Can Acura Finally Create a World Class Flagship?

Acura is a unique brand in the luxury arena as it has never offered a V8 for sale in its cars even with Acura and Honda racing programs successfully running high performance V8s for years. For years Acura has attempted to create a true flagship without V8 power with mixed results. The Legend was wildly successful as the first Japanese luxury vehicle sold in America even with a V6 powering the front wheels. However its replacement the RL has never had the same success and the latest generation RL has spent the last few years having trouble clearing double digit monthly sales, in fact it was outsold by the V8 and V10 powered Audi R8 last year.

In two days Acura will once again attempt to challenge Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes with its new flagship rumored to be called the RLX. Acura promises that the RL replacement will have the interior space of the 7 series while having more nimble handling like that of the 5 series. Once again Acura will not offer a V6 option. However, this time around Acura's refusal to use a V8 shouldn't hurt as much as fuel economy concerns have forced its competition to offer V6 engines as well. Acura also believes that its trick hybrid all wheel drive system with two motors on the rear axle will give performance equivalent to a V8. Such a set up should be good for around 400 combined horsepower with claimed 4 cylinder fuel economy. Hopefully Acura delivers on this promise better than Lexus did with its V8 hybrid that promised V12 performance with V6 fuel economy while delivering V8 performance with V8 fuel economy.

What do you think, can Acura compete with the big dogs without a proper V8?
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ddkk10 - 4/2/2012 9:24:28 PM

0 Boost

Lexus never had a V8 hybrid that purported to offer V12 performance with V6 fuel economy. The blog you sourced this post from is awful and includes inaccurate information.

chewy - 4/2/2012 10:03:13 PM

+4 Boost

Actually Lexus did claim that the LS600h would have the power of a V12 with fuel economy of a V6 in their own press release when the LS600h came out. Here is a quote for you:

"The Lexus Hybrid Drive system found in the LS 600h L is the automotive industry's most advanced gas-electric hybrid system developed to date, providing power and performance on par with modern 12-cylinder engines while still delivering best-in-V8-class fuel efficiency. It will equal or better the combined fuel-economy ratings of smaller V6 all-wheel drive mid-sized luxury sedans."

How close did Lexus come to actually achieving its claim, that is up to interpretation as the LS600h was slower than the German V12 powered competition. Highway fuel economy was worse than V8 powered competition (which was not any slower) city fuel economy was better. Even compared to the LS460 the LS600h had about equal acceleration, worse highway fuel economy but better in the city. Overall it provided performance about the same as V8 competition with marginal fuel economy improvement.

chewy - 4/3/2012 1:12:47 AM

+1 Boost

A V8 with 25+ mpg sounds better in my book.

ddkk10 - 4/3/2012 8:38:48 AM

+2 Boost

wow...I completely forgot about the LS600h. My apologies, I stand corrected. I'll take my foot out of my mouth now :-D

RNeekChic - 4/3/2012 1:33:56 AM

+1 Boost

You saw the new MDX? when? how?

FromThePassengerSeat - 4/3/2012 10:29:41 AM

+1 Boost

Here's an idea: give the next RL a V6, but make it a huge V6. A 6-litre V6. Increasing the displacement of each cylinder would have the same effect as adding two more.

FromThePassengerSeat - 4/4/2012 1:51:54 PM

+1 Boost

But making multiple V6s of different displacements would slash development costs.

CarCrazedinCali - 4/3/2012 10:18:14 PM

-1 Boost

Acura is a lost cause, they cannot make anyting decent anymore... RDX is lame even the newest version, the MDX is the only ok model. TL is bloated and the dashboards of Acuras are boring and over complicated. Acura blows

drkvenger - 4/4/2012 2:13:38 PM

0 Boost

When Acura retired the Legend and original NSX, they lost their soul and relevance. Go back to their roots with "Precision Crafted Performance", - get rid of bloated, over-technology, artificially enhanced performance. Think light weight, natural aspirated, high revving powerplants. The 2nd generation Legend should have been the design inspiration for their RLX. They should have kept their FR V8 design, instead now we'll get a bloated hybrid RLX and NSX.