finding the signal in an industry filled with noise
Nearly two decades ago the Honda/Acura NSX shook up the performance car scene.
This year, the Nissan GT-R is said to be doing the same.
But could the two cars be any more different?
Looking at this picture I stumbled across on the web – is the NSX is too much like a Formula 1 car or is the GT-R is too much like an SUV?
... with front wheel drive, go rear wheel drive.
That’s the lesson Acura’s learned the hard way the past 15 years. While Infiniti and for the most part Lexus reserved their premium badges for longitudinally mounted drivelines, Acura’s just tarted up their transverse cars and no matter how they change the styling or upgrade the materials or lengthen the list of techno-features, the cars still feel a bit too much like overgrown Accords.
Well starting in 2011, the RL will trade front for rear drive, meaning the SH-AWD will be able to enhance an intrinsically balanced chassis rather than fight to cover up baked in understeer. Just as significantly, Acura should be stuffing it with their first V8 (something I’m less psyched about but will reserved judgement on given what a belter of a diesel they just came up with).
Fans of the current RL will be tempted by the new TL which retains its FWD layout but will offer SH-AWD for the 1st time.
An helpful side by side gallery of the old and new TSX here
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The [TSX is] not necessarily an easy car to drive, however: there are several blind spots (the rear windscreen is shallow and strangely angled… and the new dashboard layout is confusing and over-complex. The driver is faced with banks of switches, LEDs, dials within dials, display screens, electronic gauges and levers – it’s a case of information overload. – 4car
It’s depressing to see a company – any company – forget what made them great and there’s perhaps no clearer example of this than Honda’s interior design these days.
The virus started with the Acura RL then spread to the MDX, but now its found its way into the Accord and even the Pilot. Not only are the controls arranged in a completely nonsensical manner, there’s a visual clutter – a hodgepodge of shapes that seems contrived to make the braindead feel they’re getting more for their money.
I can understand why you’ve gone to overly large and wide tires now that your cars are overly wide and large as well but please Honda, stop the madness. Sure, plastic is easy to mold into any shape you desire but that doesn’t mean you should. To paraphrase Chris Rock, “You can drive a car with your feet, but that doesn’t make it a good idea!”
I was hoping the TSX would get the RSX’s torqier engine and SH-AWD but Honda’s smarter than me – they know there are many who think a less domestic Accord is all they want and need.
But the TL, which has always been an otherwise decent car powered by the wrong axle, had to come with AWD this time around (the torque liimiting in the lower gears and the Type S’s driveshaft friendlier ride height and torque curve couldn’t cure the TL’s torque steer but SH-AWD should.
the ‘09 TL range will consist of two models. The front-wheel-drive car will be powered by a 3.5L V6 delivering 280 horsepower. The step-up version will feature SH AWD and have a 3.7L, 300-horsepower V6 underhood (presumably the same one used in the MDX) – Autoblog
Question is: who’s going to pony up for the RL now???
Despite the car’s electrcal gremlins and ergonomic slip ups readers who have been tuned in from the start know I’ve always had a soft spot for the RL’s dynamics. In fact, my only wishes have been for more torque, a SH AWD system that’s less stingy about sending that torque to the rear, and a suspension that encouraged one to work the SH-AWD system to its fullest.
Acura engineers apparently felt the same way; the 09 has the new MDX’s torquier 3.7L, revised logic for the SH-AWD’s torque vectoring, stiffer springs and bars (and presumably dampers), revised steering, etc.
That’s the good news.
The bad: the styling’s more likely to be noticed but perhaps not for the right reasons – it’s also lacks the stealth quotient and quiet confidence of the last model. (Thankfully you don’t see the changes from behind the wheel).
Sadly the standard wheel is now 18 inches… one of the RL’s tricks was that – like an E39 series or the original Q45 its higher tire profile allowed that extra measure of compliance and confidence on rutted roads, allowing it to be driven like a large WRX through lumpy corners. (It’s a shame Honda’s completely forgotten that higher profiles and narrower section widths were part of their chassis genome – and part of what once made Hondas great…)
