I own an Advance model which I have been enjoying since early June. As part of a recent service visit, I was given an A-spec as a loaner and got to drive it for about a week. There were some interesting takeaways from getting to drive them back to back - some that might have helped me while I was buying my RDX - so I thought I'd share.

Suspension: I assumed the higher profile tires and adaptive dampers would provide a softer ride, which I prefer due to mostly driving on potholed roads. I think this assumption technically holds up, but ignores some important factors of the suspension. I can’t quantify how much tire model, tire size, and wheel size contribute to the ride quality and handling difference vs. the adaptive dampers, but the difference between the two cars is more than I thought it would it be and, surprisingly, I prefer the A-spec setup. The A-spec has a solidity and linearity that the Advance doesn’t have. While it’s not a surprise that the A-spec might handle better with its wider tires and bigger wheels, it also seems to offer a better ride. The initial crash into a pothole or bump feels less severe than the Advance in any suspension mode. I think what’s going on here is that the Advance’s adaptive dampers are smoothing out the ride on good pavement in all modes and the contrast this creates when crashing into a bump creates a feeling of inconsistency.

The adaptive suspension indeed feels incredibly smooth when driving on unbroken pavement and highway cruises are certainly smoother than what the A-spec can deliver. The A-spec feels like it’s permanently dialed into a firmness that approximates the Advance model “Sport” setting, maybe even a hair towards the “Comfort” side, but again, the lack of the adaptive dampers creates a more consistent ride.

The drive mode knob in the Advance is more useful at changing how the vehicle feels and I use it all the time. With the A-spec, I would probably feel like the knob was a waste of space as the other factors the knob controls I don’t really need to adjust as often.

TL;DR – don’t assume the bigger wheels and fixed suspension will lead to a bad ride.

Brakes: Look, I know the brakes aren’t different between these two cars. I wanted to make a quick mention of them here, because the difference in feel between the two cars was pronounced. The loaner A-spec had about 8,000 miles on it (my car has about 3,000). For some reason, the A-spec brakes felt like they were being actuated significantly earlier in the pedal travel. I know that the suspension and tire size are going to help with overall stopping performance, but there was some production variance between my car and the A-spec I drove in regards to pedal travel. I’ve read some complaints about the pedal travel in RDX’s, though I don’t have an issue with it, but the feel of the braking in the specific RDX I had as a loaner was slightly improved with that higher actuation.

Seats: The seats in the Advance are more comfortable by a pretty discernable margin, but not for the reasons I thought they would be. As a tall person, the extendable thigh cushion was one of the items that had me focused on the Advance. What’s interesting is that I didn’t miss it at all when I drove the A-spec around. What I did notice was that A-spec lacked side bolstering when compared to the Advance. In addition to being tall, I’m a pretty big guy and normally cars with any sort of bolsters just hit me in the wrong way or are too narrow. The A-spec bolsters didn’t feel pronounced enough and were quite far away from my body and this meant I didn’t feel as comfortable when cornering. I know the advantage the Advance has with the adjustable bolsters, and that Acura to has accommodate a range of body sizes which is harder to do with the fixed A-spec bolsters, but it seems like the A-spec should have more bolstering, especially considering it already has a unique seat.

Looks: I’ve always really liked the blackout look on the exterior and was sad to have to give that up for the Advance model. The A-spec has a much sportier look, but I’ve grown to like the Advance (even the wheels!). The badges and exhaust tips also look great on the A-spec. On the interior, I underestimated how much of a difference the aluminum pedals and shifters make – I wish I had them on the Advance. The Alcantara inserts on the seats look and feel really good, but I like it less above the glove box (dust magnet!). I also think the black headliner makes the car feel smaller on the inside. I hate red/orange lighting in a car and the gauges really turned me off to the A-spec when I was doing my research. While I still prefer the standard gauges, the A-spec gauges aren’t as distasteful in person as the pictures I saw and I could have definitely lived with them. I was associating them with 2000’s gauges and they are definitely more premium than that. The red ambient lighting isn’t something I like, but it’s not overdone so that would have also been livable. I really like the look and feel of the A-spec steering wheel. I suspect that once winter comes, I’ll be happy with my heated wheel, but I wish they were combined.

Road Noise: One of the features I really bought into was the acoustic side glass. While there is a difference between the Advance and A-spec, it is minimal. The A-spec is really quiet around town and on the highway, to the point this probably shouldn’t be a factor in anyone’s decision between the models.

Instrumentation: I thought HUDs were a little gimmicky, but it’s something I really missed in the A-spec. It turns out that I don’t really use the main gauge cluster in my Advance and it was really hard to get used to looking down there in the week I had the A-spec. One surprise was that I prefer the simpler camera setup in the A-spec. While the other views available in the Advance have been useful a handful of times, having a clearer and larger standard backup camera and the sensor info seems like a better setup. I wish they would reapportion the way they use the screen in the Advance when showing the camera setup – it’s ridiculous that they are just using the right portion for an icon.

When I bought my RDX, I exclusively looked at the Advance Model due to a couple of key features. Driving the A-spec, I realized I shouldn’t have made a number of assumptions that I did. Instead, I really should have devoted a bit more time to test driving. While I’d probably still buy the Advance if I went back and did it again, it would be a much tougher choice. While I like a ton about the Advance, I think the A-spec offers a better ride and better value.

 

Honestly, it's ridiculous you can't get both and you have to choose.

 

I wonder if Acura would have been better off doing two separate Aspec tech and Aspec Adv models instead of the current hybrid model? They are finally doing that with the special edition PMC TLX and MDX for 2020.

 

Thank you for this in-detail comparison!
Re: Suspension. Were the tire pressures the same in both vehicles?
Re: Brakes. There is a TSB for the soft brake pedal feel. Made a big difference on my 19 Advance. See the TSB section of this forum. TSBs 19-022

 

Yes - tire pressure was at 35 on both. I definitely checked because my car was delivered to me with 48 psi!!!

 

The same pressure may result in a firmer ride with the higher profile tire ( Advance ) because of the increased air volume.

Recommended cold inflation pressure is 33 psi for the 19" tire ( Advance ) and 36 psi for the 20" ( A-spec ). A-spec tires were a bit under-inflated, especially if they were at 35 psi warm.




Also, different brand and type of tire.

 

I don't understand the logic with that camera icon whatsoever. Give us a massive screen and take up a giant chunk of it to show a camera icon? Who in the hell thought that was a good idea?

 

Yes, I’m not sure what combination of factors are coming together in giving me the sense the A-spec offers a more compliant ride than I expected. Knowing how much a tire can change the ride, my guess was that it might be playing a big role.

 

My guess is that Acura in the future is planning that space for another camera or some kind of assist feature when the cameras are activated.

 

I love my ASpec. The ride and handling are awesome. Comfortable and best seats ever. I cruise around in Sport plus mode 24/7. Really feels like a sports car, probably one of the best cars I have ever owned. I live in the mountains and hardly ever hit the Interstates. I take the back roads even on longer trips. Handles very securely and you can push it to the limits without worry..

 

I think you're giving Acura too much credit.

 

Same here. Looking forward to some performance upgrades to really make the vehicle shine. It's nice, but I'm already getting flak from friends saying I should've gotten an X3 or X4 m40i with much more horsepower. I test drove both, and while they were a blast off the line, the cars themselves are just so boring on the interior. All that horsepower in such a mundane package. My A-Spec is the Blue with red interior and I couldn't be happier when I get in the car to drive it every day - nothing boring about it, I just wish it was a bit faster - hopefully there will be more performance upgrades for us in the near future to make it so.

 

Ditto here, I am thinking about buying a Porsche Macan S, the Turbo version is more than I am willing to pay. 83K Vs 59K and the S non turbo version has 348HP.

 

This is Motor Trend's look at A-Spec vs. Advance:

https://www.motortrend.com/cars/acur...parison-review

 

On the Advance model, if you're pulling into a parking space while viewing the front cameras, where are the parking sensors displayed???

 

Are 0.61 g and 0.62 g numbers reported equivalent to the skid pad numbers that Car & Driver reports in their instrumented tests? While I couldn't find an instrumented test for the 3rd gen RDX on their site, if they are equivalent, those numbers look awfully bad.

Gen 2 RDX reports 0.77 g
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...d-test-review/

 

OK I think I found some more data here
https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews...t-performance/
The Car & Driver number came in at 0.81 g for this gen. Still bad, but I was scared when I saw the 0.61 g number from MT. Good to know they are not comparable numbers.

 

Credit the incredibly bad tires on the A-Spec. The Eagle RS-As came out over 15 years ago. The Kia Telluride cranks out more g's than the A-Spec as does every German 3 row crossover.