Hey all!

First off, I did some reading and looks like there is a really awesome community here. Hope everything goes well and I can join your ranks as an RDX owner soon!

Questions:

• I read several posts talking about turbo lag... I am a bit confused because I test drove an '09 Tech and the thing just took off instantly. It was Acura-certified, so I really doubt it was modified in anyway. Are there changes in the '09 tuning compared to '07-'08? (One important piece of info: I currently drive an '04 stock WRX which has baaad turbo lag, so when someone says "turbo lag", thats my point of reference.)
  
• I'm looking at a used '08 Tech this weekend with ~50k miles on it, and carfax says it lived in Seaside, CA. I've never bought a used vehicle from an ocean-side city before, are there some corrosion things I should look for or worry about?
  
• Are there any major service costs coming up around 50-70k miles? (Other than possibly tires.)

Hopefully I can get the dealer to bring it down into my budget range, otherwise its back to searching. I'm going the "Certified Pre-Owned" route because I'm paranoid about buying anything with turbo privately and the 12mo/12k mi warranty puts my mind at ease... (I guess I'm one of "those people.") But buying private would make things cheaper by a few thousand!

Anyway, any info/thoughts are appreciated!

 

should be fine with the corrosion, got 40k on mine, and the car resides onthe coast for a good 1/2 of the year...no hint of anything, anywhere.

turbo lag, honestly - if it feels good to you then u wont have a problem. when you learn the RDX, you will learn how to work the gas pedal to get the power when you want it, almost all the time. ull be good

 

I am an Acura salesman and here is what I can tell you. The RDX comes with a 5 year unlimited mile corrosion warrenty so that should not be an issue and for the turbo lag that is all in the eye of the beholder. First since it was certified I assume you were at an Acura dealer. They should have told you about the drive by wire throddle system. If they didn't ask them. It is pretty neat. I will give you the condenced version. When you step on the gas the information goes electronically to the electronic fuel system, the turbo, as well as to the transmittion. This reduces turbo lag and gives to an immeate responce and pleanty of power from an inline 4. If you have any other questions you can email my at rhensley@drivehubler.com and I would be happy to answer them for you.

 

Thanks for the replies all!

I'm guessing there is some turbo lag (always room to improve things), but coming from a WRX it just feels soooooo much more responsive it might as well be non-existant in comparison.

Good to know about the corrosion warranty, I suppose I could have researched that!

Crossing my fingers, hope I can wrangle an affordable price out of the dealer this weekend..

 

It just takes a little adjustment to figure it out. You should be fine, especially coming from a turbo vehicle that you feel has noticeable lag. I have never driven a WRX or any other turbo car for that matter, so I have no point of reference.

 

Ive been looking for an 08/09 rdx tech myself lately before the winter starts your complaints are way different then mine.. the turbo lag can easily be fixed with the hondata chip upgrade (if you wanted to go that route) my complaints are ive noticed that the bumper colors dont match on the rear sides and upper bumper peice due to the new paint method honda does.. also noticed there isnt as many black interior RDXs with tech packages around here and if they do have it its either high mileage or scratches all around it and the dealer thinks its still worth 30K for it goodluck with your search! hopefully you have better luck where you are

 

What exterior color are you looking for? I haven't noticed any paint mismatches on my black 2011, which is filthy right now and desperately needs a wash. I have heard of complaints about the white, though.

 

been looking at the silver, or both of the grey colors

edit:

here are a few pics of different vehicles and circled spots are what i am talking about.. notice the shade differences

 

well,...my guess is that thats a new and or repainted bumper and not the original job. I understand the paint mismatching as many new Honda/Acuras simply dont look right depending on what paint color it is due to the rubber bumper vs metal (the white is terrible), but i havent noticed that issue with any of the RDX's.

I would go check out some other ones elsewhere and see if u notice the same problems. Also, ask the dealer (even tho u may not get the answer) if those bumpers are/were the originals/repainted/replaced etc... nothing like a bad paint job not matching the paint.

 

ive noticed it on other peoples vehicles in this forum too.. mainly the silver is what ive noticed stick out alot.. from what ive been told its due to the waterbased paint being applied like you are stating the metal vs plastic makes it show up differently..
the grey one pictured above is an 09 and the silver is an 08. they are ones from a dealership i havent been to but have noticed through there pictures stand out the most..

maybe someone living in a dry state that has recently washed there vehicle can chime in after looking at those colors in direct light and see if they notice it on there vehicles as well??

(side note) im not sure if its federal or just our state law requires dealerships to disclose info if a vehicle has been hit and repaired.

 

i have the same paint polish metal metal, and an 08, new it matched perfect, and i had mine replaced and it matches perfect, as for the contrast that you came across, that is really suspect, i have never seen them so conflicting which would have lead me to suspect something else was going on, like a bad paint job on a replacement part. imo.

 

I have a white one and it's very bad....

 

Looks like the bumpers were repainted and just don't quite match. Unfortunately, not everything shows up on Carfax and Auto Check, so it could have been repainted and you might not know it. However, other owners say theirs have not been repainted and don't match, so who knows. It might take some time to find one that is perfect for you. No need to rush.

 

im not doubting the paint match on a new model - Acura/Honda are notorious, all im saying is that i havent seen it THAT THAT BAD, although its real bad on my white 2010 TL. like, awful. not even sure how they manage to pull off selling them new, its just SO bad lol. Something with that great of contrast just would raise some flags to me - not that theres anything wrong with having a replacement part but that paint job blows - if its a deal breaker, have them give u a new bumper that matches (better)

 

My car has not been hit, it's white, and the matching job is just not there....even for someone who doesn't care too much about that sort of thing, it's bad....If it gets worse overtime I will definitely try to get a replacement, otherwise it's something I can live with for now.

 

Same here...

 

I've noticed it on a lot of cars.You can see it on my honda too.

 

Also.

The white on my mirrors doesn't seem to match the rest of the car.
Plastic vs. metal?

 

Same here. The reflection is not mirror-like on the metal panels compared to the plastic panels where the reflection is more hazy. My front and rear bumpers do not seem to match the metal panels either.

 

^ all good to know so its just an acura paint thing. you think there quality towards it would change so it didnt look like a wrecked vehicle but i guess on the flip side of it if you do wreck the panel its harder to tell unless you know what to look for,

 

Funny, I just typed in "bumper different color than body" in Google and the first link I got was Autopia.org with a white '07 MDX.
http://www.autopia.org/forum/car-det...lp-please.html

 

^ to add to what they said on there i cant believe us as consumers dont notice or complain to the dealerships more about it so they can fix this issue.. if i wanted a 2 tone vehicle i would buy a Element or something like that..

 

No dealer or manufacturer would hear this kind of complaint, unless you "lawyer up"....preferably with a (large) group of people

 

and really, what would the solution be? do you think that they are intentionally putting up mismatched bumpers? it's a nature of the material, and I prefer a mismatched white over black plastic.

 

^There is obviously an issue. I noticed it right off the bat when we started looking at the RDX. I was surprised to see the color was way off (especially on the silver). I assumed it was a different paint altogether and that is why it didn't match. What we need is a paint person to chime in here and give us the lowdown on painting plastic VS steel. Lawyer Up?????
Westrepo, can you see a difference in your RDX?

 

by 'hear' I meant 'do' something about it...and Lawyer up means to threat or actually start legal action against them...you kicking and screaming at the dealer doesn't do much...I guess that the internet can also help to accomplish things if you get enough people to talk about it.

Yes, there is a big difference, I mentioned before on this thread.

For more fun, take a look at the bumper around the fog light, you will see specs of blue and what looks like "flaking" or "orange peel".

 

The neighbors cat keeps peeing on my front bumper from the fog lights down. But I will take a look, if not today then when I upgrade those bulbs next payday. (Bad kitty chooses the newspaper when the car is in the garage. Bad, Bad Kitty)