Acura's Model Lineup

The 2007 Acura RL is available with three levels of equipment (one more than last year), and with no additional options.

The base RL ($45,780) comes loaded with nearly every luxury and convenience feature imaginable, including leather upholstery.

With the Technology Package, the RL ($49,400) comes with Satellite Navigation, AcuraLink with Real Time Traffic reporting, a rearview camera, Zagat reviews, Active Front Lighting, and wood interior trim.

"The RL with Technology Package plus CMBS and PAX ($53,200) adds Acura's Collision Mitigation Braking System and Michelin PAX run-flat tires.

Accessories include a wood steering wheel and shift knob, all-weather floor mats, a trunk net and cargo organizer, and an engine-block heater for cold climates.

Safety features include Super Handling All Wheel Drive, Vehicle Stability Assist with traction control, and anti-lock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution and Brake Assist. Passive safety features include driver's and front-passenger's dual-stage, dual-threshold airbags, side curtain airbags designed to provide head protection for passengers in all outboard seating positions, and side-impact airbags designed to provide torso protection for driver and front passenger; with an occupant position detection system for the front passenger. A tire pressure monitoring system is also standard. The optional rearview camera can help alert the driver to small children behind the vehicle when backing up."

Now with its state-of-the-art facilities like that of its Acura Rdx Seat Belt and the like.

An Overview

"The Acura RL is sporty and fun to drive, combining a free-revving, 290-horsepower V6 engine with all-wheel drive, and a nicely balanced suspension for great grip, responsive handling and superior stability. Yet it rides smoothly. The throttle and brakes are smooth and easy to modulate, making the RL a comfortable car in stop-and-go traffic.

Acura's innovative all-wheel-drive system makes the RL easy to drive and helps keep its driver out of trouble. Called Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive, the system overdrives the outside rear wheel when motoring around corners, improving the handling balance and enhancing stability. Indeed, the RL is very stable in corners. We found it smoothes over minor driver errors, making us look and feel skillful. With this setup, the RL handles adverse weather exceptionally well, making it an excellent choice in Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Boston, or anywhere else that gets rain and snow. And while the 24-valve VTEC V6 provides plenty of punch, it's relatively efficient, netting an EPA-estimated 26 mpg Highway.

The RL offers the latest in navigation, communications, and collision-avoidance technology. Acura's navigation system is the best in the business. But the RL also offers AcuraLink traffic information in real time for 44 major cities: Clogged freeways are highlighted in red, flying freeways in green. This system works impressively well. We've put it to good use in avoiding traffic jams in Los Angeles.

The Acura RL can help drivers avoid pile-ups. The optional Collision Mitigation Braking System works with the Adaptive Cruise Control. Using radar, the system will alert the driver, pretension the seatbelts, and slam on the brakes when it senses an imminent impact. We tested this system in a controlled exercise and were very impressed with its ability to warn the driver and help avoid an accident or, in the worst case, reduce the severity of the impact.

For 2007, some of the features that used to be standard have been made optional to reduce the base price. Acura's satellite navigation system and Active Front Lighting, which aims the headlights into turns, are no longer standard."

Now with its state-of-the-art facilities like that of its Acura Rdx Oxygen Sensor and the like.

The Introduction

"A new term seems to have settled for vehicles like this: CUV. Crossover Utility Vehicle, not simply "crossover vehicle," which has been used for a while. Meaning, basically, an SUV with unibody construction, like a car: the chassis, floorpan and body are all one piece, which adds rigidity to the structure, saves weight and rides softer, but isn't as rugged as a body-on-frame vehicle, like a pickup truck or an SUV built on a pickup truck platform. Fine. But who can tell?

Acura calls the all-new 2007 RDX a CUV. Here's the irony: it earns the name because it's sportier than a Sport Utility Vehicle. Sporty driving is what this CUV-formerly-known-as-SUV is all about. The RDX most resembles the BMW X3, which BMW separates from the SUV crowd by calling an SAV: Sport Activity Vehicle. Got it?

What makes the RDX different is that it uses a turbocharged four-cylinder engine to make its hearty 240 horsepower, rather than Honda's smooth V6. Because the RDX is built on the small Honda CR-V platform, there wasn't room under its hood for the V6. This is the first turbocharged engine that Acura has produced. It's 2.3 liters, and comes out of the Acura TSX, with many changes making a completely different powerband.

Proving its commitment to sport, the RDX uses a sequential five-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters, a firm independent suspension made for cornering, and Acura's patented SH-AWD (Super Handling All Wheel Drive) system, which delivers a higher proportion of power to the outside rear wheel under hard cornering, thus keeping the car on line.

But also proving a commitment to luxury, the RDX offers only leather, no cloth interior, and other standard luxury touches, such as a power moonroof and dual-zone climate control. That narrows the intended buyer down, to someone who doesn't want to compromise the cornering for a comfortable ride (the firm suspension), but isn't willing to sit on cloth seats. Also someone who doesn't care about dramatic or distinctive styling, because the RDX closely resembles the Honda CR-V. Women, who normally go for the Acura approach toward silky style with performance, will want to think twice about the niftiness of the RDX."

Acura Rdx Oil Filter

Now with its state-of-the-art facilities like that of its Acura Rdx Oil Filter
and the like.