Is Tony Stark's Mystery Mid-Engined Acura R8-Wannabe The Greatest Sign Of Hope From Acura?

It's not much of a secret. We've been calling out Acura for its "meh" products for quite some time now. Don't get us wrong, we loved cars like the Legend and MDX, when it was really giving it to the European manufacturers.

Now the brand seems lost and not exactly "getting it." It's declining market share tends to agree with us.

But now that photos have emerged of an Acura drop-top that replaces Tony Stark's Audi R8, it seems to be...exciting. Something that hasn't been said of Acura in quite sometime.

Acura has admitted the car is a one-off concept and likely won't make production, and I am not saying they need to build an R8/LFA/whatever competitor; however, it does need to inspire some hope with a damn fine product.

And I have to admit, this car seems to do the trick.

But aside from what I think, what say you, Spies? What does Acura have to do to give Acura lovers of yore some hope?

Is this car, photographed on the set of the upcoming Avengers film, a glimpse of a new Acura NSX re-boot...

...That development is said to be based on a “flipped” Accord chassis, with a 400 HP mid-mounted V6 and SH-AWD. And it wouldn’t be too terribly surprising if the results looked something like this concept when it starts hitting the car show circuit. In any case, Tony Stark looks nearly as at home in this as he does in an Audi R8. That alone is the most promising sign we’ve seen from Acura in some time…

[Source: The Truth About Cars via Superherohype.com]

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94geo - 9/9/2011 8:27:13 AM

+9 Boost

Wasn’t the NSX one of the original "affordable" mid-engine supercars? And this concept would be a successor to the NSX...so wouldn’t the R8 be an NSX wanna be?

Joe_Limon - 9/9/2011 10:09:23 AM

+4 Boost

+1, I don't see any R8 design influences.

AlleVier - 9/9/2011 12:42:31 PM

-1 Boost

Anybody feel like answering the question or would they rather reward Autospies for creating these juxtapositions so brand loyalists or haters can bicker. Nothing was said about the Acura concept being derived from the R8, rather that it would be seen as competing in the same segment, AGAIN.

The first problem with Acura has been styling. As good-looking as this car is, it's the only one to wear the beak well. The sedans have too much front overhang and, in general, have an overly-upright stance.

The second, is the Lincoln-like jumble of alpha-based model names. BMW got it right with a reasonably coherent numeric naming system, where the numbers more-or-less correspond to its product hierarchy.

The third is no well-recognized performance division. Acura won't make a large sedan? Fine. But an expensive mid-engine halo car is not the answer, though a convertible would liven things up. Take a stab at a very high-performance version of one the existing models.

Joe_Limon - 9/9/2011 2:22:06 PM

+4 Boost

AlleVier, please re-read the title. In particular this bit "Mid-Engined Acura R8-Wannabe"

AlleVier - 9/9/2011 3:27:51 PM

-1 Boost

I read it. It's stupid and, as usual, incidental to the main question, but it has us talking about whether the concept "aspires" to be an R8. I tried to be on topic. Oh well.

LexSucks - 9/9/2011 1:34:55 PM

+7 Boost

"Mid-Engined Acura R8-Wannabe"?

- Puh-lease... Everyone knows that Acura builds better cars than Audi.

poot66 - 9/12/2011 11:10:45 AM

+1 Boost

lol amen to that.

mpls - 9/10/2011 5:06:33 PM

+2 Boost

blazinboy...

You mean how the R8 has the same proportions as larger Honda Beat or Honda NSX !