I'm comparing the RL to the competition and I see that the RL has the largest turning diameter out of a majority of them. Has anyone experienced any negative effects due to the increased difficulty of doing 3-point turns on a narrow street?

 

I only have about 600 miles on the car so far, however, it has been all city driving. I have not had any notceable problems due to the turning radius of the RL.

I read about this as being a con against the RL, during my research prior to buying. The test drive removed my concerns.

Hope this helps.

 

test drive is the only way to find out. im sure it doesnt make that big of difference unless you suck at driving.

 

I have had minor issues with U-turns and tight spaces in Washington, DC. It's not a show stopper, though. The car's advantages outweigh this minor disadvantage, in my opinion.

 

I have a tight driveway, and drive in the city a lot. Never had a problem, or even noticed it as an issue before reading this thread.

 

yeah not a show stopper but it is a pain especially when parking in a tight lot.

 

Not a problem for us either..

You *could* turn of the VSC, cock the wheel all he way to one side and floor it

 

Very easy with a handbrake but impossible with a foot controlled parking brake and AWD.

 

Oh ! It is the one thing that I dislike the most about my RL and I don't dislike many things. I thought my NSX was bad but the RL is the absolute worst car when it comes to this. Have you ever checked out the turning radius on a Mercedes? Heaven! The other thing I hate is the weak springs on the doors that make the door come back and hit you on your chin when you open it on the slightest incline. I would still buy the car in spite of these shortcomings.

 

Those are designed that way so that the doors close themselves without you needing to push them. My salesman pointed this out to me when I was buying mine and I thought it was really cool. I understand where you're coming from though as I've had my leg caught in there before while not paying attention. I would rather have it this way and have to dorrs close completely by themselves (helps out when you're carrying things etc) then to have to remember not to let the door beat you up.

 

The RL's 39.7 ft. turning radius is only about 4 inches less than my '04 Maxima's 40.0 ft.

The wide turning radius is something you learn to work around, but it never really goes away, so when you encounter a tight parking place, or have to do a U-turn, you need to plan ahead and/or make sure no one is coming.

 

"It's not a defect, it's a feature!"

Yeah, right. I call shennanigans.... my driveway has a pretty good incline, and my shins bear many dings from the bottom of the door.... not to mention the constant footprints on the bottom of the door panel caused by having to use my shoe to block the door open to avoid having a limb crushed.

SAAB and Mercedes doors don't do that. My HONDA'S doors didn't do that, and that was a 2-door.... It's not a feature, it's a weak spring and/or shallow pawl.

 

I wouldn't say there are any problems, but it does take a bit more effort in tight parking lots to get in and out of spaces.

 

Then why do the much lighter rear doors do the exact same thing with the exact same feel? If it were weak springs then are you saying they made the rear door springs even weaker to match the weakness of the front door springs? It is in fact a feature and one that I happen to like. Weak springs would simply have the door close and then sort of hit the door latch. This mechanism is spring loaded to accelerate the doors enough to close them without much force. The fact that you think it's just a weak spring is kind of funny actually. Go out to your car, open any door all the way (almost 90 degrees btw) and then just barely give it a push at all and it will completely close the door everytime with no effort. This is how it was designed.

 

I'm sure you are right in the sense that it was designed that way, and perhaps they thought that this would be a "feature". Whatever the case, it's a poor design and it annoys the heck out of a lot of people - including my wife and many other passengers who have experienced the same "door wrath"

 

I agree with you here for sure. I am the only person that rides in the car that doesn't have to worry about it since I'm used to it but just about everyone else that does gets the shin crush or the head bash treatment. They defintely could've done a better job on it or left it off entirely but what're ya gonna do.

 

I finally learned to deal with the door after being hit several times, even on level surfaces. Since the door only stays open at the 45 degree and 75 degree marks,
you need to park away from every other car so the door can swing open wider.
It's something I do anyway to steer clear of possible inconsiderate door dingers.

 

My wife's MB (C-class) has very small turning radius 35.3 ft and I love it when I have the ability to make a U turn in narrow streets; comes very handy & provide some safety in certain situations - It is a smaller car. However, when I drive my RL, I tend to drive more relaxed and don't really mind the 3 point turn.

 

Three point turns and tight angle parking are HUGE nuisances in the RL. The heavy door and low gas mileage are also drawbacks in any driving which includes a lot of short trips and frequent parking. I do become annoyed with the car under those conditions. Then I take the car out on the highway and fall in love with it all over again.

I have found Acura service well-intentioned but a bit inept. I think I know more than the Acura techs do about the technology in the car. However, there has not been a single day in over a year that I couldn't drive the car-the only problems were with the XM radio.

Overall, I would definitely buy the RL again.

 

Same on the TL. I believe in that case it was referred to as self closing doors.

 

And again -- the initial force needed to overcome the spring should be more than the weight of the door. Doors should NOT close on you when the car is on a slight incline. I can see spring-loading the door so that it closes easily once you've overcome the pawl that holds it open, but to say these shin-biters are some sort of well-designed "feature" is really pushing it, and is probably the result of clever salesmen trying to spin a product shortcoming into a "feature."

 

Yup - definitely noticed the turning radius and mentioned it to my girlfriend after failing to make a tight U-turn that would have been a breeze in my LS400...