Jun 4th, 2008 | Car Buying, Etc, Saturn, acura, land rover | No Comments
A dealership can be a downright scary place for somebody appearing to buy a new car, providing four-box scams, shady financing, dodgy service, and pushy salesmen. Consulting steady Pied Piper queried shoppers at 1,592 dealerships to demonstrate how we currently knew, so not all dealer experiences are came up with equal. The article talked about the client assistance regardless of whether or not the perspective shopper in point of fact sold a vehicle. Predictably, luxury car dealerships topped the list, cause by Acura and Land Rover, but volume brands Saturn, Nissan, and VW got amongst the automakers such a scored above the boom average. The those based on data from Pied Piper say Acura scored in the “top uni or six” everywhere the group regardless of whether the patron bought anything. Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai got ideally at the boom common in the client survey, and Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler all scored under the Mendoza line.
Perhaps the Pied Piper survey’s a multitude of central statistic is which eight out of 10 of the top automakers averaged in 250 sells per year per dealership, and sole 3 of the floor ten dealers hit the 250 mark. Hit the jump to read over the Pied Piper force release, it performs a fine job of breaking slumping the vast rations of info collected.
May 11th, 2008 | Audi, Mazda, Motorsports, Porsche, acura, aston martin, chevrolet, ferrari, ford | No Comments
With Champ Car going the way of the dodo bird after this year’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, it looks like the American Le Mans Series is poised to take over top billing at America’s Monte Carlo. The street course around downtown Long Beach, California is quite a track, with a long tradition of motorsport excitement. Everything from Formula 1 to CART to Trans-Am have run here, but very few series can match the thrill of four different classes running into the dusk like the ALMS presents. This year’s sophomore running of the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach showed exactly why the series deserves more support and coverage than it gets. Not only was the on-track action enthralling, but the huge crowds that Long Beach always attracts seemed to go ga-ga over the prototypes and GT cars wearing names like Porsche, Aston Martin, Corvette and Ferrari. In case you haven’t seen the race yet, the results are after the jump. Don’t let that stop you from clicking through the massive high-res gallery however.
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May 9th, 2008 | Supercars, acura | No Comments
Acura is slated to release its NSX replacement sometime around the turn of the decade, but despite what you may have heard circulating the ‘Net, it’s not going to be priced to compete with Ferrari and Lamborghini. There’s little doubt that Acura’s 500+hp, V10-powered super sled has Italy’s finest in its sights, along with the perennial show queen, the Lexus LF-A, but even with current exchange rates between the Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar, the successor to the NSX won’t be carrying a sticker around $180,000. After contacting Mike Spencer, one of Acura’s press people, he confirmed that the comments he made were taken out of context and that definitive pricing for the new vehicle is still a long way off. He would only say that the exchange rates would have an effect, but it would be unfair to attempt to guesstimate on price this early in the game. Considering that the last NSX was knocking on the $100k door before it was killed off in 2005, we’d expect a higher sticker for the next model, but pulling a number out of the air, comparing it to other vehicles in the segment and claiming it as fact, is hardly fair. As such, we’ll wait for a formal announcement from Acura so you can start saving your pennies for the NSX’s upcoming replacement.
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May 9th, 2008 | Recalls/TSBs, acura, honda | No Comments
Honda has finally issued a TSB on the third gear issue that’s been plaguing everything from the Civic Si to the Acura TL. According to affected owners, when the manual transmission was in third gear, it would occasionally pop into neutral and occasionally grind into place. Honda originally didn’t recognize the problem and still isn’t issuing a recall, but they have put out a TSB and are offering to correct the problem free of charge to owners who take their vehicle into a dealership. The documentation for Honda and Acura is now available (PDF warning) and you can hit the jump to s2003-07 Honda Accord V-6 with M/T
2008 Accord V-6 coupe with M/T
2006-08 Civic Si coupe
2007-08 Civic Si sedan
2003 Acura 3.2CL with M/T
2002-06 Acura RSX with six-speed
2004-08 Acura TL with M/T ee which vehicles are included in the TSB.
[Source: AutomotiveArticles via KickingTires]
May 9th, 2008 | Misc. Auto Shows, acura, honda | No Comments
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.
[Source: Car Fanatic via World Car Fans]
May 5th, 2008 | Misc. Auto Shows, acura, honda | No Comments
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.
[Source: Car Fanatic via World Car Fans]
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May 3rd, 2008 | CARS NEWS, Supercars, TEC NEWS, acura, spy photos | No Comments
Acura is slated to release its NSX replacement sometime around the turn of the decade, but despite what you may have heard circulating the ‘Net, it’s not going to be priced to compete with Ferrari and Lamborghini. There’s little doubt that Acura’s 500+hp, V10-powered super sled has Italy’s finest in its sights, along with the perennial show queen, the Lexus LF-A, but even with current exchange rates between the Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar, the successor to the NSX won’t be carrying a sticker around $180,000. After contacting Mike Spencer, one of Acura’s press people, he confirmed that the comments he made were taken out of context and that definitive pricing for the new vehicle is still a long way off. He would only say that the exchange rates would have an effect, but it would be unfair to attempt to guesstimate on price this early in the game. Considering that the last NSX was knocking on the $100k door before it was killed off in 2005, we’d expect a higher sticker for the next model, but pulling a number out of the air, comparing it to other vehicles in the segment and claiming it as fact, is hardly fair. As such, we’ll wait for a formal announcement from Acura so you can start saving your pennies for the NSX’s upcoming replacement.
Read
May 3rd, 2008 | Recalls/TSBs, acura, honda | No Comments
Honda has finally issued a TSB on the third gear issue that’s been plaguing everything from the Civic Si to the Acura TL. According to affected owners, when the manual transmission was in third gear, it would occasionally pop into neutral and occasionally grind into place. Honda originally didn’t recognize the problem and still isn’t issuing a recall, but they have put out a TSB and are offering to correct the problem free of charge to owners who take their vehicle into a dealership. The documentation for Honda and Acura is now available (PDF warning) and you can hit the jump to see which vehicles are included in the TSB.
2003-07 Honda Accord V-6 with M/T
2008 Accord V-6 coupe with M/T
2006-08 Civic Si coupe
2007-08 Civic Si sedan
2003 Acura 3.2CL with M/T
2002-06 Acura RSX with six-speed
2004-08 Acura TL with M/T
[Source: AutomotiveArticles via KickingTires]
