Every Car And Truck On Sale Now on 2040-cars

Auto blog

The 2017 Acura NSX will cost $156,000

Back in October, when our Editor-in-Chief Mike Austin drove the 2017 Acura NSX for the first time in the Bay Area and at Sonoma Raceway, we guessed that the hybrid supercar would start at around the $170,000 price point. We weren't that far off – it starts at $156,000, and tops out around $205,000. But now that we have a solid sense of what Acura thinks this car is worth, and we know what they benchmarked the NSX against, we can compare apples to apples. Let's be clear: we like this car. Austin described it as "makes you giggle" fast, everyday-comfortable, and chock full of impressive party tricks like seamless shifting – with only a few foibles, like numb steering, to spoil the illusion of perfection. Back to the benchmarked cars. Acura says the NSX will compete with the Audi R8, and was developed to compete with the now-superseded 458 Italia. Let's start with the 2017 R8 V10 Plus – pricing hasn't been released, and a direct Euro-to-USD conversion isn't the whole story, but it starts at the equivalent of $179,000 in Europe. For that, the R8 V10 Plus provides 610 horsepower, a seven-speed DCT, and a 3.2-second sprint to 60 mph. The 458's successor, the 488 GTB, should be more expensive than the $243,000 the old model started at, and provides 661 hp, a seven-speed dual-clutch, and a 0-60 time of around three seconds (official numbers haven't been released for acceleration). For less money than either of these cars, the NSX delivers ... less. Total system output is 573 hp. It has a slight edge in gear count, at nine speeds, and should beat the R8 to 60 mph. But there's no V10, let alone Ferrari's feral turbocharged V8. It'll be up to buyers to determine if the compromises involved are worth a few thousand dollars in savings, if no options are selected. It should also be noted that Acura describes this as its first "built-to-order" vehicle, but the limited external color options and interior schemes don't appear to be much different than the extent to which you can customize an Accord. The configurator goes live on February 25th, if you want to see for yourself. Lastly, in what now seems to be a necessary part of a new high-end car launch, Acura will auction off VIN 001, the first production NSX, at Barrett-Jackson in January. All proceeds from that auction will benefit two charities: the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation and Camp Southern Ground. Related Video: Acura Shares Details of Next-Generation Acura NSX Sales Plan - 2017 Acura NSX U.S.

New 2022 Acura MDX platform to underpin future Hondas

The 2022 Acura MDX introduces a new platform to the Acura and Honda lineup called the Global Light Truck Platform, and it's currently exclusive to the MDX. The new 2021 Acura TLX is also built on a totally new platform that isn’t shared with any other Honda or Acura. Going further back, when the redesigned 2019 RDX debuted, Acura said that model was built on “a new-from-the-ground-up, Acura-exclusive platform." ThatÂ’s three totally-new and Acura-exclusive platforms in a short time period, and it got us thinking. What is Acura up to here?  Most manufacturers these days are increasingly going in the exact opposite direction. VolkswagenÂ’s MQB architecture underpins everything from the hot hatch GTI to the gigantic Atlas. ToyotaÂ’s TNGA platform has multiple sizes/versions, but Toyota still considers them related and will tell you that TNGA is the basis of cars from the Corolla on up to the Highlander, plus the Lexus UX and ES. You can find similar stories all across the industry, in both luxury and non-luxury brands. Acura, on the other hand, appears to be taking a totally different approach. To get some clarity on strategy, we reached out to Acura. The answers are multifaceted, but Acura says it's spending money where it pays dividends for performance — but there's also more sharing between models than it might look like on the surface. “The definition of what constitutes a 'common platform' varies by automaker,” Acura exclusively told Autoblog during a wide-ranging e-mail interview involving the input of numerous engineers and product planners. “For us, the most fundamental value is to maintain the same carry points throughout production and enable us to produce different vehicles in the same manufacturing environment.” As an example, the TLX and RDX feature similar carry points in the chassis to enable their production on the same line, but thatÂ’s where the two diverge. “The TLX is different in that it has a bespoke platform that is not shared with any other Acura or Honda vehicle,” Acura says.

2014 Acura MDX priced from $42,290*

The fully redesigned 2014 MDX goes on sale in July, and Acura has now confirmed that its largest crossover will be priced at $42,290 (*plus $895 for destination). Unlike previous MDX models, Acura will offer the 2014 model with both front- and all-wheel drive (the automaker's fantastic Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive, at that), and this base price is for the standard, two-wheel-drive MDX model. At the base level, this new pricing represents a $990 decrease over the outgoing, AWD-only 2013 model.
Four trim levels will be offered across the range, all of which use Acura's direct-injected 3.5-liter V6 engine good for 290 horsepower and 267 pound-feet of torque, mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. Standard features include things like push-button start, Acura's fancy new Jewel Eye LED headlights, the next-generation AcuraLink system, an eight-inch multi-function display screen, blind spot monitoring and a premium sound system.
Moving up from there, the Technology package ($46,565) gains 19-inch wheels (18s are standard), forward collision warning, lane departure warning, a color TFT display, rain-sensing wipers and more. The Entertainment Package (bundled into one $48,565 model) adds rear seat entertainment to all of that. At the top end, the MDX Advance model gets unique wheels, remote engine start, 12-speaker ELS premium audio, adaptive cruise control and more. Adding Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive to any of these models results in a $2,000 price jump.