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Toyota tops Consumer Reports best, worst used car values

We often mock Toyota for building boring, soulless cars, but a new study by Consumer Reports suggests that regardless of whether that's true, the company has some of the best used cars on the market. In its report on used cars from 2004-2013, the Japanese automaker had 11 vehicles among its brands on the list - more than any other automaker.
CR breaks the list down by cost and vehicle size, and Toyota has at least one entry at every price point and in nearly every segment. To score a recommendation, a vehicle had to perform well in the magazine's initial tests and score above-average reliability results. It also tried to only suggest cars with electronic stability control. Of the 28 recommended vehicles, Honda/Acura had the second most mentions at six, and Ford, Hyundai and Subaru managed two each.
The Detroit brands also made it to the list, but not in a positive way. Consumer Reports compiled a list of 22 vehicles it wouldn't recommend because "they have multiple years of much-worse-than-average overall reliability." General Motors had the most unrecommended models on the list at six, but Chrysler and Ford weren't far behind, with five cars each from their brands not making the grade. The full list of recommendations is available on CR's website.

Junkyard Gem: 1996 Acura 3.5 RL, Rocky Mountain Rambler 500 Edition

Honda had a good sales run with the Acura Legend, the first of the luxury-marque spinoffs from well-known Japanese carmakers to appear on our shores, but times change and the RL replaced the Legend as Acura's flagship starting in the 1996 model year. Here's one of those first-year RLs, found in a Denver boneyard covered in decorations from the Rocky Mountain Rambler 500 road rally. The Rocky Mountain Rambler 500 involves a lot of punitive off-road driving, so cars that have no business on the dirt seem to get coolness points. That makes Honda's most expensive vehicle of 24 years ago a fine choice of ride. I can't determine how well this car did, but the drivers looked optimistic during the inspections last month. Since the ignition key is still in the switch, I'm assuming it wasn't running so well after the rally and the team decided to bid farewell to their Acura in the lowest-hassle way possible: sell it to the nearest U-Pull-&-Pay. The team appears to have gone for a Pirates of the Caribbean theme with their big land yacht. The evil-looking wheel covers looked sharp. However, the Lord Humungus-grade roof spikes really make this car stand out, both on the rally and, now, in the junkyard. It seemed very clean, with the original owner's manual still in the glovebox. The MSRP on this car came to $41,000 in 1996, which amounts to about $69,000 in 2020 dollars. A new Lexus LS 400 cost $52,900 that year, though the $45,700 Lexus GS 300 was more likely to have battled for the money of potential 3.5 RL buyers. The 1996 Infiniti Q45 went for $53,520, while the J30 cost $39,920. The 1996 BMW 530i had a $42,750 price tag, but your Mitsubishi dealer had $25,525 Diamantes that year. Built on the idea that luxury doesn't have to be boring. Take that, Lexus!

2022 Acura ILX dies this year, replaced by Integra

In August 2021, Acura brand officer John Ikeda told Motor Trend, "Integra is not a replacement for ILX but Integra is our entry gateway vehicle. We don't plan on having something below that." Seems what he meant is that the Integra shouldn't be viewed as a new-generation of the ILX, because the Integra is replacing the ILX in every other way. In a video podcast on YouTube, two podcast hosts at Serra Acura said, "The Integra is replacing the ILX. That has been the clear message from them without saying the ILX is going away." Motor1 asked the Japanese luxury brand about the statement, getting the reply, "The 2022 model year is the final model year for the ILX, in anticipation of the new Integra." The Acura spokesperson then followed up with, "The new Integra was developed from day 1 to deliver on the original lineage that began with Integra back in 1986 ... and will be the new entry point to the brand." This is in the vein of Ikeda's comment, where we're not meant to connect the Integra to the ILX, but see the two models as distinct branches in the family tree, like cousins by marriage instead of siblings. Acura wants this Integra to be seen as a delayed new generation for the lineup that ended in 2001 if you're a purist, or 2006 if you're willing to let the RSX into the house. The effect today is still the same, the distinction unimportant. The 2022 ILX is the final model year for the 10-year-old sedan, which has sold more than 2,000 units in the U.S. in a single month only once since October 2013. The new entry-level vehicle is the Integra, priced a touch above the ILX at around $30,000.   With Integra pre-orders expected to begin March 10, the real surprise is how much we have let to learn about the coming hatchback. We're looking forward to the 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder up front, its output still unknown. That 2.4-liter, naturally aspirated four-cylinder in the ILX makes 201 horsepower and 180 pound-feet of torque, the Integra's 1.5-liter produces 200 hp and 192 lb-ft in the Honda Civic Si. We'd love for the Acura to get its due and make a noticeably more power than the Si. We know the Integra will offer a six-speed manual, but the automatic gearbox option remains a mystery. And other than checking out the interior of a static Integra on display at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, we're missing a whole bunch of details on features and amenities. We expect the blanks to get filled in soon. Related video: 2022 Acura NSX Type S revealed