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Acura RLX will die after 2020 model year

Only Acura knows why its flagship RLX sedan is still on sale; every year that we had occasion to remember the RLX — which wasn't every year — seemed like a good year to let the car die peacefully. Automotive News reports the deed is finally done, or rather, will be at the end of 2020, when Acura discontinues the model that started with the RL in 1996. Honda told U.S. dealers yesterday that in other markets like Japan, the four-door will continue to sell as the Honda Legend. Honda's comment to AN included, "With SUVs leading the luxury market, the highly successful RDX and MDX now serve as volume leaders of the Acura brand," and, "We will further strengthen our sports sedans, consistent with the performance-focused direction we have been taking Acura over the past four years." Speaking of the devil, the RL and RLX — and Acura as a brand — never got out from under the weight of the Legend sedan, that ancestor being the second of Acura's three albatrosses after the original NSX and the Integra. The RL never equaled the Legend's worst year of U.S. sales. The RLX, a combination of arousing performance under anodyne styling costing premium German money, might have performed the same feat viz the RL, but the RL sold less than 5,000 units here for the last five years of its life. The RLX has only exceeded 5,000 sales once, in 2013. Last year, 1,019 units found buyers.  Acura's focus now is the NSX halo and the continuing overhaul of the volume lineup. The new RDX is going great guns, the new MDX crossover is due this year. The slightly larger and Type S concept-inspired TLX sedan is expected to be another gift to 2020, followed by the return of a bona fide Type S next year, after which the ILX compact sedan gets its turn. Last year was the first time in five years the TLX dipped below 30,000 sales in the U.S., impressively steady going for a segment with shocking attrition. Although the demise of the RLX gives up on the aspiration for a big luxury flagship, the coming TLX should help us forget what the RLX represented. If we hadn't already.

Cody Loveland's Corvette-powered NSX claimed by Pikes Peak

Let there be no doubt - racing automobiles can be very dangerous. This unfortunate fact of life has been proven once again today by Cody Loveland, owner of LoveFab, who crashed his Corvette-powered tube-frame Acura NSX on the second turn of the Pikes Peak hill climb course, apparently after a rear upper control arm failed. Cody hit a wall of boulders at high speed, after which the racecar caught fire.
Cody was able to escape the blaze unhurt - minus some missing hair that was singed off in the fire - but the car appears to be a complete mess, as you can see from the image above. The LoveFab Motorsports team has vowed to do its very best to rebuilt the car in time for the competition, but we'd be awfully surprised (and impressed) if that burnt-up hulk were ready for racing with just a few days to rebuild.
We're happy to hear that Cody got away safely, and here's hoping the rest of the competitors get up the hill without incident, or, like Cody, are at least able to walk away uninjured if they don't.

Consumer Reports no longer recommends Honda Civic

Consumer Reports annual Car Reliability Survey is out, and yes, there are some big surprises. First and foremost? The venerable publication no longer recommends the Honda Civic. In fact, aside from the walking-dead CR-Z and limited-release Clarity fuel-cell car, the Civic is the only Honda to miss out on CR's prestigious nod. At the opposite end there's a surprise as well – Toyota and Lexus remain the most reliable brands on the market, but Buick cracked the top three. That's up from seventh last year, and the first time for an American brand to stand on the Consumer Reports podium. Mazda's entire lineup earned Recommended checks as well. Consumer Reports dinged the Civic for its "infuriating" touch-screen radio, lack of driver lumbar adjustability, the limited selection of cars on dealer lots fitted with Honda's popular Sensing system, and the company's decision to offer LaneWatch instead of a full-tilt blind-spot monitoring system. Its score? A lowly 58. The Civic isn't the only surprise drop from CR's Recommended ranks. The Audi A3, Ford F-150, Subaru WRX/STI, and Volkswagen Jetta, GTI, and Passat all lost the Consumer Reports' checkmark. On the flipside, a number of popular vehicles graduated to the Recommended ranks, including the BMW X5, Chevrolet Camaro, Corvette, and Cruze, Hyundai Santa Fe, Porsche Macan, and Tesla Model S. Perhaps the biggest surprise is the hilariously recall-prone Ford Escape getting a Recommended check – considering the popularity of Ford's small crossover, this is likely a coup for the brand, as it puts the Escape on a level playing field with the Recommended Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue. While Ford is probably happy to see CR promote the Escape, the list wasn't as kind for every brand. For example, of the entire Fiat Chrysler Automobiles catalog, the ancient Chrysler 300 was the only car to score a check – there wasn't a single Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, or Ram on the list. That hurts. FCA isn't alone at the low end, either. GMC, Jaguar Land Rover, Mini, and Mitsubishi don't have a vehicle on CR's list between them, while brands like Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Lincoln, Infiniti, and Cadillac only have a few models each. You can check out Consumer Reports entire reliability roundup, even without a subscription, here.