I agree, the new RL looks just as nice or expensive as a new Lexus GS, Infiniti M, BMW 5 series, Audi A6, and Mercedes E class although the E class does look a little more prestigious and expensive then its competition even though it is generally not as nice. I think the interior in the RL has them all beat. Some people may feel a 50K RL is too expensive but when you compare it to the competition with similiar options the RL is actually the better buy. It just has the problem of the previous RL being so lackluster and not selling well or being recognized. It is going to take a little more time with Acura to build up the RL nameplate like it did with the Legend for people to seriously choose it over its more well known competition when most buyers only shop for names and not what the car actually has and does. That is why people still spend close to 50K on weak 6 cylinder 5 series and E classes because the names have alot of respect

Honda/Acura has avoided v-8s in the past because they simply did not need them and also they are an enviromentally green company. Their v-6 were making almost as much power as their v-8 competition and getting good gas mileage and they were not really trying to compete with higher priced v-8 cars beside the NSX competing with Ferrari 348,355,360. Now Acura wants to go more upmarket and have more expensive larger or higher performing cars and they most likely will need to build a v-8 for that market as well as the v-10 going in the new NSX and possibly a larger sedan and sports coupe. Hybrid would be a bad idea because people do not associate hybrid with luxury, performance, and power, but fuel economy and at the higher power levels hybrids do not get great fuel economy and still cost more.