In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare argued, “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”
But I am sure Acura executives and fanboys would beg to differ. For well over a decade, Acura’s been flogging the ILX, an upscale version of the Honda Civic sedan to only middling success. But what if you redesign the four-door sedan as a five-door hatchback, slap an Integra badge on it? All of a sudden this is no longer day-old sushi, it’s as hot as wasabi. Will, my boy, you could be wrong.
Let’s face it, it’s hard to feel all warm and fuzzy about any vehicle that’s amalgamation of letters like ILX. There are only two names that mean the most to Acura cognoscenti, and they are Legend and Integra. OK, more recent letters, like TL or MDX do set hearts aflutter, but like those two. And while Acura is finally resurrecting the Integra, the Legend sits unused. Both are icons, the heart of the brand in a way that, say, the Vigor or RL nameplates will never be.
