I guess Honda can't go down market fast enough?

Honda reportedly is killing the RL/Legend, going to all hybrid Civics in Japan, and pursuing the small car market in developing countries. So, its really still going away from luxury and performance for entry-level cars.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE66E0L820100715

Without the RL, the Acura lineup becomes even more disarrayed. Why would any car maker want to go down market, its like Honda is trying to take Hyundai's place as the cheap car manufacturer...

 

The RL has been a total flop in the past two generations, makes sense to kill it with fire. It hasn't provided any sort of value to the Acura brand in any way.

 

I love my RL.

 

I think some of the slow selling cars often make great vehicles for their owners. They often can be picked up a a big discount and really, for some people it's probably a great choice. The fact that it didn't sell well doesn't mean it isn't a great fit for a few owners. Camry's sell great but what car person really wants to own one? In the mean time enjoy the RL. It may be a sales flop but it is a good car.

 

While it has been a sales flop, I rather like the current RL ('05+). Very nice ride. The Legend was a great car too.

 

No Hoonda and cheap are 2 words that will never be used in the same sentence.

 

How about instead of killing the RL you put a goddamed v8 in it like EVERYONE tells you to.

I think the RL is a nice car but consumers expect more cylinders for 50k+.


Here Honda, let me solve all of your problems:

Come out with a sports car in the 50k range with a Honda V8 that makes in the upper 300 to maybe 400 hp range. Make it dimensionally similar to an s2000 and in the low 3000 lb range. Front engine with a steel unibody chassis, a true manual, and good brakes. Nothing too fancy. Make it compete with the Cayman in terms of price and performance. This will grab people's attention and make all of the naysayers think, "Hey, Honda doesn't want me to go fvkk myself."

By introducing your new V8 in a sports car, people will be all jazzed to see that you are putting it in the all new RL with SH AWD. Give people something to be excited about in the RL sector.

Next, make a Type R version of the CRZ. Give it a K20 and call it a day.

Give the TSX an AWD option to make it a legitimate 3 series and A4 competitor. If you really wanted to outdo yourself, make an option that lets us have the drive train from the ZDX, turbo and all.

In a perfect world you would scratch the Civic, the Beat, and the CRZ and we'd get better and smaller versions of all which won't happen, but I think that the above recommendations seem to be within the realm of possibility.

 

A friend has one, she got a 2 year old CPO for ~$25k. Beautiful car, really hard to beat for the money.

 

I think the RL was for a very long time the only Acura really worth buying, and now its gone. Then again, its hard to sell an RL when a TL is 99% the same car for $5k less.

I think this just another sign of where Honda is going, and its is away from fun enthusiast cars.

 

I'll believe this when Honda says it, not Reuters. I could potentially see them scrapping the RL but the hybrid-only Civic (much more expensive) makes no sense to me.