2017 Acura RLX presents attainable premium comfort, style and safety

2017 Acura RLX presents attainable premium comfort, style and safety

Topics: Acura RLX

2017 Acura RLX presents attainable premium comfort, style and safety

Parks McCants, TorqueNews
22 September 2016 (14:26)

For 2017, Acura’s only manufactured in Japan offering comes to market as a carryover from 2016, and that’s a good thing! RLX carries forward Acura's mantra of financially attainable superior comfort, style, and safety.

Granted, Acura’s future is bright as Honda’s luxury division presents 2017 NSX, the only hybrid gasoline/electric supercar designed and manufactured in the U.S.. And, with a promise of advanced “precision performance” design aspect things to come, a major visual refresh of Acura MDX SUV, the best selling premium 3 row SUV in North America, and a preview of Acura’s exterior body design language.

Not so with Acura’s last remaining manufactured in Japan sedan

O.K., so either you like the historically correct “Acura beak” grill or you don’t. And frankly, I don’t believe that grill design is what defines a car. Although first impressions are important when walking an Acura lot. Nonetheless, consumers won’t find the new generation diamond mesh grill on Acura’s full size, executive class 2017 RLX.

What drivers will discover behind the wheel of Acura’s BMW 7 series slayer, is a welcomed sensation of luxury quality visual and audio opulence -- reserved for the few discerning Acura Autophiles -- willing and able to venture into the $60,000+ dollar purchase range for their Acura sedan of choice. 2016 Acura RLX Sport Hybrid was my “car of the year” for 2015.

My view from behind the wheel

Granted, from a sales volume standpoint, Acura RLX remains as rare as hens teeth. With a mere 118 RLX sedans of all variants sold in August, and 951 units sold in North America year to date, RLX remains what is effectively a mostly hand assembled, very high tech, limited edition offering, just short of collectible -- and I love driving it!

RLX presents a drive and ride environment of supple leather, wood grained surroundings, featuring ease of personal electronic connectivity, sumptuous concert-hall quality stereo sound acoustics, and arguably the highest standard in active safety and accident avoidance technologies available in the auto industry today. I first experience Acura RLX on the road to San Francisco.

For me, the reward that is Acura RLX comes in three parts: An eiry cabin silence followed by near instantaneous drive-by-wire neck-snapping acceleration, followed by the calm of just cruising in guilty pleasure cushy-confines. This Acura exudes class without the burden of over opulence.

MSRP, availability and variants

As in the past, 2017 Acura RLX will initially arrive in showrooms sans the RLX Hybrid Sport. Reading between the lines of Honda’s latest RLX news release, I’d assume that with corporate pointing to the NSX, that the RLX Sport Hybrid will come to market with a propulsion or drivetrain change or two. Regardless, the non hybrid 2017 RLX is a premium drive and ride experience that should be on any buyer’s test drive short list when considering Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti or Lexus, when considering your next premium full size sedan.

MSRP:
RLX with Technology Package
$54,450
20/30/23
RLX with Advance Package
$60,450
20/30/23

Technology: AcuraWatch ™ Active Safety Suite

The 2017 Acura RLX also features AcuraWatch™, a comprehensive suite of safety and driver assistive technologies, as standard equipment on all trims. The AcuraWatch™ suite includes:
Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with Low-Speed Follow (LSF)
Collision Mitigation Braking System™ (CMBS)
Forward Collision Warning (FCW)
Lane Departure Warning (LDW)
Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS)
Road Departure Mitigation (RDM)
Blind Spot Information (BSI)
Cross Traffic Monitor

Source: http://www.torquenews.com/1574/2017-acura-rlx-presents-attainable-premium-comfort-style-and-safety