Karl on Cars
Acura
March 17, 2009
One of my friends is ready to buy a new car. As you might imagine, when you're in my position and a friend or family member is ramping up for a car purchase the phone often rings (or, as in this case, the "New Email" folder goes bold).
My friend currently owns a 2005 Acura TL, which he purchased because of its combination of luxury, technology and quality. He's a successful lawyer, and financially capable of buying a much more expensive car, but he puts a lot of value on...well, value. When he asked me about the TL four years ago, and told me what his priorities were, I said, "The TL will absolutely serve your needs." He bought it and has had no regrets. But his driving habits rack up the miles quickly, and after four years his TL is pretty worn out.
So he's ready for a new car, and the just-redesigned 2009 Acura TL would be the obvious choice. After all, it still offers all the luxury, technology and quality of the previous version. However, in my friend's words, it is "quite ugly."
His girlfriend drives a 2006 Lexus RX, which he really likes except for one characteristic -- he HATES how the navigation system goes dead once the car is in motion. So he asked me in his email, "You're the car expert. Can you tell me if the new 2010 Lexus RX navigation system can be used while in motion or is it a completely useless upgrade like it has been to this point?" To which I replied, "Lexus=Toyota, and Toyota=nanny-ism. In other words, NO USING NAV WHILE DRIVING!"
This made him very unhappy and put him in a state where I can't reprint his next reply. It also made him write a no-nonsense letter to Lexus; a letter that generated a very corporate response. Follow the jump to read it.
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- Karl Brauer March 17, 2009, 6:00 AM
- Categories:
- Acura, Car Audio and Technology, Honda, Lexus, Safety Systems, Talk Back Tuesday, Toyota, Traffic Safety
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- Toyota Honda Lexus Acura Navigation System Nanny
October 21, 2008
Remember when buying an Acura or Audi or BMW or Lexus or any other premium brand meant you got a premium car? The idea was pretty simple: If you wanted a premium car ownership experience you had to pay a premium price and purchase a premium vehicle.
As I drove the new 2009 Volkswagen CC recently it occurred to me the only thing separating this car from its Audi brethren was the emblem on the grille. Interior materials, performance, high-tech features, heck even exterior styling and "presence" were all up to Audi standards.
So was the price, of course, with a VR6 4Motion model starting at $40,000 (though $27,000 will get you into a base 2.0T car, which is still quite nice and a much better value).
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- Karl Brauer October 21, 2008, 6:00 AM
- Categories:
- Acura, Audi, Honda, Hyundai, Lexus, Talk Back Tuesday, Toyota, Volkswagen
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- Talk Back Tuesday Do Luxury Brands Make Sense
October 10, 2008
First things first -- the all-new 2009 Acura TLÂ is no longer an Audi A4/BMW 3 Series/Mercedes-Benz C-Class/Infiniti G37Â competitor. The TL has grown by over half a foot in total length, 1.1 inches in width, about half an inch in height, 1.3 inches in wheelbase and between 1 and 2 inches in track (1.1 inches front, 1.7 inches rear). In other words, it's BIG!
Those people whining about what happened to the latest Accord will not be pleased with what Acura did to the TL. And like the Accord, the TL's physical growth makes its presence known as soon as you slide behind the wheel. This is good in areas like headroom, shoulder room and cargo space, where it dwarfs its competitors. It's not so good when it comes to throwing it through corners, even with "Super Handling All-Wheel Drive."
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- Karl Brauer October 10, 2008, 6:00 AM
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- Acura
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- Acura TL
September 4, 2008
Automotive history is littered with good intentions gone bad. Automatic seatbelts. Vocal warning systems. Ralph Nader.
One of the more vivid automotive tragedies of the last 50 years centered on the desire to save car owners money by creating bumpers that wouldn't be damaged in low-speed accidents. The idea seemed simple enough: If a car's bumper could withstand, say, a 7 mph impact without damage it would mean no repair bills for the thousands of minor accidents that happen every year.
Sounds good in theory, but the reality is that few manufacturers could blend this type of impact absorbption into a car's bumper when the regulation went into effect in 1973. Instead of integrating the impact protection into a vehicle's front and rear styling most manufacturers simply did what corporate resources dictated -- they slapped 6-10 inches of rubber onto each end of the vehicle. And in case you haven't ever seen cars from this era (1973-1977), the answer to the question "Didn't that look odd while upsetting the car's overall lines and proportions?" is an unconditional "YES!"
Thirty-five years later I see the latest attempt to make cars safer, and the resulting impact (sorry) on vehicle styling feels like 1973 all over again.
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- Karl Brauer September 4, 2008, 6:00 AM
- Categories:
- Acura, Mercedes-Benz
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- Pedestrian Safety Front-End Styling
June 9, 2008
By now the domestics have been fully tarred and feathered in the mainstream press for basing their business plan around large trucks and SUVs. For two decades they drank in the heavy body-on-frame profits while putting minimal investment into high quality
small cars. I won't beat that dead horse any further.
Toyota, on the other hand, has maintained a pretty wide product portfolio for the past decade. I've said several times Toyota deserves credit for keeping a full arsenal at the ready. Gas selling for cheap? Step up to one of our many V8-powered large SUVs or luxury cars. Gas prices up? Headlines screaming about man's destruction of fragile Mother Earth? Try our Echo/Yaris or Corolla or mpg-leading Prius.
Yes, I'm aware of the irony that within a year of Toyota launching a truly full-size truck (complete with a brand new, over-budget assembly plant in Texas) gas has hit record highs and big trucks are officially "out" in the average consumer's mind. Something tells me the big "T" will survive this bit of bad timing.
But the most interesting case study of all comes not from the truck-dependent domestics or Tundra-and-Prius-peddling Toyota, but from steadfast Honda. Like the Tortoise and the Hare fable, Honda has plugged along for the last 50 years in this country with a consistent attitude. "We'll make fuel-efficient, value-priced, highly dependable vehicles with a strong emphasis on leading-edge engineering."
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- Karl Brauer June 9, 2008, 6:00 AM
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- Acura, Automotive News, Domestic Manufacturers Problems/Challenges, Fuel Efficiency, Honda, Toyota
May 14, 2008
It's time for Acura to get serious. I don't mean serious in a "no more fun" sense, I mean serious in a "We're committed to creating full-fledged premium cars, and not just really good Hondas" sense.
That's what the 2009 Acura TSX feels like to me -- a really good Honda. That's great if you already love Hondas and just won the lottery, but if you're trying to bring non-Honda-philes into the fold, this car can't do it.
I drove the TSX on a variety of roads, including Mulholland Drive. On that twisty stretch of asphalt the car was confident, flingable and predictable right up to the limit. I loved
the smooth-like-buttah shifter, the responsive-yet-refined power delivery and the heavily-bolstered seats that proved both comfortable and supportive. Basically, it felt like a big Civic Si.
And certainly there are worse descriptions for a car to wear, but when I'm spending $32,000 for a luxury sedan with a premium nameplate do I want to feel like I'm piloting a large Civic -- even one with supple leather seats and a highly advanced in-car entertainment system? If I'm a huge Honda fan, the answer could very well be yes. If I'm cross-shopping an A4, 3 Series or IS 250, probably not.
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- Karl Brauer May 14, 2008, 6:00 AM
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- Acura
August 28, 2007
Just took a gander at Automotive News' future product plan for Japanese carmakers. Not too surprisingly, the coming years hold hybrids and crossovers from the Land of the Rising Sun (actually, many of them will come from right here in North America). Each automaker has a few interesting items in the pipeline.
Acura: No official confirmation of a V8 in Acura's future, which I continue to view as the division's greatest failing. The next RL is due in 2011, so they better make up their mind. But we do know a V10 engine will power the NSX replacement. I like that they have a full-tilt exotic in the works, but one vehicle does not a division make (as was proven with the last
NSX).
Honda: Honda will continue to push hybrids, with a smaller-than-Civic model. No more Accord hybrids, but the Odyssey will be Honda's first V6 diesel-powered vehicle in the U.S. in 2010 (also the year CR-V goes diesel with a 4 cyl.). I'm personally looking forward to the Remix, the spiritual successor to the CRX. And between the Pilot and CR-V? Yup, another crossover is coming.
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- Karl Brauer August 28, 2007, 6:00 AM
- Categories:
- Acura, Future Vehicles, Honda, Hybrid Vehicles, Infiniti, Lexus, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Scion, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota
January 7, 2007
Acura wants emotional design to guide the company's future direction, and the new Advanced Sports Car concept is supposed to represent that direction. It is a front-engine, all-wheel-drive two-door and I really like the overall proportions (reminds me of the GR-1 concept that Ford showed two years ago, and should have made). But the details are too C5 Corvette-like. The C5 was a fine design...in 1997, but it's 10 years later and I would have liked to see more design boldness to go with the mechanical changes (front engine V-10 and AWD)...
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- Karl Brauer January 7, 2007, 11:50 AM
- Categories:
- Acura, Auto Shows
August 23, 2006
The idea of starting with a CR-V, affixing some Acura badges, and calling it a BMW X3 competitor struck me as, well, I'll use the word "unrealistic." It's not that I'm over-the-top in love with the X3 or anything, but I simply didn't see Honda pulling this one off. After all, the X3 begins with a 3 Series. The CR-V starts with a, um, Civic. But I took the RDX home last night, and on my way I made a quick detour along Mulholland Drive. Suffice to say, I was wrong.
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- Karl Brauer August 23, 2006, 8:09 AM
- Categories:
- Acura, BMW, Mazda
August 8, 2006
I'm a huge fan of turbocharging, and between my 1989 Dodge Shadow Shelby CSX and my 1991 Dodge Stealth R/T Twin Turbo I've experienced my fair share of turbo rush. But during the 1990s a good chunk of turbocharged models went away, most never to return. We lost the Supra, RX-7, Eclipse/Talon (the turbo versions), 300ZX, Stealth/3000 GT and Daytona. Some manufacturers never gave up their turbo ways (like Saab, Subaru and Volvo), and others like Volkswagen/Audi have fully embraced this technology over the past decade. As with the diesel engine's transformation in the past 10 years (in case you haven't noticed, diesels aren't noisy, smelly or sooty anymore), computer technology has kept turbos eco-friendly while gradually improving their driveability...
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- Karl Brauer August 8, 2006, 8:43 AM
- Categories:
- Acura, MINI, Porsche
