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Looking for a deal? Check out your nearest Acura dealer

For the fourth time in the last year, an Aston Martin out-discounts all other automakers by offering the largest monetary savings off the retail price of an automobile in America. This time, though, the discount isn't on the aging (though still beautiful) Rapide sedan or range-topping DBS Superleggera, it's for the DB11 sports car. For those keeping track, the DB11 also led this discount list back in May of 2020. This time, though, the price is even lower than before. Right now, buyers of the Aston Martin DB11 are seeing discounts of $24,330. That's a 12.1% cut off the car's average retail price of $201,820 and it means buyers are paying an average transaction price of $177,490. Still expensive, but really not bad for a drop-dead gorgeous machine with as much as 630 horsepower. Next in line is a familiar face, the Acura NSX. As impressive as the Japanese hybrid supercar may be, Acura has been running big rebates on the NSX for as long as we've been running these lists. This month, the NSX buyers are seeing discounts of nearly 14% for an average transaction price of $138,648. The third biggest discount this month shows up on the most expensive vehicle on the list. The Rolls-Royce Phantom carries an average sticker price of $537,500. But buyers are getting about 4% off that for an average transaction price of $516,333. It may not be a massive discount when measured by percentage, but when the asking price is so high, even a small discount equals big bucks. Related Video:

Acura NSX EV puts winner Tetsuya Yamano back on Pikes Peak

With Pikes Peak right around the corner, Acura is showing off more details about its NSX-inspired all-electric racer. The four-motor EV will be driven in the Electric Modified Class by Tetsuya Yamano, who has been testing the car at the Hill Climb for the past few weeks. Acura is also running two NSX hybrids up the hill in the challenge next weekend. So, what's different inside this NSX-like EV? Like the all-electric Honda CR-Z that Yamano drove up Pikes Peak last year – winning the Challenge Exhibition class with a time of 10:23.829 – the NSX-inspired EV uses two Twin Motor Units (TMU) from the company's Sport Hybrid SH-AWD powertrain. Each axle has a TMU and that means that the car, "has achieved independent torque distribution to all four corners – true four-wheel torque vectoring," according to Acura. That sounds nice, but the real test will be out in Colorado in just a few days. Related Video: Acura NSX-Inspired EV Concept Ready to 'Charge Up' Pikes Peak Vehicle Features World's First All-Electric, 4-Motor SH-AWD® Powertrain Jun 20, 2016 TORRANCE, Calif. – Acura will campaign an all-electric, NSX-inspired EV Concept in the Electric Modified Class at the 2016 Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The Acura EV Concept features a further evolution of the experimental, all-electric, 4-motor Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™ (SH-AWD®) powertrain that won last year's Pikes Peak Challenge Exhibition class. The supercar-inspired Acura EV Concept will be driven by Tetsuya Yamano, who campaigned last year's CR-Z-based electric prototype. The Acura EV Concept is the ultimate embodiment of the all-wheel-drive Electric SH-AWD powertrain featuring a world's first technology that enables four-wheel independent torque allocation. The Acura EV Concept's Electric SH-AWD powertrain produces three times the total system output of last year's electric prototype and is mated to the NSX body. "We've been tuning the car for several weeks at Pikes and have advanced its performance significantly," said Tetsuya Yamano. "We're honored to be running at Pikes in this historical, anniversary year – an event respected by racing fans all over the world." 4-Motor Development Honda R&D has been developing "super handling" technology for more than 20 years in the pursuit of ideal vehicle handling.

J.D. Power study sees new car dependability problems increase for first time since 1998

For the first time since 1998, J.D. Power and Associates says its data shows that the average number of problems per 100 cars has increased. The finding is the result of the firm's much-touted annual Vehicle Dependability Study, which charts incidents of problems in new vehicle purchases over three years from 41,000 respondents.
Looking at first-owner cars from the 2011 model year, the study found an average of 133 problems per 100 cars (PP100, for short), up 6 percent from 126 PP100 in last year's study, which covered 2010 model-year vehicles. Disturbingly, the bulk of the increase is being attributed to engine and transmission problems, with a 6 PP100 boost.
Interestingly, JDP notes that "the decline in quality is particularly acute for vehicles with four-cylinder engines, where problem levels increase by nearly 10 PP100." Its findings also noticed that large diesel engines also tended to be more problematic than most five- and six-cylinder engines.