I imagine most people here have done this value comparison, to the same result. I know I did. But brand means a lot to many people, and the Germans have reached that wonderful place where buyers will pay more simply for the 3-pointed star or roundel on the hood. It's a perceived benefit that's worth billions to them.

To each their own.

 

That german car is likely leased for 3 years before any major issue arises and maintenance is manageable. Fake rich vicious cycle.

While the japanese Acura is bought with cash or financed and kept for life.

 

Not to burst your bubble but I highly doubt that the new Gen RDX can be kept for life like the old ones. Just look at all the issues everyone is complaining about. Their quality has gone in the shitter. Engine oil dilution, rough shifting tranny , turbos are always more to maintain and Acura has certainly not perfected it. Who knows how they will hold up in the long term. That terrible infotainment and on and on. Not saying they're worst than Germans but most likely they will be just as expensive to maintain.

 

Honda 30 years of historical reliability is what I'm going off by. My entire family have owned many Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus and we bounce back between the 2 top Japanese brands.

I have none of those mechanical issues with my RDX your describing.

Fit and finish could be better and glitchy infotainment has been mostly resolved. Engine/10 speed/SH-AWD has me smiling.

I bought this car cash confident itll treat me well. Its gonna be my baby first car when she turns 16.

 

It is really about the economies of scale. A 360 deg camera is peanuts in cost for the manufacturer to install in 300k cars. However 10k is a different cost. No need for 5-6 different trim lines. It is more designed for the dealer to introduce a confused and complicated buying process.
Interesting how all Subaru’s are awd (except BRZ in coop with Toyota). This simplifies the production process and brings in the economies of scale. And they are selling very well. Personally I would rather have a SH AWD than a sunroof and they probably cost the same today.
I agree with previous comments to make the Aspec with all the Adv options as standard. As far as the PMC version with a bigger engine, I would leave that for later.
Most people are happy with the current 2.0. However it needs to Be tweaked with the transmission to work seamlessly without hesitation or jerking. Work on the turbo charger, give us 30 more ponies and minimize the turbo lag. Reduce the weight of the car. That’s what most enthusiasts would love to see.

 

How nice, a Negative Nelly on a Sunday morning. As if everything else isn't also so negative. Thanks! I come to auto forums to chat about cars with like minded enthusiasts, not to be pummeled in "the shitter" as you so tactfully wrote.

You sorted out almost all the negative things you could find about the 3rd Gen RDX and posted them all in 2 sentences. How many have oil dilution? (BTW, this is normal in DI engines to some extent) How many have rough shifting trans? You claim "turbos are always more to maintain" RIGHT! What is the point of posting this?

 

Yeah, lots of negative assumptions, opinion as fact, and strawman arguments here. If you have an RDX, you should sell that miserable thing. Get something that you know will be better, and take your sunshine to that car's owner group.

 

Post history doesnt mention owning an RDX.

Awkwardly in a sub-forum lecturing owners they bought a lemon and predicting future reliability.

 

obviously no idea on depreciation and capital expense. Also still believe Acura is more reliable than Germans......

this is what the sales man would tell you.

 

A wee bit defensive are we?

I've owned Honda and Acura vehicles for four decades, and I usually buy and hold, but I have no illusions that my current crop will be as reliable and trouble-free as previous examples. There is ample evidence to suggest otherwise, from impartial sources. And I already have personal experience to suggest otherwise.

Having said that, cars have become so damn complex, I don't think ANY current vehicle will be as reliable as the better past vehicles.

But maybe they won't stall when you punch the throttle because the carb flooded. Or fail to brake on a bumpy gravel road because the half-baked ABS freaks out. I could go on.

 

In the four decades I worked in the industry I heard it all. "They don't build cars like they use to", or "Fuel injection will never work", "I hate those damn disc brakes, they are hard to work on", ABS is unsafe, air bags will kill you, active handling will cause crashes, all those computers will break down or go crazy, etc, etc., etc.

All I can say is the cars we have today are so much better then those from the past. They fit together better. Machining tolerances are vastly improved. We aren't doing "tune ups" every 12,000 miles or changing oil every 2.000. They go faster, stop quicker, and are vastly safer in a crash. Their reliability is better than it ever was. We have raised our expectations as cars have improved so that our grips are sometimes more petty. I mean when I was young no one would think of complaining that their convertible leaked water in a power car wash. Now if that happens its grounds for a Lemon Law buy back. The thing about long term reliability is simple, no expert can really predict how long a vehicle will last. Only time will tell.

Many years ago I bought a International Harvester Law Tractor. I once asked a mechanic at a repair shop how long they would last. He told me they didn't know yet as they had only been building them for fifteen years...it was too soon to tell.

 

Well, if cars overall are vastly better, then I guess it's just my recent Acuras that are the problem.

OTOH the first SUV I drove was a hand-me-down International Harvester Scout Traveller II. That's the one that stalled when I punched the throttle to accelerate onto the major 2-lane truck route near my parent's home. It wasn't unreliable; it did it almost every time!

And after I did something stupid and broke the rear hatch glass, it took 3 months to get a replacement. I guess since IH stuff "never breaks", they didn't bother to stock repair parts.

But I digress. The comment on ABS was also from real-life experience of a rental GM sedan on a gravel road near Tucson AZ, sometime around 1990. Terrifying. Maybe the industry insiders of the time should have listened to some of those "anecdotal reports" of vehicle systems that were not operating as intended. But eventually they got most of the kinks worked out. It only took a decade or two.

 

nah. I just like to call out ignorance when I see them.

Today’s cars are definitely better than what we used to have, mechanically. But with more electronics, comes new set of problems.

I remember Audi back in the 80s.... I am surprised they are back at top now.

 

Toward trolling? Yes. It's a cancer in owner groups.

I pride myself on being open-minded and accepting of opinions and choices that are different from mine. I almost never post ad hominem criticism.

We know the RDX is not perfect, certainly not the all new, first year 2019 model. I completely understand the anger, frustration and venting from people who gave a significant amount of money to Acura and feel it was taken in bad faith. I'd also be saying many of the negative things I've read here -- I still might, I'm only at 1000 miles...

But speaking for "everyone", suggesting that the unknowable future might be bad to support personal bias, and using opinion as a universal truth are all classic trolling vibes. The post seems focused more on perpetuating a personal narrative than a sincere contribution to the discussion.

Having said all that, the better response would have been no response.

 

I really like the new RDX, but to me, just like most of the German cars, I hate the infotainment systems that seem stuck on the dashboard like it was an afterthought. I like the integrated look. This is one of the reasons I chose the MDX with the 2 screens over the RDX. I know many don't like them, but I am fan. I see the Germans are starting to go back to the integrated look.

 

Short brisk biased comments deserves as such. Should every post be long and educational? One can google leasing vs buying, no need to copy and paste.

Sigh, this is why people prefers Reddits these days.

 

My mom had an Audi 5000, circa early 1980's. A really decent car, if you could tell which was the gas pedal, and which was the brake pedal. Apparently, some people couldn't. ( And to be fair, the gas pedal was stiffly sprung in the high-effort Teutonic tradition, and the brake pedal was the size of a postage stamp ).

The resultant blame game nearly killed the brand in the USA. But I imagine life went on as usual on the other side of the pond.

But it is rather surprising how quickly "dieselgate" seems to have been forgotten.

 

Not by me! How can anyone trust a company that blatantly cheated on such a large scale?

 

The cynic in me ends that sentence with: "and got caught."

But imagine if everyone held to the same level of disgust and also refused to buy their products? The penalty for this type of corruption would be severe indeed. I still avoid buying Exxon gas unless I'm desperate, but most people don't agree with my stand either.

As I think about this, if we knew all the things we don't know about corporate shenanigans, there might not be anything to buy.

 

I still will not buy Firestone tires, even if Ford may have had some of the blame.

 

I wonder if it’s because it was “just” pollution. Half of this country doesn’t even believe in pollution. Also, statistical deaths are a lot less real than car crash or car explosion deaths. A 4% increase of people dying from pollution related illness is a lot less headline grabbing than even one episode of “unintended acceleration” or exploding gas tank.

 

Does anyone know the release date of the new RDX? Just wondering.

 

Plant is restarting next Monday. It would be interesting to find out the cut off date and what changes to 2021 model year. Anyone know of someone that works at the plant?
As a precaution I would steer away from purchasing an RDX manufactured this month until they get in full swing of production, especially with all the vendors that supply the parts.

 

Very good points on the models that were built during or around this crisis. In addition to vendor supplies, manpower might not be 100% and staff maybe moved around to different lines to do work that they were not experienced with.

 

thanks....really just an attempt to get this thread somewhere near the topic at hand.

 

Noble cause, but the actual release date is no more knowable than it was a few weeks ago.

And whatever changes may emerge, if any, is equally unknowable for Honda/Acura.

Which gives us plenty of opportunity to speculate and argue about what we think SHOULD be changed.

 

I openly admit to being part of the problem. I tend to fixate on shiny objects near me as well.

Sorry, it's happening again...