diiguy

I'm considering a 2006 RL with the Technology Package. Anyone out there with some experience with the package I'd love to hear from you. I noticed somewhere that the Tech Package includes 18 in rims instead of 17" on the standard RL. Is this for the PAX tires? Is the PAX ride worse (or better?) than the standard rubber? How well does the distance sensitive cruise work?

So far I have test driven two RL's at two different dealerships -- they did not have any Tech package equiped demos. The one dealer was pushy and obnoxious -- so they are out. I currently drive a MB C320 4-Matic and I am more acustomed to the coddling that comes from MB, BMW and Lexus dealers. The second Acura dealer handled the visit in a more upscale fashion.

However, both test drives left me undecided. The car felt fine to me, but I have read a number of posts on this board and various reviews online and in magazines. It seems that the jury is mixed on the RL. Those who love it tout the SH-AWD, traffic sensing nav, great sound system. Those who even go as far as to "hate" the RL often cite the underwhelming V6, trashy treatment by dealers/service departments, cramped rear seating, bland styling. The RL does not feel as glued to the road as my wife's BMW 330i, but it felt on a par with my MB C-Class. Thoughts?

I have to make several long trips per week and put on about 30K miles/year. I often spend six hours / day in the drivers seat. So, I have to have a quiet, comfortable, tech ladden car which allows me to conduct business (e.g. with the bluetooth phone), not get lost (e.g. nav) and avoid traffic snarls (e.g. NavTraffic). So, for me the RL looks like a great package. But these toys must be reliable for me. Also, what is the approximate service interval on the RL? The dealer told me that it will tell me to bring it in every 5K to 7K miles. I was surprised. This is more frequent than I would have thought. The C-Class only demands service every 10K to 12K. I do not want to have to take the RL in for an oil change 5 or 6 times per year! I also have questions about the iPod integration, but will put that in a separate post.

Thanks!

tfarmer

I have had an RL with A-Spec package for 2 1/2 weeks now and I am extremely impressed by it. I have long been a Lexus man owning 3 LS400's , LX450 and LX470. When I went looking for my next vehicle I did 2 months of online research and test drives. The new LS430's are too high priced so I looked at the GS430 and IS350. The GS430 was a great car but did not WOW me. The IS350 was a rocket. If I were single and didn't have two kids I take to school everyday I would have gone for the IS. I drove both the BMW 330i and 530i and just didn't like the hard seats, dull boring interior, and could not read the orange LED lights for the A/C while wearing my Maui Jim sunglasses. This might be a bit nit picking. The Infiniti M45 is a great car but I didn't likeits high price. I am in the technology industry and consider myself the ultimate tech/gadget freak. The RL in my opinion is the most "teched" out car on the market today. When I did a price comparison between the RL, 530i, and M45, the RL came out much less expensive.

sotiri

The first thing I did after buying the car was to take in on a road trip to VA from Chi.
750 miles later (in one day) I can tell you this: if you do any kind of highway distance driving, the ACC is a very welcome driver addition.
Also, the CMBS is very helpful in normal driving if you ever have a distraction from a cell phone or anything else.
Take that from personal experience.

diiguy

Thanks sotiri, that's good to hear. What visual feedback do you get when the ACC is engaged? Can you set the following distance?

vp911

Welcome to the forums! I am sure you will find a wealth of information here. I will let the others who have the car to talk about the features, but I can tell you - for the maint. intervals, MBenz and BMW are the only two with long service intervals. Most cars require 5k oil changes and the RL extends that to 5-7 based on your driving habits. If you want less frequent service intervals, perhaps go back to MB or BMW - but their reliability has gone down hill in recent years (at least that is what everybody says). So you may be in the shop more than you would have been with the RL.

IMO the RL is a great luxury sedan. If you want to drive and be comfortable, there are few cars which can beat it (the LS430 is an exception for beating the luxury side) - but then again the LS430 is more expensive.

Treblig

Check this thread:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1717

sotiri

The visual feedback is good as is the audible.
First you can set the distance followed from the steering wheel, there is a button on the lower right that toggles between 3 set points on distance. I forget what the distances are, but its reasonable.
WHen the radar acquires a target, it signals with an automibile picture in the speedo display, and at the same time the system signals with a beep.
When the car is out of range, either you moved over or they moved out of the way/range, it signals with a beep again and the display clears the auto picture.
As for the functionality of the system, to test it I set the cruise at 90 (the max the ACC will allow when the radar is functioning) and was following traffic at 65.
I overrode the system with the accelarator and then moved in behind a car at very close distance to create a situation where the ACC was presented with a road condition as if I was traveling at 90, and a car cut me off.
WOW, the system stompped on the brakes, and kept me at the distance I selected.
To make this short, the system worked 99% flawless except on sharp curves and I moved in and out from behind traffic, the curve and the constant loss and reacquisition of the target did not work well.
Let me point out that I did not think it was good driving to have cruise active (in any form) on that road condition, but I wanted to see the limits of the system.
Basically in just about any situtation you find yourself on the highway where cruise is prudent to use, it will work with stunning accuracy and well within the range of saftey you would expect. Its function is still outside the human saftey margin-meaning that I still had time to correct it if it was screwed up and I was paying attention to the road.
Combined with the CMBS, (which works very well) it creates a safety zone in case you get distracted.... or someone stops abruptly. That however works only if you are going 20mph or more. To me that is a reasonable threshold.
I have had real world experience with BOTH SYSTEMS- and my verdict is-9.5. Thats on a scale of 1-10.
I was going to get the car without the tech package, but my wife reminded me that when I bought my last Acura, (02 TL-s) I bought it without navi and soon regretted it even though she was nudging me to get the navi.
I thought it over and said even if I didnt like the tech package, I could turn it off or ignore it.
Well I am pleased to say its a great package-its worth it if you drive highway or do more than 12K a year overall.

Hope that helps.

vicneo

cant improve on sotiri's great post but-- it is the greatest and most fun car i have ever driven

vicneo

and BTW if you are in the midwest i can find you a dealer who gave me a great deal and exceptional service

diiguy

vicneo -- I live in the Philadelphia area. Anyone know of a good dealer experience here?

Thanks!

sotiri

By the way, I am 50/50 on the PAX tires.
They ride well, and they grippy, but they sidewall is soft and of you want hard cornering--- well forget it.
Because it comes with the PAX, you cannot get the car with other tires, remember, there is no spare in the trunk. The flip side is you get more storage (storage compartment where the spare usually resides) and you have the safety of being able to run 200 miles on a flat.
I tried to get other tires-conventional, but the dealer wouldnt sell the car like that for legal reasons. If you want, you can convert the car to standard tires and just make sure you get the TPMS transmitters from Acura for an RL to be fitted in the rim. They are attached to the valve stem and you can still put in a spare if you need to in the trunk where its supposed to go.
I left the PAX on because I rather enjoy the notion of-if I get a flat in the winter, I dont have to worry about it. When spring comes, then I will decide what to do then if anything.

DWeier

Our RL demo here at Sunnyside has the tech package.

Having driven it several times now, I am very impressed with the ACC and is
a VERY useful feature for anyone doing a lot of highway driving in any kind
of traffic. ( although be aware that any blockage to the radar ( heavy rain,
ice, etc ) can effect the system )

ACC following distances can be set for 1.0, 1.45 and 2.0 seconds.


CBMS is hard to test out ( for obvious reasons ). In my opinion, they have the system set up as a last resort, something more like airbag deployment. CMBS could be very helpful if a driver is temporarily distracted. You need a minimum 10 mph speed variation for the system to activate. I have not read or seen anything that says you have to be moving 20 mph or more for it to work

I liked the way the car rides on the PAX tires. PAX tires on the RL are only
rated for 125 miles at 50 mph, not 200 miles.

Extra storage space in the trunk( because there is no spare ) is minimal, a cubic foot or so, located under the trunk floor, and divided between two molded bins.

I am not sure if I am sold on the PAX tires, but I think the ACC / CMBS
is a very worthwhile system. The ACC makes highway driving much less fatiging
and if CBMS ever activated and minimized a collision impact, it could provide a very quick return on investment.

diiguy

DWeier -- thanks for the detailed info. I would not have the guts to use the ACC under the circumstances you describe which would potentially block the radar.

I would not hope to ever personally test the CBMS, but would like to have it in place. When will one of the car mag-rags put a Tech Package equiped RL through the paces and test the CBMS?

With so many great -- and unique -- advantages to the RL with the Tech Package, why are they not selling so well? The bang for the buck is outstanding. The common grips about the V6 vs. V8, cramped inerior and underlying Accord platform notwithstanding, the RL appears to be an outstanding car. I suppose that I just worry about residuals.

Not to digress too much since this is an RL forum, I'll share some prior personal experience with the German Wunderkars. I've had 3 MB's (E430, S600 and C320 4-matic) and BMW's (320i, 530i and 330i). The Biemers were reliable for me. The E430 needed a new transmission at 10K miles and a new HVAC at 40K. I consider that car to be poorly reliable. The 2001 S600 V12 monster was the least reliable car I have ever driven. At 2K miles the coded ignition key system failed needing replacement at about 25K the entire dash "froze" and ceased to function requiring replacement. At about 30K the breaks and roters were "worn out". I don't drive that hard! About the same time, the engine was very rough and shaky -- I thought V12's should be smoother than a 1.8L putt-putt with a missing spark plug, but it wasn't. So, they replaced the 12 fancy "100,000 mile spark plugs" with spotty improvement. Twice at about 35K the fancy active suspension failed and the tires would scrape against the wheel wells. Oh, yeah, the backup sensors on the bumpers failed several times (both front and rear) and were replaced several times and would last a few hundred miles or so. One time when they replaced these little buggers, the washer fluid leaked into the bumper and wheel wells (probably becuase of the useless headlight washers). At this point, I gave the keys to the service department manager and said that I would never be picking the car up. So, I drove off with a 2003 C320 4-Matic which I am driving today. I will not go into the financial arrangement, but I was reasonably satisfied with the resolution.

Believe it or not, now with over 80K miles on the C-class, I have not had a SINGLE problem! Go figure. All its needed is tires at 50K, breaks at 60K and some wiper blades along the way.

While I intend to keep this particular C-Class in the family for years to come, I would not recommend MB to anyone. They are expensive and MB appears to have serious reliability issues. The cachet of the three point star hood ornament is the most compelling reason to consider MB. Also, the dealerships to an excellent job with customer service (i.e. disaster recovery), but IMHO they are trying to support a faulty unreliable product.

So, this is experiences which I bring to my interest in the RL. I've never owned a Honda/Acura, but have consistently heard about quality and reliability. I am attracted to all of the technology in the RL -- Nav w/traffic, SH-AWD, XM, keyless entry, kick butt sound system, real iPod integration. However, in the end, I want luxury, reliability and residual. I remain most concerned that the RL does not appear to sell well. I don't expect nor want the RL to sell in numbers like the Chrysler 300C, but why do I see so many more Infiniti M's, Audi A6's and BMW 5's out there? It appears that the RL is clearly a better car overall.

hothonda

Correct me if I'm wrong but as I understand it there will be far less quantities of '06
RL's imported than there were '05's. My local dealer is selling all the cars he gets at
very close to MSRP.

vicneo

"DWeier -- thanks for the detailed info. I would not have the guts to use the ACC under the circumstances you describe which would potentially block the radar."

two relevant points here

1. the radar based system is much less liable to be blocked than the laser based systems on some lexus ls 430's etc.

2. i dont think inclement weather blocks the radar emissions. However if it is snowing heavily enough snow may pile up on the radar array ( mounted on the acura A emblem on the front grill) the the signal cannot get thru. when this happens the car warns you that the acc/cmbs system may be non operational. and the fix is to stop at a safe place and wipe of the snow. i suppose in heavy rain you could get mud on the grill and this could render the radar non fubctional too.

sotiri

Very true.
My experience is that it works in rain, but not in snow when the grill gets caked with ice or snow.
And why on earth would you want to use it then anyway.
One issue, when the grill is caked with snow or ice, the CMBS is disabled. you get a warning on the dash.