Recent Consumer Reports lists RDX awd as poor in snow. Any comments on this report ?

 

What year are you referencing? Is there a link to the story?

 

if CR said jump off a cliff, would you?

proper snow tires and the RDX is a tank

 

We had +10 inches of snow a few years ago and my wife preferred driving our TSX with Conti DWS tires instead of our sh-awd RDX with OEM tires. Tires and driver's skill are more of a factor for inclement weather driving. I think most inexperience drivers are overconfident in their awd vehicles and try to drive them in the snow/rain the same way on a dry summer day.

 

^ true story. Tires are what grip the ground. Awd is just to get you unstuck

 

Tires, tires, tires. Remember it's the four little patches of rubber on the surface of the road that will or won't allow you and the vehicle perform.

 

And then there is the manufacturer's quandary. Customers want tires that are quiet, gas efficient and last forever. That's why most cars come with all-season tires - a misnomer because they really aren't great for any season.

Proper winter tires wear much faster (you'll get about 15k from a set before they turn into "all-season" tires and another 5k or so before they become hockey pucks), have higher rolling resistance and are noisier than most all-seasons - yet they'll save your bacon on a dicey road.

 

yeah my shawd saved me last year during a blizzard. It wasn't the tires, thats for damn sure

 

Agree 100% and that's why I run both dedicated Summer and dedicated Winter tires.





Dude it's the tires. SH-AWD turns the tires..........

 

nono I know its the tires that touch the ground. My point is that I was on oem acura garbage, not something decent like DWS or blizzaks, so the shawd took every last piece of grip that the horrible tires had and got me out of the embankment

 

More importantly, what does CR say is GOOD in the snow? I can't think of many if any vehicles in stock configuration that are GOOD in deep snow. I've lived in Northern IL my whole life - every winter its the same story - SUVs/Trucks are what's in the ditch. Amazing how stupid people are thinking 4WD/AWD will magically keep them on track.

 

I have owned nothing but 4WD/AWD SUV's since 1988. My RDX is the 6th SUV that I have owned.

I always went through our Ontario winters with just all season tires. Occasionally I would drive through bumper high snow in open fields, without ever getting stuck. I was always very impressed with 4WD/AWD and never saw the need for dedicated winter tires.

In 2007 I was offered the chance to get some winter tires as part of a group purchase. The difference was dramatic.

Because I had never become stuck with all seasons, I had come to the conclusion that 4WD vehicles were the ultimate in winter driving. It never crossed my mind that 4WD vehicles still had 2 wheels used for steering, and 4 wheels used for braking. In other words my steering and braking ability was not one tiny bit better than any sedan on the road.

The installation of winter tires gave me the ability to take corners faster and stop in much shorter distances. Since I normally go through 2 sets of tires during the lifetime of my vehicles, I simply share the mileage between my all seasons and winter tires. There isn't much additional cost since a winter tire with steel rim, costs about the same as a good quality all season tire. I prefer to keep my tires on the rim, and switch them over myself, because it is very expensive to pay for tire changeovers twice each year.

Getting back to the topic of this thread, tests have shown that some manufacturers have advantages over another in certain conditions. For example if only one tire has traction, or one tire on each axle has traction, one brand may outperform another. However in the real world, when you are driving down an unplowed road on your way to work, all 4 tires obtain equal traction , and my experience shows all modern vehicles will provide the same driving ability.

The thing that does vary between models is the vehicle stability systems. These systems only come into play after the tires have lost traction and the vehicle starts to move in a direction that is different than where the driver is pointing the steering wheel. The Acura SH-AWD system is a little different because it anticipates the vehicle weight shifting during corners and reduces torque to the wheels with less weight to prevent tire spin, which in turn causes loss of traction and loss of control.

Bottom line, forget what Consumer Reports say. I have already purchased my winter tires (and aluminum rims this time) for my new RDX and I have complete confidence it will be as good as any of the other 5 SUV's I have owned.

 

Once, my wife was leaving for work in the morning with snowy/icy side roads in our neighborhood. I woman behind her was getting impatient in her SUV and honked her horn a few times with my wife's slow driving in our fwd sedan. The SUV speed around her and the SUV +5000lbs size couldn't stop at the intersection with the slick ice. The SUV ended up getting T-boned. My wife just honked her horn and waved as she passed her and continued on to work.

 

Agreed!! And I've lived in No. IL longer than you have. When I got my first driver's license, it became my job to do the annual switches to/from snow tires on whatever sled my Dad owned at the time. (That's how I found out that Chrysler used left-hand threaded lug nuts on the driver's side wheels. Had to stand on the wrench to break open that first one, but I got it ... along with most of the bolt it was on. Oops!)

CR is best at collecting and reporting owner experience and satisfaction statistics. But their reviews are subject to biases and incomplete data just like anyone else's. I had a 1982 Datsun 310 that stored the tire jack & tools under the driver's seat (yep, it was a small car). The CR review showed a picture of the reviewer on his hands and knees peering under the seat with the caption: "I see it but it won't come out!" Well, of course it won't come out since it's cranked partway up to hold it in place and not make noise. What a dummy! If they had just tossed it in there, he would have grumbled about all the clanking noises going down the road.

But back to AWD - last couple years with plenty of snow in Chicago area, our 2010 RDX with SH-AWD was great at getting into out of parking spaces that had been filled with snow by plows, and getting through some city side streets that weren't plowed at all.

Like somebody said upthread, you really need to understand what CR was reviewing and what they felt was "good" performance. And, most important, how did they separate AWD from tire performance.

 

Oh, okay, I thought you were going to be one of those folks who think that because the have AWD or 4WD, they can go anywhere, anytime and speed in snowy and icy conditions. As mentioned above those are usually the ones who wind up in trouble and need the help of a tow truck more often than not.

 

i know since you're from mass you probably find our "snow" in DC area amusing and light, but it was during a storm where the damn ice was sticking to the wipers, and then it like melts and refreezes constantly to the point that i had huge chunks stuck to the blades and had to open the window just to see at some points. Basically what happened was the right lane I was in was not plowed as I approached the traffic light, only the left and I ran into about 2ft of snow at maybe 25-30mph. What's strange to me is that flooring it and letting the computer decide how to sort it out worked better than lightly applying throttle. *insert should've bought MT joke here*

 

My daughter goes to school in VA and she is the one who laughs when school is cancelled or postponed for little to no snow. In fact she had more snow days than her sister did here in MA last year and we set records or near records for snowfall amounts. And icy is another whole story. Usually doesn't matter what time of tires or drive-train you have, if you encounter ice. You hold on, enjoy the ride and hope for the best........
Oh and as an aside, I have Blizzaks and a MT

 

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/att...4x4-after-all/

Not an RDX but same system. It might explain why Honda redid the calibrations for the 2016RDX to direct more power to the rear wheels.
What Honda really needs is a locking center differential function for slow speed low traction conditions like what Nissan, Kia, Hyundai and others offer.
I ran Blizzak DM-V1's and the car still felt kind of like AWD lite if you will.

 

I haven't read a consumer report article that mentions this. Do you have evidence? This car will do fine in the snow due to exceptionally high ground clearance, being VERY powerful and having great handling due to automated stability controls. All wheel drive helps too.

 

The 2016 RDX can send 40% power to the rear wheels if need be. With a great ABS system and stability control, RDX will have few problems in winter.

I'm in Canada and drove through some HEAVY snow last year in a non-luxury SUV with relative ease. One time I was driving on the biggest highway here, the 401, an SUV a little ahead of me spun out of control and did a 720 degree spin before stopping at the guard rail. I swerved the non-luxury SUV around that SUV to avoid a collision. And the vehicle I was driving had less power and technology than the RDX. i was driving 70 km/h in a 100 km/h zone. If you drive more slowly in the snow, it is safer.

Truth be told, I should have stayed home that day but a pretty girl invited me to her party. When I got there, more than half the people cancelled and didn't show up due to the snow storm.

 

Which vehicle was this Rocky?

 

Toyota Venza AWD with 20 inch rims, V6 268 horsepower, all season tires. In my view, possibly the best value non-luxury crossover but Toyota is cancelling it soon.

 

Wait. So the Venza is a chick magnet too?

 

No......the Toyota Venza is a MILF magnet.

 

I like the look of the Venza. The neighbors friends have one. Very cool red color and I enjoy walking around it when they visit. Did not know Toyota was killing it off.

 

Indeed it is dead. Toyota is making some nice financing & rebate deals on the last of them.

 

RIP Venza, overall the best vehicle Toyota has made (excluding Lexus).

 

Needless to say this what all of us have been hammering out here

Do You Really Need AWD in the Snow? - Consumer Reports

 

Ok, So digging on this...this is really based on RDX's from 2014-2015. Which makes sense as they don't test the re-tuned system that send up to 40% of more power to the back. By no means will this make the top 10 or top 20, but at least it should fair better than ranking of 47. I guess we will know a year from now.

Best Cars for Snow | SUV & Wagon Survey - Consumer Reports

 

So looking thru this list really makes me skeptical about how real this consumer rating summary really is. As an example the Ford edge and Lincoln MKX have identical drivetrains. So why aren't they next to each other? Likely the tires - since the Lincoln has more wheel/tire choices and the standard fare is more performance than function oriented. And why is the MDX so far down the list? With the proper tires, the 2nd gen MDX w/SH-AWD was the best vehicle in the snow I have EVER driven. But with stock rubber, it's mid-pack, as is shown in the list.

I know for sure the RDX won't hold a candle to the MDX or the wife's TL SH-AWD just because of the way the power is transferred. I can feel some slippage on the RDX today during wet roads with the stock tires. But with a proper set of Nokians or other "snowflake on mountain" tires, it will do just fine in the winters, even here in NH.

I wouldn't hold much value in these rankings...

andy

 

It looks to be user ratings, not reflective of CR which makes completely useless.

 

I have commented on this in other threads on this subject My experience is as follows

the RDX is NOT a full time AWD system, it is slip and grip aka on demand. It is unable to transfer large quantities of power to the rear wheels if needed. You will not get unstuck if you slide into a deep pile

for everyday driving in bad/sever weather it is just fine, you will feel the front end slide around a bit and then the rear wheels start pushing and it straightens right up.

now when the BIG snow breaks out, that's what the Subaru is for

 

The 2016 RDX is more powerful than the Subaru. I find it grips the road and turns with excellent precision. It will have little problem in snow storms.

 

^power != to AWD abilities and in that area Subaru Legacy Forrester Outback Impressa > Acura slip and grip. Subaru can send ALL power to where it is needed

256HP to anywhere is better than 279 stuck mostly to the front wheels

case in point

and this is a tiny 2.5L 165hp Legacy from many moons ago

 

I'm sure this is posted already, but the 2016 is shaping to be better than the previous 2nd gen models.

The Acura RDX Is Like a Gucci Mountain Goat: Review - Boldride.com

 

I'll put my wife's TL with SH-AWD up against a Subaru in the winter any day here in NH (or my former MDX). Having driven a Subaru in the winter as well as the others, I find the SH-AWD to be more balanced and a hell of a lot more fun.


Andy

 

I never understand why people attempt to help rigs like these with there Subaru or F150. You only put great stress up your transmission - highly doubt that trucking company will buy that a guy a new tranny.

Those truckers have road side assistance as well. Let them deal with it!

 

Until you get behind the wheel.

 

I could do that with my 279 horsepower, 252 ft lb torque 2016 AWD Acura RDX also but I don't want to damage it. The RDX can send 40% power to the rear wheels.

Also, the 2016 RDX will smoke the Subaru SUV in a race. Look at the 0 to 60 mph times (or 0 to 100 km/h times).

 

Rockyboy, what planet are you from? The RDX is a fine vehicle, it does not have the AWD capability of a Subaru, nor does it have the luxury of a Mercedes. It's a very nice, upscale Honda, which is not a bad thing.