ongopt

Well, I have had my silver base RDX for a month now. He are my second impressions:

MPG holding steady at 15, but my car is my work. I stop and go and get in and out of my car all day. The ride has smoothed out some, especially when the tire inflation was corrected by the dealer. This vehicle still handles and accelerates like no other SUV. However, there still is that slight lag from a dead standstill. But once that torque kicks in (more so in sport mode)...watch out baby!

Problems: been back to the dealer three times already and have to go in for a fourth! They are all minor but irritating ones:
(1) Poorly working and poorly designed outside temperature gauge. Mine never reads correctly as the temperature rises, especially if you do lots of stop and go driving. My dealer reset this twice, and Acura tech finally called me and practically admitted this is a known problem...with no fix so far. This was confirmed in the loaner RDX I had. Same thing happened to that one when I drove it in my usual stop and go style. Never had a problem like this in any other car.

(2) The two front window panels which house the side airbags were stained. My dealer replaced them.

(3) The cheap plastic clip to hold down the hood prop bar doesn't hold down the prop bar! Why couldn't Acura put a metal one in? Dealer replaced it.

(4) Yes, I have one of those annoying rattles! After much searching, the dealer's master tech determined the bearings on the front right strut were making the noise. The solution: replace the entire strut, which will be my fourth trip to the dealer next week.

I must credit my dealer and the regional Acura tech rep for being very responsive to my problems and dealing with them very quickly. In fact, I talked to the Acura rep for over 20 minutes by phone telling him all the pros and cons (including some of the things I have read here) of the RDX. He did state he was recording all I said and would forward it to the main office.

I did get a chance to ride the tech package loaner RDX for a day. It took me about 15 mintues to learn the systems without a manual. The tech package (as you all know) has a lot of nice goodies, but would I pay an extra $4k for them? No! Maybe if it was $2k more. The stereo (I'm one of those anal audiophiles) sounded a little more open than the base model, but the Dolby Prologic II is poorly implimented in this vehicle for regular CDs. It might work well for DVD audio discs, if you can still find them.

I did get the leather shifter for my RDX, which matches the interior leather well, and will eventually get the day/night mirror. But I'm still complaining about the lack of those memory seats....

All-in-all, I'm still happy to have bought my RDX. It's a fun vehicle to drive and holds up very well in the comfort department for all-day driving...which I do all day. First year models will always have their kinks, and those of us who are brave enough to buy first year models must realize that we are that vehicle's trailblazers (or guinea pigs if you prefer) for next year's improved version. But hey, it's always nice to be the first on the block with a new toy!

Cheers!

turboted

Sorry to hear about your problems. I've had my RDX (w tech pak) for 30 days myself. Mine has been solid as a rock (knock on wood), not a single problem. I love it.

Mokos23

Never will buy a first year model again myself.

rpeete

I have had mine for 32 days so far and I must say that I love to drive this thing!

I am getting 19-20mpg now after 2,700 miles which is nice. I think the sweet spot for good mileage is about 65-70 mph.

The only problem I have had so far was a faulty XM Module which caused the voice command and the voice recital of incoming messages work intermittently. It took them 1.5 days to figure it out -- they replaced one thing at a time (radio, Nav, Voice Module, etc.) until through process of elimination found it to be the XM Radio module (had to work with Acura main office tech to figure it out). But it works like a champ now!

So far, no weird noises or rattles. I even drove it until it said I had 10 miles of gas left and no bucking or hiccups. I just asked it to find me the closest gas station, and navigated right to it.

That was way cool cuz I had no idea where to go as I was flying down the highway thinking "Man my wife is gonna have a field day if I run out of gas in my new toy!" But alas, the RDX saved the day... lol

batman

I aslo bought a TSX in the first year. You want to talk about creeks and rattles. Everything rattle in that car from day one. I just got used to it and it didn't bother me after awhile. I haven't had any problems yet. There are a couple fit and finish thngs but I will deal with them later.

Lrpba300

I've had mine for 6 months now, & still love to drive it!
I do have an intermittent rattle in the head liner right behind the sunroof, but the dealer hasn't found it yet. I also have one in the right side door pillar area that comes and goes. Al in all, for a first year vehicle, it's quite good.

oasis3582

Same complaint about the temperature sensor...

kenjr

I have that same rattle in the sunroof and it's definitely intermittent. I banged on the inside and it kinda went away.

Lrpba300

I just put slight pressure up there w/ my hand & it will go away for a short time. Still comes & goes though from time to time!

bvkamp

same here . . . it was reading 85 degrees today when the actual temperature was 80 degrees.

porsherules911

I never knew that accurate temperature readings was so important for people. I really don't pay attention to it... as long as its close to the actual temp im fine with it. Besides I focus on traffic dissection and other things haha j/k...

sasair

You can calibrate your sensor to whatever you want.

I think it was written in one of the service bulletins how the outside temperature sensor logic actually works. The temp reading is almost always off when you first get in the vehicle. it takes a few minutes of steady driving for it to read accurate.

escheing

Have owned my RDX for almost 2 moths, approx 1900 miles, I still love driving it. So far no problems at all, (knock on wood). Averaging just over 19 mpg. I also own an '04 TL, bought it the first model year. That's been a great car, (04 was first model year for the current iteration), but it developed a lot of rattles early on. Some were dealer fixed, some I "pounded" out myself and some I just got used to. My point is that first year models can be tricky - even for quality manufacturers like Acura.