deepdezal

Looking forward to buy an Acura-RL, hopefully by the end of this month.
A couple of questions for you folks, if you don’t mind..

Are you happy that to select the CMBS feature and has it ever come in handy?

Is your vehicle insurance cheaper/less because of the technology?


Thanks.

Deepdezal

lland

I don't know about the cost of insurance but I'm happy with the CMBS?PAX package (although I wouldn't have been too disappointed if it was available without the PAX). The CMBS activates on occasion (a beep and warning message) and a couple of times has given a little tug on the shoulde belt. I don't think it's kept me out of an accident but it gets your attention pretty quickly. I really like the active cruise control as well.

Good luck.

LL

klister

A couple of times people have cut in front of me or stopped suddenly and the CBMS has been helpful, alerting me immediately and starting the braking process. The ACC cruise control you use much more frequently and is great on busy interstates once you learn how to use it.

I had an 05 RL before the 06 with Tech Package. With the PAX tires and suspension the 06 (at least to me) handles much crisply and firmly. It is better than my 05 with Pilot Sport A/S replacement tires. So, PAX may end up being more expensive in the long run because of the replacement cost, but I do prefer them.

I don't know if the CBMS (by itself) got me any Insurance savings but the premium for my 06 was $10 annually less than the 05 for a more expensive model a year newer. So, I think Tech package was less expensive to insure at my company, Amica.

VOdoc

I had no intention of getting CMBS/PAX but that's all that remained in December. Love it! The car handles crisply with the stiffer 18" tires, the ACC is surprisingly useful, and the CMBS has already saved me more than once from close calls in stop-and-go traffic. CMBS only freaked out once. I was approaching an elevated rail crossing and it alerted, tightened my belt and slowed the car.

You'll be happy with CMBS/PAX, except perhaps when it comes time to get new PAX tires. ($$) Not sure if there was an insurance discount, as I handled the change online with my insurer. The car is not expensive to insure considering the MSRP.

backfire

The way people drive today every bit helps. Insurance ? I doubt it its probably more. Tires i havethem on a nother car and i like the principal, maybe i wont like the cost. All in all Iwould buy it again the wife loves the car and I think its safe....

sotiri

I have had it since Nov 05 on my 06- love it.

johnhayd

2006 rl since april 2006 with cmbs/pax/acc.

like others:
could take or leave pax.

use the acc far more than i thought i would: esp appreciate it when talking on cellphone handsfree. feel reduces risk of a crash due to distraction. works well even in medium traffic.

cmbs has acitvated a few times; feel it may have prevented an accident. any false activations (over railroad tracks) are rare and can be aborted by light pressure on the brake pedal.

CBMS was main reason I bought RL rather than M or GS. I don't regret the decision one bit.

kmcheney

I've had mine since September of 06. I am glad I got the package. The CMBS is very useful as stated previously. I'm a big fan of Michelin tires. I've never had one fail catastrophically or give poor service. The PAX tires handle well and aren't showing any significant or abnormal wear after 7,000 miles. Having said that, I'm not sure I'd have purchased the PAX option had it been offered seperately on the 06. The big downsides to the PAX tires are:

there are NO alternative wheels available that I've been able to find (such as the RonJon wheels above). In fact, I looked in to having my wheels chromed but the supplier didn't want to do that either,
the future cost of replacement is reportedly high, and
if you suffer a flat in a sparsely populated area (like crossing the country) it may take a couple of days to get a replacement to you (and lots of money since you'll not be in a position to compete offers).

I know this all sounds negative, but so far I've not had any problem (other than being stuck with stock wheels which I think are a little disappointing) with the tires.

lumpulus

wow, I'm just the opposite...I think the one downfall of Honda/Acura is they use Michelin for allot of their OEM tires.

I've never met a Michelin I liked....They have horrible treadlife, are scary dangerous in the wet, and the roadnoise is like a truck. I never realized how bad they were until I got some Dunlop SP8000s for my Integra some years ago...been getting Dunlop replacements ever since.

RL06tech

Like most of the guys here, I'm very satisfied. The CMBS model handles significantly better than the regular RL, the handling is still biased to the soft side but its not flaccid at all, the biggest area of improvement for me would be sharper turn in, PS2's would fix that but, of course, only MXM4's are available in PAX. The CMBS and auto cruise work flawlessly and are definitely worth every penny. As far as I know those technologies do not affect insurance rates at this time.

Chas2

RL06tech says it best.

The only thing I can add is that the Michelin website does add new PAX dealers on a regular basis. When I bought the 06 RL in November 06, there were 0 dealers in a 20 mile radius, and 4 dealers in a 50 mile radius. Now there are 9 dealers in 20 miles, and 26 more for at total of 35 within a 50 mile radius. I have not tested pricing, and have not tested the Michelin 2 year/ 50% treadlife road hazard (hopefully never will have to).

deepdezal

Thank You All!!!

I really appreciate your input and I will absolutely get this package.

BTW.. Did you folks know that Honda invented this safety feature back in 2003.

Now-I’m looking for a deal.

Deepdezal

sotiri

the only other car that I found with the comparable CMBS and ACC features was on the Mercedes S class.
I did like that their ACC worked up to 125MPH and the Euro version of the RL works up to 100MPH.

lland

Hey, give some credit to Michelin. When you go to their US hompage HERE, there's an RL at the top of the page.

LL

Chas2

And they also use this poster at independent Michelin dealers, and on the counter. I noticed this a few months ago.

Trackruner228

iTrader: (1)

With this upgrade though how much of a discount do you guys get? I have seen people hear post discounts of 7k to 8k with this package is the discount still that good?

sab35263

Love it. Use ACC everyday and can not live without it now.

SpicyMikey

Upgrade or no upgrade. The dealers goal is to sell that car at MSRP. You goal should be to get it at cost. I always throw out a "cost" number at first and work from there. Realistically, you should feel good if you got the car for $1k over dead bottom cost. Of course, how low the dealer goes depends on lots of things; how are they doing with their quota this month, how many of these cars are on the lot, is it a dog ugly color that they often have trouble selling, are you being an a-hole in negotiations or pleasant and polite.

That last point is important. Don't go in there with an attitude. Remember, these guys need to make a living too. They're people like you and me and won't respond very well to arrogance.

And the number#1 rule to successful negotiations; never fall in love with a car. Be ready to walk away if the deal sucks. These guys do this all day long for a living. They'll know if they got you hooked. They'll know if you want that car more then they want to sell it.


Hope that helps

backfire

Are these Acura and Honda dealerd? I found in southern california they were the only ones. Do not all Acura dealers service these tires?

Chas2

Some are Honda dealers, some are Acura dealers (very few), many are independent tire dealers. Go to dealer locator link. I live in the DC Metro area on the VA side.

http://www.michelinman.com/

johnhayd

I used carbargains: www.carbargains.org
(I don't work for them)

they get quotes from a number of dealers in your area, including any accesories you may wish to purchase. My best quotes (april 2006) were about 7-8K below MSRP. I don't think they are national, but I believe they are in the DC area. They do have a fee, but how much is your time worth?

Good luck!

RL06tech

I got mine for 50K total including the rear spoiler and plood steering wheel, thus with more than 1K in accesories, I paid the price of the "base" car (total saving of more than 3K). As we all know, RL sales are limp, thus there is no reason you should pay anywhere close to list.

jmathew34

Hey Deep, you will need to start a new thread with pics of the new RL! welcome to the darkside!!

now if we can only get you out of that fugly FD and into a nice NSX!!! j/k ballle!!!

gcook

I used the pax warranty the other day. I got a nail in my tire and they replaced the tire and rim completely. The car is only 3 weeks old, so it wasn't much of a benefit for me, except I got rid of the nail.
RE: cmbs, It has activated on me a few times. There are degrees of activation.
The beep, the seat belt tensioner and then it does a pulsating braking that literally slows the car down..It doesn't just brake hard, it pulsates and slows you down with stability and control.. It seems like a nice feature, but I don't think I would miss it either. I have not used acc yet. I think they are fun and cool, but they don't make the car that much greater. They are nice conversation pieces.. Maybe I'll have a different opinion in another year... hopefully not...

sotiri

I found another degree of CMBS by accident... not a real accident but if it were going to be a real one, its nice to know it does that.
Last week while driving down a quiet road near my home in the northern burbs in IL, a pissy wound up jackass driver (woman) got all riled up because I had to merge from the right to the left lane due to a lane closure, and she just got all pissed that I merged in front of her.
IT was normal lane obstruction merge, and I guess she was asleep at the wheel b/c by the time I popped the gas to merge safely in front of her, she wanted to pop the gas to force me behind her, didnt cross her mind that I was already in front of her and that I had the right of way-but anyway her ratty nissan didnt have the gallop pop ahead.
So as I merged in, and she now closed in on my rear end, she gave me the horn and a nice double fisted bird flip. Nice lady, real classy, too bad your kids weren't in the car to see you in all your glory.
So, seeing her close in on my rear end, I popped the gas to open the distance... but than as I saw the double fisted bird flip, I got... well you know, so I said to my self, oh yeah?!?!
I floored the brakes.
Well, the next thing in knew was that my seat belt suddenly tightened and held me tight in the seat, there was no car in front of me, and it held me tight until I released the brakes (i didnt come to a complete stop) and then after 2 seconds of the brakes being released, then the seat belt released-but it did so by releasing them and pulsing the seat belt 2 times to give me the slack in the belt.
So, if you brake in a manner that indicates an emergency braking, the system reacts by tightening the belts, and I must say, the braking was very quick, I think the system boosted the braking force.
Thankfully the ratty nissan backed off and didnt spoil my rear end.

NavyDoc333

Hey Deep... read my post from today.... and GET IT!

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3923

deepdezal

Thanks NavyDoc333!!!

I picked up the car yesterday. This car is awesome!!!!!!

I will post some pictures soon and pics of my FD (my first love).

VOdoc

Told ya! Welcome to our exclusive little club!! If your experience is anything like mine, your appreciation for the car will grow over time. It's sort of like moving up from GF to wife. (Your first love will always be your first love of course...)

Chas2

That is very interesting to know. The owners manual talks about the seatbelt e-pretensioning system installed with CMBS equipped cars (e-pretensioner as opposed the automatic seat belt pretensioner installed on all cars) only working with CMBS. It appears that when the car is in a full panic stop mode, the e-pretensioners take up the slack in the belt, and then release with two tugs.

This is sort of the reverse of CMBS activations. First is the BRAKE and audible warning signs in MID, second is two tugs on the belt by the e-pretensioner, and third is the activation of the brakes. I have experienced the two tug warning and the application of brakes, but not had a collision fortunately.

kmcheney

A couple of months ago I went in to a full panic stop when a deer jumped out of the trees to my right and was threatening to go right in my path while I was traveling over 50 MPH. The brakes were awesome with apparent boost applied and the seat belts pulled me hard against the seat in preparation for a collision. Once I let up on the brake the seat belts started to release their pretension. Fortunately, the deer at the last minute thought the better of it and retreated back in to the trees.

I was very impressed with both the stopping power of the car and the brake boost/pretensioning system. I'm convinced they are very valuable safety equipment.

SpicyMikey

OK, so I picked up my new RL with CMBS last week. Thanks to everyone for all the pre-purchase advice. The ACC works great. I use it all the time already even going through crowded traffic through downtown. However, I'm still wondering about this CMBS. I want to prove to myself that it's there and going to work when I need it. I suspect most of you felt that way when you first got the car. The problem; How to test it without having a near accident?! I tried to come up hard on someone to see if it would react, however, I guess I lost my little game of chicken with the car. I hit the brake before it was ready to call it a colision scenerio and go into "alert" mode.

So I'm still left wondering how you test to be sure something like this is going to be there for you when you need it. Kind of like an airbag. Any suggestions short of coming within a second of smashing into someone? I might be anal here but I guess that's how I am. Believe it when I see it type person.

sotiri

Do this, set the ACC on the expressway to a speed faster than the traffic is going at, say if the traffic is going 60, hold the button down and put it at 80. OF course the car if its tracking a car in front it wont go 80.
Next speed up behind a car and close in on him, this part it tricky, make sure you close on the rear end fast, not too fast, but not too slow.
What this will do is after you get close to the car, while you are depressing the gas, you are overriding the ACC and the CMBS.
but if you are close enough, as soon as you take your foot off the gas, the acc and the CMBS will act, and at first the CMBS will override the ACC and after the CMBS gives you the proper saftey margin, the ACC will then be in control.
I have used this method many times to demonstrate the CMBS, and I have found it to be reasonably safe because generally speaking people on the expressways are less sensitive to tailgating as the expectation is not to stop just that people tend to navigate the lanes to get ahead.
But in any event, take my and others here who have had their cars for a while; the CMBS works, and it WILL work when you need it, hopefully it wont ever be used in a collision.

SpicyMikey

Thanks I'll try it with the ACC on as you suggested.

I hope the ACC doesn't NEED to be on for the CMBS to work. Everything I've read suggests this is a feature that is always on (unless you manually turn it off with the dashboard button)

kmcheney

The CMBS works without the ACC being on. It is, as you surmised, on all the time. I know this because once in a while in my hurry to go home (ACC off) I close quickly on cars that suddenly slow in front of me to make a right turn and the warning comes on.

I have never pushed the limit so hard that the car thinks a collission is unavoidable to test the third stage of the system. I'm not that anxious to prove a point.

sotiri

The CMBS is always on; unless you manually turn it off from the dash.
One note, the CMBS can get fooled if you are driving in a construction area, and if there are large metal plates on the road covering open road construction.
Apparently the sudden onset of a large metal plate on the road will increase the reflection of the radar, mimicking a potential collision.
Basically the system activates, and the way to deactivate it is to touch the brakes which of course is now my first reaction (as a Pavlovian dog) when I hear the beep beep beep.

SpicyMikey

I finally got my CMBS to go into the intial BRAKE alert mode. I just needed to go a little faster and a little closer. Quite frankly, I'm a little disappointed how late it triggers the alert. It seems like I was only a couple seconds from impact. When is it going to hit the brake? A half second before you hit? I understand Acura doesn't want it triggering "panic" mode all the time but it seems to wait too long. Maybe they toned it down in the '07's due to some complaints.

sotiri

doubt it, the system takes into account your current speed, your rate of closure and the immediacy of the profiles emergence in your view.
So, the system knows if you were following a car for-and you closed the distance to the car or if the car or object suddenly entered in front of you, and the distance the object is from the front of your vehicle.
So if you are closing slowly behind a car that you were following, and you are doing 65 and the car in front is doing 60, it senses that you are closing at a slow rate-and if that rate is decaying, steady or increasing. Now vary the paramaters, you are doing 65 and the car in front is doing 35, it will react differently.
If you are doing 35 and a car turns in front of you at a distance of 10 yards, the system will react instantly vs if the car enters in front of you going in the same direction as you.
basically its triangulating all the time, and is aware of all the variables.
Dont think of this as a dumb motion sensor that only is aware of objects in front.
Your speed, the speed of the object in front, its appearance in the field, and the size of the object (meaning how much radar signal is returned) all are part of the solution sets in system.
For kicks, try this, find a car thats going slower than you, say its 65MPH, and its light traffic.
Set your speed to 80 and DO 80 with the ACC on.
Now pull in behind the car by doing a quick lane change at a less than safe distance.
have your foot over the brakes JUST IN CASE.
dont be surprised at how fast the system will react and BRAKE the car.
it takes a few times to get it right, that is shave the margin close so that you can get the desired effect.

SpicyMikey

Very good explanation. I think your right. I don't think I was giving the system enough respect. The algorithms associated with this system seem quite sophisticated based on your experiences. The fact is, my little test last night was not a true danger situation. I was trying to simulate it with a degree of safety. I suppose the system could deduce that as well.

None the less, the BRAKE message did display with the audible signal when I closed on the car in front of me. I can take that as a sign that the system is working and will leave it at that. Thanks again for the great explanation.

gcook

I notice it activates a lot when I do quick lane changes really fast, per the example above, and leave a less than safe space between myself and the car in front of me. Also in slow moving traffic, if you get to close to the car in front of you, and are going like 20 MPH, it will activate.

SpicyMikey

You know, I've heard comments like that before. That's why I was concerned mine wasn't working. I've been in several situations like that already and the system did not react. I had to really come on someone hard (intentionally) to even get the BRAKE light to activate. I was probably doing about 40 and closing on the car in front of me doing about 30. I'd estimate I was within 2-3 seconds of hitting him when the first stage initiated.

Do you have an '07? Maybe they've changed the logic within the system to not overreact as much.