Acura kicked its sleepy RL in the fanny with a 2005 redesign that ended the era of the Japanese Lincoln. Stone-sharpened styling, a 300-hp V-6, and a newfangled, yaw-inducing all-wheel-drive system suddenly made the RL a switchback hound among $50,000 luxury sedans.

Dandelions grew at dealers. Sales have slipped every year since 2005, to a low of 6262 cars last year. Meanwhile, arch-rival Lexus outsold the RL by more than three to one with its similarly priced GS350.

Instead of a kick in the pants, Acura is trying a frying pan to the face. The rearranging of the RL’s kisser for ’09 nudges it back toward Lincoln-like lassitude, with a squared-up nose, monster grille blade, and puffed-out front shoulders. Augmented by injections of chrome and bright plastic, the front and rear ends bristle with new bling.

Always the small fry in its class, the RL now evinces a more imperious—Imperial? New Yorker?—look, especially on its 18-inch wheels (17s were standard before). It’s a mirage; the dimensions barely change. The revised sheetmetal and bumpers add 2.2 inches to the overall length, but the cozy 110.2-inch wheelbase, tight back seat, and modest 13-cubic-foot trunk remain. The long list of standard equipment carries over, so look very close to see the new RL’s interior upgrades, including a fancier shifter and new front buckets with greater adjustability. A new interior noise-canceling system really does suck up the road rumble. Read more »

Back when gasoline was still cheaper than Glenfiddich, Honda’s luxury division rolled the dice on a compact sedan with a wholly un-American persona. The 2004 Acura TSX, essentially an overseas-market Honda Accord, was cut narrow for Europe’s squeezed streets, firmed up for keen drivers, and armed with a no-frills four-banger to take on the turbocharged and six-cylinder competition. The only choices: manual or automatic, and navigation system or wrinkled map. Pitching this lean front-driver as the cut-buck alternative to a BMW 3-series, Acura execs seemed to have been swilling their own stocks of Scotch.

We fell in love. The TSX was compact but not cramped. It was frugal on gas but felt swift. It commuted serenely and also sliced asphalt into ribbons. It was less expensive, better equipped in base form, and when fitted with the especially satisfying six-speed stick, about 2.7 times more entertaining than most of the luxury cars then oozing across our pages. It averaged about 32,000 sales per year, twice the expectation, Acura tells us. A three-time 10Best winner, the original TSX departs us, leaving behind size-14 double-Es to fill. Read more »