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Anyone who has spent time with all the Nav systems on the market will probably tell you Honda/Acura makes one of the most impressive. The system on the RL is even more so: it has the ability to take into account real-time traffic data, rerouting you around traffic before you get stuck in the secondary jam of people scrambling for an alternate route.

If you live in LA there’s an alternative to buying an RL: Traffic Gauge.

I haven’t used it and have no affiliation its maker, but given the cost it’s hard not to be impressed with the concept, especially if their claim that users save over 7 hours a month holds true…

The A-SPEC’s performance enhancers involve more aggressive suspension tuning, as designed by Makoto Tamamura, the famed chassis engineer behind Acura’s NSX sports car…. the stock TL torque-steers upon corner exit and understeers severely when pushed hard into a corner. In A-SPEC form, both torque steer and understeer are dramatically reduced—we even experienced an occasional hint of oversteer on aggressive corner turn-in. Braking performance from the factory-installed Brembo four-piston disc brakes improves, too, thanks to reduced nosedive during hard stops and the stickier rubber. source: Motor Trend

(The package improves slalom times by nearly 4 miles per hour and increases lateral grip by .06g. We continue to suggest those in the market for a TL or TSX insist the A-spec suspension be installed before delivery).

We’ve been watching the progress of the upcoming Acura RDX carefully, mostly because it will feature the brilliant SH-AWD system developed for the $50K RL.

Acura’s released details on the RDX prototype and we’re surprised to see it includes a turbocharged engine. (Honda – like BMW - has been reluctant to use turbos in the past and now both are doing so to compete for ever larger horsepower numbers without increasing engine weight. Interestingly both companies have resorted to variable vane turbo units for less compromise than usual between response and power output).

The new 2.3 liter engine’s 240 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque compare favorably with the 205 horsepower and 163 pound-feet of the 2.4 liter currently used in the TSX, an engine that Car and Driver points out is

down substantially in torque versus [VW’s 2.0T motor], 164 pound-feet compared with 207. Moreover, getting the i-VTEC cam lobes to assert themselves requires twirling the tachometer needle north of 6200 rpm. From there, it’s only 900 rpm to redline, a rather narrow power band that requires lots of rowing with the gearbox to exploit.

On short, we’re excited about the RDX because it signals two things: 1) an end to overpowered front wheel drive Acuras and 2) an end to torqueless Hondas. (Or so we hope).

“[The TL] would be the best midsize, midlux, midpriced sedan on the market… were it rear-drive”

source: Motor Trend 10/05

Contrary to what others might tell you the TSX’s suspension and tires are its Achilles heel, but you don’t have to resort to the Radio Flyer ride of an aftermarket kit or cough up $4330 for the A-spec package to get rid of some of the body roll and torque steer.

The best way to improve the TSX is to install the A-spec suspension, which – conrary to what your salesperson might believe – is sold separately (part number 08W60-SEC-200B). If the folks at your local dealership are anything like those at ours, you may need to show them this. Don’t be intimidated by the retail price; you’ll find it for around $600 if you’re willing to mail order…

But the noisy, slippery, twitchy Original Equipment tires should be first to go; I suggest the Michelin Pilot Exalto A/S, $146 plus shipping and installation through this vendor.

related post: 1

Every time we drive a Acura RL we’re stunned at the effect Honda’s SH-AWD has. Coast through a corner and the chassis feels a bit remote and nose heavy. But like an WRX, this car is meant to be driven. Hard. As with most high performance AWD cars you have to be dedicated and get on the power early, trusting that the system will sort things out. But unlike most AWD cars doing so will not result in terminal understeer – the system can shunt nearly all of the engine’s power to the outside rear wheel, rotating the car into a turn by overdriving it like a tank’s outside track. The only other car that can pull this trick: the Ferrari F430 thanks to its ‘E-Diff’.

Sadly, every review we’ve seen of the car save one has chastised the RL for having too much understeer. What these irresponsibly clueless scribes are failing to take into account is their own inability to extract the car’s potential. Every car requires a certain technique to make it come alive, and like the E46 M3 (also accused of understeering by the meek) you simply need to squeeze the loud pedal when you’re tempted to release it to make move to neutraility and beyond. (Today’s high horsepower rear drive cars need larger tires in the rear than in the front and you have to route a lot of power through them while cornering to overcome the inerent understeer of having more available grip in the rear than the front. In the RL’s case you’re overcoming the transverse front engine layouts inherent nose-heaviness).

Go ahead – stomp on it and feel what only we and 4car’s John Simister seem to have picked up on. (Simister is incorrect in stating the system can send 100% to the outside rear – the maximum is limited by design to 70%).

We never thought we’d say it but the Acura RL is the car we’d chose if we were going to be timed on an unfamiliar road. It may not walk with the stiff kneed swagger of the M45, 5 series, A6 etc., but it handles far beyond what its ride quality suggests. We can’t wait to see what the system does to the upcoming RD-X small SUV from Acura.

Bravo Honda. Now please give us the shorter gearing of the European market car. (Rev matched downshifts when in manumatic mode and a factory A-Spec chassis option wouldn’t hurt either).

NOTE: Newer readers may have missed this link from an earlier post now in our archive).

UPDATE: Another of the few that ‘gets it’ – MPH’s Eddie Alterman – adds:

the car never feelslike a front-driver, with the inevitable tugging on the steering wheel. Yet it’s no rear-drive tire smoker, either.
The car just feels perfectly set up for every corner, shifting its weight predictably through turns. Its driving experience is so tight and direct that it sometimes seems as if the two rear seats aren’t there.

UPDATE 2: Edmunds also favors the RL among AWD luxury sedans (ahead of the quietly revised 5 series and the rorty M35x):

all-wheel drive isn’t just about blizzards and black ice. Adding all-wheel drive to front-wheel-drive platforms, like those under the Acura RL and Audi A6, also gives the car more balanced handling… Not only did the RL post the fastest speed through the slalom course, it was the easiest car to drive through it. Keep your foot in the gas, point it in the right direction and the computer does the rest. In the other cars, all-wheel drive is almost an afterthought. In the Acura, it’s as important to its performance as the engine.

UPDATE 3: We forgot to mention an option worth considering that is not listed in the brochure, the A-Spec kit.

The RL A-SPEC package enhances the already crisp handling and aggressive styling with a track-tuned suspension package that lowers the car by approximately 3/4 inch, 18-inch alloy wheels equipped with Michelin Pilot Sport [A/S] tires, an underbody kit, and a deck lid spoiler. The RL A-SPEC kit will be priced at approximately $5,500 plus dealer installation and covered under a factory warranty. [source: Acura Press release]

(We’d opt only for the suspension package, tuned by the same man who worked with Aryton Senna to dial in the suspension of the NSX - the wheels and tires detract more from ride quality and foul weather traction than they contribute to handling).

Most older Hondas and Acuras we’ve ridden in have automatics with frighteningly severe shift quality. Granted Hondas have always shifted firmly to prolong transmission life (slow shifts cause more wear) but something seemed amiss…

Then we remembered: most Honda autos require a Honda specific fluid. Here’s a quote from the owner’s manual of a 1997 Accord:

always use Honda Premium Formula Automatic Transmission Fluid. If it is not available, you may use Dexron III automatic transmission fluid as a temporary replacement. However, continued use can affect shift quality. Have the transmission drained and refilled with Honda ATF as soon as it is convenient.

A brochure for Genuine Honda fluids states:

Honda’s special proprietary formula offers superior anti-shudder performance (resulting in smoother shifting) and prolonged life, Use of non-genuine brands can impact the performance of your transmission in the form of poor shifting, shudder and low fluid pressure.

Given the business practices of the average mechanic or quick-change artist (and how few people get their higher mileage cars dealer serviced), we’d say its fairly unlikely the Honda or Acura you’re driving or considering as a used car purchase has been running on the correct fluid. (Only dealers and a small handfull of Honda specialists stock the fluid).

And its not just the automatics that are under threat. Honda once suggested conventional 5W or 10W30 motor oil be used in its manual transmissions but has since taken the time to come up with a purpose-designed lubricant called Honda MTL. Thinner than oil, thicker than manual transmission fluids, the Honda formulation is optimized for the finicky and delicate synchronizers in Honda gearboxes. As one message boarder explains:

aftermarket MTL [is] too slick. Redline and Royal Purple users have been having the same problems. The synchros can’t get up to speed quick enough because of the decrease in friction. Many top brand tuners still recommend using only Honda MTL in the trannies. I definitely do. Their engineers aren’t dumb; they formulated their MTL the way they did for a reason.

Unfortunately, while dealership parts departments stock Honda MTL, the service departments we’ve polled don’t use it (it’s easier- and cheaper – to get all your lubricant from the same 55-gallon drum). Every service advisor, mechanic, and parts guy we asked admitted they use Honda MTL in their own cars but as one said”In a customer’s car? Why bother? They’ll never know the difference…”

(And you won’t – until your transmission starts failing).

As much as the press likes the Acura RSX Type S, we can’t bring ourselves to feel the same way. Sure, it loves to be taken by the scruff of the neck and thrashed, but even if we look past the tire noise or the engine’s lack of torque the fundementally flawed Civic based suspension and steering makes us wish Honda hadn’t decided the double wishbones were too costly and space inefficient.

The new Civic fixes many of the flaws of the strut front and ‘reactive link’ rear suspension, and the new Si comes with a limited slip differential that made cars like the Integra Type R and original Nissan SE-R legends* so we can’t help but agree when mph magazine founder Eddie Alterman asks

When Honda’s offering a car that’s newer, cheaper, just as fast, and dare we say it, more fun than the RSX, why would anyone buy the Acura?

*Think instant autocross winner. The key is a helical limited-slip differential… that eliminates wheelspin in hard corners when the weight’s off the inside front wheel. The RSX lacks this useful device. C&D, 10.05

I was excited to learn Acura is going to fit it’s marvelous SH-AWD system to its upcoming RDX, and we still are. (FWD keeps the TSX and TL from being viable options – hopefully this signals that the technology will proliferate throughout the model line).

But whereas I thought the car had real promise if based upon the TSX/Accord platform, we’ve since learned that it is to be based on the dynamically challenged CR-V/Civic underpinnings.

We hope the suspension revisions seen in the new Civic make it into the RDX as well – if they don’t, the car’s suspension will cry uncle far before the SH-AWD’s advantages can come into play…