I drove an RL at lunchtime today. I played with the voice activated features, roasted my butt in the heated seats and more importantly, poked it silly with the loud pedal until it emitted a lusty iVTEC bark.
There is no question in my mind why Acura charges more for this car. The percieved quality, the materials, the fit and finish of the interior is far beyond the G35 family, even after the update. The smoothness and precision of the primary controls are also a notch above the G. The feeling of heft, solidity and security in the RL basically puts it on another planet. The G feels absolutely like the entry level car that it is, compared with an RL.
And that's before you get to the trick voice activated features, which are not available on the G.. or on pretty much any car for that matter. You know how in Star Trek if Picard wants something, he just says into thin air: "Computa. Set temperature to twenty eight degrees centigrade", and Majel Barrett's voice simply replies, "Setting temperature to twenty eight degrees centigrade." The RL is
exactly like that, but without the photon torpedos.
It's also the little touches in this car; if you have the (standard) rear sunshade in the up position and shift into reverse, the shade automatically comes down so you can see better. If you get an incoming call on your bluetooth phone, the computer automatically mutes the (standard) CD/MP3 player so you can have a conversation. It's like a Sharper Image on wheels. The RL, in my mind, pretty much raises the bar for a 50k luxury car.
It's not very interesting to drive, however. It pretty much falls on it's face at 8/10ths. The steering is precise, but lifeless. The body control is wallowy. Ooddles of roll is yours for the asking. The paddle shifter has an annoying delay (though the tranny does a good job of holding the gear you ask for). The car will cut a turn and hang on, but it doesn't really act like it has it's heart in it. Despite the fancy AWD system, it still plows at the limit. At least the G35 acts like it enjoys it when you drive like a hooligan.
But I doubt the target market cares. Which is good for them, because they will love the RL.
M5Power
I threw the 'sold at dealers' in there specifically for the NSX, which has been a special-order car for years now. Dealers don't carry them - you can go to a dealer and fill out a form and Acura will make one and send it to a dealer, but there are no new NSXs on dealer lots (unless, say, an owner decided against it when it was delivered, or maybe an ex-demo car, but in large part NSXs are nonexistent).
There was a one at the dealership I went to. It was Silverstone Metallic with a black interior. It was
not a customer order car, nor was it a demo. It was brand new and yours for only $89,000.
M
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Stubborn bastage. It's not like it's hard to read a few pages at LS1.com. 
