Hey everyone, my wife and I just bought a CPO 2012 RDX w/sh-awd and was wondering if the car really needs premium gas or not? Also I was wondering if it doesn't require premium, does it make significant difference in MPG and performance to use mid grade? We knew that the car doesn't get the best MPG like the CRV and love the performance and amenities the RDX has, but I was thinking about maybe getting a cold air intake to help boost the MPG. My dad did this with his F-150 and it gave him a few extra so I was thinking it may do the same for our new car? Any info or help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

I wouldn't put anything but premium in it as the computer is tuned to run on it from the factory. You may get pinging if u put anything other then premium. Also, you may degrade the power you get out of it with the lower grade gas. Gas mileage will most likely be affected too. Plus it's a turbo motor? Give it what it needs! As far as adding a CAI, I've never known a vehicle to get better gas mileage with the addition of one. Maybe it's because most people that add one wind up with a heavier foot so they can hear it. Hope this helps...

 

You would get better mpgs, less turbo lag, and 26hp/33tq bump in power with the Hondata reflash. You will see another slight bump in HP and mpgs if you install the ETS intercooler and might as well do the heatshield gasket also since you are in there. I saw my mpgs bump up from 17-18 combined stock to around 19-20.5 combined mpgs mod. That would pay for the Hondata reflash of $300+shipping in a few years.

I think the downpipe will also add hp and improved mpgs at the same time. I see a touch more power and slight mpg gains the cooler it gets outside in late fall/winter.

Reflash - Acura RDX

Acura RDX Intercooler Upgrades

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback. My wife loves the car which is the most important thing to me, but to be honest I'm a little nervous about the cost of ownership overall. Also we are about to have our first kid and I'm a little paranoid that there isn't enough cargo room for the baby stuff we need. Any thoughts here? Am I being too uptight? The car is amazing, love the performance just having a little buyers remorse bc of the lower mpgs I guess.....

 

The RDX is a great around town commuter car. It might not have enough room if it is your main vacation car if you like to go out of town for a week or two. I had to get a roof cargo carrier for extra space and that made a big difference. You can also install a hidden hitch for about $150 yourself and put a cargo tray+bag/box for traveling (if you don't want the roof rack). I did the hidden hitch for bikes. As the kid gets older, (s)he will require less space for baby stuff when they start walking and the RDX will be the perfect size.

A MDX would have more room; but, even worst MPGs. I would consider the MDX if you going to have 2 or more kids in a few years.

 

Sounds like a common car buyers issue. The cost of ownership varies throughout the range of vehicles sold. The RDX is about average. The difference between 87 octane and 91 octane is around $100 a year. if your budget is that tight perhaps you should consider mass transit.

If it is any consolation my GM Truck burns "plus" and gets a little over 12mpg avg. One 250 mile trip on the freeway costs me $60.

 

Lol, luckily our budget isn't that tight that public transit needs to be an option. I guess I am just overreacting since we are pretty practical people and am used to getting 450+ miles per tank with my company car. We have both always had very high MPG cars so I think its the initial shock of only getting 330 or so miles per tank. The car is amazing and I'm totally jealous its my wifes daily driver, Just need to get used to the premium prices. My local stations are running regular at about 2.68 and premium at 3.12 respectively. Is there always that big of a gap? Oh and 12MPG is crazy btw, hope that isn't the daily driver as I can't imagine what the city MPG on that beast is!

 

Is there a Costco in your area? The gap shouldn't be as pronounced there and depending on how much you drive the savings in fuel alone might justify the price of admission. Filled up for 2.75/gal yesterday. Their 87 was 2.55/gal, 10 cents below the city average.

 

I have a Sam's membership and we pretty much have Sam's across the street from every Costco (exact same gas prices). I paid $2.61 to gas up on Sunday of 91 Octane. I usually find 91 octane at Sam's is about he same price or cheaper as 87 octane at the regular corner gas stop. A $45 membership might pay for itself in just a few month if you have a family. I think Costco is better; but, so does everyone else and it is always over crowded compared to Sam's in my area.

 

12mpg is the over-all average after 27,000 miles. The RDX is really sensitive to driver input. My wife got 1-2 mpg better than me when she drove.
I had an Accord before the RDX, so I feel your pain.

 

We do have a Sam's club in the area, I will have to take a look and see what the prices are there. The price I said above was from wawa which usually has decent prices, which is why I was surprised about the gap. I found an app called gas buddy which lets you choose the gas you need and shows all current prices in the area. I will probably have my wife use that to see who has the best consistent prices. We love the car, so the gas price is what it is, I was just really surprised that it was over a 40 cent gap per gallon between regular and premium at our closed station.

 

12 mpg?! Have you been towing a horse trailer through the mountains for all 27k miles?

I feel your pain though, my last 2 vehicles were VWs that got 33+ mpg on the highway all day long, after 176k and 115k miles respectively (both were turbo I4s w/manual transmission). So this is going to be a big adjustment for me...

 

I'll also throw in a plug for the GasBuddy app, works great for finding good gas prices...

 

My two cents. My FWD 2011 gets approx. 25 mpg Highway at speeds of 70 mph plus. If I am going between 45 and 60, the car gets close to 30 mpg (per the Trip computer). Around town, 21 or 22 because of the long stoplights. No mods yet, but Hondata ReFlash is probably the first one, once the CPO warranty is up. Also, bought vehicle in March, put 4K miles on it so far, oil life is still at 40%, so no complaints on expensive normal maintenance intervals as others have indicated. Guess my car is pretty good.

 

That's tracking with mine then. Naturally you're getting a little more w/o the AWD, but 18 miles of my 22 mile commute to work is highway at 70+ on the "real" Atlanta Motor Speedway (I-285 before the morning rush), but it seems to be about 24ish. I've been doing a lot more city driving than usual on this tank, but I'm interested to see how the numbers shake out after a couple fill ups and more normal city vs. highway mix.

 

Check your mileage based on actual fuel consumption at fillips. I'm beginning to see the trip computer in these vehicles is a bit optimistic.

 

Based on my experience over a year and half, the trip computer mileage is about 9% more optimistic than the actual fuel consumption measured at the pump.

 

Sounds about right, I see closer to 5% on my end but my driving is very consistent. I've noticed changes in driving behavior right before a fill-up can skew my measured mpg vs. the car's reported mpg. It's supposed to be a long term average but the algorithm does measure what it *thinks* you're consuming based on injector size, pulse width, rpm, etc. There is inherent imperfection in the process alone.

It's also important to find a favorite gas station and use it consistently. I've noticed that different pumps are calibrated to shut off at different times, so that if you're simply measuring consumption by the amount of gas you put it, your numbers may be off if you fill at a station that cuts fuel sooner than normal.

 

mine read 45 mpg the other day...im thinking my car lies to me to try to make me happy...

in the real world I get more along the lines of 20mpg in mixed
60%city/40%hiway driving. but I've got a more aggressive driving style.

 

I'm averaging slightly above 21 in my '09 (purchased on black Friday).

I put a bottle of Redline in at the last fill up, and I think the mpg's have slightly bumped up (wouldn't be a shock given it has 141k miles).

 

after 40K miles without a reset with 30% highway/70% city miles driven the computer shows 21.1mpg