jginnane

A couple days ago we were in our favorite Acura dealer, sniffing at the new TL AWD entry and digging on that "umber ebony" interior leather color. We told the salesman we were targeting a Feb. 09 buy, not before.

THEN I mentioned I was also getting rid of my old GMC Yukon, because the registration renewal was due and I didn't feel like spending $70 on the truck. I explained I was looking at either a Honda Fit, if I could put HIDs on it, or a used RDX for about $25K, or a spanking new 370Z for the remaining weeks of my mid-life crisis.

So the salesman said to me -- you know, we have these '09 RDXes here, base models, and they're all about $28K.

(!!!) I was astounded. I had in my mind the notion that they were still selling this puppy for $40K... with all the "tech" savvy of a Pentium III. But no -- sticker's $34-35, it has AWD, and they're being discounted about $7K. The 240 horses from a turbo'ed inline 4 sure beats the output of a loaded CR-V EX-L (which claims 166 horsepower).

Bottom line ... at $28K, I can't refuse the RDX with SHAWD as a second car. Then, the primo car stays a FWD TL (and we may special-order a weird exterior/interior color combo, just to make sure we get fresh stock this spring).

Is anyone else seeing this price on the RDX, or did my local dealer just have a huge surplus? Is there some catch, besides the mileage being 17/22?

Frisbee

Good deal they are selling cheap here too.

Bearcat94

Don't we have an RDX forum?


:wink:

jginnane

LOL ... I actually scanned there first, and it's (relatively) as quiet as Nov. sales figures might seem to indicate. I'm not in the car-selling biz, either (so I'm not trying to steal TL customers to go over there.

But it seems that if anyone's looking at both a first and second car replacement this year -- like I am -- this is a WOW of an opportunity. We want one 4WD/AWD in the house, and I didn't like most of the alternatives:

- BMW X3 = high maintenance costs (after warranty),

- Infiniti G37 AWD is "just" a car (doesn't offer any carrying options separate from the TL). We are past the age when we want to beat out every kid in a Nova at a traffic light.

- Infiniti EX is closer, but still has the old 3.5L engine. (The next version of this could hit the sweet spot, if Nissan stops thinking "crossover" is a rational word in the same way the term "sport" belongs in "SUV".)

- we don't buy Toyota-Lexus because half the house is Chinese. (Ask a Jewish friend why they don't buy Mercedes.)

- then there's the American/domestic vehicles ... I drove thru their websites at the same speed you might drive by your town's foreclosure signs.

Seriously, the Yukon's got more 1950s in its technology than it does 2000+. If I needed another truck, I wouldn't get one with carpeting inside... and I'll get a lobotomy before I submit to any forced "OnStar" vehicle to get a decent premium trim level.

So ... bottom line is: I'm seriously thinking of buying one of these (to replace the big truck) and becoming a two-Acura household. *Now* seems to be the time to do it. If we _do_ get an RDX, it has SHAWD, so that seems to take the TL+SHAWD option off the table. Make sense?

Carbon2008RDX

I bought my 2008 non-tech RDX for $28K back in June so a ’09 non-tech in December for $28K seems about right. And with gas prices plummeting, the RDX mileage is not so much of a concern anymore. There are definitely some great deals on vehicles these days.

jginnane

Hi Carbon! My thread has mysteriously been shuffled from the 4G-TL discussion thread to over here! :-)

The RDX really seems to be a great car, not "great.little" but in its own right. We were watching when the RDX came out, but got bothered by the $40K delivered (w/ tech) prices we'd heard. Since we already have owned 4WD/AWD vehicles as well as a TSX, we didn't think the RDX was worth Quite so much extra money.

I suspect a lot of the initial RDX sales oomph went away from that pricing, and everyone in the world who owns a $99 TomTom is feeling a bit of Schadenfreude at how the selling price has come back down to earth.

At $28K, which is a price we would have bought at much earlier if it had been offered, the RDX beats a CRV EX-L six ways from Sunday.

As to harshness of the ride, which I've seen in a couple forum comments here, I'd venture 99% of the problem will go away with a different tire setup. It took us 76K miles on the TL to move from Bridgestone Turanza EL42s, to Michelin Pilot MXV4s, to (finally!) overwidth Bridgestone Potenza RE960s. IOW, 235/45-17 to 245/45-17 in a top-rated All Season tire made a world of difference.

MMike1981

what made u think an RDX sold for 40k? lol

if the RDX sold for 40K i dont think they would have ANY sales in the Acura report

jginnane

That was the "out the door" price on tech with tax, registration, fees, etc.

Initially, we disregarded the turbo as a feature. My wife had briefly gone from a Mercedes ML-320 down to a TSX, so she wasn't crazy about any 4-banger. (She pushed for a TL after only 25K on the TSX.)

Now, in Dec. 2008, what's making me hold the trigger on an RDX at this precise moment is a combination of several factors. Among them ...

1. A new Accord wagon in '10 (blah) and upcoming redesign of the RDX. And when Detroit gets their billion$ in bailout money ... what will Honda, et al, do to respond? (Could prices go even lower?)

2. Where will gas prices be in the next 5 years? OK ... how about 3 months?

3. The wife's also looking at a 2009 Infiniti EX crossover. Slow sales (too) and a redesign pending (too). Very different car from an RDX. (How much are they discounting in their dealer lots?)

I premise a lot of these car-choosing decisions in terms of my wife. That's doesn't mean I'm p*-whipped. I've driven enough different types of vehicles that I don't think I'd be interested in something without a stick ... but I just don't drive enough to justify a car that only one of us would drive. I've floated a '74 El Dorado with wide-whitewall bias-ply tires at 160mph; I've driven a good German car at 250+km/hr on the Autobahn. I've taken a lot of carburetors apart (and have often been able to put them back together ). So... in the range we're looking at, all these cars are good.

Anyways, only a pervert needs to know how to open the hood these days.

MMike1981

still high, OTD.

also, if you have kids, or are intending on having anyone sit in the "back seat" of the EX, might wana nix it off ur list and save some time & money

MMike1981

tires arent going to change a thing in this truck. its harsh & stiff no matter what

JGard

You sure about that?

I just put 17" rims with snow tires and it's definitely a softer feeling ride than before.

MMike1981

no ones gonna be using snow tires all year...

also, i was speaking more directly about altering the stock set up and just switching rubber...ive driven a few on different rubber, absolutely no change other than road noise

we shouldnt have to spend $$ on new rims & tires in order to get a calmer ride

(dont get me wrong tho, i love the stock setup lol) the issue for some people remains in the struts/springs/damping settings, rubber isnt going to change that feel

how do the 17's look? must look even worse than having 18's on this, i cant wait till the spring for the 20's to go on

jginnane

FWiW, Honda/Acura definitely leave room for improvement. Scan back thru my posts in the 3G TL forum. In 04/05, Acura was shipping the TL with either Bridgestone Turanza EL42s, or Michelin Pilot MXV4s. Both are "Grand Touring" tires, in tirerack.com's vernacular.

Everybody's stock Turanzas were bald at around 17K, usually in the rear. We were relatively lucky. Our full warranty replacement was the Michelins, and these lasted 60K. A little quieter, but not great in handling otherwise -- the last 19K they still had good rubber, but were increasingly susceptible to hydroplaning.

We finally had a chance to choose our own a few months ago. Tirerack's surveys posited the UHPAS (Ultra-High Performance All Season) Bridgestone Potenza "Pole Position" RE960s, and comments in the Acurazine 3G forum made me spend an extra $2 per tire to change size slightly -- 235/45-17 to 245/45-17.

It's a world of difference. The car finally feels the way it should have when we bought it. My standard test is a 270-degree decreasing-radius exit loop near my house. The old Yukon, 30-33 mph, tops. The 3G TL with both previous sets of tires, 45 (before they complained or started hopping). The new RE960s are amazingly still quiet at 60 mph (and if I was crazy I might coax another 10 mph on them). All this on the same stock rims.

So, we know there's improvement that can be made by changing rubber and sometimes changing tire width. (If we were going for snow tires, we might decrease tire width to improve traction.)

brizey

Tires do make a difference on ride quality. Sidewall stiffness is all over the map.

MMike1981

not sure, at least for me, i wouldt feel to comfortable altering tire width's on the same sized rim.

if anyone on here has changed out the STOCK 18 rubber with a diff set (same size), and have noticed a significant difference in ride quality, by all means, post it up......

jginnane

This might be expanded to any CR-V forums and BMW X-3 forums -- the first, because the RDX is built on a modified CR-V "platform" and the second because of the type of ride the RDX was engineered for. Over in the TL and TSX forums, kids go crazy about shiny rims, but once you go to any sort of "utility vehicle" the discussion generally veers into offroading.

On the TL I also noticed the difference in height of the new tires, believe it or not. Tirerack will tell you in their detailed specs that the revolutions-per-mile on my old vs new tires went from 820 to 811. A 1% change doesn't require a speedometer adjustment. But the 10mm extra width x a 45% ratio meant the car sat 4.5mm higher, which let's call a quarter inch (net plus the height of new rubber versus worn rubber, which is usually measured in 32nds of an inch).

The first time I leaned into a curve with Bridgestone Potenza Pole Positions, I felt like the inside was riding high... and as soon as the rubber took the "set" for the turn, the outside was equally as high. (If you have a car where you can feel a quarter inch difference in ride height, THAT's a good car. ) These tires have a very subtle siping pattern so the rubber chunks move independently when you're putting a side stress on the rubber. I'm sure the other tire companies would like to figure out what Bridgestone accomplished here. (Our next choice would have been Goodyear Eagle All-Seasons, which is very much an "Old School" designed tire with aggressive, large tread design.)