2014 Acura RLX Pictures Revealed: 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show

by Derek Kreindler

Published: November 28th, 2012

2014 acura rlx pictures revealed 2012 los angeles auto show

Whether you love or hate Acura, there’s no denying that they stick to their guns.

The RLX, as previously discussed, will come standard with front-wheel drive and a V6 engine, in keeping with Honda’s ~~legendary stubborness~~ tradition. The base RLX will put out 310 horsepower and 272 lb-ft of torque, while returning 20 mpg in town and 31 mpg on the highway. A four-wheel steering system, not seen on a Honda product since the now departed Prelude, will apparently help with the car’s driving dynamics.

The big news with the RLX is an all-wheel drive system with a 3.7L V6 and two electric motors in the rear wheels, good for 370 horsepower. The hybrid version is said to be good for 30 mpg city and 30 mpg on the highway as well. The transverse layout will also pay divendeds with respect to interior packaging. Despite being the same size as a BMW 5-Series, the RLX apparently offers as much as 3 inches more rear seat legroom than its RWD competitors. Length remains unchanged, but the car rides on a two-inch longer wheelbase.

A whole host of electronic nannies are standard, as well as an interior loaded with all the necessary gadgets. The RLX may be a technical tour de force, but it’s tough to imagine that such an image-conscious segment would be drawn to such a nondescript looking car.

#2012LosAngelesAutoShow #Acura #AcuraRlx #LosAngelesAutoShow

Derek Kreindler

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2 of 65 comments

Conslaw on Nov 29, 2012

I'd like to see MK do a TrueDelta(tm) comparison of the RLX vs. the Avalon.

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Sckid213 on Nov 29, 2012

Acura reminds me of Oldsmobile circa 1994. Flailing, and outed to the public as not "real" luxury. They were once considered in the same realm as Lexus thanks to the Japanese's superior materials and build quality. But now that the quality playing field has been leveled, they've been exposed. Acura needs an Aurora-esque Hail Mary...that doesn't fail. The RLX is more like the Ninety-Eight LSS -- nice, but not enough.

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Redapple2 Love the wheels
Redapple2 Good luck to them. They used to make great cars. 510. 240Z, Sentra SE-R. Maxima. Frontier.
Joe65688619 Under Ghosn they went through the same short-term bottom-line thinking that GM did in the 80s/90s, and they have not recovered say, to their heyday in the 50s and 60s in terms of market share and innovation. Poor design decisions (a CVT in their front-wheel drive "4-Door Sports Car", model overlap in a poorly performing segment (they never needed the Altima AND the Maxima...what they needed was one vehicle with different drivetrain, including hybrid, to compete with the Accord/Camry, and decontenting their vehicles: My 2012 QX56 (I know, not a Nissan, but the same holds for the Armada) had power rear windows in the cargo area that could vent, a glass hatch on the back door that could be opened separate from the whole liftgate (in such a tall vehicle, kinda essential if you have it in a garage and want to load the trunk without having to open the garage door to make room for the lift gate), a nice driver's side folding armrest, and a few other quality-of-life details absent from my 2018 QX80. In a competitive market this attention to detai is can be the differentiator that sell cars. Now they are caught in the middle of the market, competing more with Hyundai and Kia and selling discounted vehicles near the same price points, but losing money on them. They invested also invested a lot in niche platforms. The Leaf was one of the first full EVs, but never really evolved. They misjudged the market - luxury EVs are selling, small budget models not so much. Variable compression engines offering little in terms of real-world power or tech, let a lot of complexity that is leading to higher failure rates. Aside from the Z and GT-R (low volume models), not much forced induction (whether your a fan or not, look at what Honda did with the CR-V and Acura RDX - same chassis, slap a turbo on it, make it nicer inside, and now you can sell it as a semi-premium brand with higher markup). That said, I do believe they retain the technical and engineering capability to do far better. About time management realized they need to make smarter investments and understand their markets better.
Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Off-road fluff on vehicles that should not be off road needs to die.
Kwik_Shift_Pro4X Saw this posted on social media; “Just bought a 2023 Tundra with the 14" screen. Let my son borrow it for the afternoon, he connected his phone to listen to his iTunes.The next day my insurance company raised my rates and added my son to my policy. The email said that a private company showed that my son drove the vehicle. He already had his own vehicle that he was insuring.My insurance company demanded he give all his insurance info and some private info for proof. He declined for privacy reasons and my insurance cancelled my policy.These new vehicles with their tech are on condition that we give up our privacy to enter their world. It's not worth it people.”