is more or less what you are feeling.. If you drive Honda automatics for a long time, you get used to it, and once you've adjusted, it actually makes sense.... and you learn to use it to your advantage.. It does save you from riding the brake going down hills in a low speed limit zone...
regards,
kyfdx
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Bob K.
Bob K.
I absolutely love the car. It is like driving a luxery hotel. And for that person that said it looks like an Accord has obviously not sat in the car nor driven it. The car's a dream!
I am not talking about major changes that usually occur when a model is redesigned...but more along the lines of minor modifications or tweaking to make the car even better...
Suggestion:
Color changes (interior and exterior)
XM or Sirius
heated back seats
ventilated/cooled seats
more or less cup holders/storage
better speakers
changes in the brakes
changes in tires
keyless system
Just examples...I am sure you will have other ideas
Thanks.
2. Heated rear seats
The last few times I drove my car, I noticed that after accelerating around a turn, after slowing down (releasing the gas) the car makes a "growling" sound in the transmission - it's almost like when you downshift when you're going just a little too fast, but in this case it's not as loud and the car doesn't slow down any. You can feel the car vibrate a little and then it goes away (it lasts no more than a second or two) and it doesn't happen again. I haven't been able to reproduce this.
I recall reading some posts about some "transmission" fluid in the SH-AWD mechanism being low. Could this be what's happening?
I plan to call the dealer, but I'm afraid, like me, they won't be able to reproduce the problem, and so won't be able to do much. But if someone else has had this problem, and can provide some further insight I might be able to use in my discussion with the dealer, it would be most helpful.
I'm beginning to get worried about breaking my rule of "not buying the first model-year of a major redesign"... my car still has less than 5,000 miles.
Hopefully you won't have to wait that long. I received mine last week, so they are shipping their backorders.
I would think this is a feature -- not a problem.
steve
AWD & Navigation.
Should help get the car to a competitive price point.
outside temp displayed with total odometer mileage NOT trip odometer.
Oil pressure and voltmeter added to Fuel/Temp guage.
Programmable option to use HFC voice and data through OnStar cell phone so that one will not have to depend on Bluetooth quirks and another cell phone. Also would like to be able to dump address book from cell phone, pocket pc, or palm devices to OnStar address book - maybe also Nav system address book. Would save a lot of adding stuff by hand. In other words provide a sync facility for these devices.
The RL is a bargain, relatively speaking -- make that a 300HP V8 and rock on.
Or, make the car RWD, base, and AWD an option.
AWD -- at most -- accounts for $2,000 at the retail level. Still seems like a bargain.
The M's from Infiniti may have the formula you would like. They seem to merit all our attention if we are indeed looking at such cars as the Acura, Audi, Chrysler 300C AWD and perhaps even the new GS from Lexus.
A few years ago I bought an Audi A8 -- the next year, 1998, tiptronic was added, more features were made standard and the price took a few K dive. The following year, more standard features and a lower price yet.
I have noticed that each year the cars seem to cost less when you factor in features and price/performance just seems to get better all the time.
If you do the math, even with Mr. Greenspan helping out the Acura Canada thieves with the last rate hike (and lower $CAD), I think Santa Claus needs to cut the MSRP about 13% to put more than a handful of these on urban Canadian roads. By the way - that Infinti M is AMAZING - and all for 20K less - you even get heat/ventilated seats standard. Ironically, Acura aimed for 'BMW cachet' thinking a jacked price would do it. The M reviews are coming out and saying M beats the Bimmer - on .....head to head lux comparo/value. Maybe just jacking a price isn't such a hot 'Automotive Genius in Charge' strategy.
I have read the Car and Driver article on the A6, watched the TV version of C&D review and read several reviews of the Acura RL, one in each of the big three (or is it four) US mags: Car & Driver, Road & Track, Motor Trend and Automobile. Recently and historically the editors opine or state as fact that Acura targeted the A6.
In some respects this makes sense since Acura's RL was always FWD (as was the Audi even though quattro was always a low cost option).
According to these editors, Audi has -- with the new A6 -- become the "most luxurious" of the German brands (of course leading one to the conclusion that BMW remains the most sporting, although somewhat austere).
Then you read the comparo of 6 of the premium class current members and number one and number two (so says Motor Trend) are the Infiniti M35, closely followed by the Acura RL. Poor ol' Audi goes to number 4 of 6 -- but still its interiors are said to be "jewel like" and "puts the others on the truck" (C&D).
Where was I, Oh yea -- Acura's own marketing people not too many years ago said that the RL was meant to be budget luxury (with some performance ability) from Japan, like Audi was budget luxury (with performance abilities [aplenty]) from Germany.
Each company probably targets a competitor, a segment, etc. Infiniti w/RWD seems to be a natural to go after or be compared with BMW; and, Acura with SH-AWD (I wish the Japanese would stop with all the letters of the alphabet when they name something, but that is another subject) based on a FWD platform (just like Audi, currently and historically) seems to be targeting the Audi buyer, perhaps not the Audi loyalist, but someone who has, shall we say, an open mind.
Of course, I could be wrong.
But if I was starting a wish list I would also add
1. a backup camera
2. laser cruise control
clpurnell, "New M35/45 vs Lexus GS vs BMW 5 vs E-class vs A6 vs RL" #, 8 Feb 2005 4:53 pm
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef26837
INSTEAD!
(LUXURY PERFORMANCE SEDANS)
FWIW: my local dealer didn't have a clue (he thought I meant video DVDs...) and the Acura help line couldn't answer the question either. Their suggestion? "Try it!"