1999 Acura RL - Far Off The Pace It Set

This is a 1999 Acura 3.5RL

Japan renegotiated their trade limitation agreements with the United States in the early 1980's that not only enabled them to export more cars for sale here but opened the door for them to import another type of vehicle class entirely - luxury cars. Of course, what they would sell as a luxury car in the U.S. had nothing in common with the then current domestic axiom, albeit one that was evolving, but rather an emulation of the best of what Germany had to offer. 

Honda introduced their Legend sedan in the U.S, under their newly minted "Acura" moniker, for model year 1986 and, not surprisingly, especially considering they were priced considerably less than the cost of a Mercedes-Benz and other pricey German makes cost then, it was a huge sales success. They also sold a luxury version of their Civic they called "Integra"; a Legend coupe followed in 1987. Seemingly overnight, the notion of a Japanese automaker going bumper to bumper with haughty German makes and models wasn't such a, excuse the pun, "foreign" concept. Although by 1986, Honda had long entrenched itself in this country as a purveyor of high-quality transportation conveyances. Given that, it wasn't such a stretch to believe they could pull off what they did so successfully. 

Allegedly, "Acura" stems from the Latin term, "acu" which refers to something done with acute precession.

The first two-generations of the Acura Legend were, warning, another pun incoming, legend. Almost too much so as much to the dismay of Honda executives, many a Legend owner referred to their cars as "Legends" and not "Acura's". Seems fairly inconsequential now, but keep in mind at the time, "Acura" was a fledging nameplate Honda was attempting to carve out a niche if not identity for. Spurred or encouraged by Honda's success, Toyota and Nissan introduced luxury marquees in 1989 doing the Acura brand no favors either. As for GM and Ford, well, they may have just laid there like proverbial slugs as their entire world was upheaved right in front of their headlights. 

 

So, when it came time to introduce a third generation of the Legend, Honda took a page from European brand Germans and began using an alphanumeric naming scheme and, thus, for 1997, the "Legend" was rechristened "3.5RL". "RL" purportedly for "road luxury". To add insult to injury, at least styling wise, the new RL was not only no second-generation Legend, it also came only in four-door guise. 

Acura, a division of Honda, was first introduced in the United States in 1986. 

Although one of these bland looking if not homely sedans could suck the doors off any Cadillac or Lincoln of the vintage, we can't say the same about how it fared versus a comparable Lexus (Toyota) or Infiniti (Nissan). Although, in fairness, the rear-wheel-drive Lexus' and Infiniti's range topping models were different in concept and execution from the front-wheel-drive Acura 3.5RL. Begs the question, how come Honda never come with a V-8 powered, rear-wheel-drive sedan like Toyota and Nissan did? Because they never created one for their home market they could base one on. And the cost to build one from scratch would have been cost prohibitive, especially one that was built specifically for export. 

Subsequently, sales of the slab-sided, wallowing, relatively underpowered 3.5RL cratered in comparison to the second-generation Legend. While a still far superior automobile to anything GM or Ford was producing at the time, Daimler's influence on Chrysler, which it acquired in 1998, didn't really come into play until 2004, Honda found itself far behind the Asian luxury-car import race it all but started in this country. Subsequent updates to the RL, while much improved, didn't fare much better nor improve upon Acura's literal pole position in the marketplace. At least in comparison to Lexus, in particular, and Infiniti. 

The Acura 3.5RL replaced the Legend in Acrua's lineup starting in 1996.

What, then, to make of this 1999 3.5RL I found for sale on Facebook Marketplace recently with a scant 111,000-miles on its ticker with a more than fair, at least on paper, asking price of $4,500? If you can look past it's oh-so-'90's Asian motif and see it for what it is, that being a super well built, bank-vault solid driver that will run for at least another 100 or 200K, for someone looking for a stalwart commuter for not a lot of money, they'd be hard pressed to do better these days. Just don't try and fool yourself into thinking you're driving anything more than that.