2009 Acura TL

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sage
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Holy smokes is that ever hideous. Acura had honestly one of the cleanest, handsomest and almost beautifulest lines in the market, but this selection tooooooootally blew it! I mean, come on, what an amateur attempt at any sort of styling direction. The sibling TL and TSX actually turned my head, and still do along with the RL, and I would drive them first based on looks alone, but these things I wouldn't go near with stolen eyeballs.

The graphics are all over the place. I think they had some kids hopped up on Red Bull cut up construction paper for half an hour and then took some random snippets and pasted them on a clay model. The clay model was carved up by a blind arthritic pensioner.

God damn... It's almost insulting at how many steps back Acura just went.
 
Whoa! That rear is really eye catching :eek:..... looks very very similar to the Vauxhall Insignia's rear...

09.acura.tl.act.r34.500.jpg

opel-insignia-to-hit-uk-showroom-this-october.jpg


Robin
 
No, I think the Vauxhall does it much better than the TL does. It throws in a bunch of curves, and some Bangle Butt, where the Acura is so angular, you get the feeling you could cut yourself on it.
 
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Make ugly rebadged Honda go away!


It reminds me of those coachbuilt Nissans they have over in Japan (Mitsuoka or whatever they're called).

Mitsuoka%20New%20Galue_0.jpg


You can sort of see the car it used to be before they attacked it with the details from a 1940s clock radio. The Acura is the same - cover up the front and the rear and look! It's an attractive saloon car! Just don't uncover it again if you've already eaten.
 
It seems that not only are Japanese companies following the West in trying to create their own designs, but they seem to be out-uglying each other. First Lexus, with the sloppy but mostly bland GS/IS/LS, then Nissan with the -- honestly -- retarded-looking Maxima. After that we got a brace of silly Toyotas, followed up by each Acura in the lineup aesthetically dismantled.

When you follow a trend, it helps to know what you're following. This reminds me of a Japanese girl I saw on the subway last month. Very trendy, as can be seen by the non-perscription glasses hanging way too low on her face...or her lip. The kicker was that she was wearing a fedora. Something struck me about this hat as odd. Not that she was wearing it, but something about the shape...oh, yes: it's backwards. She's wearing a mens' hat backwards. While some may say this shows an "individual fashion sense" and "someone expressing their individuality", I would liken it to the Little Mermaid combing her hair with a fork. This is by no means a one-way street of misunderstanding; any one had Ruby Foo's "sushi"?

Let's go back to Honda/Toyota/Nissan and their "individual fashion sense". You can see how they tried to do something different and there was some sort of planned symmetry, but instead of latching on to the Germans' failed attempt to look Gaudi rather than gaudy and fixing it, they apparently read some reviews on how designers are pushing ugly as the new cool and just went with that.
 
I can tolerate the new TSX. Don't like it, but I can tolerate it. As for the TL...I don't think we have seen a design disaster like this since the Pontiac Aztek! The RL is also way too strange, and the horrible grille present in all the new Acuras just ruins the front end.

Anyway, it seems that the Acura designers are getting closer and closer to this:

acura-advanced-sedan-concept.jpg


Who would have ever thought that THAT was a good idea!?
 
I think part of it is that guys like Bangle have been pushing automotive design to High Art, and now these designers think they have to be artists, challenging the status quo. Problem is, there's only a certain amount of challenging the public will take.

They tend to forget that some of the greatest artists in the world were dirt poor while living, and that a car MUST be a commercial success.
 
Looks like a Disney/Pixar 'Cars' version of a Renault Laguna at the front with the back end of a Insignia.
 
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harrytuttle
It seems that not only are Japanese companies following the West in trying to create their own designs, but they seem to be out-uglying each other. First Lexus, with the sloppy but mostly bland GS/IS/LS, then Nissan with the -- honestly -- retarded-looking Maxima. After that we got a brace of silly Toyotas, followed up by each Acura in the lineup aesthetically dismantled.

When you follow a trend, it helps to know what you're following. This reminds me of a Japanese girl I saw on the subway last month. Very trendy, as can be seen by the non-perscription glasses hanging way too low on her face...or her lip. The kicker was that she was wearing a fedora. Something struck me about this hat as odd. Not that she was wearing it, but something about the shape...oh, yes: it's backwards. She's wearing a mens' hat backwards. While some may say this shows an "individual fashion sense" and "someone expressing their individuality", I would liken it to the Little Mermaid combing her hair with a fork. This is by no means a one-way street of misunderstanding; any one had Ruby Foo's "sushi"?

Let's go back to Honda/Toyota/Nissan and their "individual fashion sense". You can see how they tried to do something different and there was some sort of planned symmetry, but instead of latching on to the Germans' failed attempt to look Gaudi rather than gaudy and fixing it, they apparently read some reviews on how designers are pushing ugly as the new cool and just went with that.
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I see what you mean, but I don't believe that Japanese automotive designs are that....... critically horrible. You don't like them, I can respect that. But a lot of people do like how Toyota & Lexus cars look, believe it or not. I sometimes wonder if it's a regional thing, because after all, I'm Japanese, and I do live in Pacific Northwest, where Toyota & other Asian imports thrive. Most people I talk cars with either finds Toyota look decent, or really good. The opposite for me are the Caddys. I absolutely respect how different they look. They are unique, and they are very consistent designs. I don't see any half-assing on the looks. But I can not stand it, personally. I don't think I can ever buy cars that look like the current Cadillacs.

I love how the IS look. I love the new Maxima. I haven't seen the new TL in person, but I must admit; the new TSX, in person, it wasn't all bad to me. I absolutely hated the redesign, initially.

Bottomline for me, nobody(overall) matches the Europeans. Everybody else is playing catch up, and it is nothing new.
 
What a way to take a step way back in the styling department Acura! :yuck:
 

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