Hello Cold Country RDX Owners

Left the house this morning with zero on the thermometer here in New England. Got a ask, for those living in cold climates how well does the turbo perform in extremely cold weather? Any issues or concerns?

 

Well...i just returned from a 3 nite stay up in NH....car was dumped on all weekend, temps were in single digits with wind chill bringing it into neg's. With over 2 ft of snow thrown at it and horrible temps, i cant pin point a single issue that came about. My car left with 600 miles on it and came back with about 950+. Engine ran fine, the car threw heat in around 5 mins from an overnite cold start, everything worked just as it would on any given day.

im actually so happy about this because last winter when i took my cx-7 up to NH, it was kind of like feeding a baby something it hated, the 7 hated cold weather it was like driving an entirely different vehicle. Car would shake, no heat for 15-20 mins, vibrations in the steering column......so just to say, i was feering the worst with the Acura having the turbo as well in the cold.

SHAWD was great, i took the car into a ski mountain parking lot after it closed and hammered the thing around for a few mins, the AWD w/the vsa.... this thing is solid, i love the way it lets the rear end swing out a little bit, but in control, hit the gas and come pulling right out of a turn with the SHAWD just crankin out.

no complaints here...a little slowdown in he led displays (to be expected) but that goes away within a few mins.

my trip avg was 21.5 mpg. on the way up i avg 22.5, home i got 20.5. nothing wrong with that!

 

I also live in NH and have an 07' RDX with 8K miles on it. I had absolutely no problems in the recent cold/snow. The heat comes on fairly quickly. The handling was superb. I also took it to a parking lot to test the braking and SHAWD. Needless to say, it feels very secure. Driving on snow significantly reduces the cabin noise and makes one wish what it should always be like. I also had a remote starter installed, and it works without a flaw. The relay design is supposedly very similar to the MDX.

 

Hehe...just a side note - remember, cars don't feel wind chill.

Mine's been great in the cold as well. I've only had a few minor issues such as small additional creaks or ticks - particularly in the steering column, the nav display taking a long time to come to full brightness, and random passenger airbag off warnings. Other than that, the car drives just as well in the cold as it does in high temps.

Mike

 

I'm pleasantly surprised at how fast my rig starts throwing heat. Granted, she lives in a garage that gets down to a bone chilling 55 at nite (lol), but I look at the temp guage at .75 miles down the road and it's already at 3-4 bars and making heat. I'm impressed!

 

I'm from brooklyn and driven through 4+ seasons with the RDX thus far and concluded that my car seems to love the cold air. I'm sure it's psychological but the engine seems to love having really cold air forced into it.

Inside the car, the heat comes on fairly quick after an overnight start. The butt warmers seem fair as well.

Though It would've been nice to have some rear air like the bigger class cars (air on the rear of the armrest)

 

Once the engine and tranny fluid are warmed up the engine will love cold winter air.

Mother Nature is doing what your intercooler is there for, providing you with ice cold air to increase the performance of the engine.

 

That's funny, we're below freezing here in Toronto and my RDX feels more sluggish in the cold weather. Wasn't there a previous thread that said performance does go down in really cold weather (despite the turbo liking cold air)?

SH-AWD works pretty nicely. I feel a little bit of slip when going into a turn a bit too fast (no one was around and I was curious =) ), but the system straightens it out pretty well.

 

Hi all.
i live in Montreal,Canda.Sunday and monday we had a snow storm and we were stuck in the snow twice.well the first time I had to ask some ppls to push the Rdx and they told me that while they were pushing they were hearing a Turbo sound and they were impress.The second time i was suck at my home.but when i accelerated to get unstuck the SH-AWD was working and my brother told me:
"HOLY CRAP THE SH-AWD WORKS LOOK ONLY THE REAR LEFT TIRE WORKS WOW"
haha
nwayz merry christmas to all
-william

 

If it happens again, try turning VSA off to get unstuck.

 

Not psychological at all. The engine will make more power with colder, denser air. What do you think they put intercoolers on turbos for? Until the tranny fluid heats up it may shift a little funky. Traction, even on dry roads, will suffer, as the tires never really get up to optimal temperature. But the engine WILL run its a$$ off.

Joe

 

I also have had some random "passenger air bag off " warnings. It could be psychological, but I feel that that the acceleration isn't quite as strong. Also, my gas mileage has dropped to 17.5 mpg (had been consistently getting 20.5 mpg). Still getting great traction and agree, the heat comes on quickly.

 

The only problem I have with the rdx in the cold is if the cars left in the cold for long period of time and I start it up in the morning there is a loud pop through my car speakers.

After that rdx is superb! No issues at all It could of course use winter shoes thoe as with all other cars out there.

for the quebec guy do you have winter tires on ? (I heard its now mandatory to have winter tires on in the province of Quebec).

 

hey,
I Think the question was for me?.
No I diddnt change my tires for winters one.ive keeped the 4-season on.but there are alot of RDX on the road right now.on the transcanadian highway,mall,store.everywhere.and most of them got winter tires.and yes I hearded that from december 2008 we will have to all ge some winters tire.Quebec is crazy.
-merry christmas to all.
william