Car and Driver 2019 CX5 article.

They were always simply trumped up Honda's. Right from the start.

Ya, I know what you mean, but at least in the past they seemed to make a bit of an effort to put some added value into an Acura.
My brother in law had a 2006 TL, and it was a really nice car.
Now though it seems like Honda isn't even pretending to make the Acura a better value vehicle.
They change a few body panels, add some do-dads, a piece of chrome here and there, and slap an Acura badge on it. Voila. Now, pay us 10 grand more.
 
Acura was indeed a notch above Honda at one time. They were a premium brand for sure.
Unfortunately, Honda decided to save a few bucks, and started to just re-badge their Civics and Accords (for starters) with the Acura name, and charging $7-$10k, or more, for them.
Example, The Acura ILX is based on the previous generation Civic, and yet, you'll probably pay around $7k more for it than a fully loaded current gen Civic.
The TLX is an Accord.
Honda is really slipping lately. It's like the bean counters have taken over the Company. Sort of like what happened to the Big 3 in the past.

They were always simply trumped up Honda's. Right from the start.

I have to take a little bit of umbrage here. The Acura RDX has a 272 hp 2.0L engine backed by a 10-speed transmission with Super-Handling (torque vectoring) AWD vs. the CR-V's 1.5L engine with a CVT that has only 190 hp and on-demand AWD. The RDX also has an adaptive damper suspension system and offers a more spacious cabin, and better appointments like LED headlights, heated/cooled front seats, heated rear seats, etc. I'm not sure what more Honda could do to differentiate it from the CR-V. The RDX competes with the BMW X3 and Audi Q5, yet is cheaper and probably more reliable than both.
 
I agree. The new RDX is a very different beast from the 2013-18 which was a flashy CRV. For fun, look at Acurazine*s RDX third generation forum. There*s even a thread about cross-shopping with the CX-5. I*m going for the CX-5 Signature as a replacement for my Gen 1 2008 RDX. It*s much closer in size than the new one and really suits my needs. But the 2019 RDX and 2019 GT-R or Signature are all great cars in different ways.
 
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