Let's first talk about the point of auto shows like the one in Detroit. Though they are increasingly

A Zany 320 Horsepower 2015 Ford Focus RS May Be Coming
O
This was originally going to be a piece in which I congratulated Acura for inventing a 2006 Lexus IS350 with their grille on it, a vehicle they refer to as the TLX Concept . But I won't do that. There's no point in poking fun of Acura anymore.
I'm tired of being critical of Acura. Now, as we go into 2014, I am more convinced than ever that doing so is a meaningless exercise. I have never seen any company, automotive or otherwise, more committed to doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Let's first talk about the point of auto shows like the one in Detroit. Though they are increasingly becoming irrelevant in the digital age, auto shows exist to both preview feasible future products and to display new ideas. It's where automakers car auctions can show off new design languages, new technologies, new market segments they'd like to explore, and generally get people excited enough to care about their brand.
When was the last time you saw an Acura concept that wasn't a direct preview of one of their upcoming sedans or SUVs, and was instead something new, something invigorating, something that got people talking about the good things going on there?
It's literally been years since Acura has turned out anything even close to that. By my count, their last really interesting "out there" concept was the Advanced Sports Car Concept of 2007. That was seven years ago. Seven years . The last couple of years, it's mostly just been "prototypes" of the new MDX, RDX and now the TLX.
Meanwhile, the brands Acura thinks it competes with are, across car auctions the board, innovating and trying new and different things. The resurgent Cadillac dropped an attractive ATS Coupe, and a V version of that is surely in the pipeline. car auctions
Infiniti, that other often-beleaguered Japanese brand, is exploring new territory with the Q30 small crossover/hatch and may be cooking up a legit M fighter in the Q50 Eau Rouge , a car CEO Johan De Nysschen has ordered into production. You have to give Infiniti credit for being ambitious.
Volvo, after years of being in an apparent coma, is tapping their strengths by bringing back wagons like the V60, playing to their shooting car auctions brake heritage and displaying a sexy new design language. Lexus, car auctions historically the most staid of luxury brands, is getting a little "out there" with wild-looking cars like the RC-F coupe.
And yes, while we often criticize BMW for their oddball 5-Series GTs and 4-Series Gran Turismos, at least they aren't sitting still and are exploring niches to fill. There's also their i brand, which has produced two remarkably different and forward-thinking car auctions cars so far.
Even parent company Honda had some interesting cars on display car auctions at Detroit like the FCEV Concept that first showed up in Los Angeles last year. We all know hydrogen is probably bullshit, but good on Honda for producing such an interesting-looking concept.
What did we get from Acura this year? Another sedan. car auctions Just another sedan, probably based on some sort of Accord platform, with a V6 engine. Great job on your sedan, guys! I never would have expected this from you.
There's nothing that thrills and intrigues at Acura anymore. I'm convinced the only consumers buying them are the hardcore Honda and Acura loyalists or people so terrified by the thought of a car that might be "unreliable" that they're too scared to buy anything but these glorified Accords.
The TL was once Acura's top-selling model. But as consumer tastes have shifted toward crossovers, the TL has fallen to a distant car auctions third, behind the MDX and RDX crossovers. Acura's front-wheel-drive sedans have also struggled to compete against rear-drive cars from Lexus, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Emphasis mine. Come on, how long have we been hearing this criticism now? Since the early 1990s, at least. That's 20 years now, people. At this point Acura's stubborn refusal to do anything different from what they've always done is getting pretty hard to understand.
The TLX doesn't sound like a bad car, it just sounds like a song we've heard over and over and over again, a song we're getting pretty sick of. It has a 2.4-liter four, probably the one derived from the once-great Civic Si, or that ubiquitous 3.5-liter V6. Neither engine is terribly impressive in terms of power. It's front-wheel drive with available all-wheel drive. The only thing it really has going for it is its dual-clutch transmissions, which will probably be excellent because they're from Honda.
But these recipes just aren't enough anymore. They haven't been enough for years. Don't believe me? Look at their sales figures , which consistently lag hard behind Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes. They do a little better than Audi, I'll give them that, but at least Audi has a vastly more interesting and diverse lineup of cars. I don't see a whole lot in the T