Honda Car Forum

In article <101lf88i3h1o4b9@corp.supernews.com>,
"John Horner" <jthorner@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Acura RL is a sales dog. The buyers in that vehicle class are looking for
> V8 power and rear wheel drive. Honda tries to sell them a V-6 powered FWD
> vehicle which finds very few buyers.

From a pure marketing standpoint, that's probably true.

But have you ever driven one? Man oh man, what a sweet ride. I almost
bought a 98 with 58000 miles on it. Even with the age and the miles, it
was super sweet.

Honda can do anything Toyota can do. But do they have the will to do
it? Not in all cases.

> > Acura RL is a sales dog. The buyers in that vehicle class are looking
for
> > V8 power and rear wheel drive. Honda tries to sell them a V-6 powered
FWD
> > vehicle which finds very few buyers.
>
> From a pure marketing standpoint, that's probably true.
>
> But have you ever driven one? Man oh man, what a sweet ride. I almost
> bought a 98 with 58000 miles on it. Even with the age and the miles, it
> was super sweet.


Yes, they are a nice car, but not competitive with the best in their price
category.

John

In article <101niurc5fmobd7@corp.supernews.com>,
"John Horner" <jthorner@yahoo.com> wrote:

> > But have you ever driven one? Man oh man, what a sweet ride. I almost
> > bought a 98 with 58000 miles on it. Even with the age and the miles, it
> > was super sweet.
>
>
> Yes, they are a nice car, but not competitive with the best in their price
> category.

To check on this, I went to edmunds.com. Man, was I surprised.

The 04 RL has a True Market Value price ("what others are paying") of
$39,294-which is a couple thousand UNDER INVOICE. There are no factory
options available.

The base Lexus LS430 has a TMV of $56,752--which is only about $700
under RETAIL.

So despite the fact that each car represents its manufacturer's top of
the line, they aren't comparable--not by features and not by price.

Let's see how the RL compares to other 6 cylinder cars: maybe the GS300
and the ES330.

The GS300, roughly equipped like the RL, has a TMV of $41,778.

The ES330, roughly equipped like the RL, has a TMV of $37,279.

So compare the RL to the ES330, and you get a larger car with a few more
goodies and refinement, intended to be a higher end car than the ES330
is for a couple thousand more.

Or compare the RL to the GS300, and you get a larger car with not as
much sport factor, still intended to be higher end and more refined, and
save a couple thousand.

Frankly, I was amazed at the RL price. It's obvious that Honda has
their larger sport model, the TL, and their larger luxury model, the RL,
and they're both intended to play well below the Lexus LS line. They
both at this point are probably aimed at roughly the same market.

> To check on this, I went to edmunds.com. Man, was I surprised.
>
> The 04 RL has a True Market Value price ("what others are paying") of
> $39,294-which is a couple thousand UNDER INVOICE. There are no factory
> options available.

This sort of makes the point. Honda/Acura has to sell the RL at a deep
discount in order to move any of them. Lexus, BMW and MBZ all are selling
their competitive models at much higher profit margins because their
vehicles are more in tune with the buying population's expectations.

I'm fairly sure Honda would rather be getting full sticker price!

The flip side is that for those who like the RL the actual purchase price is
greatly reduced.

John

Proof that Honda does not always know or try to force you to buy their crap
..
The RL / Legend sucks it is underpowered and does not handle as well as a
mercury marquis costing thousands less and is just as reliable. Look how
long it took them to put heated mirrors on sold vehicles.

A front wheel drive pickup is the dumbest of dumb,

On Tue, 03 Feb 2004 18:22:26 GMT, "MGK" <testpage@nospambar.net>
wrote:

>Proof that Honda does not always know or try to force you to buy their crap
>.
>The RL / Legend sucks it is underpowered and does not handle as well as a
>mercury marquis costing thousands less and is just as reliable. Look how
>long it took them to put heated mirrors on sold vehicles.
>
>A front wheel drive pickup is the dumbest of dumb,

No, the dumbest of the dumb are people who buy pickups and SUVs to use
as commuter cars. For them, a front wheel drive pickup (or car-based
SUV) is slightly less dumb.