Mike_TX

Okay, I know there have been lots of road reviews of the RL, and I may not say anything different from the others, but I still think it’s good info for those still considering the car … or maybe even for current owners who haven’t done a road trip yet.

So, we got back last night from a 4200-mile trip from Texas to California for Thanksgiving. I won’t bore you with the well-known stuff, but here are a few quick observations about my ’06 RL non-Tech:


Ride and Handling –

I personally felt the RL rode beautifully. (My wife feels the Infiniti M45 I had rode a smidge better, but from a behind-the-wheel perspective, I disagree.) The car planed out flat and stable at speed, and it absorbed bumps and pavement blemishes with ease. It took some pretty jarring pavement breaks to upset things, and those didn’t happen very often. I’m very happy in that department.

Handling was also superb. We ran into everything from long flat slabs of 85mph interstate to some pretty twisty and hilly 2-lanes, and I never felt the car had too much body roll or excessive softness. No offense to those who go the A-Spec route, but I feel the OEM suspension setup is as near perfect as any I’ve run across, and any additional firmness would just compromise ride quality.

We ran into the usual strong crosswinds you always find on I-10 through Arizona and southern Cal, and the RL handled them with ease. In fact, I felt less “tossed-around” than I remember my Beemer 540’s feeling in those winds.


Overall Comfort –

I love the roominess of the front seat area. The narrow console center stack makes for good knee room, and there’s plenty of room to move your feet and legs around to fend off stiffness. The curve of the door panels makes for a feeling of roominess at shoulder level, too, and the seats have the right amount of support and cushioning. A tad more bottom cushion side bolstering might be nice, but I can’t really complain.

We had 3 adults on board, and my 81-year old mother-in-law managed a lot of sleeping in the back seat, so I guess it worked well, too.


Road Noise –

I add this one because some have commented on the stock Michelins. I found them to be commendably quiet on good surfaces … on asphalt they are only a whisper. On coarse textured concrete or on what we refer to as “caliche” roads in Texas (asphalt and tar with small rock squished into it with a steamroller), the tires howl pretty loudly. But I have to say if you haven’t driven with Goodyear RSA’s, you don’t know loud. I really doubt any tires are quiet on these roads. BTW, I started the trip with 31psi (cold) in all four tires, and never adjusted them during 9-day the trip.

I didn’t notice either the wind noise or the whining sound some have reported on this forum. The nearest thing to wind noise was a small amount of wind buffeting around the outside rearview mirror. But I hear that on every car, and I think it’s just almost impossible to design a mirror that won’t make some noise while blasting through the wind.

I was able to easily carry on a conversation with my wife in the front seat even on the loud road surfaces, and I could hear my mother-in-law in the back seat when I wanted to.


Gas Mileage/Oil Consumption –

Since the trip meters reset themselves to zero at a thousand miles, I wasn’t able to keep up with my whole trip mileage. My individual tank mileages ranged from 25.7 to as high as 28.6, so I would peg my overall trip mileage at somewhere around 27.5 mpg.

Not bad, considering I was carting 3 adults and really, really full trunk of luggage (and a full back seat of it as well).

The car used absolutely no oil. I had about 1,100 miles on it when I left and about 4,300 on it today, and the oil is still right on the full mark. This in spite of the fact I often ran at 85 and higher for hours on end.


The Navigation System –

Other than one really strange glitch (more later), the Nav was absolutely golden. I have traveled with Garmin portable Nav’s, Infiniti systems and 5th Gen Lexus Nav’s, and the RL’s is by FAR the easiest to use. It is just flat out the quickest, most intuitive and most logical to use Nav out there, IMO. I’ve even decided the lack of touchscreen isn’t a big issue, since the control knob both clicks sideways and also turns. And Acura also made the alpha setup easy to navigate (with the letters in an arc instead of a grid).

I have a few minor gripes – which I’ll mention later – but all in all this is a GREAT Nav.


Minor Gripes –

Engine –

Naturally, I’d like for the engine to be a V-8, since I’m a big V-8 fan. But for all but the most energetic running it does a good bit better than I expected it to.

I do not like the sound it makes when really pressed, though. Push the car hard to pass a truck on a two-lane and you’ll hear a very unrefined thrashing sound from the engine as it spins to near redline. Maybe it’s VTEC, but to me it sounds like my grandpa’s old tractor. It goes from very quiet and hushed to sounding like I can hear every rod and piston slamming around in there. Me no likey.

Transmission –

This is a buttery-smooth tranny, and I really enjoy its smooth shifts. And this is one car that doesn’t need a 6spd auto. At 80mph in 5th it is turning only 2300 rpm. Only 2100 at 70. Loafing. So maybe it would benefit from lower ratios in the first 3 gears. That would give it more thrust on takeoff and in city traffic. Then nudge 4th down in ratio just a tad and it would still transition nicely into the existing 5th gear ratio, letting us keep the good gas mileage but giving passing gear a little more oomph. Yeah, I think adjusting the ratios a little would give this car new life.

Nav –

I would like to see more zoom levels. For instance, there needs to be something between 5 miles and 15 miles, and between 15 and 50 miles. Other Nav’s I’ve used have had 8 miles between 5 and 15, and 25 miles between 15 and 50. In fact, the Infiniti Nav allows you to zoom infinitely.

Problem is, the 5 mile zoom level doesn’t let you see far enough ahead for highway driving, and the 15 and 50 mile levels just don’t show enough detail to be really useful. If the maps didn’t drop so much detail at the 15 mile zoom level, it would be okay, but it shows only major roads and cities at that level.

Which is another gripe. You have to be at 5 miles or less zoom level to see secondary roads. Even a pretty major highway intersection goes away unless you’re at 2 miles zoom, and as previously mentioned, that’s too tunnel-visioned for highway driving. At that zoom level, things just pop up too quickly to plan well for them. I would really, really like to see more map detail at higher zoom levels, and I think that needs to be addressed. (Lexus’s Nav’s have a similar lack of detail. Garmin does a great job showing it.)

Another gripe is that towns and cities aren’t shown as dots on the map. Instead, the name just sprawls out across the road, usually at an angle. On the 5 mile scale, a city name can stretch across 15 miles or more (the 5 mile scale is about ¾ inch on the screen, and a name like Columbus or Mount Pleasant can easily stretch out for an inch or two). You therefore know the city is up there on the road somewhere ahead, but you don’t know where it is within 15 or 20 miles or more. That’s ridiculous, when a simple dot on the roadmap would show you where it is, regardless where the name stretched to. Big issue for me. (And BTW, Infiniti’s Nav’s are the same.)

Nav Traffic –

The problem with Nav Traffic (other than inaccuracies and outdated info) is that it isn’t shown at zoom levels beyond 5 miles. If you’re barreling into L.A. on I-10 and want to know what to expect ahead, you don’t want to wait until you’re within 5 miles of a huge traffic tie-up before finding out about it. By then you’ve probably lost your chance to avoid it. You need to be able to see ahead farther for it to be a useful tool.

Also, I found I had to fiddle a lot to find out what an icon was telling me. First you have to jigger quite a bit with the control knob to center the crosshairs over the icon, then you have to click it two or three times (adjusting in between clicks) to finally get the info in the little popup info box. That’s a lot of trouble while you’re in traffic or just going fast on a freeway or highway. That really needs to be improved.


Strange Nav Glitch –

Okay, I was coming into California, and I decided to cancel the current route I had programmed (my motel for the night) and enter a new one I had in my address book to check the mileage to the next day’s stop. When I entered the address book destination, the Nav started calculating the route, then stopped about ¾ of the way through. It just froze. So I finally cancelled it and tried again. No luck … it wouldn’t even calculate at all. In fact, it wouldn’t even go back to the route I had had it on for hours, so I could get to my motel.

So I pulled over, stopped the car and restarted the engine, hoping to reboot the Nav. It finally came around and routed me to the motel, but it didn’t at like it liked it. I waited until after dinner to try the address book destination again, and it routed right to it this time.

I figure its neurons got scrambled somehow and got sorted out after a little rest. I had no further trouble with it, so I chalk this up as a freak incident.



Overall Conclusion –

The RL makes a really nice road car, and I’m very happy with it. Other than the freaky Nav thing, all systems worked beautifully and it took us across the country rapidly, in style and with grace. I’d recommend it to anyone, and I think I’ll keep it awhile.
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sleepinxlionhart

i went to arizona with the RL, and one time it averaged 30 mpg. i was like..wow.

and about you're freak nav incident..it happened to me before, the freezing. you need to get the acuralink update or something. the dealer downloads something from the satellite that updates the system from freezing.

gdevine

I wonder if changes could or will be made with future Nav updates, in reference to zoom levels and other problems that you were talking about mike_tx? Can this be changed thru software and firmware updates? It would sure be something to look forward to besides just having streets updated.

neuronbob

Nice review, Mike. I'm considering a long Xmas trip from Cleveland to Colorado Springs, weather willing, and it's good to hear this.

jaehshim

glad to hear you had a safe 4200 mile trip.
RL...very comfotable car, and i have to agree with you
it feels and rides more smoothly than the Infiniti

miner

Good write-up Mike. More impressive is that your 81 yo M-I-L as able to handle the long trip in comfort. What was the longest stretch you drove in 1 day? I once made the drive from D-FW to Tucson and I-30 to El Paso is a long stretch of nothing. Any 85 mph linits on I-30? How is the weather up your way? I am suppose to drive up from Katy tomorrow night but may forgo due to possible road conditions. I have been driving the RSX-S to work this week and miss my RL. I tell my wife of 26 yrs that my bones get jarred due to the sport suspension - thinking twice about the A-Spec now.

Meteor06RL

Thanks for the trip report.

BTW, by my calculations your trip was 3200 miles (4200-1100).

Mike_TX

. Sorry - that was a mis-type. My current mileage is close to 5,300, not 4,300.

Thanks for catching that. Guess I had 4,200 on the brain!
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Mike_TX

Hey, Miner. I think the longest run we had in a day was a little over 700 miles - from Las Cruces, NM to a little past Ontario, CA.

The highest speed imits are on I-20 for about 250 miles east of El Paso county. The rest is mostly 70.

Our weather today is pretty grim. Ice in some places, some light snow and sub-freezing temps. Supposed to get to about 22 tonight, so the roads might be dicey. Out west of here - Mineral Wells and west, they say there is an inch of ice on the roads.

If you come this way, be careful!
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Mike_TX

Thanks for the tip. I'll mention the freeze to my dealer at the next service.
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Mike_TX

I'm hoping these changes CAN be made with updates, although I really don't know what's involved in doing it. Maps with more data would undoubtedly take up more memory space, and map re-draws might be a little slower, but I personally think the benefits would outweight the disadvantages.

For driving around town it's not a big issue, but on the open road the additional info would really be welcome. I'm hoping someone from Acura reads theses forums, because we don't a lot of ways to get suggestions to them.
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FromTLtoRL

Thanks for the writeup, Mike_TX!

I am looking forward to our x'mas trip to New York in a few weeks. At first I was thinking about driving the wife's car but now I think the RL deserves its first semi-long trip

GoHawks

We're supposed to get close to a foot of snow.... YIKES!

Rob144

Excellent write-up. I definitely agree with all the positives. Driver's seat comfort is an RL strong point, as is the centrally positioned seat which offers lots of elbow room.

Your comment about engine noise made me chuckle. When the revs get high, the car isn't shy about getting noisy. The transition can be a bit jarring for a car that is otherwise so quiet. I'm usually lisetening to the radio, so the first indication I have that the revs are going up is that the gas pedal gives my foot a massage and I wonder what the heck is going on. There's a long hill on the commute home, and the tranny holds onto 3rd gear, so I get the foot massage every day unless I upshift.

You didn't write about it, but what did you think of the scalloped interior door panels (the area just below the base of the window where you might rest your elbow - assuming you even noticed it). Most cars have a place where you can easily rest your elbow just at the base of the window, but the RL's is not the usual convex curved place. Sometimes, I find my left elbow resting naturally in the concave cutout, while other times I wish there was more surface area above that for the elbow to rest while my hand is on the wheel.

At what speed did you hear the mirror wind noise? I'm wondering if the buffeting or rustling some of us heard at 80mph is really just wind noise/turbulence from the mirror. I have a plan someday to try driving with the mirror folded in to see if it makes a difference.

Great write-up. You're making me want to take another road trip in the RL.

Rob144

sri_gondi

Good Info Mike_TX.,

I am new proud owner of RL and I have trip to New York on the 9th Dec. Till today I thought of taking my Civic Hybrid...but your info changed my mind. I will take the RL instead. It is 500 mile round trip.

stokdgs

I routinely drove from Sacramento, CA to San Antonio, TX, a round trip of 4k miles. I would usually drive straight through to Tucson, around 1200 miles, and do the last 800 the next day. Since I know the route so well, the Nav doesnt really do anything for me anyway, but glad to hear you tested it out well and found some things for us to be on the lookout for.
If I could have done it with a more cooperative dealer, I would have had them change out the Michilens for the Pirelli P Zero Nero M+S tires, a nice, grippy, quieter tire, certainly more quiet then the Michelins. I have had Michelin Pilot Sports on new BMW's before this, and never really noticed tire noise as much as I do in the RL. I heard from someone once who said that Acura does everything possible to get the highest mileage rating and if that is the true priority, then noise and comfort take a back seat, and it for me, shows.. If I keep my RL long enough to wear out these Michelins, I will certainly change to the Pirelli brand.
For example, I bought a new Ford Harley Davidson F150 truck that came with 22" Pirelli Scorpion Zero M+S - 275/45/R22 tires, and as big as they are, they are dead quiet compared to the tires on the RL. I now drive from Seattle area to Northern California, a 1600 mile round trip drive, do it all in one shot, in the RL, and it performs perfectly. My mileage is usually around 25-27mpg and according to the computer my average speed is 77mph. This little trip, door to door, takes me 11 hours, with a couple of stops for gas/food/etc.. Cant beat the creature comforts of the RL, I listen to XM all the way and never even think of playing my DVD-A disks.. I also dont use any oil on the trip and my speeds are in the mid-high 80's.. The RL handles the mountain ranges I have to go through with ease, you just have to be careful of exceeding the laws of physics if its wet on some of the 10% grades, etc.. Overall, a great cruising car, I would like to have a little more seat bolstering/padding. Would not ever want to trade in the HID's but would like to upgrade the high-beam bulbs if possible to something a little brighter.. I have driven a few Acura products, and the Vtec does make things a bit louder, but it has never sounded like things are flying apart, etc.. Oh, and I never go anywhere like this without my Valentine-1 buddy.. I went through WE Greiner Jr. High School and we moved before I could start at Sunset High, way back in the mid-60's. Was high school class of '66. Are those schools still there ?? Glad you had a nice trip and arrived home safely !! DanF

pimpin-tl

Excellent review Mike. We are taking a small trip in our RL up to San Marcos this weekend (small meaning 50-60 miles haha), but it hasn't been on the highway yet so we get to try her out some. Ours has 2000 miles on it now and has been flawless.

kollamala

Excellent write up. Thanks for all the details. I was wondering when you were taking this long road trip did you consider getting a full sized spare tire. I wish Acura provided a full size spare.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

I'm pretty sure Acura does read the boards, but the changes to the Nav software would have to come from Alpine, Acura's supplier. I don't know if you've used another Alpine nav system lately, but they're pretty much all the same with all the same gripes you mentioned so perhaps you should shoot them a letter.

Mike_TX

Actually, the scalloped door panels were one of the first things I noticed back when I first test drove the RL. I have a habit of resting my elbow there, too, but it hasn't turned out to be a problem for me. I guess I like the extra smidge of room it provides, and I now just drape my left arm across the top of the steering wheel most of the time. (Don't tell my driver's ed teacher.) The rest of the ime I use the arm rest ... imagine that!

Seems like the mirror noise started showing up around 65 or 70. Couldn't swear to it, since I didn't pay it a lot of attention.

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tvande

Just my observation from earlier today in regards to the weather Mike is about to see. I'm in Missouri and we had about an inch of "ice pellets" this morning with about 1-2 inches of snow about quitting time this afternoon.

Going in to work, I could see the sheer ice coated on the side streets (patchy main streets) and the RL walked through all this like it was next to nothing. After several blocks, I couldn't imagine it was doing THAT well, and had to give it about 1/2 gas pedal to get it to act up. <wide grin> (research, don't you know?) It finally did start to break loose a bit, got a warning light on the dash and, of course, got off it right away. Yep, it WAS slick out. Talk about "sure footed".

Tried the ABS next and hit it pretty hard, but couldn't tell it was actually working (no pedal pulsations etc). Just stopping action.

Talk about impressed! I had seen another thread wondering about winter handling, and I had been also, but this sure made an impression on me.

Coming home with rather loose new snow on top of the ice layer, it was much easier to get the ABS to work (not even trying).

All in all, I am VERY impressed with the winter-ability of the RL. And this was all stock RL (Michelin tires at 32/30) and about 5k on the odometer.

Bottom line - when the weather hits, don't be afraid to drive the RL (other than all the FOOLS out there gunning for you).

Tom

ps- Neuronbob - wave when you go through KC. <g>

Mike_TX

Yikes! a 1200-mile day is a killer for me nowadays. guess I'm getting old.

I'll sure consider the Pirellis when I replace the tires. I've heard lots of good things about them.

Agree on the HID's, although mine are still aimed a little too low. I raised them a tad, but apparently not enough. Had an hour-and-a-half drive on hilly backroads while in CA and they definitely need to be raised. But otherwise they did a good job. And I wouldn't leave home without my Escort 8500, either!

Both schools are still here. In fact, I graduated from Sunset (Class of '63), but I did Junior High at Stockard, so Greiner was the bad guys. D)
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Mike_TX

No, although I still miss full-sized spares.

What I do now is to always carry a plugging kit and a small 12v compressor with me (about the size of a pair of bricks and good for 250psi). It has saved my bacon a few times, as well as allowed me to help a couple of other people who were otherwise stranded. Wouldn't go a on a trip without it.
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Mike_TX

Right. Although Acura would have to spec the changes to Alpine. And, yes, the same comments apply to the Nav in my TL. Both are still EXCELLENT Nav's, but this would make them even better.

I may do what you suggest and pen them a letter.
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Mike_TX

One other thing I forgot to comment on is the trunk size.

We had 3 adults along on this trip, so my wife had a medium suitcase, a small soft bag and a medium duffle-type bag, I had a smallish suitcase and a small roll bag, and the M-I-L had a suitcase like mine and a collection of small soft bags. (All the suitcases are soft nylon types.) We also had some clothes on hangers, since we had a dressy affair to attend.

The bigger suitcase went in the back of the trunk shoved up on the shelf-like ridge, then the other two suitcases went end to end across the wide part of the trunk. The small open spots left were stuffed with the roll bag, my wife's small bag and a couple the M-I-L's soft bags. The hanger clothes were laid on top, and that was all the room there was. The wife's duffle had to ride on the back seat behind me, along with the M-I-L's other soft bag and my camera bag and jacket.

Point is, we could have used some extra space. And if we had had a 4th adult along, there wouldn't have been any room for his/her luggage at all. The trunk space is adequate only for 3 people at most, and that's with some overflow. Maybe the next-gen RL will have more cargo space.
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Rob144

Any links or recommendations on a compressor and plug kit?

The trunk really is a little on the small side. My '95 Legend's trunk was huge by comparison, with neat little cubbies. I could pack for a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 kids with all their accoutrements) for a long weekend with room left over (to the amazement of, well, nobody really cared). The RL's trunk could use some side cubbies is all. It certainly is well-finished and beats the GS trunk for access.

Rob144

mwiles

Great write-up Mike. My wife and I also just got back from a road trip in our 06 RL. Dallas to San Diego with stops for a few days in El Paso and Phoenix. The car was great: quiet, excellent sound, just difficult to keep the speed down. Took it up to 110 briefly on that 85mph stretch of I10, and it felt like we were going only 85. Gas mileage averaged about 26 driving in the 80's. These are calculated mpg, not MID readings which seem to be higher.

The handling was great on some mountain roads between Phoenix and Silver City. Wish I had been alone on those roads but the RL is her car!

The sound system is great. Listened to music from Ipod (USA Spec adapter, not MusicLink), XM, then purchased the new Beatles Love DVD-A in Phoenix and listened mostly to it the rest of the way. The 5.1 surround sound is fantastic.

I did have a chance to notice the whine sound which starts at about 60 and then goes away at 64 on my car. Really only notice it when the sound is down, which usually is only when I accidently leave the hands-free link engaged on a menu and forget about it for a few minutes.

The Nav system is much improved over the 2nd generation system in our 01 MDX. This one almost instantly recalculates routes that would take 30-40 seconds in the old systm. We used it quite a bit, and got used to some of the quirks and new features. Beware of the order in adding multiple waypoints to a route. The system will go absolutely stupid and try to route you to the first waypoint you put in, then the next one regardless of the most efficient route, routing you hundreds of miles out of the way to go 10 miles. This is in contrast to Today's destinations, which can be sorted by distance. However, you can't add waypoints to Today's destinations. Also, deleting a waypoint and then putting in a new one seems to cause some strange routing to the original waypoint first. One possibly useful tip: when you want to know your current location, including altitude, you can press the center button, select Show Icons, then click toward the left, or more simply use the verbal command "Show current location".

Since we don't have traffic flow in Dallas (just traffic incidents), I got to see that in action in San Diego and Phoenix. Nice feature, hope we get it soon before my "free year" runs out.

We started with 3500 miles in Dallas with the oil life at 60%, and it got to 5% at around 6500 miles. At that point, the MID really becomes annoying, with the orange warning coming up everytime you push just about any MID buttons. It finally got to the flashing 0% then the negative past due count down when we reached Dallas at 6900 miles.

I saw only a hand full of Tl's on this trip and not a single RL. We have rare car!

johnhayd

perhaps this would be helpful: voice (or button) command: display traffic incidents: that displays the traffic problems starting closest to your current location.



Nav Traffic –

The problem with Nav Traffic (other than inaccuracies and outdated info) is that it isn’t shown at zoom levels beyond 5 miles. If you’re barreling into L.A. on I-10 and want to know what to expect ahead, you don’t want to wait until you’re within 5 miles of a huge traffic tie-up before finding out about it. By then you’ve probably lost your chance to avoid it. You need to be able to see ahead farther for it to be a useful tool.

Also, I found I had to fiddle a lot to find out what an icon was telling me. First you have to jigger quite a bit with the control knob to center the crosshairs over the icon, then you have to click it two or three times (adjusting in between clicks) to finally get the info in the little popup info box. That’s a lot of trouble while you’re in traffic or just going fast on a freeway or highway. That really needs to be improved.

miner

You need a roof carriier Mike. You can probably get them in a matching color and aerodynamic too.

stokdgs

Tks for reply.. I had a new '04 TL 6spd Aspec same color as yours. Loved it, but wife got tired of shifting it in city with 2 million bad drivers on the road, so traded it in on the '05 RL. I should pay more attention to the spare tire as you have; years of relying on AAA card, and not having flats has made me lazy. I will see about doing what you carry in your trunk.
I too noticed that trunk space is smaller and glad to know it wont help much for 4 adults. I never see RL's on the highway, it's not a general public's car yet, more of a tech'y persons car.. Now if they would only bring back the NSX
My Aunt taught Spanish at Greiner while I was going there, it was great ! Yeah, we used to kick the crapola out of Stock-yard in football ! Just kidding, dont get mad! You may have gone to Sunset with my older sister.
We used to live in an area called Oak Cliff, right by the was it called the Stevens Park Golf course?? I met alot of the original Dallas Texans and Cowboys on that course, as they used to all live in some apartments close by.. My Dad used to kill them on the golf course.. If he had turned Pro, we would have all had an entirely different life.. I used to throw the Dallas Times-Herald to alot of people right there off of Hampton Road, finishing up on Plymouth Road, which paralleled the golf course. Found hundreds of golf balls in those yards over the years !
Take care, DanF

Mike_TX

Sorry, Rob - been on the run all day. The plugging kit I have is a "Victor" brand, I believe. I got it at Walmart, for about $7 as I recall. I strongly recommend the kind with a T-handle, as opposed to a simple screwdriver-type handle, since the T gives you the leverage you need.

The compressor(s) - I have a total of 4 of them - I got at various places, but I don't think I paid over $10 for any of them. I actually picked up a couple of them at Harbor Freight on sale for like $4.99. They have a plastic housing and don't weigh much, but they really get after it when you need 'em. I figure Pep Boys, AutoZone and similar auto parts places have them.

No need to spring for a pricey one, since it's not something you'll be needing very often. But if you don't have a full-size compressor at home, it might come in handy for bicycle tires, basketballs, air mattresses and other fun stuff.
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