fiatlux

It's 18 years old and only has 37K miles? Geeze, I think I've ran more miles than that in the past 18 years....

fiatlux

To be fair, the RDX is all-new whereas the GX is essentially unchanged for about 10 years now. I'm sure if Honda were to still be building the 2G Pilot today, it'd probably also have very few complaints.

That said, this also illustrates the difference between Toyota and Honda; Toyota is much more conservative, has really long life cycles for some of their cars, waits for other companies to work out the kinks before jumping in (hybrid/EV tech aside), and spends an incredible amount of resources in making sure what they build is high quality and dependable. They may not be the most advanced (their infotainment system across all their cars is horrid), they may not be the fastest, and they may not be all that fun to drive, but if I needed to depend on a car that would last through an apocalyptic event and last forever, it would be a Toyota product.

russianDude

toyota/lexus is known for its reliability because they build boring cars and never push the latest tech/engineering into their cars. I find that tech and engineering is usually a little behind in toyota/lexus, they like for engineering to mature before they make it main stream. Honda takes more risk by introducing new tech, engineering as it becomes available.

My wife drives 10 year old lexus, its boring and soft, and the only good thing about is that it never had any break downs or issues.

ceb

Honda/Acura made reliable cars until they jumped on the "untested technology for technology's sake" bandwagon a few years ago.

acuraada

have you seen 2020 RDX? Or even NX? Don’t think it’s fair to compare 10 yr old of any brand.

I would not drive any new Lexus (ugly and soft) but I wouldn’t say they are behind or have less tech.

russianDude

have I seen 2020 RDX? I’ve been driving one, its in my signature.... Brand new lexus of the same price range does not use anything fancy. Its not just tech, the 10sp transmission and etc, lexus is not using Latest design, it will take them a while before (and if) they go 10sp. Toyota adaptation of latest engineering is conservative, their approach allows them to build more reliable cars. Thats not the only factor, but important one

russianDude

NX is what, 6sp? Thats old stuff, but its perfected after so many years and reliable.... Acura, every few years they seem to have new transmission.... and those things are more and more complicated, mistakes happen

acuraada

Acura since Ikeda took over has been refocusing on performance so they tend to adopt "performance" related tech much more than Toyota but that doesn't mean Toyota is more "behind" They simply chose to be focused on reliability. We will probably never see a 10spd tranny on NX. But to say Toyota is behind is a bit disingenuous since this is the company that gave us Prius and hybrids models on the Lexus long before Acura has anything to offer.

So mistakes happens, then it is just part of being Acura family then? When you choose Acura, you sacrifice reliability over performance? This sounds like a line from Porsche....(even Cayenne uses an 8spd)

Wander

Honda/Acura may have hit, or passed, a point of diminishing returns with multi-speed transmissions. And don't forget their 6-speed is a "Hondamatic", not a conventional planetary gear 6-speed AT. Apparently there are efficiency problems with that design.

My guess is that Toyota/Lexus will continue to roll out their hybrid tech rather than join the rabble who are trying to milk blood out of a turnip. But I've been wrong before.

acuraada

No worries, I'm sure Honda's got a 12 spd tranny in their roadmap to make sure they always are on the bleeding edge of technology....

russianDude

Toyota delivers practical cars that are reliable and use well established tech and engineering.
Honda is more aggressive to use latest engineering, that obviously has consequences.
If one wants to buy the most reliable car, and thats your top priority, I would have to agree that Toyota would be a better choice.

ceb

I think he meant "2020 RX" - as in Lexus RX....

russianDude

Only saw NX and Rx of prior year,will take a look more closely. The RX 2018 I drove as a loaner car had a minivan feeling, and was too soft for me.

Ludepower

RX felt like a boat and the windshield is far from the drivers seat.

If it didn't cost 20k more than the RDX then I would of bought the Lexus RX because it's better looking and more prestigious.

acuraada

2019 RX definitely feels more luxurious inside out, infotainment included. The extra 10k-15k shows.

However, as pointed out here, the drive is soft and lofty which probably caters to greater population than the "sports" fans.

samiam_68

The following is an opinion based on my experience with approximately 20 cars of various makes and models that I have driven in the past couple of decades.

I have never seen a transmission with more than 6 gears offering any real-world benefit whatsoever in any vehicle, whether it's fuel economy or performance. As for the RDX, 2nd gen had a 6 speed and had identical acceleration and better real world fuel economy than 3rd gen with a 10 speed. The transmission gear quantity race reminds me of the megapixel race with camera manufacturers. More is not better. Better optics and better software makes a better camera, not more pixels. Same with cars. As someone who has driven many manual transmission cars, I never felt a need for having more than 5-6 forward gears. As long as the engine output, transmission gear ratios, and final drive ratio are well matched with the vehicle's weight and dynamics, that's what makes a good drivetrain.

As far as having the transmission perform optimally at all times and in all conditions, the answer is CVT, not more gears. While CVT's do take a bit of adjustment to get used to, when done right, they provide the best of both performance and fuel economy. Current Subaru models got their CVT's right - they don't feel rubbery, gear adjustment is virtually instantaneous and real world results are solid. I thought I would be very put off by the modern CVT, having driven some of the earlier CVT cars - think Justy (that was a horror!), but after about 10 minutes of driving, I forgot all about it and the car felt completely normal in every aspect.

Wander

There is no chance that I would ever forget that the transmission in my daughter's CR-V is a CVT. It is tolerable in exchange for excellent fuel economy in that application. Period. But CR-V is neither a sports car nor a luxury car, and it doesn't pretend to be. I just hope it proves to be reliable.

russianDude

Common, CVT sucks, and there is a reason they are not using them in Luxury brands. You don’t really need 10sp, 8sp is enough IMHO. My understanding that Honda 10sp orbital gear tranny design allows them to make it smaller and have less weight than 9ZF. That was the main reason for new design.
10sp works well, let’s just hope they last 200k+ miles. So far it’s been OK, I did not see any failures on 2018 Accord. I am sure something would come up by now.

JustMe...

Just off the top of my head, Lexus uses them in their hybrids.

ceb

C'mon, the Variomatic in my 70's DAF was pretty seamless....

mathnerd88

Both of you are forgetting, the Infiniti uses CVT in the current QX50, QX60 and the older JX35.

fiatlux

Arguably a contributing factor for why sales of those cars have fallen off a cliff. Variable compression, turbo, and a CVT? Three things that need to work in concert with one another to deliver a linear power delivery...and it just doesn't.

Wander

They have been in snowmobiles forever. Maybe that's why I don't like them.

I don't think Nissan/Infinity is the poster child for good choices right now.

mathnerd88

I recall the JX35 and QX60 doing pretty well with yearly sales of about 40-45k cars. I can’t say the same for the QX50.

I’m just merely commenting on a prior post about luxury brands not offering CVT. They do.

acuraada

Not so sure about variable compression, that's an Infiniti thing and relatively new. We are definitely off topic here but CVT has been discussed over and over. If you want an example of such combo (performance with CVT), take a look at Subaru WRX STi

fiatlux

STI is still a manual 6 speed only. The regular WRX got a CVT option but having driven it I can tell you that while it’s good for a CVT, it sucks compared to even a regular 6 speed slush box.

hans471

We have a 2015 Fit with the CVT and we love it. Part of it is adapting to how to make it work for you. The fist day out my wife didn't like it as she is very slow to adapt. A week later she hated riding in my six speed CR-V I had at the time due to the "jolts" of the gears shifting. Its amazing how much we adapt to things in time and accept them as the norm.
Technically a CVT causes an 18% loss of power due to its internal friction. However, it makes up for this by allowing the engineers to program the system to maximize efficiency in the engine. As much as humans like to be in control there are times when the computer (actually its programing) can do a better job. After all, the engineers ran that vehicle for millions of miles working out the best strategies to get the most economy and cleanest exhaust.

Oh, and I like my ten speed transmission. Its smooth, shifts very well and seems to make this car hum pretty good. Much smoother than my last old six speed.

Madd Dog

We are happy with my wife’s CVT in her 4cyl Accord. The Accord is an economy sedan, not a sports sedan, and the CVT does economy while giving adequate acceleration without annoying motorboating.

acuraada

Ofcourse. I think the purchase ratio is like 20:1 manual vs CVT but my point was regarding speed and a turbocharged engine. The data for 0-60 is a smidge less than 6s for the CVT.

and after 5 minutes behind it, i couldn’t tell it’s a CVT.

Wander

Yeah, you shouldn't distract your wife while she is driving.

Gear Head

I wish I did ANY research before buying this abomination of a vehicle. I trusted Acura's reputation after owning so many Honda products. It's back in the shop again today - at 8 mos and 8K miles for what is I think the 10th time.

Notwithstanding the issue it was scheduled to go in for, this morning the infotainment system decided it wouldn't start up. After about 6 miles I pulled over to turn the car off and start again, then it wouldn't connect to anything and was just a frozen screen. Rebooted again, and it worked but with broken audio and popping in the speakers.

It also decided it would take its time shifting gears, so whilst I was broadside after backing out of my driveway, it took its time deciding to engage drive.

This car deserves a ZERO. it is so bad it's indescribable.

fiatlux

Yeesh, why haven’t you lemon lawed it already?

russianDude

there is a TSB for popping sound from infoteinment, it might help.
look, if you are so unhappy, get rid of the car. Its not worth the aggregation.

russianDude

Aggravation that is 😀

Gear Head

It's not about being unhappy anymore, that's an emotional response. It's about the minimizing the financial impact from a brand that is clearly lost, from a manufacturer that has fallen flat on its face.

Acura is a brand that's lost. Honda is a manufacturer that cannot be trusted.

russianDude

and what are the alternatives in the same price range and similar characteristics?
if you switch to lexus, its really different car. Infinity maybe? Nissan has not been great either

Gear Head

I'm honestly quite turned off by the Asian "luxury" brands in general. Most of the Asian makes are following the Germans into distracting in-car technology.

I am only impressed by Mazda, who hasn't lost the plot.

That said, your question has been helpful as it's helped me sort out my thinking and my answer is that I'd buy an American brand. If I look back at the past decade of vehicle ownership, I can say that the best equipped, most reliable, and easiest to live with vehicles have been American brands; Jeep, Cadillac, GMC, and Buick. Surprises the heck out of me, but is true.

They all "do what it said on the tin".

DriverOne

Another guy who is trying to rescue us all from his own personal problem.

Gear Head

Rescue?

Your post is obnoxious.

This is a community discussion and I'm discussing, appropriately, a vehicle that is wrought with problems. This thread is about how Honda/Acura's reliability rating has tanked.

What is your point, oh sage one?

RCJD

Agree ^^