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Acura RL review

In all frankness, Acura had been out of the loop for awhile when it came to building a top-notch luxury/performance car. In recent years, the company has come up with several vehicles that have been a kind of rebirth for the luxury division of Honda. The MDX sport-utility continues to be popular five years into its life cycle. The tired Integra was put to pasture and replaced by the quick and much more sophisticated RSX.




More recently, the sporty and well-appointed TSX and TL came along, giving extra credibility to the notion that a reinventing of the Acura name could actually work. The 2004 model year is the last year for the current RL, so if you like that sort of 1990s-era luxury sedan, youd better get one now. Youll probably get a really great deal on a 2004, because once the buying public gets a look at the new one, we suspect high demand for it will promote generous discounts on the outgoing model.

Inside and Out

VTEC, ATTS, and AWD are nice, but all have been seen by the world before. Its hard to sell a car on performance alone these days, so Honda made sure to take the innovation lead in creature comforts.

Lets start with something everyone can enjoy: audio. The standards of sound have been rising just as fast as the standards of speed, but Acura stands out front for the moment. Its hard to ask for more watts than 260, more speakers than ten, more discs than six, or more formats than AM, FM, XM, CD, MP3, and DVD-A. That last one is exclusive to Acura, who has been among the first to bet on DVD Audio as the next universal format to supplant the aging compact disc. And unless you completely ignore the world of electronics, you have no doubt heard the number 5.1 tossed around a few times. That refers to the number of channels through which audio passes, and it has been the standard of home theater for years. The RL brings this standard to cars, which are hopelessly stuck in a two-channel stereo world.



Unfortunately, the sampler discs provided by Acura were aimed at a generation of journalists a tad past their prime. (Grover Washington? Steely Dan??) Given no familiar material to work with, all my judgment could tell me was that DVD Audio sounds great. How great compared to CD, I cant say, but I am pleased with the life this system brought to my MP3s. I also came to appreciate XM radio more than I expected. It was refreshing to hear a station play more than the same six songs in rotation, and to hear tunes that have been off the air for years, thanks to FM radios policy of banishing any song to the trash heap after three months.

Another nice touch is the key, which youll never have to touch again. Most people past adolescence might recall the days when the act of unlocking a car required the Herculean effort of removing a key from your pocket, inserting it in a keyhole, and turning it. At some point in the ‘90s, we cut that down from three steps to two: removing a remote from your pocket, then pressing a button. Acura cut it down to zero: as long as the remotes in your pocket, you can open the door. You can also start the engine. In fact, if the remote is within two feet of the car, you can do pretty much anything. This might not be the same as finding a cure for cancer, but its close.

Thanks to BMW, todays standards dictate that the RL wouldnt be a luxury car if it didnt have a tyrannical computer screen in the middle of the dash that served as the gatekeeper for every possible function of the car: navigation system, audio, climate control, trip computer, Bluetooth cell phone hookups, etc. Well, it does, so it is. And yes, theres a big central knob that you will be pushing and rotating a lot, but at least the majority of climate and radio controls have their own buttons. Heres my take on the matter: three minutes leads to frustration; three days and almost everything becomes second-nature. It takes memorization and getting used to, but then you get used to it, and it makes sense. This contrasts sharply with all the hearsay on BMWs iDrive, which frustrates everyone to no end. Still, that doesnt mean Acuras system isnt distracting, free of redundancies, or wouldnt be better off with normal controls. And the systems failure to understand simple voice commands makes this Acura a foreigner in need of deportation. When a car comes with an hour-long tutorial DVD, you just know theres bad news ahead.

Acuras navigation system, already praised for its easy operation, stands as far above the competition as does its audio system. No surprise, then, that theyre connected. Unlike your unreliable AM radio station, which probably sends updates every ten minutes (if youre lucky) on whatever areas they feel like reporting on, the RL sends real-time traffic updates every minute for every major metro area in the continental U.S. through the XM band. The next time youre stuck in a freeway traffic jam, dont look for any Acura RLs. Their drivers will have already known something you discovered the hard way. Two personal complaints of the nav system: a non-constant scrolling rate, and breaks in the display when doing so.

The rest of the interior is first-class. Very soft (and perforated) leather, smart cupholders, drivers seat memory, sun-sensing dual-zone climate control, auto-dimming rearview mirror, rear air vents, rear sunshades, xenon headlights that swivel in turns, and all that other stuff is here. The only gaffe is a center console that, if it were 1 mm wider, could comfortably fit the DVD Audio discs it was probably designed for. Oops.

Luxury has other costs besides money. The power tilt/telescope steering columns need to slowly retract or return when you turn the car on or off feels like a waste of time, especially when youre struggling to turn a moving ignition switch. Also, toeroom under the power front seats is cramped, and the center-rear passenger is perched too high to have any headroom, making the RL an even less viable five-passenger car than the Accord.

Other Thoughts

The outgoing RL was never a real contender in the luxury sedan world, as other cars always seemed to offer more luxury, style and performance. The one thing this car has always offered is impressive value, but were not altogether sure thats the kind of thing that rings true with buyers in this segment who typically have flexible budgets.

So the old car is mediocre and the new one is really awesome. Sure, weve heard that story a thousand times if weve heard it once. Even so, the new version of the RL is truly new and has almost nothing in common with the old one. In fact, the new RL could be called overkill, as it offers features we never would have thought of let alone expected on a luxury performance sedan. Acura is well aware that the outgoing RL was not a contender against the likes of Audi, BMW, Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz, and the company set out to fix the problem by designing a car that has the look and feel of a true luxury vehicle combined with the stunning performance of a German sport sedan.

Final Word

This car is packed with so much advanced and complex technology, we cant help but think we should reserve final judgment until we spend more time driving it. Many of the advanced features mentioned here can only be properly evaluated over the course of a week or so, as it is the integration of that technology into a persons everyday life that determines its success or failure. Our preliminary impression is that the new Acura RL is an excellent car that now fits in with and boosts Acuras desired image as a builder of sporty and luxurious cars. Like the TL and TSX, the 2005 RL offers a performance edge normally reserved for such brands as Audi and BMW. The car combines tons of technology (both electronic and mechanical) into a package that is good-looking and fun to drive — its the seamless integration of that technology plus real luxury that makes the new RL such an excellent sport sedan.