2007 Acura Mdx Awd on 2040-cars

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Inside Honda's ghost town for testing autonomous cars

On the edge of the San Francisco suburb of Concord, California sits a ghost town. Dilapidated buildings and cracked roads are framed by overgrowth and slightly askew street signs. The decommissioned five acre portion of the Concord Naval Weapons Station that once housed military personnel and their families is now home to squirrels, jack rabbits, wild turkeys and Honda's mysterious testing lab for autonomous vehicles. This former town within a Naval base – now dubbed "GoMentum Station" – is the perfect testing ground for Honda's self-driving cars. An almost turn-key solution to the problem of finding somewhere to experiment with autonomous vehicle inside an urban area. Thanks to the GoMentum Station, the automaker has access to 20 miles of various road types, intersections and infrastructure exactly like those found in the real world. Just, you know, without all the people getting in the way. While the faded lane markers and cracked asphalt might initially make it difficult for the car to figure out what's going on around it, that's exactly what you want when training a self-driving system. Many roads in the real world are also in dire need of upkeep. Just because autonomous vehicles are hitting the streets doesn't mean the funding needed to fix all the potholes and faded lane markers will magically appear. The real world doesn't work that way and the robot cars that will eventually make our commutes less of a headache will need to be aware of that. Plus, it's tougher to train a car to drive downtown than to barrel down the highway at 80 miles per hour. A company is going to want to get as much practice as possible. While semi-autonomous driving on the everyone-going-the-same-way-at-a-constant-speed freeway is already a reality, navigating in an urban environment is far more complex. If you've driven on the streets of Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago or Seattle you know that driving downtown takes far more concentration than cruising down the interstate. With all that in mind, Honda's tricked out Acura RLX did a good job during an (admittedly very controlled) hands-free demo. It didn't hit either of the pedestrians walking across its path. It stopped at stop signs and even maneuvered around a mannequin situated in the middle of the road. The reality is, watching a car drive around the block and safely avoid stuff is boring. Not to metion, Google has been doing this for a while in the real world.

2020 Lamborghini Huracan Evo has the biggest price discount in America

Right now, buyers of the 2020 Lamborghini Huracan Evo are paying an average of $248,000 to drive the brand-new supercar off the dealer lot. That's a hefty chunk of change, but it represents $16,269 off the car's average $264,969 retail price, according to data provided to Autoblog by Truecar. That's the largest discount in America on a new vehicle for the month of April, 2020 when judged by the dollar amount in savings off the sticker. It's not all that uncommon to see a lot of money taken off the sticker price of expensive luxury cars. This month, right behind the Lamborghini sits the 2019 BMW 8 Series with a few bucks shy of $11,000 in savings, which is hardly surprising. Though it's a very sleek and entertaining car in some of its various incarnations, it hasn't exactly proven to be a hot seller for the German automaker. The fact that there are a total of 15 (!) possible configurations probably doesn't help. Two other BMWs, the 2020 7 Series ($10,164 in savings) and the 2019 i8 ($10,145) are also on the top 10 biggest discounts list. In between that BMW sandwich are the 2019 and 2020 editions of the Acura NSX. It doesn't really matter which one a buyer chooses to drive off the lot, either way lopping off more than $10,000 off the sticker price means the electrified supercar will cost just under $150k. For a look at the best new car deals in America based on the percentage discount off their suggested asking prices, check out our monthly recap here. And when you're ready to buy, click here for the Autoblog Smart Buy program, which brings you a hassle-free buying experience with over 9,000 Certified Dealers nationwide. Related Video:

2021 Acura TLX Long-Term Update | A surprise upgrade

That may look a lot like our long-term 2021 Acura TLX A-Spec, but in this case, your eyes deceive you. Say hello to our not-so-long-term TLX Type S, which is subbing in for the A-Spec while the latter undergoes a little exploratory surgery to diagnose what appears to be an escalating electrical issue.  Yes, our handsome blue steed is currently lame. What first manifested as odd transmission behavior and the occasional infotainment reboot escalated to the vehicular equivalent of a grand mal seizure on a rainy Michigan day, resulting in a flat-bed ride to the dealership and fast-tracking our plans to get the TLX in for a diagnosis. So, for the foreseeable future, I'm enjoying an extra two cylinders and nearly 100 more horsepower. All upsides, right? To a degree. While the extra power is certainly welcome, it comes at a cost – 200 pounds, give or take. That extra weight erodes some of the qualities I appreciate most about our long-term A-Spec. Acura really nailed the front-end feel of the TLX with the A-Spec, and while the Type S still feels pretty good, the added mass over the nose is inescapable. And while the 20" Type S wheels look fantastic, they make the already firmer suspension feel almost unnecessarily crashy. The 19s on the A-Spec are the sweet spot (picking up on my thesis?) but even I must admit the Type S wheels look significantly better.  On paper, this 3.5-liter V6 matches up reasonably well with the rest of the premium turbo-sixes on the market, but in the real world, it's a bit uninspiring, and not just in the too-competent-for-its-own-good way BMW's mainstream I6s tend to be. There's plenty of power and torque, but I've yet to experience one of those "ah-ha!" moments where the whole package suddenly makes sense.  In fact, I spend more time pining for the lighter, nimbler A-Spec than I do yearning for the open space I'd need to let the V6 run free. In this, I think I'm rowing against the Autoblog current; others' reviews of Acura's muscular six-cylinder have been far more enthusiastic. Be that as it may, I appreciate the way the A-Spec drives like a smaller car than it is. Related video: 2021 Acura TLX 2.0-liter turbo-four soundtrack | Autoblog