Originally posted by MPM77
My hang up is that everyone backs up the RL saying that it is a 6-yr old model that is being compared to newer competitors. My beef is that you mean to tell me Honda couldn't tweak the car a little bit in SIX years??? You mean to tell me in 6 years they couldn't offer a full size spare, put dual climate control, auto up/down windows, or even a 5-spd trans. These are not major design changes or issues. Other car manufacturers have done it. Oh and wait, Honda has done it! Remember that the new body style TL was once a 4-spd its first year of production then it was changed to a 5-spd. Therefore, don't make excuses for the RL, Honda just blatantly decided to forget about it. All they did was put lower profile tires, tighten the suspension a bit and lets not forget the whopping 15 horses added in 2002. Wow, now the RL is a rocket! The fact is, Honda tried to compete with Lexus and fell on its face. Hopefully, the next RL will live up to Legend status not Lexus status.
Those are some good points, but you stated some of the proof of why Honda didn't invest tons of money in the RL during it's life cycle. Major changes mean major money, and the RL is considered the last of the "old school" Acura's (minus the venerable NSX) when the 2.5TL, 3.2TL (200HP old Legend V-6), etc. were around. The guy who designed the RL was fired along time ago, and Honda knows that regardless of what it does, these changes will not be stealing LS430 sales. The cabin is too small, the engine is lethargic, and 4 or 5-speeds, it's slow. A 5-speed automatic would drop off 0.5 second, maybe 1.0 second if you're lucky from 0-60mph. You're telling me a car that does 0-60 in 7.4 seconds would sell that much more, and would compensate for any cost that would come about changing it.
Acura has been busy on the new RL for several years, and until then, as Car & Driver quoted, Acura is stuck with it. It's a good car, but a horrible LS430 competitor.