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Acura RLX will die after 2020 model year

Only Acura knows why its flagship RLX sedan is still on sale; every year that we had occasion to remember the RLX — which wasn't every year — seemed like a good year to let the car die peacefully. Automotive News reports the deed is finally done, or rather, will be at the end of 2020, when Acura discontinues the model that started with the RL in 1996. Honda told U.S. dealers yesterday that in other markets like Japan, the four-door will continue to sell as the Honda Legend. Honda's comment to AN included, "With SUVs leading the luxury market, the highly successful RDX and MDX now serve as volume leaders of the Acura brand," and, "We will further strengthen our sports sedans, consistent with the performance-focused direction we have been taking Acura over the past four years." Speaking of the devil, the RL and RLX — and Acura as a brand — never got out from under the weight of the Legend sedan, that ancestor being the second of Acura's three albatrosses after the original NSX and the Integra. The RL never equaled the Legend's worst year of U.S. sales. The RLX, a combination of arousing performance under anodyne styling costing premium German money, might have performed the same feat viz the RL, but the RL sold less than 5,000 units here for the last five years of its life. The RLX has only exceeded 5,000 sales once, in 2013. Last year, 1,019 units found buyers.  Acura's focus now is the NSX halo and the continuing overhaul of the volume lineup. The new RDX is going great guns, the new MDX crossover is due this year. The slightly larger and Type S concept-inspired TLX sedan is expected to be another gift to 2020, followed by the return of a bona fide Type S next year, after which the ILX compact sedan gets its turn. Last year was the first time in five years the TLX dipped below 30,000 sales in the U.S., impressively steady going for a segment with shocking attrition. Although the demise of the RLX gives up on the aspiration for a big luxury flagship, the coming TLX should help us forget what the RLX represented. If we hadn't already.

Acura races into anime with 'Chiaki's Journey' web series

For the twelfth year in a row, Acura is a presenting sponsor and the official vehicle of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Acura created a four-part anime series called Chiaki's Journey combining the medium Sundance celebrates, Japanese anime, the automaker's fuller Type-S lineup, and the new Acura Integra hatch. Unlike most of the films at the festival, however, Chiaki's Journey runs a total of four minutes and 12 seconds, each episode lasting just over a minute. The story centers on Chiaki, a young Japanese woman from a family of racers who knows how to hustle a car around a track, but who has a temper that runs faster than her vintage Integra can rev. The villain is Erich Kang, the same rich and insufferably arrogant hotshot from every video game and car movie, piloting a non-descript blue hot rod. He's clearly the guy everyone would like to beat, and he knows he's that guy. When Chiaki gets behind the wheel to teach Kang a lesson in lap times, her uncle Noboru steps in to teach her the lessons she'll need to need to win.  Being so condensed, each installment plays like a trailer for a longer episode. Acura managed to fit in all the cars, though: Spot the 2022 MDX Type S, NSX Type S, TLX Type S, and 2023 Integra. The car brand got the obligatory Japanese rock anime intro as well, thanks to the all-female metal band NEMOPHILA doing the song "Raitei.” You can see the first episode above and the rest at Acura's dedicated Type S site.  Related video:

Acura MDX Luggage Test: How much fits behind the third row?

The Acura MDX shares its platform with the Honda Pilot, but that fact is really only obvious when you look at their rear seat floor plans. Both offer the unique, removable second-row middle seat, which means that buyers don't have to decide whether they want max capacity and a second-row bench, or the pass-through convenience of second-row captain's chairs. Both also boast a two-level cargo floor behind the third row, which is always a benefit here in Luggage Test land. But! The MDX does not have nearly as much room back there, regardless of whether you take advantage of the two-level floor's lower level (why wouldn't you?).  The MDX has two cargo volume specs for behind the third row: 16.3 and 18.1 cubic-feet. I think it's safe to assume the expanded number is with the floor in its lower position. The Pilot has 18.6 with the floor in place, and either 22.4 or 21.8 with the lower position. The latter's is the Pilot TrailSport's, which is what I conducted the luggage test on. Meanwhile, in the three-row luxury SUV realm, the current king of the castle is the Lexus TX. Telling you right now, the MDX ain't cracking that nut, but what about everything else I've tested? Let's see. Here is the space in question. Note that the floor does not need to be removed; it actually slides down, tucked just below that plastic trim, and rests upon the lower floor. Now, this obviously does raise the bottom floor by an inch versus removing the floor board entirely, so much like cargo covers in two-row vehicles, I decided to test with and without the floor inside. As with every Luggage Test, I use two midsize roller suitcases that would need to be checked in at the airport (26 inches long, 16 wide, 11 deep), two black roll-aboard suitcases that just barely fit in the overhead (24L x 15W x 10D), and one smaller green roll-aboard that fits easily (23L x 15W x 10D). I also include my wife's fancy overnight bag just to spruce things up a bit (21L x 12W x 12D). Well, I can safely say that the MDX's cargo area is narrower than the Pilot's (above right). I could not fit the same bags* head-to-head in the MDX as I could in the Pilot (* green bag is the blue bag's equally sized replacement). The underfloor area seems to be the same length, but it is considerably narrower.  As such, it's obvious the MDX won't be able to hold as many bags, or at least the same bags, as the Pilot could.  First, with the floor stored in its lower position inside the MDX. Two options.