ThermonMermon

test drove a Tucson Limited Ultimate today. Sticker was $35k. Stlying and interior were slightly above the RDX. Wife loved it. It was white, with beige interior, full black roof with a pano that went to the trunk. LED eyebrows with turning HIDs. Car blew us away, and IMO, one of the best looking CUVs in this trim.

Personally, I fell in love with the 2016 forester XT. visability, headroom, and seating position are great. they just dont make cars like this anymore. the windowline is a few inches above your head, and the rear quater windows are actually usable. the greenhouse was so far from claustrophobic, that in this day and age, it made the car feel oh so very special. the extra large moonroof opens up more than most dual panel pano roofs, and had an open air wrangler feel to it. speed was awesome. turbo/throttle/awd monitoring was a nice touch. it almost felt rally ready, and was one of the more versatile cars i have ever driven. family hauler, great for dogs, and great mpgs. it just checked off so many boxes as an all-in-one vehicle.

the RDX has been knocked out. it is a duel between his and her picks at this point. i would get the forester in a heartbeat, but wife thinks that subarus are only driven by lesbians and she wouldnt be caught dead in one. i thought it was kinda funny...

Comfy

While I do tend to agree that Hyundai / Kia may have improved quality recently, what matters to me is how it'll feel after 3-5 years of use. Will it still feel so plush, well made cool car. I have my doubts. I had been hyundai customer in the past and did the same thing, bought the car after comparing the features and price. It beat every other competitor in my list but sadly my car was a total junk after about 4 years of use (and all my competitors were doing okay). I have since moved on to Honda and other brands and am comfortable with that.
Would Hyundai / Kia use the same quality components used in a luxury car such as MB /BMW/ porsche..? I doubt so. The name nappa leather...or any such thing doesn't mean anything to me in this car. For me it's nappa leather of Hyundai. It may look and feel awesome now. I hope it stays that way. Not to offend any of you Hyundai / Kia fans but just because they made a few good looking cars it doesn't mean that they will get my business. It will probably take a quarter of century for them to regain my trust.

tmux

Not surprising the Hyundai has to at least appear offer more at the same sticker price. Are you leasing or buying? The 10 year (non-transferable) powertrain warranty is nice but basic warranty varies from 1-5 years depending on the issue.

Acura's own fault for not offering an RDX with trim with all the bells & whistles though.

ThermonMermon

Subaru to buy. Hyundai to lease (although we may default to buying given likely poor lease rates). I agree that the luxury trim Korean cars may not last that well. The safest play is to just lease an rdx at at awesome rate, but I can't stand the interior layout and lack of pano.

tmux

Does pano benefit the front seaters or only the back seats?

Comfy

In general it benefits only the back seaters, unless the driver / front passenger turns his head and looks behind in which case he will find the cabin more airy and pleasant. I don't know how else to explain it.

ThermonMermon

i agree. my initial posting about ultra luxury trim in koreans has been muddled by reality. the kia sorrento in a nappa trim is a bit outrageous and uneccesary. I too dont have too much confidence in the resale value and durability for the high end packages found in the equis, sorento, etc.

HOWEVER, basic leather packages and all of the tech in more mainstream price levels ($30-$40k) makes sense, because you could fathom someone wanting to pay $20k to buy your car in 5+ years.

My wife was quickly drawn to a $62k Equus on the floor. The car blew us away. But to be honest, I felt dirty/guilty just sitting in it, like we were about to buy a high end knockoff Patek Philippe from a sketchy peddler in Hong Kong. Is just wasnt truly believable in regards to value and quality. There is a certain sense of allure that they try to push on instinctive American shoppers. Sometimes you need to take a step back and realize what youre getting yourself into.

tmux

I saw one from above and it looked nice. I can imagine parking it outside so you can look at it from a balcony every day for the first few weeks you own it.

Other than that, I don't have backseat passengers to take advantage of them

mindanalyzer

I am going to say this: "I can see myself driving a Korean vehicle in 4 or 5 years" ... More more likely than a Toyota (incl lexus), nissan (incl infiniti) or Honda (incl Acura)

TacoBello

Yup, we have a 2012 Hyundai Sonata, with the 2.0T to boot. We're around the 105,000km mark and not a single issue. A couple manufacturer recalls, but they were taken care of within a few hours and let's be honest- who doesn't have recalls these days.

TacoBello

You'll find others around here who have nothing bad to say about Hyundai and Kia after 3-4 years. We bought our 2012 in October of 2011. Still feels the same as it did the day we bought it

TacoBello

We bought a fully loaded Sonata back in the day, and resale value was a concern at the time. I knew we would ultimately take a bigger hit on the car when we decided to sell. With the way the car has been for us, by the time we choose to sell it in another 3-4 years, we will have gotten our money's worth out of it. I honestly couldn't careless if I get $2500 less for the car than I would for an Accord when it hits 250,000km.

The sonata has been our work horse. We use it for all of our road trips, I use it for all of my renovation projects (I can fit 14 2x4s in the fucker, or three entire bags of insulation ). The bitch just keeps going. And seeing as we got a fully loaded car for 36k out the door, with more features at the time than a Camry or Accord offered for even more money (I think a comparably equipped Accord was going for about 38k at the time), I really haven't lost much.

Now that I think about it, even if I do get less on resale, the fact I paid less for it than a similarly equipped Accord kind of makes a wash of the loss.

ThermonMermon

^^ yup, resale is wash since lower MRSP day one. the cost of ownership ends up being the same for a sonata versus an accord that is a few thousand more.

problem is, if hyundai doesnt better their resale value, then they dont have support for asking more for their cars than the competition. as of lately, kia and hyundais are finally starting to get closer in price to the competition.

i.e. 35k for a loaded tucson is the same, if not more, than a fully loaded rav4, crv, etc. so unless you are okay with 1. comparing it to an acura rdx, or 2. in such strong favor of the design, then you would likely not be able to justify the 35k asking pice hyundai is offering, as the cost of ownership would be relatively high (likely inline with an RDX that is $5k+ more with better resale)....and if youre talking leasing, hyundais just arent competitive period (again, due to lackluster resale).

personally, if 5 yr cost of ownership is the same for a loaded tucson, vs a mid-level equipped RDX, i would rather take the Tucson. But if leasing, there is no way im paying MORE per month for the hyundai over the RDX.

hand-filer

Why wait so long? You're only depriving yourself of a most wondrous experience.

yesrdx

Is anyone still considering the Tucson? If so, I'd wait to see if Hyundai works out all the kinks with the first year new model.

As for me, I've pretty much ruled it out due to the turbo lag, inferior interior quality, and the hideous usage of blue interior lights. YMMW.

FamilyGuy

My wife and I just went through this ourselves on a lease. Started by going for an RDX with Nav. Just couldn't make the numbers work where we wanted to be. We then looked at Jeep, VW Tiguan, Ford Edge, Kia and Hyundai Santa Fe Sport vs Tucson Limited. Overall, the RDX felt a little more comfortable of a ride and the Tucson more sporty, similar to the Santa Fe, where the Sante Fe was slightly larger but without many of the features (was not the 2.0T, to stay within the price range). The Tiguan felt small and overpriced.

Ended up with a Tucson Limited, fully loaded, with the ultimate pkg - it was the best bang for the buck hands down that we could find, as well as one of the best looking. I have to admit, I'm impressed so far. It's loaded and almost $100 less per month vs the RDX. My wife leased a Kia Optima before this without any problems. We hope the Hyundai follows suit.

FYI there is virtually no lag in sport mode, and even though it's only 175hp, the turbo gives you full torque at 1500 RPMs, so it feels like a bigger engine and has no problem getting up and going for a 3500lb SUV. The usage of blue lighting on the interior is no worse than the amount of red lighting in my type S.

Given the amount of today's features offered in the Tucson, our only surprise so far is that it doesn't have memory on the power seats. Seems silly not to include that convenience on a vehicle that has things like heated rear seats, A/C front seats, HIDs that turn w/steering, lane departure warning, parking sensors, rear camera, XM radio, etc. but so far so good, my wife is very happy with it.

ThermonMermon

If you don't mind me asking, what were the lease terms on the loaded Tucson?

CrazyBiker

I myself compared all the luxury brands and the regular ones while shopping for a 3-row SUV. The Sorento offered the best value/luxury/features period! I was heavily comparing with the QX60, MDX, XC90. Sorento interior quality felt better than the MDX and much better than the QX

silental

Too soon for me. Can't do it.

Kaputnik

I have to agree about the interior quality feel in the Sorrento. Very impressive.

BLEXV6

The new Kia Sportage, Sorrento, Hyundai Tuscon are impressive vehicles. Don't forget the RDX is almost at the end of it's life. I recently saw the interior of the CRV, which I would buy over any Korean vehicle and it was very nice and the exterior looks good too. I would suggest the RDX will be a knock-out when the new model debut's in 2018 sometime. It's time for an update.

RDX10

The Sorento interior is FAR nicer than the MDX's and belies it's price point. In fully loaded sxl trim with the napa leather seats, it really did surprise me just how damn nice the interior was especially compared to the hard plastics of the previous years. I might be leasing or financing a sorento when the MDX sells. I can't wait for the sorento refresh, they are sure to drop in the 8 speed auto from the cadenza and it should be VERY impressive in terms of acceleration at that point.

CrazyBiker

Yup, I was really wanting to buy the MDX until I looked at the Sorento and ofcourse the MDX ZF transmission issues turned me off from Pilot too. Ended up with a 17' SXL in pearl white and metallic black interior (didn't want ivory as it gets dirty really easy). I only wish they offered the Merlot nappa leather on the SXL. Its only available on the SX now.

The 8-speed auto is a Kia developed trans so it is likely not going to suffer from the same 3rd party ZF issues that plagues the MDX.

RDX10

Yeah thankfully no ZF crap in the Kia sorento. I agree though about the merlot leather, definitely my favourite color interior and sucks that it isn't available in the SXL (curious omission wallah). Your Sorento has the dynamax AWD system capable of sending more than 50% to the rear in corners (like SH-AWD) so really what are you missing other than saving 20k and getting superior interior quality and more features.

Resale won't be as strong, but with the 20k savings your are coming out way ahead regardless. Good for you man, you made an awesome choice.

KDX

I'm in the market to buy and have driven the new CR-V. It is very nice. I will also be looking at the RDX. I have reservations about buying the CR-V as it is a first year model, where as the RDX should have had most of the wrinkles ironed out already.

Kaputnik

Ya, that's true, as the RDX is a bit of dinosaur now, being in it's 5th year of the current iteration. I bet the new RDX, be it 2018 or 2019 will be a knockout. It's too important to Acura, and given the positive reviews of the CRV, I'm excited to see what comes.

KDX

I'm looking forward to seeing the new one also. When does the new model year start?

Kaputnik

Good question that's been debated a lot around here. 1G RDX was a six-year cycle with three-year refreshes. Although Acura continuously made minor tweaks along the way to the 1G, not so anymore. The question will be will they stick to a six year cycle, meaning the MY 2019 will be the update, or will they act quickly catch up to the CR-V and MDX styling update and go with MY 2018? Who knows? Acura is living off the RDX and MDX, so maybe they won't wait too long.

KDX

Will the 2018 be out in the summer or fall?

BLEXV6

Likely the fall, but who knows.

chickdr

I wouldn't bet on this. I thought the same thing when we got ours last year(being the 5ith yr into the cars life) but we had a myriad of issues early. It seems to be ok now but we were constantly in the shop the first several months. Acura build quality is not what it used to be.

The 17's were hitting the lots in April of 16 when we bought our car last year. No idea if that will be the case this year or not. There can't be a new model RDX for '18 as we have seen nothing in the way of spy shots, reveals, etc. I suspect '19 will be the new model.

Comfy

Fully agree with this. I recently checked out the new CRV and was totally impressed by it. I blows away any of the Korean cars out of the water. Don't believe me ... just wait till the year end and see how do the sales compare. . Too many Hyundai / Kia lovers here. Don't the Korean brands have a forum for themselves? Or are they too cheap for that... ?

BLEXV6

I disagree with you on the quality. I have a 14 and 17 with zero issues. I had an 11 also with no issues. You must have been unlucky with yours.

KDX

I was dealing on a 2017 RDX Tech today and it went no where. Ended up driving home with a 2017 CRV Touring and am liking it so far. At least this one has two USB ports in the rear and a heated steering wheel.

Comfy

I wouldn't fault you for going with the CRV this time. I myself saw the new one in an auto show recently and was so impressed. Now I understand that it's a 1.5 liter engine mated with a CVT so I don't know how it'll feel on the road and it's unlikely that I'll want to keep it for long, but for the looks, features, build quality, overall impression I'd have to say yes .... well done. Congratulations on your new car.
Please let us know how you feel with the CRV. It's definitely an updated and modern platform than the current RDX.
I personally would wait for the next gen RDX though. .

TacoBello

You, like most everyone else, are missing the bigger picture here. OF COURSE Honda/Acura will produce cars without issues. No one ever said that every single car they release is guaranteed to be a ticking disaster waiting to happen.

The point you're missing is that although they produce cars without issue, they are also producing cars with a myriad of issues. I just saw a thread where a guy owns a near new MDX with 3400 miles on it that needed extensive work to the engine. What about the confessions of an Acura master tech telling us how every year he sees the cars get worse and worse? These aren't made up, make belief stories people are telling, trying to "destroy" Acura's or Honda's reputation. These are legitimate owners or employees speaking about the personal issues their vehicles are having.

Maybe you got lucky and both of your cars were built on Wednesdays. You should feel sorry for the people who own the Monday or Friday built vehicles.

It's absolutely asinine that a few people say "well my car has no issues" and they paste that across the entire brand. It's also asinine to say that every car they build is a rattling disaster waiting to happen. What is fair to say is that Honda and Acura, two brands that were built from the ground up in large part due to their intelligent and reliable engineering, are slowly producing more and more cars with more and more issues. This stuff never used to happen as frequently as it does now.

Of course, car stigmas die hard, don't they? I mean, Hyundai and Kia are still the worst garbage anyone can spend their money on, and Acura and Honda are the most reliable cars on the roads today, aren't they? Unfortunately, neither case is true anymore and the Koreans, with every single gen they release, climb in price, climb in features, climb in quality and slowly erode old stigmas from 15 years ago.

BLEXV6

A friend of mine just got a 2017 Sportage. For the money that is a nice vehicle. Great interior. Nice exterior. Took it for a ride and it was very smooth and quiet.

BLEXV6

Since you want to challenge my position, I offer the following:

I see you are a longtime poster and I assume you must have or had Honda products in the past. I do not base my experience on the 3 cars as described, but having owned 14 Honda/Acura vehicles between my Wife and I over the years, I have concluded they produce very good reliable cars. Now, I will tell you I had a 2002 Acura TL that had 4 transmissions replaced, when Honda had the transmission fiasco. In that case, even though it was out of warranty, they came to the plate and repaired it at no cost and no pushback and gave me a rental in the meantime. They likely had to, but some manufacturers do not come to the plate.

I have found the newer cars I have had within the last 8 years have been problem free including a 2010 TL- SH-AWD, 2009 TSX (son still has it and drove the crap out of it), 2011 RDX, and 2014 and 2017 RDX.

I think this site sometimes has complainers because they want to vent and find out if others have the various problems they have and what to do about it, and most people have little to no problems with their Honda/Acura vehicles. I am guessing you may be someone who has had issues.

Regardless, unless I have major issues, I will continue to buy them. If my engine blew early on, I would demand a new vehicle.

chickdr

I don't know if "challenge" is the right word. Just an alternate viewpoint. I am in the boat with many others who are less than impressed with the RDX in many ways. I had all kinds of issues early on which scream lack of detail and poor execution on Acura's part. They simply should not have happened on Honda's premium line of cars. They are so troubling that it will be very unlikely for us to buy another Acura when the time comes to replace the RDX.

BLEXV6

Okay, and I am sure you are dissatisfied. Just backing up my statement. If I had had another car with a tranny problem, I may have been of the same opinion. I don't think Kia or Hyundai's are a bad choice. As I said earlier, my good friend just got a 2017 Sportage. Very nice car. I still would buy a CRV first, if I was buying in that class and as long as I can afford it, the RDX.