Spring break trip (for my high school senior son) my spouse & I from Milwaukee to Mobile, AL via Chatanooga. My first extended time in the car which my wife drives primarily. Our trip home was non-stop from Mobile covering 1052 miles over 14 1/2 hours.

Her last car was a 2001 Odyssey, which had 110K miles when we sold it. My son was comfortable napping and watching videos with his feet up in the back seat while my wife & I split the driving.

I found the drivers seat very comfortable with the controls well laid out. Wish the passenger seat was a little more adjustable but it was OK (I'm 6' 1" about 175lb). My son thought the circulation could have been better in the back seat FWIW.

Stereo sound was very good, but I would consider replacing the component speakers in the front if I was driving the car everyday (I usually do in the cars I have had the past 10 years). Has anyone added a amp?

I thought the acceleration and handling was outstanding. I drove about two hours through AL in very heavy rain and moderate to heavy traffic and was very impressed with the stability of the vehicle and felt very comfortable at higher speeds throughout the trip. For reference I split my time between a Lotus Elise and an older BMW M3.

I am still unhappy about the brightness of the Nav display. The GPS function worked fine though I probably slightly preferred the Garmin unit we had before.

Nice vehicle and I have no problems recommending. The gas mileage was about what others have reported. If you are looking for 30 MPG this is not the one for you, but otherwise a great ride.

 

Are you saying the NAV display is to dim? If yes, use the "info" button to set your display properties.

 

Several have reported and I agree RDX's Navi display has brightness problems when confronted with direct or near direct sunlight. Turning it up to max brightness doesn't solve the problem.

 

Okay, so maybe it's the LCD plastic screen, too much reflection from it...

 

I've played around with the settings at length. If your screen works better than ours, I would appreciate knowing so we can discuss it with out dealer. Here are my observations:

During cold weather when the car is cold and in bright sunlight, the screen is so dim as to be unuseable and only improves slightly as the car warms up. We have only had the car since January and there hasn't been much warm weather here, so I am not sure if it will be better in warmer months (unfortunately that aren't nearly enough of those here).

My wife and I wear sunglasses to drive almost all the time during the day. She tells me she removes her sunglasses to look at the screen and I found myself doing the same thing on our trip. Not good.

The screen is more visible from the passenger seat than the driver's seat, so we found the person in the passenger seat usually would read the GPS directions to the driver. Now the voice commands work fine, but I like to look at the directions too while driving.

I've tried some of the settings recommended by others here and they help a bit, but the overall performance remains substandard in my view. YMMV

 

Julius - What kind of mileage did you get while on your trip? Driving habits?

Thanks!

 

mileage was 20-22 MPG. In clear weather on Hwy 65 in AL 85+ MPH, 75-80 the rest of the way. driving optimized to get home sooner, not to maximize MPG. FWIW.

 

Me too. I've noticed the dimming of the screen is much greater with polarized sunglasses than non-polarized. You using polarized sunglasses as well?

 

I do - it is defintely tough to see with polarized sunglasses - doesn't matter if there's glare or not.

 

Averaging at 80 miles/hour, i have gotten 32 MPG for 420 miles...what kind of gas do you use julius...

 

dam 32 mpg? How? Please tell me your secret haha

 

You are kidding right... 32mpg??? Does your RDX have something our RDX's don't? Seems like it is running on gas fumes only...

Even on the freeway, it typically averages about at best 26-28 mpg.

I can only imagine you were travelling down a hill for the 420 miles...

 

Judging by his avatar, I'd say his secret is that he isn't driving an RDX.....

 

FWIW, I have no trouble at all seeing the Nav screen using my Revo's which are heavily polarized.

 

Could be the polarization orientation (V vs. H) of your glasses is different than mine. Have you tried rotating your glasses to see if it changes the image? My screen intensity changes quite a bit when I rotate my glasses. Not just dimming of the video but color shifting as well. It appears that different colors on the display are polarized at different angles. Not recommended while driving.

 

Have you tried a screen protector for the nav screen? In addition to reducing scratches and making the screen easier to clean, the screen protectors do reduce sun glare. Various people are selling custom-shaped protectors on EBay for $10-$15. I haven't tried one on my RDX yet, but I have one on my cell phone and it works great. The better quality protectors don't collect bubbles underneath, don't yellow, and last for years.

 

Yes, I did a 360 rotation earlier to see if it would be invisible at some angle and found that the colors shifted, but it never went completely black. I don't remember if the intensity varied a lot though, but at regular wearing angles the intensity simply looks like I have sunglasses on - no more or less muted than the surroundings.

I do notice that the smaller display up by the windshield goes nearly black at some angles, though. But, strangely enough, the clock readout in that display is visible at any angle even though the rest of that display goes completely black - very strange, almost like the clock segments use a different, non-LCD display technology...

 

thanks for the suggestions, we'll try em. very cool vehicle to drive regardless of the LCD screen.