2003 Acura Cl Type S on 2040-cars

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Autoblog's guilty pleasure cars

Guilty pleasures are part of life – don't even try to pretend like you don't have one (or two, or six). In the non-automotive space, this could come down to that secret playlist in your iPhone of songs you'll only listen to when you're alone; or think of that one TV show you really do love, but won't admit to your friends. I've got plenty, and so do you. Going back to cars, here's a particularly juicy one for me: several years ago, I had a mad crush on the very last iteration of the Cadillac DTS. Oh yes, the front-wheel-drive, Northstar V8-powered sofa-on-wheels that was the last remaining shred of the elderly-swooning days of Cadillac's past. Every time I had the chance to drive one, I was secretly giddy. Don't hate me, okay? These days, the DTS is gone, but I've still got a mess of other cars that hold a special place in my heart. And in the spirit of camaraderie, I've asked my other Autoblog editors to tell me some of their guilty pleasure cars, as well – Seyth Miersma, as you can see above, has a few choice emotions to share about the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Read on to find out what cars make us secretly happy. Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG This decadent convertible is the epitome of the guilty pleasure. It's big, powerful, fairly heavy and it's richly appointed inside and out. It's a chocolate eclair with the three-pointed star on the hood. Given my druthers, I'd take the SL65 AMG, which delivers 621 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. That output is borderline absurd for this laid-back convertible. I don't care. You don't need dessert. Sometimes you just crave it. The SL line is about the feel you get on the road. The roof is open. The air, sun and engine sounds all embrace you. It's the same dynamic you could have experienced in a Mercedes a century ago, yet the SL gives you the most modern of luxuries. An Airscarf feature that warms my neck and shoulders through a vent embedded in the seat? Yes, please. Sure, it's an old-guy car. Mr. Burns and Lord Grantham are probably too young and hip for an SL65. I don't care. This is my guilty pleasure. Release the hounds. – Greg Migliore Senior Editor Ford Flex I drove my first Flex in 2009 when my mother let me borrow hers for the summer while I was away at college. The incredibly spacious interior made moving twice that summer a breeze, and the 200-mile trips up north were quite comfortable.

There will be a third-generation NSX, says Acura V.P.

The second-generation Acura NSX might be going out in a blaze of glory, but it won't be the last we see of the supercar. This promise comes directly from Acura Vice President and Brand Officer Jon Ikeda. Furthermore, Ikeda implied that the next version might be electric. Ikeda divulged thoughts about a third-gen NSX while being interviewed by The Drive and Motor Trend. To the former, he explained Acura's mission with the the mid-engined supercar. "We make an NSX when there's something we want to say. The first-gen was gas. Second-gen was a hybrid. There's gonna be another one." Unless Ikeda is talking about hydrogen or some kind of heretofore undisclosed technology like  Mr. Fusion, this pretty much means electric. That means the NSX is likely to take another hiatus after the Type S closes out the 2022 model year. Between the first and second generations, the halo sports car had an 11-year absence on the market. Ikeda laid out the reasons for the nameplate's 2016 return when he spoke to Motor Trend. "Honda is one of the biggest gasoline engine makers in the world and needed to see what will happen in a world turning away from engines," he explained. It was always meant to be a halo car. "We didn't go into it to make a lot of money," he stated. The second generation had a much shorter lifespan than the game-changing first gen. That one spanned one and a half decades, from 1990 to 2005. The current generation, once it exits stage left in 2022, will have only had a six-year run. One could argue that the first gen overstayed its welcome, though. After thoroughly turning the supercar world on its ear, by forcing Ferrari et al to reconsider their engineering, the NSX's competitors quickly caught up to Honda's lead. While the NSX did undergo a couple of major changes during its first lifespan, by the time it left the market it was more of a dwindle. Acura is determined not to let that happen with the current NSX. In this case, they're sending it off with the most powerful iteration yet, a 600-horsepower Type S with reworked turbos, cooling system and aerodynamics and limiting production to 350 worldwide. Ikeda told Motor Trend, "We didn't want to let the NSX die on the vine either. To go quietly into the night is not what it deserves."

How I was reunited with my Acura TSX after 16 years

Back in 2006, I did a very unusual thing: I ordered an Acura. While ordering your car is always unusual in this country, doing so for an Acura (or Honda) is even stranger given how few combinations of color and options there are. The chances of finding what you want at a dealer are high. Despite the odds, though, I needed to order my 2006 Acura TSX with the combination of Arctic Blue paint, touchscreen navigation and, crucially, the six-speed manual transmission. Three months later, it was in the driveway. Fifteen months later, however, it was out of the driveway. I had just got my dream job as an automotive journalist and no longer needed to own a daily driver. The TSX would just be collecting dust and depreciation down in a garage, I hadn’t exactly grown attached to it after so little time, and it certainly didnÂ’t seem like a collectible car to hang onto for posterity. After months of trying to sell it (turns out all those dealers were on to something with their inventory builds), a nice young man named Chanc flew to Los Angeles with a check in hand. I took off my RIZ plates, he slid that manual transmission into first, and off my TSX went to its new home in Utah never to be heard or seen from again. Until Christmas Eve of last year. While enjoying an egg nog, I pulled out my phone to find I was tagged in the below Instagram post by someone named Tyson Hugie. It took me a second to process what I was seeing: somebody handing over keys to an Arctic Blue Acura TSX with a red bow on top. “Wait, what?” I exclaimed.           View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Tyson Hugie (@tysonhugie)   “IÂ’m an Acura brand aficionado, some call me an addict,” Hugie explained to me on an episode of the Autoblog Podcast recorded in the TSX itself. ThatÂ’s putting it lightly, and itÂ’s an addiction thatÂ’s resulted in quite the following on Instagram and YouTube, where he documents his collection/projects. “IÂ’ve been a fan of Honda and Acura products since the late ‘90s. Whenever I come across a particularly rare model, it kind of stays with me a long time.” His collecting started back in 2011 after Acura threw a red-carpet party for him, and more notably, the Acura Legend he owned that rolled over 500,000 miles. It has since crested 585,400. Nearly 30 other Acuras and Hondas have come, gone and stayed alongside it in HugieÂ’s garage since then.