It is time for our third entry into our Automotive Declassified Encyclopedia. Today we enter the Acura RL. In our next installment we will bring you the both the TL and the TSX in one entry so that we conclude the Acura lineup in time to begin the month of June fresh with our next brand, Audi. The RL started life as the heir to the Acura Legend. The Legend followed the Lexus LS and the Infinity Q ,the first assault to American and German luxury car dominance,by about two years in 1991. The Legend hit the mark perfectly by providing class leading luxury wrapped in a versatile front drive layout that gave further proof that the Asian automotive giants could analyze our marketplace and deliver the goods better than anyone. The current RL lives up to it's heritage and continues to bring home sterling reviews to hang on the Honda corporate refrigerator. Yet even with all the RL has going for it no longer occupies the top placement when compared to it's competition. The main reason for this is it's price, performance ratio. The original Legend owned the near luxury market creating a vehicle that was reasonably priced for it's cohorts. With each successive generations the RL has raised it's price along with it's content to the point where it's current $50,000 price seems dear for a vehicle of it's size and content, the exact opposite of it's original recipe. The one pitfall that seems to develop with any popular vehicle is the constant need to do "one better" with each generation. This constant need to push the envelope can sometimes push that vehicles recipe away from it's original mission along with it's intended audience. Acura created the perfect mix of size, style and power for a fair price only to give in to it's compulsive need to improve by adding features ,along with weight and price, that has pushed the RL away from it's intended path. I wish Acura engineers could only look to their own Honda Accord as proof that keeping a time tested recipe can work wonders without watering down the taste. Acura's original recipe that tempted the taste buds with a savory lite cream and just a bite of pepper has become thick and spicy as Acura continues to add heavy cream and peppers to the pot to the point of nauseum. Honda's stellar reliability has also suffered with the Rl. Consumer Reports reported a fair reliability rating while Car and Driver suffered with many annoying problems during their long term test period. This alone would not change my opinion of the RL, after all there are many fabulous cars that only have average reliability yet are so compelling that you can look beyond that. The problem with the RL is that the added weight of Honda's first application of AWD along with it's larger displacement 290hp engine change the spirit of the past generations from a luxo-sport to a luxo-cruiser. While the AWD can be a benefit it overwhelms the engine providing less than "neck snapping" acceleration. The competition have nearly all climbed over the 300hp mark to address such weight issues. Now all would not be lost if the cabin was cavernous providing up market Lexus or Infinity roominess. But Acura which has added what seems like everything to the RL has kept the original Legends size ,which seemed large back in 1991 when the Accord was the size of today's Civic, but fails to impress against even the interior volume of Acura's own smaller cheaper TL. To conclude it truly difficult to even consider giving a Honda derived product anything less that top honors especially one that is so well crafted and easy on the eyes but at the end of the day when compared to the competition ,that has also evolved over this time, I must ,with saddened pen, give the RL a Basic Driver Award. My hope is that the next generation RL will address these issues and begin to return to past abandoning the "more is more" philosophy for" just rite is just rite" ideology that is correct at any time whether it be 1991 or 2007. 
