Acura Aghast at Consumer Reports’ Last-Place Ranking

[regfootball]

i think the new IS has been killing some of Acura's business

[siegen]

You DO understand there's more to a powertrain than just its peak power or torque output. The 11 year old SOHC J V6 still gets exceptional fuel economy while delivering equivalent power through the whole rev range, and doing so very smoothly and quietly. And it's inexpensive to produce compared to a DOHC V6.

To add to my point, road and track compared the TL-S 3.5L to the IS350 and G35 3.5L engines (both DOHC, the GR engine being much newer as well). They found the TL-S engine to be "by far the smoothest" and that it "revs effortlessly, providing seamless power delivery from idle all the way to its 6800-rpm redline."

[Intrepidation]

You'd have better luck getting through to a brick wall or teaching a dog quantum physics then reasoning with Reg siegen.

[Cory Wolfe]

You'd have better luck getting through to a brick wall or teaching a dog quantum physics then reasoning with Reg siegen.

This man speaks the truth!

[Z-06]

He's not alone... I like to share the love.

I think right now he needs your total and absolute adulation, boy.

[Cory Wolfe]

I think right now he needs your total and absolute adulation, boy.

That wouldn't be very fair... I'm an equal opportunity lover. Everyone gets to feel my love through poking and prodding.

[regfootball]

show me the difference between the smoothness of your single overhead cam and the sheer thrusting of your pushrods

[regfootball]

j/k

[Duncan]

c'mon siegen. you know the buff book drove the Sclade as hard as the RDX and the RDX should be able to produce much better FE than it did. The two came out about equal which is scary since the sclade is like a ton more.

And to say it got as good an mpg as the fuel sucking CX-7 is not helping. Both of those vehicles are prime examples of how larger N/A fours or small v6's would be better powertrain applications. Neither vehicle has a user report history of matching the best mpg of the other CUV's / cute utes in its class, what is funny is that neither of them is also an acceleration king.

now if as you suggest it improves on FE with real world user reports than that is fine enough for me to lay off the sauce, but even then, there should not be such a wide spread between the FE in mild driving and wild driving. It leads me to think that Honda hasn't yet figured out how to squeeze upper tier power (-cough- and torque) and fuel economy out of a four cylinder at the same time. It leads me to think they have not optimized the fuel system or combustion chamber so as to achieve all benefits. In other words, they have yet ot achieve anything close to cutting edge, which again explains the second tier status.

turbo, something honda is a novice at. saab, audi, vw, bmw etc. all way ahead on that front. even chrysler's caliber SRT and chevy's HHR SS make you question Honda's turbo skills.

It should be fun to see Ford's ecoboost system put these Honda amateur turbos to shame when those come out.

You will recall, of course, that neither Honda nor Mazda have much experience yet with large-displacement turbo fours.

Note the judicious and crucial use of that tiny word, "yet".

I expect generation 2 (or even 1.5) of either of these engines will begin to see improvements in mileage, along with ever-improving transmission technology. For now, though, they're focusing on performance, which is what these engines are designed for.

Finally, keep in mind that the last prominent turbo fours built by Ford date to 1987 - so I'd expect them to have some catching up to do, too.

[Duncan]

nah, he just likes to poke and prod. he has a list of people he just replies to if he wants to get on their case and agitate them. notice how he doesn't add case arguments for or against anything. he just makes a provacative statement much the way an actor may enter the room, hoping to take the attention of the crowd for a moment. Now if per chance he were to offer any sort of reason why an Acura would be a compelling argument over any of its comeptition, or any sort of reason why Acura's sales have gone in the tank, he's more than welcome to. As it is, he wants to make a showing in thread, rip on some folks he don't like for whatever reason, and then disappear from the thread after a few personal jabs.

If he can explain the drop in the sales numbers of Acura's cars, I'd sure love to see it. It's pretty obvious that powertrains are one reason.

I will concede to you that an RDX is a horrible waste of money and (apparently) a poor seller compared to much of its competition, but that has nothing to do with engineering as far as I can tell. Just value for money and, perhaps, Acura's growing invisibility in the marketplace. Except for the RL, which really should offer something with V8-like power, I don't think that engines are the issue.

[Polish_Kris]

The only thing that seperates Lexus from Acura is snob appeal... You can presumably turn up your nose to everything else on the road if you're driving a Lexus. Whereas, Acura doesn't even have that same cache, much less anything else. Just wait until Lexus quality falls some more, then we'll start seeing them at the bottom of surveys because suddenly, it won't be that special to drive one anymore.

Oh give me a break FOG! You're starting YOUR arrogant B/S again. Snob factor? I happen to see MANY snobs driving around in Cadillacs equally as much as in Lexus' and Benzes, and Bimmers. It belongs to a class of expensive automobiles, where the buying domographic comes from.

[Polish_Kris]

stop being so japanese.

WTF are you talking about?

They happen to be Japanese. What are they suppose to be?

[The O.C.]

That wouldn't be very fair... I'm an equal opportunity lover. Everyone gets to feel my love through poking and prodding.

OMG.....BV's a top!

[Cory Wolfe]

OMG.....BV's a top!

I take other's poking and prodding quite well, too.

[The O.C.]

I take other's poking and prodding quite well, too.

WOW....that's so ver-sah-tie-ul of you....!

:AH-HA_wink:

[A Horse With No Name]

Acura competes on price and dealer service. I've owned two, a Legend and a CL - they price their leases really aggressively. The cars are very sporty for everyday driving, not good for absolute performance due to the front wheel drive. They're big sellers here in the Northeast because of the FWD and because they come absolutely loaded standard. The only option on most models is navigation.

Thier bread and butter car, the TL is getting long in the tooth but a new one will be coming out next year so I'm sure they'll be getting press again. The new TSX is coming too.

When I looked at Leasing a Civic SI a TSX was $68 a month cheaper. they do offer great lease rates.

Chris

[Z-06]

When I looked at Leasing a Civic SI a TSX was $68 a month cheaper. they do offer great lease rates.

Chris

The lease is cheap because TSX is one of the least depreciating car in the market.