At a glance
| Acura RL | BMW 3 Series | |
|---|---|---|
| Model years in the US safety record | 1996–2017 | 1986–2023 |
| New cars registered in Europe | — | 1,714,816 (2010–2022) |
| Licensed in the United Kingdom | — | 472,359 |
| On the road in the Netherlands | — | 127,670 |
| In traffic in Finland | — | 41,048 |
EEA new-car registrations (CC BY 4.0) · DVLA licensed vehicles (OGL v3.0) · RDW (CC0) · Traficom (CC BY 4.0) · generations: Wikidata (CC0).
Reliability and problems
| Acura RL | BMW 3 Series | |
|---|---|---|
| UK MOT first-time pass rate | — | 75% |
| … against cars of the same age | — | +9% |
| New York safety inspections failed | 1.8% | — |
| … against cars of the same year | −18% | — |
| Illogical odometer records (NL) | — | 5.4% |
| US owner complaints | 423 | 843 |
| Most complaints about | Air bags | Air bags |
| Model year with most complaints | 2005 (125) | 2006 (202) |
| US recall campaigns | 20 | 8 |
| Manufacturer service bulletins | 1,269 | 1,116 |
| NHTSA defect investigations | 3 | 23 |
Complaint, recall and bulletin counts grow with the number of cars sold and are not adjusted for it. UK MOT: DVSA anonymised MOT results (OGL v3.0); New York: DMV inspections; complaints, recalls, bulletins and investigations: NHTSA (public domain); odometer: RDW (CC0).
Safety
| Acura RL | BMW 3 Series | |
|---|---|---|
| NHTSA overall rating | — | 5★ (2022) |
NHTSA New Car Assessment Program, most recent rated model year (public domain).
Fuel, emissions and price
| Acura RL | BMW 3 Series | |
|---|---|---|
| Official combined fuel use, Canada | 11.9 l/100 km (2012) | — |
| Real-world use in Europe, diesel hybrid | — | 6.3 l/100 km |
| Real-world use in Europe, petrol | — | 7.9 l/100 km |
| Real-world use in Europe, petrol hybrid | — | 9.8 l/100 km |
| Real-world use in Europe, diesel | — | 6.0 l/100 km |
| Official CO₂ of new cars in Europe | — | 98 g/km |
| Average power of new cars in Europe | — | 137 kW (184 hp) |
| Average mass in running order | — | 1,790 kg |
| Dutch list price when new (median) | — | €50,742 |
| Average odometer in Finland | — | 226,000 km |
Canada: NRCan Fuel Consumption Ratings, most frugal version of the latest year (OGL Canada). Europe: EEA monitoring of new-car CO₂ and on-board fuel meters (OBFCM), CC BY 4.0. Price: RDW catalogue price (CC0). Finland: Traficom (CC BY 4.0).