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Junkyard Gem: 1996 Acura 3.5 RL, Rocky Mountain Rambler 500 Edition

Honda had a good sales run with the Acura Legend, the first of the luxury-marque spinoffs from well-known Japanese carmakers to appear on our shores, but times change and the RL replaced the Legend as Acura's flagship starting in the 1996 model year. Here's one of those first-year RLs, found in a Denver boneyard covered in decorations from the Rocky Mountain Rambler 500 road rally. The Rocky Mountain Rambler 500 involves a lot of punitive off-road driving, so cars that have no business on the dirt seem to get coolness points. That makes Honda's most expensive vehicle of 24 years ago a fine choice of ride. I can't determine how well this car did, but the drivers looked optimistic during the inspections last month. Since the ignition key is still in the switch, I'm assuming it wasn't running so well after the rally and the team decided to bid farewell to their Acura in the lowest-hassle way possible: sell it to the nearest U-Pull-&-Pay. The team appears to have gone for a Pirates of the Caribbean theme with their big land yacht. The evil-looking wheel covers looked sharp. However, the Lord Humungus-grade roof spikes really make this car stand out, both on the rally and, now, in the junkyard. It seemed very clean, with the original owner's manual still in the glovebox. The MSRP on this car came to $41,000 in 1996, which amounts to about $69,000 in 2020 dollars. A new Lexus LS 400 cost $52,900 that year, though the $45,700 Lexus GS 300 was more likely to have battled for the money of potential 3.5 RL buyers. The 1996 Infiniti Q45 went for $53,520, while the J30 cost $39,920. The 1996 BMW 530i had a $42,750 price tag, but your Mitsubishi dealer had $25,525 Diamantes that year. Built on the idea that luxury doesn't have to be boring. Take that, Lexus!

Honda debuts NSX Concept-GT hybrid racer

Not to be outdone by Lexus and its new LF-CC racecar, Honda is also bringing a little more excitement to the Japanese Super GT racing series with its NSX Concept-GT. Yes, just like the original NSX, this racecar will wear the Honda badge in its home market when it replaces the current offering in that series, the non-production HSV-010 GT, which itself replaced the NSX in the series back in 2010.
Looking exactly how we'd imagine a race-prepped 2015 Acura NSX to look, this racer is mean and sexy at the same time, and it will be powered by a racing hybrid system with a turbocharged four-cylinder mounted behind the driver. No word on power output, but it will compete in the GT500 class, which restricts power output to 500 horsepower. Unlike the Lexus racecar, the Honda NSX Concept-GT will being competing this season starting with this weekend's race at the Suzuka Circuit before running the full 10-race 2014 season. Scroll down for the short press release.

The Aston Martin DB11 leads this month's list of discounts

We've got something of a broken record to report this month. The 2020 Acura NSX and 2020 Aston Martin DB11 have swapped places atop the discounts leaderboard for a fourth month in a row. For the month of March 2011, it's the British entry again in the lead. The DB11 earns top billing with an average discount of $24,614 off its sticker price, meaning buyers are paying an average transaction price of $177,206. That still a large suitcase full of bills, but at least it means buyers get to stare at a drop-dead beautiful coupe in their driveways with as much as 630 horsepower underhood. And if you love Aston Martin's svelte sense of style but don't want to spend quite so much money, you could always choose the 2020 Vantage that's selling for around $143,000. That's nearly $13,600 off that car's sticker, which is enough to land in seventh spot overall. Up next, as we've come to expect, is the Acura NSX. The hybrid-powered supercar from Japan is selling for $137,663 on average this month, which represents a $22,340 discount and seems like an exceptional deal for a 573-horsepower technological marvel that can scoot from 0-60 in just 2.9 seconds. That also represents the largest percentage of savings off the sticker this month. In third place for the month is the Audi R8, making March the second straight month that this trio of supercars has led the list of discounts. Buyers are saving $18,331 off the R8's sticker, which equals an average transaction price of $175,508. That's awfully close to the selling price of the DB11, for those lucky enough to be deciding between the two. Related Video: Driving Iron Man's Favorite Supercar, The Acura NSX | Translogic 215