My Personal Experience with the 2005 Acura RL My killer commute was getting worse.  My SUV, although a reliable workhorse, was hard to drive on windy canyon roads and crowded freeways.  My wife, after seeing me arrive home exhausted every day, suggested that I purchase a new car with the features that may ease the burden of my commute.  I read innumerable automobile reviews, perused the media hype and took some test drives.  In the end, I decided on the new 2005 Acura RL.  It was the real-time traffic reports on the standard navigation system that finally pushed me over the edge.  I would never have dreamed of purchasing a $50,000 car, but I was looking for comfort, quality, good handling and quiet ride, and the RL looked impressive.  The RL comes fully-equipped, so the only real decision is the color.  I picked out a black one in March, 2005.   What the automobile reviews don't tell you about are the RATTLES and the unreliable electronics.  I felt that I was in an adult Disneyland during the first week of ownership.  The electronic gadgets are amazing and, at first, a little overwhelming.  By the end of the week, as the novelty was wearing off, I started to notice the rattles.  An annoying tapping in the area of the overhead console prompted me to complain to my salesman.  I figured that I would wait a few weeks-just in case anything else would go wrong-before I would bring the car in for repair.  As a few weeks passed, the rattle became increasingly annoying. When I returned the car to the dealer, they said that they found a bracket that wasn't tightened properly and the problem was fixed.  Well, that rattle was just as bad on the drive home.  Two weeks later I again brought the car to the dealer.  This time it was diagnosed that the moonroof bracket was the culprit and that it would need to be replaced.  The third repair-when the bracket was replaced-took three days.  The entire headliner, brackets, motors and side airbags had to be removed to make the repair.  Well, after I picked up the car, not only did the moonroof did not function properly, now the rattling problem was much worse-sounding somewhat like popcorn popping several inches from my ear.  So, how do I know the airbags will now function properly? Now I spend a lot of time in my car.  My morning commute starts at 5:00 AM (when the rattles are much more pronounced) and my afternoon commute was lasting about 2 hours.  All told, I was listening to this noise for almost 3 hours each day. By this time other problems started to surface. The navigation system would lose the NavTraffic (real-time traffic speeds) data, then the navigation system would blank out and reset itself. The XM Radio started making annoying metallic popping noises. Several pieces of door trim fell off- once as I was leaving my car at the dealer. Both windows started rattling non-stop. The dashboard started rattling. Then the keyless entry system stopped working on the driver's side. A loud clunk was heard every time I went over a speed bump or rough road. Then the brakes started squealing. Sound bad? It is. I still have every one of these problems in spite of being in the shop 20 consecutive days during my last visit. In my first 360 days of ownership, my $50,000 flagship Acura has been in the shop for 40 (yes, 40) days. That's one of every 9 days. And the car still has at least 10 problems as of this writing. At least now I have an attorney and we are trying to get Acura to buy the car back- or at least replace it. In conclusion, I believe that Acura has decided to enter the $50,000 luxury automobile market with a vehicle that doesn't quite rate with offerings from Lexus, Mercedes Benz and others.  The RL has many nice features-more than most in the same price range-but a quiet ride should be essential in this competitive market.  In addition, I don't think Acura dealers or management are used to catering to clients that have high expectations in this type of market.  I can't imagine Lexus allowing their customers to experience what I have.

Please keep in mind that the above commentary reflects the experiences of the reviewer. Please email me to express your comments.