You make it sound as if this is a bad thing. Is there something wrong with the Accord platform? It's FWD, yes, but it is a very structurally sound and solid platform. Accords have always been class leaders in chassis refinement, rigidity, solidness, bending stiffness, and overall driving dynamics.
I'm in agreement with you over Acura's current direction. I believe Acura is in trouble with this new TL. It's a real shame because I was very, very excited to see the new TL, and was flabbergasted at the results. I'm quite certain, though, that the car will drive amazingly, regardless of its sibling's platform.

 

Well while the Accord platform might be good for Honda, it's not necessarily a good platform for Acura who wants to be Tier 1.
In my opinion they made the Accord grow too much.

 

I could be wrong, but isn't Lexus platform sharing with toyota as well ?

I see nothing wrong with platform sharing. I loved my RX350

 

Lexus is only platform sharing the SUVs and the ES. The main sedans all have Lexus exclusive platforms.

 

I don't claim Lexus to be tier 1 yet either. They lack options that a tier 1 luxury brand does. Coupes? More transmission and engines choices?

 

I would take better AWD system. Except that, More tech inside such as (push button ignition, heated seat, tons of buttons, doppler rader, realtime traffic.. wooooow more tech???? most of them are not new or advanced anymore). SOHC, 5AT, Regular HID. where are DOHC, 6AT, ventilated seat, AFS with auto leveling,?? what kind of more tech you get from TL beside real time weather/traffic and AWD? for me, i don't need weather. it is BS unless you use TL to drive cross country everyday.lol.

 

+1. Outside of a more sophisticated AWD setup I don't see much of an advantage over a comparable GS (or heck an ES). The new XM features IMO are worthless. Weather? Im on the road driving. I can see what the weather is like. Plus the car tells me the outside temp. and every radio station already gives me a weather outlook for the week. Voice recogn. still pretty crappy if you ask me. Unless they made some improvements for 2009. Doesn't have better gas mileage. And its down right nasty to look at.
So basically IMO Acura didn't improve a thing outside of adding AWD and making it bigger. Now I will still go to my friends dealership and still drive it and say it drives great just like the current model, but that's pobably where the kudos will stop for me.

 

That is what the GS has over the TL & I am being serious, it may seem like an unnecessary bell & whistle but I enjoy it. Why Acura is so slow to implement it in the US I will never understand.

 

The IS has it over the TL as well.

 

In all honestly everyone opinion is going to be different in term on accessories in a car.

You might find the XM thing useless but maybe not to others who find it useful. As same with Ventilate seat. Some might find it useful while others will not. But I think both are really nice to have, but careless if they are not in my opinion

 

I'm with you on the ventilated seats. At first I thought, they were no big deal, but going from my car to my mom's RX400h is horrible because her seats are not ventilated and on longer drives my back will start sweating.

 

Agreed. In places like So. Cal, the AWD and weather will not be very useful. However, in places where it snows and the weather can take a quickly take a drastic turn for the worst, those options can be life savers.

 

Yup .. agreed

 

If there was ES350 AWD, there would be no need for LS460 AWD anymore...

 

SOHC and DOHC is irelevant the engine is still 24 valve, you dont need two cams to control 24 valves on a V6 anymore its doable with one