1997 Acura RL Reviews, Pricing & Specs

I love my 1997 Acura 3.5RL Premium. It's my baby. It's got a 3.5 liter V6 with 210 horsepower and 224 lb-ft torque. It does 0-60 in 7.8 seconds as tested by Motorweek. The color is called Cayman White Pearl and the interior color is Quartz, a grayish color. It was bought 12 years ago by my grandmother at Acura of Mission Viejo, California. I was about 5 years old then and believe it or not, I went with her to go buy it and I even remember it. The sticker price was around $45,000 when brand new. It has the premium package with 6 CD player, Bose sound sytem, traction control, extra wood trim, heated front seats and a GPS navigation system. I bought the car from her when I turned 16 just before I got my license. Performance is great. Tight steering, good breakes, quick acceleration etc. The quality is decent, but I have had some problems with it. The GPS broke and I got that fixed under a recall. I had to pay $300 for a new window regulator for one of my windows. The ABS had a leak of some sort 5 months after I bought the car. Well over $2000 to fix. 10 months after I bought it, I had to take the car in because of a serious brake problem. After they got fixed, I had to take it to the repair shop a week later because of a 2nd break problem. Right now no problems, but I think I may need to check the ignition because sometimes I have to turn the key twice to start it. The car will start if it doesn't start the first time. The car's running great. The car impresses a lot of people. I always get good compliments on my car. The exterior styling is very appealing, but the rims could have been designed to be a little bit nicer. The interior is also very stylish, for its age anyway. Mayny people love my car for its looks. Cost of ownership is reasonable, except for the brake problems that I've had. The EPA tested the Acura's 3.5 V6 at 19 city 25 highway. I think that's inaccurate, but I get decent gas mileage. Maybe around 225-250 miles on a full tank. During the summer however, when gas was almost $5 a gallon, I remember paying over $60 for a full tank of gas, and my car requires premium gasoline. Right now I pay about $35 for a full tank. This car is so much fun to drive. In 1996 Acura RL ad, they say "It proves that luxury doesn't have to be boring", and they were right. I do have to give it lots of credit for the handling. That's one thing I love about it the most. Even though this car doesn't have a V8 or rear wheel drive like its Lexus LS400 and and Infiniti Q45 rivals, it's still a great car and I really would recommend this car to anyone.May 10, 2009