the 19"s make the car feel like a bag of rocks....I have them, they are not good, especially for long trips...

 

Using HID's for short on off cycles greatly shortens their lifespans. And since that is how high beams are used, that is why the OEM's don't put HID's on their high beams.

 

Actually, if they are done right, like my 350z I had with Bi-Xenon, there is just one light on each side and when you flip the switch for highbeams there is a reflector or deflector in the light that moves and spreads the light out and at full power. There is no need for 2 lights like we have now on each side in that case.

 

Yeah, my Maxima has bi-xenons out of a single bulb as well. They are nice, but they basically just remove the 3-4' cutoff from the HID's.

 

Come to think of it, I am surprised by how many people park their cars in their driveway with their Sears garage door opener visible, clipped on the visor. Garage doors are too easy to break into, which is why I keep the garage door entrance into the house locked.

 

For my 99 TL, I don't program the homelink buttons to open my garage door. I also always take the garage door opener out of the car when I park at home. Otherwise, anyone who breaks into your car can also open your garage door!

 

Yea sure.

How about not having a CRV prop rod for the hood?

 

agree...how expensive would it be to put shocks there...come on, it's a premium SUV CUV or whatever....

 

The problem is, the RDX is a dressed up CRV and nothing will change that. Honda really should have added a few things that make a luxury car a luxury car like not using a prop rod or not having air vents for the rear seat passengers or not putting a fake plastic tailgate cover over the CRV's backend to build it out more. I understand they're trying to save money but a few bucks spent in a few areas would have enhanced the vehicle quite a bit.

Not having nylon twine to hold up the rear parcel shelf is another dumb move because electronically speaking it is a great car.

 

IMO the main thing missing to the RDX is a 6 speed transmission.

I would also like a heated steering wheel.

 

in my opinion, better rust protection might be better for honda/acura. that's the only weakness i find in these cars based on the "knock on body" sound effect (eg. knock on the hollow body of an rdx and compare it to the audi or glk, youll know how diff it "feels")... otherwise, im fine with my rdx

 

I like the plastic cover on the rear. Cheap and easy to replace if you get rear ended, which has happened to me. Sure someone else is paying, but easy repairs are good repairs.

 

- More seat travel on passenger side (my knees hit the glove box)
- Rear A/C and heater vents
- 6AT
- new dash to look more like TL or ZDX
- more color choices interior/exterior/trim (have a luxury and sport trim)
- A home link system that only works with the key in the car
- brighter Navi screen (I have to close the sun roof visor to see the screen)

The RDX has pretty much everything the 1st gen TSX was missing (torque, space, upgraded interior, better sound system, SH-AWD). Other than the excellent gas mileage of the TSX, I rather drive the RDX whenever I can steal it from my wife.

 

it needs more comfort and convenience features to put it actually into a near luxury or even a stretch to a luxury small CUV. The lack of many amenities is my biggest gripe.

 

Simply put, a MANUAL transmission. I hate this automatic crap.

A built in USB interface would be nice too...

 

A few thoughts on this thread.So , how much more would you be willing to pay for these features? If they added them and RDX priced out the same as a Q5, would you still choose Acura over Audi?Why would Acura put a 6 speed manual in this vehicle? The take rate would be very low.I like many of the features mentioned, but if I were to choose 1 I would request Ipod integration with the NAV and entertainment system. Also I would like to see the entertainment, nav , hands free and MID systems to be truly integrated.Have this nice display for NAV, and it is under used.I also think I would pay a bit more to get the little scribble pad that the new Jag XJ has for providing input to the Nav system. That is a very cool feature.

 

sorry, its new A8 that has the touchpad

 

lilfeat: (Once again, no quote button. Must be my browser). I would absolutely buy an equivalently featured and similarly priced vehicle from Honda before Volkswagen. Why on earth would you not? Honda has been consistently at the top for reliability for decades, and VW...has not. If all else is basically equal it is a no brainer. I could see if there was some other product trade-off, but if you are just comparing manufacturers...

 

(I'm having the same "browser" problem. No 'any' buttons.)

Maybe not browser?

 

The forums are broke except for off topic.

 

wifi in the car that syncs up w/the nav/ent system and some sort of usable interface for back seat passengers -- sort of like XM radio - maybe a charge per month that lets you get continuous updates to the dash screen like weather etc, then when paired with a HD, you could def create some sort of interactive interface

put usb cables in teh BACK SEAT - i dont care if you could use them thru the car - but that is THE now standard for charging, using portable devices - have 2 usb ports in the back, then if you had wifi spot in the car - guess what, everyones hooked in & powered, amazing.

i know wifi has been available for cars as an accessory aftermarket - but manufacturers , and i would think Acura would want to be atop the list, should be all over this as equipment for their cars....like you have your nav set up but have some sort of keyboard interface that is accessible -- for example, doing a google search from the passenger seat, something to that effect...endless possibilities, im not saying make it a rolling computer, but something akin to a rolling ipod touch capability

 

I agree completely. The thing is, all this stuff is dirt cheap in terms of materials. Maybe add $300-500 in unit cost.

Ford is the real leader here. Like it or not, MS is a leader (the leader?) in the IT world, so partnering with them makes great sense. Honda needs to jump on board or do a similar deal with someone similar (Samsung? Asus? Cisco? Google?). They already do these co-branding deals for audio, why not for the IT infrastructure as well? I wonder if Android can be extended to run everything.

 

I really wish microsoft was not the pioneer in this field...

Id love to see Acura do something with Apple integration

 

It took 25 or so years for Apple to partner with Intel. They are just not the strategic partnering type. Cracks in the relationship with AT&T are constantly being reported. When I wrote my list in my post above, Apple ran through my head, but I really just don't see it. But who knows?

 

yea i doubt it, but who knows is right, their profits & sales prove they def now have much more wide spread appeal...if only they could get a big shift in software/developer support...one can wish

a car ipod touch would be one hell of a integrated option

 

1) 6 speed AT
2) Better paint and protection
3) Heat / AC vent for the rear seating
4) Bigger Turbo
5) heated steering wheel
6) Window side vent visor

 

My wish list for the next FMC RDX:

1) V6 engine; current turbo 4 is nice, but gas mileage suffers on the SH-AWD models
2) Improve gas mileage above that of MDX's
3) Add HDD/MP3 ripping ability
4) Dedicated center sunglass holder
5) Change the oil requirement to "regular 5W/20" oil changes every 8k miles or so, or as the computer dictates. I would imagine if the RDX loses the turbo 4 and receives a V6, the expensive oil changes would go away as well, and the MPG would also improve
6) Rear AC/heat vents
7) Make the interior of the RDX ever so slightly larger than the current RDX to create that "comfy" feeling instead of that "just right/snug feeling"
8) Adding cooled front seats, panoramic sunroof, heated steering wheel, and beverage warmers would be nice luxuries

If Acura addresses wish list 1-7, IMHO, that would be the perfect driving SUV and I would seriously consider trading in my TL for it.

 

I want to add a power lift gate with adjustable height settings for all RDX models. It is hard to open the lift gate without getting your hand dirty or possibly scratching the paint when you close it.

I think it would be nice to have a USB sync for cell phone contacts, address book, calendar events, monthly navi map updates, and personal music folder. You could set everything up on your home computer, download to your USB drive, plug into the USB port, and sync all the data on the 32GB internal hard-drive.

I would also be happy to sync my work blackberry and the wife's iPhone at the same time in any Acura without dropping one or the other a few days later.

 

Oh, I forgot to add the following to my wishlist:

1) Soften the suspension. The RDX has a nice ride on smooth roads, but a bit harsh, rough, and obnoxious on bumps, rocks, freeway joints, etc. IMHO. Don't soften the suspension to the level of Lexus' where you feel like the car is going to tip over, but soften it so the ride is firm but not jittery.

2) Revamp the front grill. IMHO, the power plenum grill on the RDX is the worst of them all, makes it look like an angry velociraptor.

 

1. Auto wipers - my '07 Mazda 3 GS has them.
2. Heated rear seats. Heated steering wheel.
3. Power tilt/telescopic steering wheel, tied to memory function.
4. Sunglasses holder.
5. Centre console lid that flips BACKWARDS, so the passenger can get access to it. I can't drive AND search for my wife's sunglasses.
6. DVD-A... if you're gonna do it, do it right... allow different speaker level settings for all audio sources.
7. More transmission speeds. At least 6, but 8 would be best.
8. Cooled front seats. More adjustments on the passenger seat, and link it to the memory.
9. Whatever else the Audi Q5 has, but make it reliable and cheaper!!!

 

Interesting to see that since this post started a couple years ago, some of the items have been addressed. Would still like to see a power liftgate though, not a biggie for me, but my wife is on the small side and she'd certainly appreciate it. And while we're wishing here, a heated steering wheel and cooled seats would be nice too...hedonist that I am LOL.

 

I agree with the 6th gear for the tranny. Most of my gripes with my 09 were addressed with the 2010 update (auto headlights, better HVAC button layout, etc.)
The big tradeoff that I saw was the move the the CHEAP black plactic bumpers on the front and rear.
After going to the auto show this year and looking at the new Q5, I would DEFINATELY purchase it over a new RDX.

 

Power tailgate....even the new TSX wagon has this. How come it is missing from the more expensive RDX?

Same for the new navi. It's in the TSX, why not the RDX?

Updated dash would also be nice. Make it a bit more luxurious-looking.

Overall, I like the car. It's just missing a few things that should be there.

 

This thread again.

For me:

More power. I don't care how it is done (V6/I4T). The RDX performs as well as a Q5 V6 and only gets one less mpg--the six speed tranny could fix that most likely. Most of the other stuff would just add unnecessary cost and weight in my book.

And...it has sunglasses holders in the doors. Now that I am used to it, I actually like them there--easier to grab them out of the car in the garage when I want them. And they don't get burning hot in the summer.

 

Hondata reflash should satisfy your desire for more power...


For those that compare the RDX to the Q5 (Jbill & Boxster guy), why didn't you just get the Q5 then?? (mmmmmmike - not talking to you)

 

It's really easy to say things like "why didn't you just get X-car then?" without being the person that weighed the options before purchasing the vehicle.

Just because we think some features in the Q5 are nifty, doesn't mean we'd get the Q5. Acura's value and reliability are usually much better than audi. Those 2 reasons alone would be enough to not purchase the Q5.

We are simply stating that it would be great to purchase the RDX with Q5 like features. But how can we do that is acura doesn't even offer features comparable to the Q5 to begin with?

Personally, I love audis, but do not want to pay the premium or deal with the possible reliability issues (though my gf's A5 is still flawless after 3 years). I think the feature set in the Q5 is easily superior to that of the RDX, and it would only be benificial for acura to bring a comparable feature set to the next RDX. Even if the price goes up, it will go up in the appropriate package (for example, base/tech/advanced) and we'd have more options.

I hope the next gen RDX really steps it up in every way possible. They should set the Q5 as the MINIMUM bar and build something as good or better for cheaper, which is what they aim to do anyways. It also wouldn't hurt acura to hurry the heck up with that large vehicle hybrid system. People like my parents want nice vehicles with high feature content, but do not need or want a big thirsty engine. (FWIW, my cousins rdx consistently gets 13-14mpg)

 

I like the suggestion of a Base, Tech, and Advance packages for the all new RDX. Something for everyone at any budget. Then in the 3rd or 4th model year, drop the RDX Type-S with more power, sport tuned suspension and more aggressive styling.

 

Lose the cheap looking black plastic on the newer models
More power but keep the 4turbo
More rear drive orientated SH-AWD
Easier to see Nav
Slightly wider rear seat area with slightly more leg room
Factory color match the fogs, high beams or do bi-xenon
I'm sure there are more

 

No offense Acura friends--RDX is a great ride in many ways. And I've enjoyed the reliability. But the harsh ride along with the excessive road and outside noises in the cabin don't compute to a luxury ride. Better MPG would be nice given the engine--but that's a smaller concern. That aside, I enjoyed it while I owned it but I'm moving on. Q5 should be here in a couple weeks.

 

perhaps some of these shortcomings will be eliminated in the next generation.
when is that expected 2013?