2014 Acura RLX: Proof Positive That "Value" In The Luxury Car Market Shouldn't Be Your Main Selling Point

LOL. Why is it that within 2 weeks of the RLX's first official introduction, I read no less than 10 articles of people who've actually driven the car who were pretty positive about the overall car and the driving experience. Yet, you decide to post an article where the car was barely driven, and a relatively lukewarm (and robotic) review is given?

..and from Consumer Reports of all publications

What a garbage article. Gotta love how 009 has to squeeze a little Audi worship into every article. Thing is Audi is not diff. than Acura, its just VW's luxury puppet. Also Audi and entertaining-to-drive is an oxymoron.

LOL surely you jest.

An Acura is fine if all you want is a warmed over Honda with a fancy badge and ugly beak.

I challenge you to find an article of an Audi sharing too much Volkswagen DNA.

I bet you'll find parts from Seat, VW, Skoda, Suzuki and Ducati parts in a VW. You might even find some FAW reverse engineered parts too.

I drove the RLX today, and while it doesn't yet offer enough "sport" in the luxury/sport equation for me (at least not until the SH SH-AWD arrives), it offered more than enough power, was comfortable, had a high level of features, and was very spacious. Also, when I made a right hand turn and gave it a good press of the gas pedal, the P-AWS did such a great job that I had to turn away from the curb (definitely takes some getting used to), but it was useful and mildly entertaining. Why doesn't this article capture any of these attributes? And why can't I deboost Agent 009's comment?

Blakura, because "reviewer" didn't even really drive the car. Which makes me shake my head why she even bothered to publish an article and video if she really hadn't even tested the car. All other articles I've read, as I stated there were at least about 10, talked about how well the P-AWS worked.

Here's a video of a direct comparison of the RLX and 535i. I hope I'm allowed to post the link here. If not, I apologize. The interesting part begins around 1:42. Both cars are compared directly, from the same starting point as indicated by the green flag out of the passenger side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMnt6RFxoBQ

well, i watched the video but seeing that its not actually timed, i dont know what im supposed to get out of watching it. the top/bottom video does not appear to start at the exact same moment (acura video starts a half second or so earlier i think) so im not sure what kind of conclusion im supposed to come to by watching this.

They started at the same time and you can see that the Acura, based on this video, appears to maneuver through the course more quickly. Someone in the comments tried to say that the Bimmer was actually 1 second ahead, claiming also that the Bimmer started 4 cones behind. But, you can clearly see, based on the green flags that their starting points were identical and when the comparison begins, they are off at the same time.

I predict it will sell better than its predecessor, but not much better.

Talking out the both sides of your mouth.

When Hyundai offers value to the "Luxury" segment with the Genesis and Equus, then its the right strategy and watch out everyone, especially you Rolls Royce.
If Acura is seen as value, which I have yet to see them advertise, then its all wrong and Honda is going down in flames.

Great point, HJ. Didn't even catch that.

The other things I'll add about the author's comment that everyone is trying to make an Audi, I think that's basically nonsense. Maybe Acura, in a way is trying to follow Audi's model of mixing FWD with AWD options. Ok, some (Lexus) might be copying the oversized grille. But neither MB or BMW (per her comment that "other luxury brands") aren't following suit, with the possible exception of headlight technology. And both BMW and MB have been offering xdrive and 4Matic for ages. Let's not forget that Audi's A7 followed MB's CLS. And their Q7 followed the ML and X5, and I believe, the GL but I could be wrong. Heck, the Q7 followed the MDX.

well, i downloaded the video from youtube and replayed it in slowmotion with VLC just for arguments sake. the cars clearly start at different times. starting off even a couple of tenths of a second would make the bmw appear an entire car length behind the acura so that would make this video quite pointless. as i said, this youtube video posted by temple of vtec doesnt actually show us anything. yes the acura appears competent in this video but outside of that, it shows nothing in terms of who's faster. looking at the speedometer of each vehicle, hes travels almost at the same speed in every section outside of the "hairpin" at ~2 minute mark. here you can clearly see that he slows down the bmw significantly even though he doesnt need to. my experience in driving fwd vs awd vs rwd is that the rwd car can definitely go in at a high speed than this car, hes moving roughly 20mph when he clearly doesnt have to.

We can agree to disagree. The bottom line here is that it's pretty clear the RLX handles just as well as the 535i, if not better. Maybe the Acura is just a bit quicker jumping off the line than the 535i, hence, giving you the impression its' a couple of tenths quicker off the line. And have you driven both cars through that same hairpin turn? Didn't think so, so you're making the assumption that he "doesn't need to" slow the BMW down at that turn. Or…maybe he does because there's no feel for the car's ability to take the turn, which seems to be a criticism of the BMW.

The bottom line is this, and the purpose of posting the video. We can argue 10ths here and there or driver foul. But so many here talking about how inferior the RLX is to its direct competition in terms of driving dynamics, this proves it's at the very least, comparable. Truth.

Here's another video of the TL vs. A7. This one is actually timed, but the reviewer actually comments that he prefers the TL over the A7, for $20k cheaper. MORE IMPORTANTLY, at the beginning of this video, the reviewer mentions how the TL was matched against the S4 in a challenge..in which the TL won.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQJJAMrGKQ0

Here's another video by R&T. In it, the narrator states, "picking a winner is like picking your favorite child". That's how closely these cars are matched at the time of the review (TL vs G37 vs S4 vs 335i, the 335i which is being regarded as better than the new 335i).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybzn_LrqMUU

as i stated, the car is competent, so im not negating that. im just stating that the video appears misleading. a front drive car is not able to go into a hairpin as well, thats just simple laws of physics but you are correct that i didnt drive these cars in this hairpin turn. the cars im using as a basis for my statement is a 2004 a4 2.0t vs 2005 tsx vs 2007 328i. straight line performance goes to the 536i easily so thats another reason why i dispute the start and as i said, they are moving at virutally the same speeds through every section, so im not saying the acura is inferior in the test.

"we'll find how the RLX scores [in] Consumer Reports' test soon"

So this article is just an advertisement for their upcoming article? So this Autospies story is an advertisement for an advertisement.

@cidflekken
well i finally got a chance to watch the videos you linked and i have to say, talk about off topic... first off, im talking about how the video doesnt really show me what car is BETTER the rlx or 535i. the fact that a reviewer drving in a course thats shorter than 35 seconds prefer the feel of the slower car because its cheaper is just ridiculous. the fact that he was able to whip the tail out a little bit is why he liked the tl... grip driving is faster than drifting especially when ur operating awd vehicles. another stupid thing about this video is that the a7 and tl arent evenly matched vehicles, their wheelbase differs too much, they arent in competition. the a7 and a6 ride on the same platform so its natural competitor would be the new rlx actually. i was very interested in an s4 vs tl scenario but i couldnt find the video he mentions so i cant comment on what was done there. in the road and track video you sent me, that is nothing more than a teaser video where they are trying to promote how difficult it is for them to pick a winner, but guess what? they managed to pick one and it wasnt the tl. i happened to disagree with r&t greatly on their conclusion because i believe the tl actually beats the 3 series according to the test numbers but the reviewer penalized it because it didnt have magic bmw feel. i cant find the entire article with stats anymore but im pretty sure that was the article i read. on a side note r&t did pick the s4 as first place and the tl as 4th, so i dont know how that helps ur argument about acuras being sporty. once again i would like point out that i actually like acuras and i do think that they are sporty, you just happened to pick some really bad examples.

@sportbike82
im not sure what statistic your looking at but a 535i xdrive outruns the rlx in the quarter mile... where do you see otherwise? btw, i happen to disagree with you about the relevance of the quarter mile on a car in this class. im pretty sure people buying cars like this care about raw acceleration and passing capabilities which the quarter mile helps to determine. most people driving luxury cars like this probably dont give 2 shits about skid pad results, slalom times, and how well it does on an actual race track.

NeoReaper and cidflekken,

Just go to Temple of VTEC and read what Jeff (now JeffX) wrote.

"The BMW's chassis is a little softer but ultimately I prefer the more natural balance of the 5er's FR layout. The PAWS system is close to miraculous in how well it works, particularly on twisty back roads, but on seriously tight courses like this one you do need to work a little harder to swing the car through the cones.

The inline 6 is indeed smooth but the difference isn't very dramatic to me. I also felt that speed-wise these two cars were extremely close.

I feel like the RLX will satisfy the vast majority of buyers in this segment. It's very luxurious and comfortable and more than holds its own performance wise (At least vs the GS350/E350/535i set). It would be even better if it were rear wheel drive, though. "

http://www.vtec.net/forums/one-message?message_id=1132446&article_id=1132435

Thank you, S2000. I didn't have time to look for additional commentary. Can't wait for the SH-AWD version to go head to head with these "sportier" cars and see what happens.

@IhavearedS2000
thanks for the heads up but ive already read it. like i said, im not questioning the rlx's capabilities. im just saying the video doesnt tell us, well... anything. i for one, prefer softer rides that capable of handling turns like a car with a harsher stiffer suspension. call me crazy but i happen to think thats what makes a car better engineered but thats just one man's opinion.

the car can be great and offer a lot of value, the biggest problem with the RLX is the design. sorry but it looks like sh*t !
even after a redesign it is NOT better looking than 535, gs350, m37, or e350.
the 3.5 rl while trying to copy and compete with the ls430 at least looked classy.

@Neo, "bad examples"? how were they "bad examples"? The A7 is marketed as a "4-door coupe" which should equate to sportier handling than a mid-size sedan. Regarding the wheelbase difference, the RLX is 4 inches shorter than the 535i in wheelbase. Does that make them non-competitors? Regarding the reviewers choice of the A7 vs TL, basically what he's saying is that the differences in handling doesn't justify, to him a $20k premium.

I posted the other videos, not for your appeasement, but to support my comment (which I mentioned) that so many here like to talk about how bad Acuras are, yet that does not seem to be the reality. They were not in direct response to the RLX/535i comparo. And I'm not sure what's not sinking in. The reviewer in the R&T articles states that picking a winner in that comparo was difficult. Therefore, 1st place or 4th place, there was not much room between them. But those places had to be filled by someone, didn't they? You wouldn't expect a publication to declare a 4-way tie, would you? There is another R&T article that directly compared the TL SH-AWD against the S4, and the tester there stated the differences in the handling between the two cars were very small.

@cid
Actually 4 door coupes aren't sportier in handling at all... They are marketed as being more stylish, form over function. Coupes are generally sportier because they tend to have faster turn in from a shorter wheelbase. I do admit that you are correct about the freakishly long f10 platform but you can't deny that the upcoming RLX is a direct competitor of the a6/a7 platform since they are closer in size. The TL is much closer in size to the a4 rather than the a6. 20k premium for an a7 is not only for handling. Why is there a price difference between the a6 and a7 if the handle virtually identical? Because you are paying for styling, like pillar less doors, the hatchback instead of the trunk etc. for god sakes that reviewer doesn't even list equipment differences in the vehicles...

As for the r&t article, ties actually occur when you have shoot outs with multiple cars, not necessarily a 4 way tie but some can tie for a spot. The fact that there wasn't a tie goes to show that there was enough of a difference. Obviously which car is best is only a matter of opinion so that's all fine and dandy. As I said countless times in my comments, the RLX does good in the test, I've never disputed that, my only comment was that the video appears misleading to my eyes. Hence my original comment. Anyway I hope to see more in depth info on the RLX as more reviewers get a hold of it.