Built for Radwood, this reimagined SUV is an example that makes the case for confronting one's shortcomings with overwhelming positivity.
The Acura SLX is a strange, nearly forgotten footnote in the automaker's history. Rolled out for the 1996 model year and defunct after 1999, the SLX was, like the Lexus LX and Infiniti QX4, an attempt to cash in on the burgeoning luxury SUV craze. But since Acura didn't have the resources, know-how or time to build a traditional truck from the ground up, it turned to Isuzu, which offered up its boxy Trooper SUV to be rebadged and modestly upgraded.
Unfortunately, the Trooper—and by extension, the SLX—was targeted (some say unfairly) by Consumer Reports for having a high rollover risk. This likely killed any chance of success the SLX may have had. And anyway, once the MDX arrived, the badge-engineered dead-end that was the SLX was seemingly relegated to "we shall never speak of this again" territory.
But you can either pretend your past didn't happen, or you can engage with it on your own terms. With its Super Handling SLX, Acura is doing the latter; it's an in-house restomodded (when did we start restomodding '90s cars?) 1997 SLX with a stock appearance that belies the comprehensive upgrades lurking under its ruler-straight sheetmetal.
It's headed to Radwood’s Orange County event—the perfect venue for this self-aware reflection on Acura's corporate history—on Dec. 7. We expect (and hope) to see it out and about after that.
It's painted in a current performance red pearl with '90s-spec champagne silver accents; the wheels are custom, retro five-spokes from Fifteen52. The stance is just right. If you didn't know better, you might guess it was stock, at least until you get to the mechanicals.
The SLX is a conventional body-on-frame SUV, and you'd think that its relative simplicity would make a complete powertrain upgrade straightforward. Not so: Instead of swapping the SLX's original 3.2-liter V6 for a modern Acura six-cylinder, the Acura team transplanted a good chunk of a new RDX's drivetrain into the boxy SLX. That means a modified and tuned 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four in the engine bay—transverse-mounted, mind you—and Acura's modern SH-AWD system sending power to all four wheels rather than a conventional transfer case-equipped 4x4 setup.
The swap gives the truck 350 hp and 340 lb-ft of torque (compared to the original, mighty 190 hp and 188 lb-ft) and trades the original four-speed automatic for a 10-speed. More importantly, the suspension has been totally upgraded; the original front double-wishbone and rear solid axle have been swapped for McPherson struts and an independent five-link suspension, respectively.
The result is an arguably less rugged truck, but one that is far less likely to flip over if driven aggressively. Consider it a tacit acknowledgment by Acura of one of the SLX's biggest shortcomings.
This is not the sort of project we'd ever think of taking on—this isn't the sort of project we’d ever think of, period—but we appreciate the build's thoroughness and subtle sense of humor. Acura's video on the Super Handling SLX (which you can watch below) is extremely cheesy but entirely in the spirit of Radwood. The car's former owner, Tyson Hugie, guest-stars as the guy selling the SLX. Very meta.
