Any RDX owners here take their car off roading? What are your experiences?

 

3 ft deep snow along with ice, excellent grip but lack of traction. meaning you need dedicated offroading or winter tires. never got stuck and car kept going though. under the snow there was frozen grass and mud.

 

Not a real full time AWD system. As a matter of fact you could easily get stuck on your adventure if you choose to take the RDX to the muck. The system is only good for a couple of sticky situations. If you're out in the dunes with the SH-AWD it will overhead, revert to FWD only, and bury its' head in the sand.

 

So far, I'm happy. Light off-roading, to me, is normal in my neck of the woods. We have plenty of unpaved red dirt roads and I haven't had any issues yet. Whether dry and sandy, or muddy - it's done great. Sure, it's not a Jeep... but I haven't the need for traveling trails in my RDX anyway.

 

I bought an 07 Tech/Navi last week and have taken it out to probably a little more than what it was engineered for, but it performed great and actually surprised me quite a lot. It inspires great confidence in non packed sand (we're not talking dunes soft, but not dirt road packed) as found in the middle of desert scrub (bushes and stuff). I even stopped in some of the softer stuff to check out how well it can negotiate it without the added momentum of already being moving. I also got into a few situations that ended one or two wheels off the ground and the sh-awd really shined and pulled through without trouble.

Granted I wouldnt do any rock climbing craziness, but the light to moderate situations I put mine in definately showed it is capable of dealing with a hairy situation when required. If I decide to go out again I will take my GoPro and make some video so you guys can see.

 

Really? I haven't heard anything but good things about SH-AWD...both in capability and durability.

Did you actually have a situation where SH-AWD overheated?

 

just make sure you stay in 2nd gear or higher. no sh-awd in 1st gear.

 

SH-AWD is active in ALL forward gears on the RDX. I think you're thinking of the 1st generation RL's SH-AWD.

Second generation SH-AWD even works in reverse.

 

only acura rl 2009 and newer implemented the new sh-awd. rest of the fleet still retain the old sh-awd system.

 

Maybe I should have been clearer. I guess I was speaking chronologically.

There are two flavors of SH-AWD. The original version with the accelerometer (debuting with the 2005 RL) and the fixed version (in the RDX). I guess you could call the RDX's SH-AWD a 1.5 version, as it debuted in 2007, and the 2009 RL's version a true second generation accelerometer version of SH-AWD.

None the less, the RDX definitely has SH-AWD in all forward gears. Especially first. That's why it can launch so hard in both dry AND slippery conditions.

Note the Torque Distribution meter in the following videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FXai...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EQ9QYhqrPo

 

So, what are the pros/cons of either system? Accelerometer version vs. fixed version?

 

Same as most other AWD systems. Without a locking transfer case the clutches get hot so preprogrammed useage times will automatically revert to FWD.

 

OP asked about "light offroading".

In that regard, you'll be fine. No need to worry at all.

 

Well, you can't do a direct apples-to-apples performance comparison of both systems in the same exact vehicle as the only Acura that has the accelerometer system is the RL.

Acura's thought seems to be that the fixed system is more reliable because it's less complex. Some benefits of less moving parts are that it helps them hit a price point, a reliability standard, and less weight with the SH-AWD system.

I don't see the fixed system as "better" or "worse" than the accelerometer system. It's all in how it's tuned, the vehicle it's being used in, and the ultimate tuning goal one is after. If one can hit the engineering goals that the accelerometer system attains with less complexity, less weight, and less cost, then that is the "better" system.

Note that while the RDX, MDX, and ZDX share basically the same fixed system, they are all tuned quite differently, re: torque splits between the front and rear. Each of their engineering goals are different, but the fixed system is flexible enough to be tuned to vehicles of different sizes and weights.

 

I'm not sure I agree with this statement. Referencing my own post:
I have witnessed first hand the SH AWD diverting torque from wheels in the air to those with traction. And I definitely was in first gear <5mph. Additionally, YouTube videos from Acura's winter test facility show the SH AWD on various Acuras working at low speeds (and presumably 1st gear). If need be I can take video of my RDX's torque meter while cornering in first gear if desired.

 

still waiting to take the rdx to the dry lake bed.

 

Our RDX gets a lot of varied use. I've been on dirt and gravel forest roads with lots of potholes going back packing and hiking. I go slow to not beat the crap out of it.

I've even used it to haul 2 -10' sticks of 3" s/s for an exhaust on the roof rack.

We bought a FWD. I did not figure I needed to corner at 9/10ths in it. We have that need met in our vert.

But I asked the right question of the salesman: Does it have an LSD?

Oops...A week after buying the car the question was finally answered - no. Oh hell no. My fault.

We have had ours for 5 months. I've only gotten stuck once, so far. Hmm.

A sandy low spot of shoulder found the pass front wheel, while the d/side front wheel was ~1.5' higher. D/side wheel would have had traction if I could only applied some power.

Oops, one-leggers can't. Yeah, no do-overs. Adding an LSD in the future? Saddly doubtful.

Only $1k - $1.5k more for base AWD. Live and learn.

 

hurricane season here in florida makes for some fun driving conditions. especially with vsa off wet fields around the campus are the best for gettin sidewayysss

 

Missed that "light" portion of the thread heading.

However, I think it is important to note that this and almost every AWD system in today's SUVs (except the Mercedes-Benz ML) are not 4WD. A true off road vehicle requires locking F&R differentials and transfer case/center diff.

Yes, the RDX will be "fine" when one is crossing the soccer field, but IMHO the last place I would put my street car is in the dirt.

 

Guess you haven't seen some street cars do better in sloppy mud than a big ole 4x4 truck. Ask me how I know

 

i have driven in fine sand at the beach with the michelin tires. i had tire pressure down to 22 psi though. then i drove through a nasty dirt and rocky road. aside from a slight damage to rear left exhaust i made it out ok. i won't do that again but it goes to show the capabilities of RDX offroading. In car and drive or motortrend (can't remember which one maybe s1 here knows), the rdx beat the land rover lr2 in offroading. google it.

 

Yeah I read that. It was in the dunes and they couldnt turn off the VSA because with the pressures low the TMPS system wouldnt allow them to. I wondered if there was a fuse or something one could pull to disable the TMPS to keep it from interfering with the disabling of VSA for situations like this. Although, doing so may require a TPMS reprogram.

 

Come to think of it I think I'm getting the itch again. I may go out and play some more this weekend. If I do ill take my camera for your viewing pleasure. Plus I've only made autocross videos, I think some offroad videos would be pretty cool. Especially in an RDX.

 

I googled "RDX got stuck" and found this thread I had forgotten:

https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-rdx-tires-wheels-suspension-362/can-rdx-get-stuck-snow-802599/

I'm not going to debate whether or not the RDX system is good or not, but there IS a difference between packed beach sand and DUNES. I've driven my old FWD Accord on the beach in Washington state without issue. I've also witnessed an idiot in a true 4WD vehicle drive his rig into the surf and get it stuck.

.

 

I ended up washing the car on saturday (normally sunday) to go to a "car meet". So no offroading videos yet, but I promise Ill make some eventually.

 

http://youtu.be/z-sOxQQ0xFk

Its dark, but you get the point.

 

Only made it about a minute in before I got sick of all the black. It's really hard to judge speed/terrain at night.
Thanks for the post, but how-about a daytime run too.

 

i can't see anything lol

 

I know this is an old thread however i just purchased an 07 and wanted to know if there was an update to disabling the TPMS and VSA permanently? or is there a work around? (i am still reading post so i may come across it)
Thanks