Black Awd Leather Moonroof Salvage Flood 907a Papers Must Call To Buy Now on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Lexus gets top brand marks from Consumer Reports; Ford, Jeep hit hard

Consumer Reports has released its 2014 Car Brand Report Cards, with Lexus again reigning at the top and doing so with the same industry-topping score of 79 that it registered in last year's Report Cards. This year, the institute credited its lineup for being "usually quiet, comfortable, and fuel-efficient," noting it's the only brand on the list "to achieve an excellent average overall reliability score." The Car Brand Report Cars list is meant to rank the best all-around vehicles based on CR testing and reliability results tallied by subscribers it surveyed. Each brand included must have sufficient test and reliability data for at least three models, a standard which left out 11 marques including Fiat, Jaguar, Land Rover and Porsche.
This 2014 Brand Report Cars edition is the first of a new format in which sub-brands have been broken out from their parent brands, with Acura using this year to move up the leaderboard into second place with a score of 75 for its "reliable, well-finished and somewhat sporty models." The top three was rounded out by Audi, climbing from eighth to third by scoring a 74 for "well-crafted interiors, nice handling and good gas mileage." Audi scored highest in the road-test portion, its improved reliability aiding its rise. The top nine was completed by Subaru, Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz.
Ford and Jeep weighed in at the other end of the rankings, Jeep taking the lowest overall score in the road tests and hampered by "a mix of spotty reliability." Ford was sunk by reliability issues with its MyFord Touch infotainment system which consumers found troublesome enough to negate its cars earning "solid test scores" for being "very nice to drive." Perhaps the rumored switch from Microsoft to Blackberry's QNX for the next generation SYNC will help them out. Cadillac's score also took a hit for infotainment reasons after it was the leading US brand last year, the CUE system in the XTS dragging Cadillac to the bottom of all General Motors brands.

Acura TL bursts into flames moments before being traded in at Ontario dealership [UPDATE]

Watching your car burst into flames before your eyes is never good news, and it's even worse when you're mere moments away from trading it in at the local dealership. This Car-B-Q blaze apparently erupted at Acura 2000, a dealer in Brampton, Ontario. As the video tells us, the unlucky customer saw his 2004-2008 Acura TL trade-in suddenly catch fire and go up in resale-value-killing smoke.
According to the hyped-up cameraman (who evidently works next door at Northwest Lexus) and his eccentric play-by-play commentary, this Acura owner is about to be left without a ride home and might want to consider switching to a Lexus instead.
Scroll down to watch video of the drama unfolding as fire fighters put out the mysterious blaze before anyone - except the car - was harmed.

Acura TL gets its top chopped

The roofless Acura TL you see above is a product of Newport Convertible Engineering. No stranger to taking the lids off of Acuras - and a bunch of other cars, like this Jaguar XJ and this Toyota FJ Cruiser - NCE says it was the first US coachbuilder to produce an Acura NSX convertible.
NCE says the conversion takes about six weeks to complete, comes with a five-year warranty from the supplier and doesn't void the original warranty from Acura. On top of that, the interior fitments like sun visors, trunk space and rear seat belts all remain unaltered. Customers who are absolutely against the B-pillar can have it removed, but NCE says "The vehicle will be designed differently without the center bar."
To our eyes the TL looks pretty all right without a roof, and with stripes. NCE will shortly be preparing convertible versions of the 2013 Range Rover Supercharged Autobiography, Porsche Cayenne and Cadillac XTS. For Acura owners, there's a press release below with information on NCE if you have a TL and an urge to go way beyond the sunroof.