2011 Acura Rl Awd Tech Pkg Navigation Rearcam Roof Leather Heated Ac Seats 36k on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2016 Acura RDX priced from $35,270*

Acura launched a revised version of its RDX crossover at the Chicago Auto Show in February. And now that it's about to hit dealers across the country, the Japanese luxury marque has released pricing for the updated model: $35,270, *not including $920 for destination. That new price represents modest and entirely reasonable $175 increase over the 2015 RDX. For that extra sum, buyers will get a slightly more powerful version of the 3.5-liter V6 (increased by 6 horsepower and a single pound-foot of torque) with cylinder deactivation, new engine mounts and a nine-speed automatic transmission instead of the previous six-speed, netting a slight improvement in fuel economy. The available all-wheel-drive system is now more rearward-biased, the styling has been subtly enhanced with new lighting and trim, and the interior trim and equipment have been updated as well. The 2016 RDX is set to reach dealerships nationwide this Thursday, April 16. Related Video: Ready for Liftoff: 2016 Acura RDX Launching with More Performance, Luxury Appointments and Advanced Safety Technology than Ever Before Apr 15, 2015 - TORRANCE, Calif. In a major commitment to advance what is already one of its most successful models, Acura is launching a more powerful, fuel efficient and luxuriously appointed 2016 RDX luxury SUV at dealerships nationwide tomorrow with a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) starting at $35,270 – an increase of just $175 over the 2015 model, despite the additional performance, features and capability. Coming off an all-time record sales year in 2014, the refreshed 5-passenger RDX now packs an even stronger punch in the compact luxury SUV class for 2016 with a more powerful 3.5-liter i-VTEC® V-6 engine, ride and handling refinements, an expanded list of available AcuraWatch™ safety and driver-assistive technologies, restyled exterior and interior elements and a host of new luxury features and technologies, including standard Jewel Eye™ LED projector headlamps and LED taillights. A new line-topping Advance grade ties the improvements and new features together in one comprehensive package. "The new RDX is another great example of how we are continuing to advance our Acura lineup with a focus on prestige, performance and dynamic proportion," said Michael Accavitti, senior vice president and general manager of Acura.

Junkyard Gem: 1997 Acura SLX

By the second half of the 1990s, the tremendous sales success of the Ford Explorer (introduced as a 1991 model) and Jeep Grand Cherokee (introduced as a 1993 model) had made it clear clear that the future of the American road would be trucks. Any automotive manufacturer not selling a full line of SUV-ish machinery here would be irrelevant soon after the dawn of the new century, and the car-and-bike-centric American Honda Motor Company was therefore in big trouble. The Civic could be used as the basis for a small crossover SUV (which debuted here as the 1997 Honda CR-V), but Honda needed to buy time to design and produce the platform that would underpin the 2001 Acura MDX and 2003 Honda Pilot. That time was purchased via a deal to sell rebadged Isuzu trucks as Hondas and Acuras. Today's Junkyard Gem is one of those Honda-ized Isuzus, found in a Colorado boneyard. Honda began selling the Isuzu Rodeo as the Passport (recycling the name they'd used on the U.S.-market Super Cub motorcycle) for the 1994 model year, and Acura dealers started moving SLX-badged Isuzu Troopers in the 1997 model year. Just to make things interesting in the Isuzu-Honda world, North American Isuzu dealers sold Honda Odysseys with Isuzu Oasis badges at the same time. Isuzu had gone all-truck for the American market after the last Styluses (and closely related Geo Storms) were sold here as 1993 models. Sadly, Isuzu's final (non-commercial) new vehicles sold here were rebadged Chevy Trailblazers and Colorados, more than 30 years after Chevrolet began selling Isuzu Faster pickups here with LUV badges. Honda never did build any body-on-frame trucks, but that proved unnecessary in order to make some money during the CUV/SUV era. The SLX never sold particularly well, but it gave Acura dealers a luxury truck to park next to the Integras, TLs, RLs, CLs and NSXs in their showrooms. After 1999, the SLX was gone, leaving just the 2000 model year as a blank spot for Acura-badged SUVs. This truck held together like a real Honda product, getting fairly close to the 300,000-mile mark (I've found junkyard Accords with better than a half-million miles on their odometers, plus one apiece Civic and CR-V that got past 400,000 miles during their lives). The original owner's manuals were still in the glovebox when I found this truck. At the end, it appears that it was towed away for being parked illegally. Maybe the engine or transmission failed and its final owner just walked away.

Honda HR-V could spawn Acura variant

We've been saying it for months now, but the compact CUV is the next big thing. Everyone, and we mean everyone, is at least considering getting in on the action, if they aren't already actively designing or selling, and that's true whether they're a premium or mainstream automaker. That, of course, includes Acura, whose parent company, Honda, has a compact CUV of its own coming to market very, very soon. With the arrival of the Fit-based HR-V, that begs the question of whether the near-premium marque will join this burgeoning segment. The idea of building a car below the company's entry level CUV, the RDX, is an appealing one to Honda Executive Vice President John Mendel, who called it "potentially the only place you could go," and would occupy the "white space" the company is looking to fill. While we might chuckle about the idea of a luxurious, Fit-based CUV, it's fair to say it could do well for Acura. It could certainly provide a foil to the very hot selling Buick Encore, and may even capture some sales from the luxuriously outfitted Jeep Renegade Limited/Fiat 500X Lounge. It remains to be seen, though, if Acura could build an HR-V capable of tangling with the new entries from Lexus, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.