German Car Zone

Well when you think about it, saying that it can pass for an Acura doesn't say much about its styling. Acuras are nothing more than fancier Hondas, i.e. just not as ugly/bland, but still nothing to look at or behold.

M

Well, either you're a Honda guy or you aren't. To me, Acuras are good looking Hondas that are erroneously being sold under a trumped-up luxury brand. Ok... I'll leave the MDX and RDX out of this - they're fussy-looking things now aren't they?

Thing is I used to be an Acura guy. I loved those Acura Legends of the late 80's and early to mid 90's. Well they had to do the luxury brand thing otherwise they'd wind up with a VW Phaeton style flop. We Americans are brand slaves. I swear you could wrap a turd in saffron and put a fancy name on it and there would be some buyers, maybe not maybe, but some. Acura is a tweener brand, not quite luxurious enough to compete with Mercedes or Lexus, and not sporty enough to compete with Infiniti or BMW, nor do they have the style and all around versitility or sport of an Audi. They're quite pointless IMO. That said they're "nice" cars. I'd consider a used TL for my everyday car this coming fall/winter.

I actually kinda like the MDX, well a little. The RDX is a small, expensive mess of a vehicle. The typical SUV styling cues don't fit the small frame.

M

Wait a second - I may have lost the plot Josh, the US Accord and Euro Accord are completely different models no?

Correct. The European Accord is our Acura "TSX".



Though I think they are based on the same platform as the U.S. Accord like nearly everything else Honda makes.

M

Honda got Acura off to a good start, but somehow became very poor custodians of the brand. Glaring product lulls/gaps, abandoned names, badge revisionism, ambiguous product "rank"... the abject failure to capitalize on the success and following of the Integra. I could go on and on.

Yeah dropping the Legend name and replacing it with the lackluster RL and then allowing that car to remain on the market for 9 years virtually unchanged shows that someone was long asleep at the Acura wheel. I just don't think Honda can think "big" like they'd need to in order to build a true luxury car. Small and/or sporty small fwd cars they're arguably the best, but beyond that their ability is limited, mainly by their philosophy on what a car should be than outright skill. The NSX proved they have the skill to build whatever they want once it has been properly justified/realized internally.

M

LOL .....but wait a minute Marcus, it is clear where they have been taking their inspiration from -- there is pseudo-Mercedes CL DNA in there. I see Audi and Lexus (sedan) in it too. I'm not seeing much BMW influence ...but I'm sure it's in there too somewhere -- lost in the fruit salad of a design it clearly is.

It's funny North-Americans think their lives worked well, buying what in essence is an Euro-spec Honda sold under a rather poncy name.

Yep and there some CLK in the current Honda Accord Coupe, but only if you use your imagination because the Hondas look like road kill in comparison.

M