2007 Acura Rdx Base Sport Utility 4-door 2.3l on 2040-cars

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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!

2015 Acura NSX burns to the ground at the 'Ring [w/video]

Assuming all goes to plan, automakers test their vehicles to the breaking point in the months and years leading up to that vehicle's actual release into the public. Which is good, because it's much better for a car to break in glorious fashion in the hands of the company that produces it than in the driveway of an owner who just spent their hard-earned cash to get it.
Such was the case with this production-guise Acura NSX prototype that we saw running around the Nürburgring just the other day. We can't be 100-percent certain, but the burned-out carcass is wearing the same number plate as the car that was spotted earlier, so it's likely the very same NSX. We have no idea what was the cause of the blaze that turned this Acura into the car-b-q you see pictured above, but our spy shooters on the ground in Germany say it was not involved in any collision, having caught on fire all on its own with engineers behind the wheel.
The good news is that nobody was hurt, though the car is quite clearly a complete loss. We're sure there's another ready to to test in the burned car's place... just as soon as the engineers at Honda figure out exactly what went wrong. Have a look at the smoldering aftermath up above, and feel free to scroll down below to see a video of the car in much better circumstances.

Honda to compete in seven Pike's Peak classes in 2014

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is one of the greatest events on the international motorsports calendar. Its Unlimited class harkens back to the old days of racing, when teams built vehicles to be the fastest with whatever they had. Honda is returning to the event for 2014 for its second year as a sponsor and participant, and it's bringing some cool machines of its own.
The company is fielding seven entrants this year, which is somewhat smaller than last year. In 2013, it brought 11 factory-supported vehicles in 10 classes, including an insane Honda Odyssey with a 532-horsepower turbocharged V6 engine. There's no need to be too disappointed by the shorter list, though. Former 24 Hours of Le Mans-winner Romain Dumas is back piloting a Honda-powered Norma chassis up the hill in the Unlimited class. Dumas attempted to race the car last year, but it broke down during his run. Other competitors include an NSX (pictured above), Fit B-Spec and an S3700, which is an S2000 with a 3.7-liter V6 engine.
In its role as sponsor, Honda says it has also worked with the sanctioning body to add an AirFence safety barrier along some corners for the motorcycle and ATV riders. This year's Pikes Peak is being held on Sunday, June 29. Scroll down to read the full details about Honda's team and start getting excited for this year's running.