I purchased an 09 RL a two weeks ago, love the care. Reading the "05-07 Reliability" thread it was mentioned that there are not a lot of 09 owners posting.

Those who have an 2009-2012 or not any feedback on reliability? I was able to talk with a guy who has an 09 RL (original owner). He told he had no problems since buying the car, only had to do $100 oil changes.

BTW does the RL use synthetic oil?

 

its an 09 with a bulletproof honda motor.
you're probably going to sell it way before it reaches 300k.
and it will chug past 300k miles.

you probably have minimal miles on it.

also, car engines dont care if its synthetic or conventional oil.
choose either or, as long as you keep up with routine oil changes.
P.S. the previous owner got ripped off on oil changes.

the filter is like 12 bux
and the oil is like 24 bux.

 

Purchased with 51k miles and paid a little over 26k. Which I think was a good deal. Good to know on the oil change, how much are you guys/gals paying for oil change?

Thanks for the feedback JustnSpace.

 

thats a good deal! considering the cost of a new one!
she's also a baby with 51k miles.
she will chug past 300k miles if you treat her right. (oil changes, and regular maintenance)

 

The RL dropped off in volume dramatically after 2006 MY. By 2008 only hundreds to just over a thousand were sold.

The 2009 MMC was supposed to bump sales. Did not happen.

By 2010-2012 mere dozens were built to be rationed to dealers.

The volume of 2009+ RL owners is dramatically smaller than 2005-2008 (the bulk being 2005 & 2006 owners). The percentage of those finding AZ is a minuscule sample. Most any 2009+ noise on the board is from die hard enthusiasts, which always have skewed expectations and views. Most any dialog about 2009+ RLs was banter of the Hate / Love polarized views of the power phlegm grille. Performance changes and feature updates, though noted, where not significantly different from the 2005-2008 iterations.

That said, little to no issues have surfaced / been reported from 2009+ members.

 

The 1st Gen Acura RDX (turbo 4) required synthetic oil. Some cars do care (or at least specified by the manufacturer).

 

Obviously, I was simplifying it for the noob member
of course a forced inducted vehicle would need the higher shear rate, as heat is a killer of all things

as far as the 3.7 naturally aspirated j motor...it doesnt care if its synthetic or conventional, as most synthetics are blends any way.

 

Such a great car and the front grill is the topic of discussion.

Just thinking out loud. If there are few 2009+ on the road, what does that mean for replacement parts and cost. Also doesn't bold well for the community forums to track down issues.

 

"Such a great car and the front grill is the topic of discussion."

You have no idea how much of an understatement that is

 

well, seeing that its the same car since 2005, I dont think you will have that much problems tracking down issues.

 

09 needs oil and differential fluid, surprised no one mentioned. It doesn't care regular or synthetic oil.

I had mine up to the 50's and both mirrors needed to be replaced. One wasn't returning to memory position and the other would make weird noises moving up n down.

Otherwise the car should be bulletproof, the slow transmission is working as designed...

The crappy feeling brakes...working as designed.

Crappy tires....good for gas mileage. Change the wipers too, I could stand mine all of 2 weeks before I swapped em out, the car was barely over 3k mi at the time.

 

That sounds like a great pickup. Congrats!

justn is right about the oil for this car. There is a 2G Legend owned by member here, Tyson Hugee (sp?), that has 515,000+ miles and only ever used conventional.

Another member here has a 2G RL with 315,000+ miles. The '09, for the most part, improved on things that were already solid in the '08 RL. There is no obvious reason to believe the reliability is anything short of immaculate.
The grill doesn't bother me. I can catch an Acura on the road from a mile away. The UA7 is beautiful. The KB1 is beautiful, and the KB2 is just as good. I have yet to hear someone who has seen the car in person say it was ugly. I have seen about three around me recently including a CBP.

As for the parts, a manufacturer is required by law to produce replacement parts for any car for 10 years. You may not have luck finding salvage parts for non-stealership prices, but you always have Tim at oemacuraparts.com.

 

Bought a CPO 09 RL at 50k. So far, nothing bad. Definitely change the fluids, especially the tranny. I just use Costco Mobil 1 5W-20 synthetic, preference and it's cheap too.

I turned off all the automatic mirror, steering wheel and seat adjustments. The less anything is moving the better.

But if you read the statement from Honda, they added more heavier duty things on the KB2 RL. Seems like a major improvement over the 05-08's... We'll see as time goes...

But yea, the thing I hated about the RL would be the slow tranny shift. I like a more direct positive feel.

 

It's just the opposite: Most "conventional" oils today are part synthetic. Conventional oils have improved dramatically in durability and performance over just a few short years ago. I use synthetic in my RL only because 1) I'm anal, and 2) I live in the Midwest where subzero cold can produce a few costly minutes of poor lubrication if your oil drops all the way down to the outdoor temperature, when it can thicken enough to flow too slowly throughout the engine after a cold start.

To the OP's question, I second the others' comments: the '09 shares the vast majority of its parts with the '05-08 in the engine room and elsewhere. They've all been troubleshot thoroughly by this time, and Consumer Reports surveys have shown this to be one of the most trouble-free of all used luxury cars. In addition, there is no more complexity or cost in changing this car's oil than in any V6 Odyssey or Accord, unless you're crazy enough to have an Acura dealer do it (which, by law, is not necessary in order to stay covered under warranty).

 

I think the comments from MMC owners about shifting are funny. Considering they improved the shift speed in the MMC and gave you full time paddle shifters, I would hate to hear your thoughts on the 2G.

 

those paddle shifters are the only reason I lasted with the 2.5G as long as I have, it was always a gear short, and that's for the 5 speed.

Now I got the 8 speed so I either go slow or shift to full manual. There is no in-between.