Acura RL: Acura's Overlooked Premium Luxury Sedan

[@superawes0meguy151]

I like to think the name change killed this model, the Acura Legend is truly such a badass name for a car

[@larkt6693]

It’s very possible

[@DivineSadist]

You can swap for Honda badges 🤷‍♂️ I get it, why they did it. But yeah I wish it was a legend. I've considered swapping my RL with Legend badging, but meh. But it IS a Legend, kb1, 2nd Gen RL is a 4th Gen Legend.

[@JoeUrbanYYC]

@@superawes0meguy151 Legend. Vigor. Integra.

[@joshuayammer1994]

It’s funny how Hondas first consumer v8 is a goddamn boat engine lmao

[@AcuraAdvice]

😂

[@PorscheCayenneLover]

My Dad LOVED this, and this was his company car of choice for YEARS. I experienced every last one until 2014. The SH-AWD Hybrid was INSANITY and I loved it.

[@MoNoK15]

Awesome video 🤩 People are sleeping on the RL and RLX. They are some PHENOMENAL vehicles 💯

[@gazasqreech]

i missed my 05 RL, ppl was always asking which car is that. mines got total in 2020 hit and ran and i was planning on passing down to my daughter now im still looking on which rl to get her.

[@devon_lol]

Upgraded my 2007 to a 2011 KB2, love these cars

[@DivineSadist]

Sounds like a lot of work. I would have just bought a 2011, and skipped the whole motor/trans swap 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@TysonHugie]

Shannon's neighbors are going to complain about all the cars doing burnouts in the road. I have a not-so-secret admiration for the refreshed Q45, too. My family has gone through all RL iterations, and mom has a 2016 RLX. Underappreciated, and therefore somewhat exclusive. She digs it. But she's a 61 y/o mom and fits the target demographic to a T.

[@AcuraAdvice]

Haha, Shannon definitly has some noise complaints coming her way. Yeah, I feel like the 90s Q45s are a little underrated. I've only had the chance to drive a 1st gen RL so far, it really stood out to me how comfortable it was!

[@enkadude]

@@AcuraAdvice WOW, TysonHugie watches your videos. If Tyson ever makes it up to Lower Mainland, I'll let him film my mint EL :)

[@seantrice4269]

Love these video segments on acura models I myself have an 2015 acura MDX technology package...... So can you do a video segment on the MDX would be awesome and thank you.

[@deepengandhi7033]

We have a 2010 still going strong at 185k miles! The RL is one of the most underappreciated luxury flagship vehicles. The fact that for 50k, it came loaded with the Advance package was insane.

[@air-headedaviator1805]

4:17 90 degree V6….they teased the opportunity for V8s DIRECTLY

[@jasperdilincoln2341]

The last two generations of the RL 2005-2012 was kinda a "What The Heck Happened" Moment for Acura. They were the same lengths as the Accords. Other Luxury Brands kept their Flagship Sedans Large. And Acura shrunk in size, although still nice. It didn't make a statement like, Lexus, Lincoln, Cadillac, Infiniti, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo etc.

[@AcuraAdvice]

I agree!

[@joelweekes4267]

Facts bro,the 2nd Gen RL is actually has a smaller wheel base then the previous year by 4 to 5 inches.To me the 1st gen had more of That flagship look on the outside

[@gazasqreech]

i had a 04 Honda accord and a 05 RL i couldnt dear compare them both V6 and both different animals

[@jasperdilincoln2341]

​@joelweekes4267 I agree the 1st generation had that "Boss" look. The 2nd Generation was nice but the same size as the TL.

[@JT-ng2tk]

Very overlooked car. Beautiful

[@mndlessdrwer]

The second generation RL had a gorgeous interior and the exterior styling wasn't bad either. It's a wonder they didn't sell very many. Also, driver convenience features are my favorite types of features. Particularly when it is possible to disable them when you don't want them. I love adaptive cruise control, lane keeping, and blind-spot alerts. They help me to drive more safely without requiring as much of my attention. And adaptive cruise control is legitimately life-changing if you have a lengthy commute. Because you no longer feel pressured to drive aggressively to get around everyone whose cruise control isn't set exactly the same as yours. The car will just take care of it for you. It's so nice to be able to relax and ignore the speedometer and only need to pay attention to make sure Shannon isn't going to side-swipe your car by blind merging on the motorway.

[@momard9585]

My ‘07 RL has 256,000 miles on it and still going! Such a fun car to drive ❤

[@omostim2385]

I feel like Acura should’ve kept the Legend name. Sedans were still hot when the RL came out. One of my friend’s bought an RLX about a year ago. Rear wheel steering and all. I don’t know where he found it but he knew what he wanted. Also the Q45 pulling up made me laugh 😆

[@ka9d00d3]

Long Paragraphs ahead! As someone who has a 04 KA9, 05 KB1, and 14 KC1 Advance in their garage, I will say that they are all extremely solid cars. Out the 3, I would tie the 04 and 14 with the 05 being slightly lesser of a car. The RLX before the suspension changes in 16' is pretty stiff with mediocre articulation. The suspension does not shield the car from the bumps well. However, it makes up for this with having by far the most direct handling of the 3. The 04' is nearly as stiff damper/spring wise to the RLX but has a suspension which is second to none at articulating ie. very smooth, buttery action which mellows up the bumps nicely. The bumps feel like soft punches on the 04 while the RLX can feel like Mike Tyson on really bad roads. The 05, has a good suspension, but doesn't articulate as well as the 04 nor handles as nicely as the 14. In terms of raw mechanical handling, the order is 14, 04, 05 from greatest to worst. In terms of build quality, the 04 smokes the 05 and the 14 isn't too far behind the 04. The paint/clearcoat is much thicker on the 04 and very scratch and chip resistant for a black car. The 14 has better gloss than the other 2, but has the worst durability of the 3. The front bumper is in horrendous shape after 10 years/135k miles and looks a lot worse than the 04' at 225K/20 years. The 05 has very smooth paint compared to the other 2 (minimal orange peel), but I can't verify how much paint is OG as the car was in a few accidents. Interior wise, the 05 was probably nice when new, but falls apart really badly as it gets older. The 14 and 04's interiors are identical in durability both looking new after x amount of years with a less than perfect maintenance schedule. Material wise goes to the 04 though. That thing defines plushness. The only thing on the 04 is that the OG headlight and fog light coatings suck. They lasted about 8 years before fogging up. Weight for the cars if anyone cares is the 04 weighs about 3890 pounds with og tires. 14 Advance weighs 3997 pounds with og tires. Now about 3980 with the OG Continental DWS 06s. 05 weighs 3984 pounds. Kinda funny how the 05 almost weighs the heaviest of the 3 despite being the smallest car. Drivetrain wise, the 04' wins in terms of subjective feel for me, but the RLX wins due to sheer power to the wheels (about 260 hp). The 05's SH-AWD is very nice for handling and poor road conditions, but it saps a lot of power. People report that about 200hp makes it to the wheels which is a little too close to the 04' actually and feels slower than the 04 in town. Due to the layout of the engine on the 04, the engine feels very direct and smooth. At highway speeds you can control the car easily with the throttle due to the torque curve and its so smooth at all speeds. Only problem is a dead spot at 3800-4700rpm. Feels weird when in 4th at high load ;). The RLX needs to have the VCM disabled. The car drives so much better without it. Lastly, the 05 for some reason is very rev happy. Easier to rev the engine compared to the other 2. Daily driver wise is a tie for the 04 and 14 due to the 04's gas mileage (some might say lack thereof). The 04 is really smooth and reliable, but the best it can manage is 25 highway on a good day. The RLX can get 33 highway. Don't ask about the city figures... 05 is great for bad weather, but falls a tiny bit short of the other 2 in most other areas. Comfort and DD handling is best on the 04. Reliability actually goes to the RLX. The RLX has had the least non-maintenance parts replaced at this time in its life compared to the 2 other cars at the same time. Only the rear right sway bar end link and wheel bearing has been done in the suspension, while the engine had a lost motion spring replaced. That and the sub in the Krell models dies for some reason. Gonna be number 3 really soon. However, this year I had to purchase the P-AWS actuators for 3000 a pair. OUCH! The 04 has had suspension work done by this mileage (135K) (UCA, TRE, SBEL). The engines in all 3 have all been extremely reliable in their lifetimes. To this day, the only thing that has been broken in the 04's engine bay were the valve cover gaskets at 212K and a connector at the same mileage. Everything else that isn't maintenance related in the engine bay is OG to the car. The 05 has the best objective brakes while the 04 has the best feel by far. The 05's brakes stop faster but don't feel as good as the 04's brakes when in use. This might be due to pad choice though. The RLX feels weird under braking due to using the rear wheels to help stop the car by toeing the alignment in. Space wise, 14 wins with 04 very close behind and the 05 being very far behind. The 04 has damn near unlimited space in the trunk while the rear seats in the 14 are about as spacious as a couch. 05 is just too small to compare to the raw space that the other 2 have. Tech wise it goes 14, 05, 04 from best to worst. Note that in terms of competition the 05 crushed everything when it was new and its still very competent even 20 years later. Sound system wise actually goes to the 04' if the OG Bose system is completely intact. Not to mention it is the first car in the world to have XM standard. It still works great 20 years later. The 04's system was loud as hell and had great spatial and bass characteristics with the OG speakers. 14's Krell has great spatial characteristics, but meh bass. Great for rock and jazz from the 70s, but not so great for boom bap from the 90s (Black Ac' music for me). Can't rate the 05 as the rear sub is blown bad, but I have a feeling that it will be worse than the other 2. Styling is subjective, but I will say the the full gold kit on the 04 looks great with black. Gives the car flair and class at the same time for me. Interiors are tied for me in terms of styling. They all look great. The 04 is also really short in stock form which adds to the sportiness of the design (Only 55 inches give or take an inch). Pretty funny seeing my taller friends trying to get into the 04 after being used to SUVs their whole lives. 14 has a presence which for some reason pictures cannot capture well at all. She feels a lot more substantial in real life vs pictures. Dear God have mercy on everyone who has bothered to read this.

[@AcuraAdvice]

Well I read most of it...not surprised the 05 ranks 3rd in most categories, the mid to late 2000s wasn't a paticularly good era for Acura imo.

[@carlasghost656]

I had a '99 RL. Great highway cruiser. Comfortable, smooth and quiet at any speed. Having a 6 cylinder engine never bothered me, there was enough power and top speed to get me in any trouble I wanted. John Davis is still waiting for full gauges and a V8. Honda was a bit tone deaf about some things. They decided to prove smaller engines could do what the big ones could by increasing tech, not displacement. The gauges have always been a thing with Honda. They rationalized that most people don't actually pay attention to them. Besides, their cars are good enough that you don't have to regularly monitor engine conditions. But if you are asking someone to drop more cash than my parents did for their house, and they want gauges, give them gauges. Edit: If I were buying something in that class new at the time I would likely have started with Lexus. But would have at least looked at Acura. Infinity was right out of the question. I've never really been impressed by Nissan products. And it's the car my ex bought after our divorce, so that killed it.

[@AcuraAdvice]

No gauges allowed unless you buy an NSX 😂

[@sirot5561]

Amazing video! So we’ll researched and put together 🤩

[@MarcoTLX]

I always thought the RL was cool, just too big body for me, as an Acura enthusiast. My mom wants an RLX so next year we will try to find her a fully loaded Sport Hybrid

[@dep512]

Very satisfying to see the continuation happen. Amazing work-as usual.

[@Darksyne]

41k in 1996, only 1/3rd of the average home... That would be like Acura's current flagship costing over 200k in today's money... Not even the NSX got that expensive!

[@bryanCLXT]

I love how the rl commercial states fresh powder in Aspen Tomorrow I live in Co and I love my 2007 Acura RDX turbo sh AWD

[@JoeUrbanYYC]

Would love to see a deep dive on the ZDX

[@Kay-dx8vm]

Love my 08 RL

[@angkawawangcowboy2000]

My 2000 RL is close to hitting 200k miles. The drive is fun and smooth. My mechanic said there’s another 100k miles easy.

[@Massachusettsrailfanner-t2p]

Acuras you can do a video on: rdx, mdx, ilx, zdx, and tlx

[@JoeUrbanYYC]

The first gen RL is a bit bland but in black I think it is absolutely beautiful. The photo at 5:01 is 😙👌

[@izik950]

same! i have a 96 3.5 premium. love the black

[@eduardojimenez2044]

The earlier Legends/RL's were large, understated, elegant sedans, though never really direct competition to the Lexus LS400. Until 2007, when Acura turned them into Malibus. From then on, they never recovered; they became a competitor more to Lexus ES's

[@wynn_explorations2543]

I had the 3G RL. It was a 2008 model. Next car I've ever owned, I regretted selling it. The only thing I wished was for a larger back seat and better fuel economy

[@homiecwhite1496]

Nice reference to John Davis always complaining about a lack of voltmeters and oil pressure gauges. His obsession with this was never explained.

[@Moore-c1v]

I had a 2007 RL @ 22 years old Loved that car except parts where hard to find and expensive

[@Ol4me]

love my 2007 RL, don't need a V8

[@BerryA86]

2nd gen RL had the power but was counteracted by the heavy weight-4000 lbs! I actually really like the styling, it looks a lot better in reality.

[@ESMARSALAZAR]

They are beautiful, i got a 2001 acura rl pearl white, 300,000 miles on it

[@enkadude]

For a youngin you sure know your 90's Acuras. The RL never did anythang for me. Was never a fan of the wood grain interiors of that genre. Legend was a Legend where as RL was forgetable.

[@colinfruend5537]

If it’s anything like the Infiniti I30 (Maxima) of its time, it’s got enough spunk. Had a 97 I30 and that car was built like a tank and checked many boxes off.

[@n3bulous]

The JDM version of the 2005-08 RL, aka the Honda Legend, has a way better looking grill than the US version.

[@ExecuteBrandon]

Number of cylinders was not a problem. The overall package was.

[@carson8915]

Please Mr. Advice, make a Honda Fit/Jazz video

[@AcuraAdvice]

I will!

[@basilfabian05]

Love the RL/Legend. The KB1 is my favourite 👍

[@vicp8772]

Karen's texting. We all seen them. Very well done. CDN on top of that.

[@soulblade929]

I have to disagree that the “beak” version of the RL looked better than anything before it. I had a legend coupe for many years and waited a long time for Acura to give me something exciting to buy, never happened, I am no longer a Honda/Acura fan except for the legend and NSX

[@someonecalledeulogio2280]

Suzuki kizashi is a baby mk2 acura RL

[@tagjr9744]

The Legend name was Acura. Once the styling changed to a more Mercedes style look,it lost that sporty feel.

[@dmack7265]

The RLX was hideous.