Acura does not build many cars like the Acura RL: a 4-door sedan with 3.5 L V6 C35A1, built from 1995 to 2012 when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. Its designer of record is Mitsuhiro Honda / Tamotsu Okamoto (1993).
How it came about
The Acura RL is a mid-size luxury car that was manufactured by the Acura division of Honda for the 1996–2012 model years over two generations. The RL was the flagship of the marque, having succeeded the Acura Legend, and was replaced in 2013 by the Acura RLX. All models of the Legend, RL and RLX lines have been adapted from the Japanese domestic market Honda Legend.
The model name "RL" is an abbreviation for "Refined Luxury." The first-generation Acura RL was a rebadged version of the third-generation Honda Legend, and was first introduced to the North American market in 1996, to replace the second-generation Acura Legend. The second-generation Acura RL was a rebadged version of the fourth-generation Honda Legend, introduced to the North American market in September 2004, as a 2005 model. This iteration of the RL received an extensive mid-generational facelift for the 2009 model year, and a further update for 2011. The third-generation debuted for the 2014 model year as the Acura RLX.
The hardware
Under the skin sits 3.5 L V6 C35A1. Kerb weight is 1,660–1,778kg. The gearbox is a 4-speed automatic. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 114.6 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in Acura's history is not in doubt: the Acura Legend came before it; the Acura RLX followed it; it was built at Sayama, Saitama (Sayama Plant), Japan. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the BMW Z3, the Honda CR-V, the Toyota Tacoma. Its Acura stablemates include the Acura ADX and the Acura ARX-06.
The money
On the used market today a Acura RL typically changes hands for $17,700–$28,000, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $5,590–$7,300 a year. Insurance sits around $1,860–$2,940 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.