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Acura considering Vezel-based compact crossover

There's a distinct benefit to automakers having their own premium brand. After all, why develop one vehicle to be sold under one nameplate if you can turn it into two? Especially if a little reconfiguration and some premium accoutrements allow said automaker to charge significantly more for the luxury version. It's a winning formula - for crossovers especially - that Toyota has used to turn the Highlander into the Lexus RX (even if the first-gen RX arrived before the original Highlander), that Ford has used to transform the Edgee into the Lincoln MKX and that General Motors has applied to the Chevrolet Suburban to turn it into the Cadillac Escalade (to name just a few of the many examples out there). And it's one to which Honda and its Acura division are certainly not unaccustomed.
Acura has adapted its Euro-spec Honda Accord into the TSX, the Civic into the ILX, the CR-V into the RDX and the Pilot into the MDX. And now that the Honda Vezel is coming to market, Acura reportedly has its eye on that as well. The idea was first introduced when Acura unveiled the SUV-X concept (shown above) at the Shanghai Motor Show this past April, just a few months after Honda revealed its Urban SUV concept that previewed the production Vezel. At the time, says Automotive News, Acura said it intended to put the concept into production in China for the Chinese market, and it's reportedly moving ahead with those plans. But now that it is, executives are wondering where else they might find buyers for the premium compact crossover.
With the Vezel soon to begin production alongside the Fit at Honda's new plant in Mexico, it wouldn't be a stretch to see the Acura version follow suit. The market does, after all, seem to be heating up with entries like the Audi Q3, BMW X1 and Mercedes-Benz GLA, and we couldn't blame Honda - pardon us, Acura - for wanting a slice of that pie.

Clarion Builds 1991 Acura NSX Review | Restored to greatness

Few automobiles garner as much mystique as the original Acura NSX. I worshiped this car from afar, consigned to the fact that the closest I was ever going to get to the steering wheel was a Playstation controller. When I got the email inviting me to drive Clarion Builds' restored and tuned 1991 NSX, I thought it was spam, a chain email with some generic header sent to a dozen or so people to garner some press coverage. Surely this wasn't a real invite where I get to drive a real NSX using my real hands and feet. Some people say don't meet your heroes. Some people are wrong. I knew the car by reputation. In roughly 10 months, Clarion Builds, a division of the Japanese electronics company mostly known for high-end audio systems, worked with partners like AEM and AutoWave to transform a '91 NSX with nearly a quarter-million miles on the clock into what you see here. Everything, from the engine to the bodywork to the leather on the seats, has been upgraded and restored with a mix of both OEM and aftermarket parts. The final product is a stunner. It's tuned, but not slammed, stanced or any other adjective that describes a car with compromised performance and questionable looks. It's simply a tastefully tuned NSX. The NSX, especially an early car with pop-up headlights, is one of the all-time great car designs. There are no unnecessary lines or curves. It's all purposeful. As expected with something with 230,000 miles, this NSX had a number of dings and dents. Clarion Builds has fixed those, replacing the hood and spoiler with carbon-fiber parts from an NSX-R. The fenders are slightly wider than stock, helping cover the staggered Rays Engineering VOLK ZE40 wheels, 18-inch up front and 19-inch out back. After seeing it in the flesh with the blue paint, black roof and bronze wheels, I don't think there is a better fit for this car. The original but tired 3.0-liter V6 and five-speed manual have been swapped for a 3.2-liter V6 and six-speed manual from a 2004 NSX. Stock, this engine is a wonderful ode to the internal combustion engine. It sings a sweet song all the way to a sky-high 8,200 rpm redline. Still, it wasn't enough. The engine now wears a Whipple-style supercharger, pushing roughly 9 psi of boost. Other modifications include a one-off carbon-fiber intake, a hand-built exhaust and a new ECU, all from AEM. All in, Clarion Builds says this NSX makes 403 horsepower and 296 pound-feet of torque at the wheels. God, it feels good to push this thing.

Daily Driver: 2016 Acura RLX Sport Hybird

Daily Driver videos are micro-reviews of vehicles in the Autoblog press fleet, reviewed by the staffers that drive them every day. Today's Daily Driver features the 2016 Acura RLX Sport Hybrid, reviewed by Seyth Miersma. You can watch the video above or read a transcript below. And don't forget to watch more Autoblog videos at /videos. Show full video transcript text [00:00:00]Hi y'all. This is Seyth with Autoblog. I am driving the 2016 Acura RLX Sport Hybrid SH All-Wheel Drive, or SH-AWD, as we like to call it. Any way you slice it the name is a mouthful. This version of the RLX, the hybrid, incorporates an all-wheel drive system that includes three electric motors: one up front, two in the rear turning the rear wheels in [00:00:30]addition to the 3.5-liter gasoline engine. Now, that powertrain effectively makes it the performance version, hence the sport, of the RLX line. It's got a total system output of 377 horsepower, and 341 pound feet of torque so there's plenty of go juice in this hybrid. Clearly Honda had some performance in mind when they were putting this system together in addition to the sort of typical hybrid good gas mileage. It's rated at 28 MPG in the city, and 32 on the highway. [00:01:00]I've been seeing around 28 in two days worth of driving so far, and playing around with it. It's not the fuel-sipper that you're going to buy ... not a car that you're buying for economy exclusively. The good news is that when you really get into it, the car does feel quite quick. You still have that electric torque so you're really getting a lot of torque push from the rear wheels. You really do feel like kind of a performance all-wheel drive experience [00:01:30]more than a front-wheel drive experience like you get in the typical RLX. Now, it's not a sports sedan. It's pretty squishy. There's not much steering feel. Really throwing it from bend to bend isn't that rewarding. The car that I'm driving today is loaded out to around $67,000. I think you can spend a little bit more than that if you really try, but it kind of is at the top end of the RLX range. I feel like everything does come together kind of neatly. I don't think that this interior is going to feel very old in a couple of years. I think it'll age pretty well because it's a [00:02:00]conservative design frankly. The downside is that, unlike some cars, particularly a lot of the new Mercedes coming out right now, nobody's going to sit down in this RLX and think, "Wow.