Acura says RL sedan won't be dropped

The current RL is way too small to be considered competition as a flagship that is in the same league as BMW, Lexus or Mercedes.

I agree and I am glad they are not killing the flagship for Acura. The last flaship i loved which i think almost everyone should agree that the Acura Lengend coupe and sedan were one of their hottest flagships they had. i think they need to bring back that legend name and make that car something worth owning again.

Before we consider the sizing of Acura models that supposedly compete with Infiniti and Lexus we need to consider the fact that they don't even have a V8 power plant to bring them up to contention.

Hell, even Hyundai has V8's. Where did Honda go wrong?. I like Honda's build quality, I think they are in the top 2 of the big 3 of Japan but their designs are horrible. There is no appeal. Even the rice rocket generation is switching to other brands.

Bring back the Legend name to the US and build a new vehicle

So let's say they kill off the RL. That leaves a mid-size and compact sedan and.... 3 crossover/SUV's? That's a very odd product range to compete on.

I own a 2005 Acura RL with 72,000. It has been trouble free and extremely pleasureable to drive at 70-75%. Go through a corner and give the gas a little blip, and you invoke the SH-AWD system and generate a touch of oversteer. It gets 28-29 MPG on the highway, and has a firmish but not bone jarring ride.

Where did Acura go wrong, in my estimation?
1. The transmission is crap. It's a 5-speed transmission, and you just can't keep this engine in the power curve. It has very little bottom end torque. At times it seems like more, but...
2. The drive by wire system was fairly new for Honda at the time (I think) and at times, you hit the throttle and there's nothing there. No power.

I love the looks of my car, and I'm going to drive it till it blows up, or until Audi brings over the A4 with the 3.0 TDI, 6 speed manny, and Quattro

Taking it for what it is, you can't argue much that the RL is a nice quality built car and fairly priced. That's probably why people who own one don't understand all the hate. Problem lies with where the car sits in the lineup and its theoretical competition. That makes it a loser. If Acura wants to be taken seriously they need an LS, S, A8, 750 competitor. The RL ain't that car and is not helping that brand. Take away the LS and v8 option from Lexus and what are they? They're Acura. Infiniti is a little better off with the RWD v8 offerings but they are still trying to sell a rebadged japanese midsize as their upscale brands flagship. They aren't much better off image wise as a result.

Rebadging? And Ford's still selling crappy Mercury and Lincolns too. What!

Almost nobody buys this failure. The market has discontinued it even though Honda denys it.

It's already been dropped by the consumer! Nobody's buying the RL. Wonder if Acura will wakeup one day and realize that. Maybe they should build a real luxury/performance car that can compete with the new Infiniti M atleast.

You don't necessarily need a V8... just strap a turbo onto one of their existing V6s... Who knows how long V8s will be around anyways?

V8's arent going anywhere. Especially on the premium side of the fence.