clearcornea

Newbie question. I looked at a 2013 RDX tech yesterday with 21,000 miles. Salesman was upfront and said they could not certify it because of the airbag recall. Asking $30,000. Salesman said recall places owners ahead of RDX's in dealer inventory. Reading the recall threads here yesterday, I didn't realize it was the drivers airbag and also that Acura recommends not driving the car until the repair is done. How long is it taking now for the repairs to be done? Am I crazy even to consider the RDX now given the situation? I would only consider it if they will give me an Acura loaner vs a rental car. They have a 2013 MDX that I also like and could avoid this entire airbag issue.

ceb

They shouldn't - ethically - even be selling it until it is repaired. Is it that good of a deal?

And, welcome to the forum.

clearcornea

Hi ceb. I'm not thinking clearly. Our 01 MDX tranny needs to be replaced. We are suddenly in the market for a newer Acura. The RDX is a 2014 (not a 2013). Nicest used RDX or MDX that I have seen in the last two weeks. I spoke to the saleman again today. Offering a Enterprise rental immediately and we get to park the RDX in our garage until the part comes in. We have rented a Hyuandai Elantra and Kia Optima as we shopped for a replacement. Driving a rental from Enterprise wouldn't be a deal breaker for us. Could be a month or 6 months. Wife is on board. Would offer $29K ( too much ?) Plan B is to buy a '17 RDX awd base. Local dealer has my wife's color choice in stock. I have looked at every RDX and MDX at the Acura dealer in Omaha. I also drove to Sioux Falls, SD this weekend to look at a CPO MDX. Every used RDX and MDX I have looked at has had deal breakers, except this particular RDX. It is in pristine condition. Ready to get the process over with. Gut says go with the '14 RDX. Practical side says go with the '17. We will decide tomorrow and start negotiating.

Kaputnik

$29K is too much IMO. They were less than that out here in the Bay Area for a COP AWD tech before the recall issue. Try more like 26k. There are a lot of these on the market as lease returns are coming back.

Comfy

Welcome to the forum. Hard question to answer. While the used 14- RDX has some advantages, the 2017 is a refreshed model with some updated features in what essentially is the same car. What is important to you? Latest electronic / tech features/ LED lights and stuff like that? In that case go for 2017 to avoid any remorse later on. Otherwise the 14- RDX tech is an awesome, comfortable, entry level luxury car. We love it.

ceb

There are a couple of issues here that many posters tend to overlook. The first is that pricing is highly regional. While (according to TrueCar) a 2014 RDX Tech goes for the mid/high twenties in Florida, the Omaha market is far different with $29k being a "great price" there. While there will be many (mostly '13's) coming back from lease, the OP needs a car now. Every day in the rental is costing money.

The problem with used Acuras is that they mostly hold their values well - great for the seller, bad for the buyer. But at least it isn't like that awful Toyota FJ, where the used ones are more expensive than they were new.

Me? I'd have a long talk with the dealer and get him to certify the car before you pick it up. Do the paperwork now, have him put you in a reasonable loaner, fix the airbag and run it through the certification process. At that point you are getting a great deal - in Omaha and a decent deal in the rest of the country. The dealer has sold a car that would otherwise be costing him money and you can salivate over your new purchase and hang out here.

Otherwise, I'd look at a 16 or 17. Even the base has a few advantages over the '14 - LED headlights being the primary selling point - important in Omaha when dodging those incoming Russian nukes (or deer). Perhaps there is a dealer close willing to do a deal on a leftover '16. Remember that new cars come with special financing and other possible bennies (military/graduate discount) that can reduce the price of a '16 to near the 2014 levels.

Good luck and keep us posted.

clearcornea

Update. We decided to make an offer on the 2014 instead of the 17. I'll add that the 14 already has the sport step, body side moldings, and clear bra on the hood, bumper, side mirrors and door trim. We offered $28,000 and they countered at $29,650 with a $99 doc fee. I'll counter with $28, 750. Original asking was $30,900. We will get an enterprise rental within 2 days from them. I'm asking for a loaner in between. I plan to keep the car for about 7-8 years. Will plan on getting acuracare. Even factoring in acuracare, will save at least $6500 overall. I like the jewel led lights on the 17, but can live without them. I am having a local mechanic that I trust look at the car. Deal will be contingent on my mechanic giving a thumbs up. I appreciate everyone's input.

Comfy

That's great. Keep us posted on the progress.

clearcornea

I offered $29,000 but asked them to throw in a cargo cover and driver and passenger tinting. I estimated the deal cost of the add-on was $200-$250. I sent the email to my salesman, but I received a response from the internet manager. His offer was $30,000. Dumbfounded by their counter offer. I will wait patiently to hear from my salesman. I am in no rush to close this deal. I can wait. I thought my counter offer was perfectly reasonable. Thoughts?

ceb

Is there another dealer? Fly to DC/Florida and get a car there. Have a nice road trip and save some cash? That dealership is idiotic.They think they have you by the short hairs because you're driving a rental.

Comfy

Exactly my thoughts. Ditch that dealer and go somewhere else. Your time and money is worth more than that. Don't even entertain any further calls from them. Good luck.

clearcornea

I texted my salesman. I told him that I only wanted to deal with him directly. He was in agreement. Unless his counter offer is reasonable, I will wait quietly until Friday and see if the end of the month motivates them. Ceb, I took your suggestion and looked up some certified MDX's near Port St. Lucie , FL where my parents live. Inventory looks great, but unfortunately, all but one were FWD. I may need to consider Florida for my next Acura.

clearcornea

Update. Salesman texted me that $30,000 is firm. Oh, and someone was there looking at the RDX and drove it home to show his wife... Can't make this up. Looks like Kia Optima for another week. Seriously thinking about visiting my folks in Florida, bringing the kids, and looking at few Acuras while there. I haven't bought a car in twelve years. I've suddenly soured on the entire process.

Kaputnik

This is crazy. There are so many of these on the market now. You can probably bring the entire family to FL on the money you save buying the car there or elsewhere.

ceb

Try Washington DC. Lots of AWD here.

ceb

Oh, and I texted your salesman and want to buy that car sight unseen, so consider it sold - but he might keep it for you if you added another $500. I guess the dealer thinks you're an idiot. If you drove by you'd see it sitting on the lot.

How many people are willing to buy a recalled car that puts them in a loaner for an unspecified time period?

A two second search brings up this

Used Certified One-Owner 2014 Acura RDX Technology Package - Near Chantilly VA - Pohanka Acura

Pohanka is billed as the world's largest Acura dealer. They have a boatload or RDXs and are 10 minutes away from the airport. They'll pick you up.

I'd suspect that the Pohanka price has a $1000 in it for negotiations. Show that to your dealer and suggest that he put it where the sun don't shine.

dirleton

"Oh, and someone was there looking at the RDX and drove it home to show his wife... "

Gawd --- these guys never quit.

ceb

Cars.com shows 17 AWD tech models in the 14/15 model years within 50 miles of my zip code - several at MD dealers with a far lower processing fee that Virginia. While you pay tax where you register the car, you pay the processing fee in the state where you buy it.

clearcornea

Ceb, I am truly envious of your location and choices. Wow! I didn't realize there could be so many choices. Totally bummed. The closest alternate dealers are in South Dakota, Kansas, and Iowa and are 2-3 hours away. Combined they have fewer choices than Pohanka. I'll review things with my wife tonight. Likely looking at a 17 RDX base awd. Wish this was a comfortable time line. I will totally consider flying elsewhere for my replacement in two years, but not practical for my wife's new car. She will probably give me until next weekend to complete. At least I'll have some time to negotiate with more than one dealer. Thanks for everyone's input.

ceb

DC has six or seven Acura dealers withing a half hour drive. Pohanka (with whom I have a love/hate relationship) has 7 day a week service center with 7 to midnight hours during the week and 7 to 7 on weekends. They don't want appointments and have (at least had before Takata) 150+ loaners.
With email you should be able to find a car, negotiate a price, fly there, pick it up and be back by next weekend.

Kaputnik

Twenty-six CPO 2013-14's listed here in the SF Bay area, according to a quickie search on Autotrader, starting at $23,500. Sounds like you can get a free trip AND a better deal by buying elsewhere.

ceb

Correct. The OP needs to broaden his search. For the same price or better he can get a CPO (possibly even a 15) a flight and 4 star hotels and gourmet dining on the way back. His dealer wants to hold him hostage with an un-repaired non-CPO car for a much higher price.

dirleton

Dealer thinks OP is a fish. Don't bite.

Midnight Mystery

From what I've read, your area has higher demand for the RDX...

I think your salesman is swindling you, and when you requested the extras, he hiked up the price to pay for them...

Now he's seating someone else is interested, hmm...

Someone may have accually looked at it, and he is now creating an elaborated story to pressure you into a sale...

He's not dealin'...

See if you can go elsewhere, like you were thinking...

Best of luck...

ceb

I can't imagine the demand for RDX's in Omaha to be high. If it were, then there would be multiple dealerships. What you have is the old car dealership mentality found in so many places in the US. They haven't realized that the internet exists and they still think every customer is a sucker - too many times they are right.

But...in general, a CPO car with fairly low miles and a clean CARFAX from a large dealership will be pretty close to new and you can almost buy sight unseen. Find your car at a dealership with a convenient airport, fly there, buy the car and go on a roadtrip. I've done that a couple of times and always with good results. The first time I did it I was living in Germany and bought a GMC Typhoon from a Virginia dealership. They drove it to port, put it on a boat and I picked it up at the other end. I did the same with a Corvette when I was living in the UK and bought a S6 in Maine while I was living in Maryland - all before the internet either existed (Typhoon, Corvette) or before it really took off (S6)

clearcornea

Originally, plan B was to make an offer on a 17 RDX base awd. My wife has instead decided that she would now like a '14 MDX tech awd cpo. There are several possibilities at a dealer three hours away. She especially likes one in fathom blue with 18,000 miles. Dealer is asking $41K. Pohanka has a similar MDX as is asking $36,869. Is this my target price? I haven't negotiated in over 10 years so I'm a little rusty. Do I include the add-ons like side steps only after we agree on a price or as part of the original offer? Sorry. I know this is suddenly not RDX related, but wanted to give everyone an update.

ceb

Just like your local dealer's price, Pohanka's prices are negotiable so drop a $1000 from the Pohanka price as an indicator of what it should cost in Virginia. Ten, go to TrueCar.com and look up that vehicle as a used car with your zip code. That should also give you a ballpark of pricing near Omaha.

Don't discuss add-ons until late in the game or they'll just add those to the price. Once you're close in negotiations (say your offer was $36k and the dealer is offering $37k and $37k is perfectly fine with you), you might say "tell you what, I'll do the $37k if you add xyz"

Make sure that your requests are reasonable and don't forget to factor in junk costs that the dealer will want to add - processing fee and who knows what else. Your mantra should always be "I want your cost with ALL costs except tax and tags. I don't want you adding any fees you haven't disclosed" Tax and tags are state mandated and they can't play with those numbers. They also can't be negotiated away - everything else is negotiable.

Remember that the dealer makes a boatload of money on used cars. He probably paid $34k for that car.

Good luck and keep us posted. This is a far better forum that those guys next door on the MDX forum.

2013rdxbase

All prices are negotiable. This is ridiculous. Good thing you don't have "desperate" tattooed on your forehead. These sales guys never quit. My favorite so far is the Lexus "transparent, up front pricing" with a round of bs mentioning data from reliable sources, and more endless bullsh*t. My workmate was told that the lowest a dealer could go from an MSRP of 49500 was 45500. The moment she said she would consider going their their financing with 75% down or just use her credit union's financing, suddenly they dropped to another few thousand. She wouldn't tell me the exact details about close, but she did say that out the door, not a dime over 43000.

I'm noticing many coming off leases. If you can, and have the time and resources for it - patience, travel, more research - it might be worth it to expand your search across the country. I remembered that when I was looking, pricing seemed regionally skewed, as someone else has already mentioned. I almost purchased a Land Rover LR3 in Santa Monica, CA, because I could bet with 99% certainty that the truck would never have seen a dirt road by the time I got to it. The only action it would have most likely seen would have been the ramps at the local shopping mall's garage.

But I realized that a historically more reliable car, even out of warranty, was a better path for me. I looked wherever I had family: New York, California, Colorado. Some pricing seemed higher here than in LA for AWDs. But then most of my research by that time had shown a trend of cross-over, AWDs being more expensive here than in New York or California. It might have also been the season I was shopping, which someone told me to look out for. Not sure if it's true, but definitely an academic curiosity for me, now.

Anyhow, keep us posted.

CTNYC

Pohanka is actually open 6am to midnight during the week Also don't completely write off a new RDX - Pohanka is known to sometimes give insane deals at a loss at the end of a slow month.

ceb

While the Pohanka Lexus next door is open from 5:30 to midnight every da- including weekends. Pohanka Acura has been changing their hours recently so who knows where they'll end up.

With a bit of perseverance you CAN get a great deal on a new Acura there. My sister got a killer deal on an ILX lease - almost $75 a month less that Rosenthal where she leased her last car.

clearcornea

My car search is over. I finally pulled the trigger on a 2014 MDX Tech in Graphite Luster Metallic with 30,000 miles. The exterior is flawless. My wife was finally happy to have a replacement for her 01 MDX. We are thrilled with our "new" MDX. I learned that CPO is meaningless. I limited my search to CPO's originally. They came in a variety of conditions. Some were in great shape, while others had dings and scratches that I assumed would be addressed in the CPO reconditioning, but weren't. I ended up buying our MDX from a BMW dealer. I brought the car to the local Acura dealer for a pre-purchase inspection. They gave it their blessing. I also had a body shop look at it. They could find nothing to indicate that it had been painted or in a previous wreck. I will give myself plenty of time for my next purchase. I will be in the market for an MDX/RDX next year. I am planning to fly into DC for a few days to check out Pohanka and drive my purchase home. Thanks for everyone's tips and suggestions.