Acura rolled out the 2009 RL at the Chicago Auto Show, so the appearance of the Honda version of the car, badged Legend, isn’t the most searingly-hot news. What is frightfully obvious when you set eyes on the Legend is that the Honda version looks about a billion times better without the shield-style grille that afflicts the Acura in the most tacked-on fashion. Equally puzzling – and not a recent development – is why Honda trashed the established and respected Legend name for the anonymous and innocuous RL for Acura’s top-tier sedan.

Competition in the RL’s segment is brutal, and the same criticisms of the current model apply to its replacement. There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the RL, mind you, it’s nicely styled, and well appointed – although when faced with the preponderance of rear-driving V8 competitors, the RL can’t claim superiority by chassis layout alone. Packing the 3.5-liter V6 that yanks the Accord around with authority, there’s no need for a V8, nor is RWD a necessity with Acura’s chassis wizards on the job, but buyers might remain unmoved.

The Luxury Institute surveyed 1,642 affluent Americans to see which brands stood out among the crowd of luxury automakers, and Porsche made out as the overall winner. The survey participants make an average of $349,000 per year and have a net worth of $3.7 million, and they’re surveyed on customer service, quality, exclusivity, and that overall warm and fuzzy feeling one gets about a given brand. Porsche received high marks for its uniqueness in the marketplace, as well as for the company’s strong focus and attention to detail.

Lexus and Mercedes rounded out the top three, with Lexus achieving the highest overall purchase consideration and Mercedes receiving demerits for its past ownership of Chrysler. Ouch. BMW finished in fourth place, due in part to Bimmer fans’ displeasure over the brand’s styling and overly complicated tech like iDrive. Japanese automakers scored highest with regards to customer satisfaction, with Lexus, Acura, and Infinity landing in the top three overall. Cadillac, which was ranked first in customer satisfaction last year, fell into a tie for fourth place in this year’s survey. Lincoln was deemed to have the least desirable brand status in the survey, as Ford’s luxury arm finished dead last in the field of 12. Maybe the new MKS sedan will drive Lincoln out of the basement in next year’s survey.

Acura may finally be getting serious about entering the large-car luxury game with a new version of its range-topping sedan, the RL. The latest spy shots of what is likely the 2011 RL appear to corroborate recent rumors suggesting that Honda will ditch the long-running front-wheel-drive layout in a bid to compete with its peer class, which includes the BMW 5 series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Though much is hidden by the stretched-out TSX bodywork, a close look at the profile shows a longer hood with the front wheels moved farther forward, which not only improves the vehicle’s looks with less front overhang but also indicates that the engine may be longitudinally mounted.

Considering the fact that a rear-wheel-drive architecture seems increasingly likely for the next RL, we can also hold out hope that the rumored V8 engine may be underhood. Previous reports peg its output at 420 horsepower, which should be matched with cylinder deactivation in an effort to keep fuel economy respectable. With gas prices as they are, we also wouldn’t be surprised to see Acura stick with a V6 engine as standard, leaving the eight-cylinder as an option. Would it be too much to request leaving off the massive metal triangle on the grille that has infected the rest of Acura’s recent cars? Click the source below for more pics.

The 2009 Acura TL is coming this fall, and Acura has released the first official image of the car. Acura’s love-it-or-hate-it new shield-grille face is affixed to the front end of the new sedan, which also sports thin, slanted headlamps and a pair of angular lower intakes. A pronounced accent line sweeps down from back to front, where it leads directly into a very pronounced wheel arch. Looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer to see the car’s posterior.

2008 has been a busy year for Acura’s design and manufacturing engineering staff. It’s not often that a brand refreshes its entire sedan lineup in the span of just over six months. Of course, in Acura’s case that only amounts to three cars, but includes two completely redesigned cars with the TL and TSX and one heavy face-lift for the RL. Actually, “heavy face-lift” is something that applies to all three, as Acura has implemented a new front end design for its sedans that has seemingly gone over with pundits like the proverbial lead balloon.

We use the word “seemingly” because while most of the media and the majority of commenters here on Autoblog have howled in visual pain whenever the new shield grille pops up, it doesn’t seem to have hurt sales. In fact, sales of the both the TSX and TL have been up significantly in the first few months that the cars have been on sale. Now that Acura has dropped off a 2009 TL SH-AWD in the Autoblog Garage for a week, it’s time to see if our initial impressions need adjusting.

“You’ve got to have the right tool for the job.” “You can’t bring a knife to a gun-fight.” Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. We’ve heard it all before. Honda makes some excellent engines, there’s no doubt about that, from small displacement four-pots that rev through the roof to gloriously smooth and reliable V6 units. Unfortunately, the fun stops there, as the Japanese automaker has steadfastly stuck to its guns, not building an eight-cylinder engine when it can do just as well with fewer pistons.

Regardless of how competent its six may be, nearly all of Honda’s competitors offer V8 engines in their top-level models, and Acura fanatics have been begging for a range-topper to compete with the likes of Audi, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz for years. They may soon get their wish, as Honda’s CEO Takeo Fukui has stated once and for all that Acura will indeed be getting an eight for its next top-level sedan.

What good is a beefy engine if you can’t get the power to the ground? A big, heavy V8 engine over the front tires is a recipe for a horribly unbalanced front-driver, and Honda realizes this. So expect the aforementioned sedan to get rear-wheel-drive to go along with its newfound infusion of displacement. When? Not until 2015 according to some industry sources. That’s a veritable eternity in the auto biz, so we have to wonder if Fukui has let the cat out of the bag a bit prematurely.

[Source: Auto Observer]

Acura fans have something to rejoice about today as the Japanese automaker just released a new model here at the Chicago Auto Show. Before you get too excited, know that it’s not rear-wheel-drive or powered by a V8 engine, but it’s still a nice addition to the line-up. For the 2010 model year, the front-wheel-drive TSX sedan will be available with a 280-horsepower 3.5L V6 engine (most likely a version of the same engine offered in the Honda Accord, though Acura didn’t confirm). The package also includes a slightly revised front fascia, retuned suspension system and new 18-inch wheels that are a full inch larger than the ones that come standard on the four-cyliner model. Acura says this new TSX model is a harbinger of good things to come, as the automaker plans to heavily revise all of its models for the upcoming model year. While we wait for that to take place, sales of the new V6 TSX should begin later this summer.

In what appears to be a classic case of sweating the small stuff, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board have refused to grant Honda a trademark for the term, “Acura RL,” which, as we’re sure you are aware, is the name of the luxury firm’s flagship model. From what we can tell, this means that the Japanese automaker does not hold a trademark for the car’s complete name.

The reasons given make sense from a technical standpoint, as the TTAB’s response to Honda’s appeal states that “we find that the likely impression here is that ACURA is the trademark for a line (or “make”) of cars, while RL is a trademark for a particular “model” of that line.”

Well, yeah. Acura is the make and RL is the model — we’re in agreement on that one. The differing viewpoints stem from the fact that Honda was unwilling or unable to provide proper evidence to the board that the words “Acura” and “RL” appear close enough together on the car, its manuals or its marketing materials to warrant its own trademark. Nitpick much? Thanks for the tip, Kevin!

It appears that Acura will remain banished from its homeland for the foreseeable future, despite Honda claiming nearly two years ago that it would begin selling its luxury brand in Japan by 2008. At the same meeting this week during which Honda CEO Takeo Fukui announced that there’d be a redesigned Fit come year’s end, he also revealed that an Acura would now not be sold on the nation island until around 2010, or “two years or so from its original plan of fall 2008.” It seems that with sales way off in the Japanese home market, Honda would rather focus its resources on aligning its current Honda dealerships into a better integrated network, as well as establishing larger dealerships in heavily populated metro areas, no doubt in order to move more of those popular minicars. We doubt larger vehicles like the MDX (shown above), would fare as well in Japan as they do in the U.S., anyway.

[Source: Ward's Auto]

After revamping its crossover lineup for the 2007 model year, Acura will have a very incremental 2008 model year. There are no new or redesigned models, but more equipment is being added across its entire lineup. The main emphasis this year is what the automaker calls its Super Handling-All Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) system. The all-wheel-drive system is available on the RDX, MDX and RL this year, and will be added to other models in the coming years including Acura’s upcoming “exotic” car, a.k.a. the NSX replacement.

The key feature of SH-AWD is its integration with the stability control inertial and driver input sensors. Most stability control systems rely on modulating the engine torque and selectively applying and releasing the individual wheel brakes to apply forces to the car and try and force it to follow the drivers intent. SH-AWD instead uses the clutch packs on either side of the rear differential to transfer drive torque to the appropriate wheel to stabilize the vehicle with much less brake intervention.

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