russianDude

Really, we are now comparing Honda to Chrysler? Wow

Ludepower

Hondas 30 years of solid reputation and high praised in the used car market can't be trusted because of a few bad apples? Every manufacturer has their problems.

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Don't take the whole ship down with you.

Madd Dog

The argument could be legitimate. If it were made in the summer of 2019.

By now, there is enough out there for one’s research to turn up the good, the bad, and the ugly.

leomio85

Sorry for your misfortunes with the vehicle. I too have a long (and continuing) battle with rattles and poor build quality, as was mentioned as to why CR gave it such a low rating. The vehicle, as a vehicle, is pretty competent. It drives well, ride is acceptable and handles well ... plus it's certainly peppier than your average crossover. I do agree with the slow shifts when changing gear though. Doing a three point turn can sometimes be a chore. Knock on wood, no issues with the infotainment, but I hardly ever use it. I usually turn the screen off to be honest. I've since started using the radio more to drown out the rattles, after everyone here told me to STFU complaining about the rattles all the time. I still hear them, but they're drowned out a bit now.

As fiatlux stated, document the amount of times it's back to the dealer with the same issue regarding the infotainment. If they can't rectify it, then ask to Lemon Law it. I didn't think it would, but depending on your state, this may qualify under the Lemon Law.

I grew up in a GM household ... it was either GM or Japanese. For service, I like a lot of what GM puts out, but their quality is kinda "eh." Plus, plenty of eletrical/electronic issues with GM. Every car manufacturer has their issues. I'll never own a Mopar vehicle, unless it has a Hellcat engine in it ... but even then, likely not. They just churn out consistently shitty products across their line-up. Ford gets their interior parts from Tonka, and I still don't trust their engineering. The Exploder is having transmission failures with their new 10-speed. I could go on and on.

Hope your issues get fixed under warranty. Keep bugging them until they make it right. I'm surprised they haven't replaced the whole unit with how well known the infotainment issues are with the earlier MYs.

fiatlux

I'd be careful conflating Acura with Honda. Even though Acura is technically Honda's luxury arm (or performance arm if you toe the company line), it's very much its own independent division, more so than many other company's luxury division. Acuras are designed and engineered in America, and built by Americans for Americans. I'm as pro-America as they come, but even I will concede that the Japanese have a work ethic and attention to detail that is unmatched. Frankly, Acura just doesn't have the same R&D budget to put into these cars because it's harder to amortize those costs against the relatively low global volume they actually sell. Back in the olden days, it was fine because Acuras were mildly different from the Hondas they were based on, if they were even different at all. These days, Acuras is closer to being a totally separate automaker that just happens to use Honda engines and transmissions and the same OEMs for all the other parts.

russianDude

I like Lexus quality, but I dont like the way RX350 or NX drives. It would be ideal if RDX had the same quality as Lexus, but its not...

jmhumr

Eh, I don't really buy any of that. It's not like Honda just lets Acura run rogue - they have to leverage a lot more than just parts bins (production tech, workflows, etc.). Also, what reason do you have to question their R&D budget when they're developing their own platforms, enhancing their AWD system, and innovating with structural design? That's way more than Lexus or Infinity take on.

Also I don't think "reliability" these days is a America vs. Japan problem. Most manufacturers are having a lot of trouble with initial quality because customers demand new stuff faster, and because they're cutting corners to compensate for the immense upfront cost of electrification R&D. Don't believe me? Check out Rav4World, which is full of "Toyota forgot to install this part, how do we fix it" DIY threads. One example I distinctly remember is the RAV4 missing weather stripping between the headlights and hood on a lot of US Rav4s. In typical Toyota cult fashion, the customers are ordering the part themselves and installing it, haha. Other common issues are loose mirrors, interior rattles, squealing climate control fans, missing lubrication on parts that need it, etc. This stuff doesn't show up in the stats because Toyota owners are brainwashed to believe they've got a bulletproof car just because the raspy engine will last 400k miles - they just accept the cheapness as a quirk and not a QC issue worth ranting about in surveys. In contrast, Acura owners have higher expectations and let loose in surveys.

So all of that is to say that I don't think Acura is any worse than the norm these days.

hans471

I feel for anyone who buys ANY car and has lots of issues. I spent three years as a "technical expert" helping to identify and resolve Lemon Law cases. Each month I got a pile of complaints. We actually got to meet and talk to the customers involved, either on the phone or in person. I reviewed all their complaints, the work orders from the dealers who had work on the vehicle and personally drove many of the vehicles. I worked on nearly a thousand cases first hand and learned a lot along the way.
The short of what I learned:
1) Once a person thinks they have a problem that problem will "grow" in their minds.
2) f the dealer doesn't get the problem resolved on the first repair attempt its more likely than not that they will never resolve it to the satisfaction of the customer (see item 1 above).
3) One of the truest statements a dealer ever made was, "You can usually fix the car but not the customer". (see item 1)
4) Warning...some of you have real issues, I know, but as a general rule most of the cases we saw...the problems were never as big as the customer described. (again, see item 1).
5) Most of the cases were we ruled the car would be bought back...were dealer failures, not the company's.
6) And lastly, and you who have real issues don't have to accept this..but based on the thousand cases I had to work with over three years: There were very very few real lemons. Most were cased by item "5" and many were just plain customers who wanted to pay a Chevy price but get a Buick level of vehicle. (Or in the case of people here....Pay a Honda price and get a high end Mercedes Benz.

I have a mid-2019, built in March of 2019. Out side of a minor brake squeak that got fixed by my friendly dealer I have not had a problem worth mentioning. I don't use the "entertainment" system as much as some. I play the radio...which works great, and I play music I have recorded on a memory stick. I very rarely use Android Auto and when I do it seems to work pretty good. I have no real reason to dislike this car and would not hesitate to buy it again. That said, YMMV and you might hate yours. I love some of the comments I see on the Toyota forum, things like "I should have bought a Honda!". There will always be unhappy people. I have long since abandon any review CR does on most products, especially automobiles! As for car forums; be honest with yourself, its where people come to bitch. If I come here and state the truth, that my RDX is one fine car that I love and its trouble free the "haters" will jump all over me and say I am a liar or worse. But, it is what it is. And I am honestly sad to see anyone have a car problem with something they spent a lot on. Next time buy a Hyundai Soul. Its cheap and Android auto, etc. will work on it. Of course the car is crap and of the five people I know who bought them four dumped them as they hated them so much.

fiatlux

That's true, they very much are average when it comes to reliability scores. However, I don't think most people buying Acuras are expecting average...

fiatlux

Isn't the RAV4 built in Kentucky? That kind of proves the point, doesn't it? I'm pretty sure if it was built in the Tahara plant this kind of stuff wouldn't happen.

As for the excuse that Acura owners have higher expectations...do they have higher expectations than Lexus owners? Because Lexus is still very much at the top of these surveys. Are Acura owners that much pickier than Mercedes, BMW, and Audi owners? The common refrain is that those cars are less reliable and have more problems...and yet Acura somehow fell below them too.

Gear Head

Yes. 2019 cherokee high altitude for my daughter. $15k less, much better equipped and not a single problem in 20k miles, not one. Better power, better MPG, much quieter and more comfortable and roomy.

My first American car was in 2013. I fought it. But all have been better than the Euro and Asian brands we opened, which at the same time were from BMW and Acura. I ditched the BMW, it was a constant headache, but still less problems and much better material quality than this Acura

DriverOne

It's pretty weird how everyone who talks up other car companies bought an Acura.

russianDude

What I dont understand, if someone is so unhappy, why not trade it in? Sure you will take a hit on depreciation, say you are at 5-10k loss. Does it really matter if your life is miserable and you hate the car? Something tells me that these people dont have anything else in mind that they want to buy in the same price range, so they just complain....

RaggedEdge

I've owned 4 different SRT models since 2006, my latest being a Hellcat Charger, and they've all been reliable. The wife, on the other hand, has been a fan of Honda. However, unlike me, she's had issues. Her 2004 CR-V had the infamous "black death", and we paid a pretty penny to replace the AC/ventilation system. Then when it was close to 100,000 miles she was notified that the transmission was beginning to fail and would need replacing. Meanwhile, my vehicles needed only routine maintenance, other than a reverse shift cable that broke on one of my Dodges, and a lot of performance upgrades I paid for on another Dodge. I'm not bashing any brands, just sharing my own personal experience. I've only had the RDX a month (an anniversary gift for the wife), but I don't have anything to complain about other than the Bluetooth not working the first few days (fixed itself apparently), and the nav/GPS and auto idle shut off not working until the dealership did some sort of battery reset...

acuraada

There are two things here.

First, Acura isn’t Honda despite the parent company. They may share some parts but manufacturing, processes and hardware and software are all independent. In fact, this is what Acura asked for, more independence from mothership to accelerate its perceived markets.

Second, Acura as a brand has been reviewed and surveyed from independent parties such as JD and CR. Acura’s reliability is ranked less than that of Buick according to one report. (Honda is 12)

this is not few bad apples, we are not talking about hundreds of thousands of pool like CRV, Acura only sell about 60k of RDX per year. I am sure the internal statistic on warranty claimed avg per vehicle is high.

acuraada

Not everyone can take 5-10k loss. Especially when you take your hard earn dollar and got a lemon in return. This forum serves all, good or bad. No need to criticize people for posting their negatives and complaints

russianDude

not criticizing, just saying if you have 40k+ for a new luxury car, you would think that one is NOT spending their last dime on it?

I had 1st gen RDX for 12 years, overall, was a good choice. It had its share of issues, but overall it was a good car, I dont see that 3rd gen RDX is so much worse. But its just me.

DriverOne

Except they all say "it's not just my one car." They go on and on melodramatically about how Honda is "known" for defective cars and Acura is an industry joke and everyone "knows" that GM and Toyota are superior. That's always hilarious. There are certain types of people who have to be over the top like that and they think it makes them more credible when, in fact, it just makes them sound like they were apparently extremely unintelligent.

JB in AZ

I understand what you are saying. BUT one cannot compare a Hellcat Charger to an RDX. NO ONE cross shops these two vehicles. What does FCA sell that one would cross shop with the RDX? How does it compare in purchase price, features, reliability, customer satisfaction and resale value?

When I shop for a new vehicle these days, I am only shopping for CUVs (or SUVs???). I am not sure I have any idea anymore where the difference lies. In my mind, an SUV is a rear wheel drive (or 4 wheel drive) body on frame vehicle. All other raised, rear-hatch unibody vehicles are crossovers (CUVs). Outback? A raised station wagen...is this a Crossover? It IS cross shopped with the RDX AND the CR-V by many.

I have owned several Chrysler products during my long years of car ownership. Some Dodge Grand Caravans in the late 80's and 90s when we had three kids fighting in the back seat...one of those "cloud cars" in 1998, and lastly a 2002 PT Cruiser which I am proud to say I bought used for a song...never had any issues with it, then sold it for about what I paid for it before it needed any work. I have a family member who had nothing but expensive repairs and a friend who had the same experience with their PTs. They were fun due to the clubs and customizations. So it has been almost 20 years since I have owned a Chrysler product, and I don't see any crossover I would even consider in their portfolio. GM? I test drove the Cadillac XT4...no comparison at all to the RDX. Ford/Lincoln? I seriously considered the MKC when I was shopping the RDX (Corsair was not out yet) It lost on interior space, and resale value. Volvo? Tested the XC40 (too small) and XC60 over priced with potential reliability issues. Europeans? OUT. Obviously, I am not a brand loyalist, other than if a brand treats me right, and they have a product that meets my needs when I next shop for a vehicle, I will consider it along with other brands. Right now I am happy to have an Acura and a Honda in my garage. What is next? I don't know.

RaggedEdge

I didn't mean to insinuate that the vehicles I mentioned would be cross-shopped against an Acura RDX. I was only commenting on someone else bringing up Chrysler products in general in regards to reliability. Although, perhaps many would consider cross-shopping a Jeep Grand Cherokee with an RDX as they are similar in size. Certainly if money were not an issue, I would have probably gotten the wife a Grand Cherokee SRT, but that's about double the price and a bit of a hit on fuel economy, to boot...

JB in AZ

Yeah, sorry I got carried away.

I always thought the Grand Cherokee was nice looking, but bigger than the RDX and a "full SUV". It is now getting a bit old, ready for that new version inthe pipeline..

fiatlux

The JGC has always been a mid-size at best, and this past generation it's become more of a tweener between compact and midsize (it's 190" compared to 186" for the compact RDX and 196" for the midsize MDX), on top of becoming more of a crossover instead of an SUV.

leomio85

If it were due to operability issues with the car, it would 100% be gone ... likely a Lemon claim if it were that bad. Squeaks and rattles? Eh. I've fixed most, but why did I have to ... not to mention the amount of them on a brand new car. I'm not taking a depreciation hit for something like that, but you bet I'm not pleased with the issues either. People here say Acura has separated itself from Honda. Maybe on platforms, but from a build quality standpoint, my first experience with Acura is not inspiring. Not to mention, they're literally built in the same factory as Hondas. This will very much weigh into my next buying decision, much like the reliability of my last CRV weighed into buying my current RDX. Mass production ... you can't get a perfect product. I was fine with it fixing my first few rattles, but they just kept/keep on coming, making me more and more displeased with the vehicle.

Call my unintelligent for buying the car, yet having no contribution or automotive knowledge outside of plebian murmurs. People come to forums to discuss good and bad. For prospective buyers, they absolutely have the right to see both sides of what they're going to be spending their hard earned money on. If they want to roll the dice on certain issues, by all means. But it's asinine to quell anyone from bringing up issues of people's deluded love/loyalty of a car brand.

Gear Head

That is the direction we're headed. We just keep asking ourselves if the loss is better than the frustration.

Let me be clear to anyone who thinks this is to compare alternate brands or to Honda bash. I've owned a lot of Honda Motor Company products. My first car was a used '76 Accord, and I've had nine Honda's or Acura since 1984. I own Honda power equipment, generators, and ATV's. My father would always say I was Soichiro Honda's biggest fan.

That said, It is uncharacteristic to have this many problems with a Honda product. But this vehicle has so many random and unrelated problems and deficiencies that the dealer confirms they see regularly that my experience is more consistent with CR than any of the non-empirical opinions from individual owners.

When a company will take a consumers money for a product with known problems, that's a breach of customer trust. Our first problem was at 700 miles. There's no excuse for that.

acuraada

This exist in every automobile forums across all brands that I've been with (maybe with the except of Subaru) so why bother mentioning it at all? It doesn't make you more intelligent either so just ignore the noise and move on. By you disagreeing, you are inviting for conversation on statistics that none of us layman have their hands on. You can even dispute industry "experts" such as CS and JCP, they are no more accurate than the 2016 presidential polls.


BTW, this is nothing. You should see Tesla forums in the early days.....

russianDude

I think there is a trend in the industry to make things cheap, I think you will find quality fading away on a lot of cars. Things are not built the same as they used to be, its unfortunate and Acura is not the only company that has these issues. People want things cheap and they demand quality. If quality was the only factor, some cars you just dont want to drive, does not matter how quality they are. So we as buyers have to consider a lot of factors: price, quality, and how much you like the car. Its difficult to be happy with all 3.

My wife got quality car, 9 year old Lexus ES350. The car had zero issues, never had to go to dealer to fix it under warranty and even after. The problem is that I hate driving it, its boring and soft.

BLEXV6

I think most of the RAV4's are assembled in Woodstock and Cambridge Ontario Canada. Not sure about a USA assembly plant.

RDXWiz

Appreciate the perspective/color from someone close to the matter.

What would be really interesting is if someone bought an upcoming hand built RDX and it was plagued with the same issues described here. Pretty bad optics as it will undoubtedly will have similar non-assembly related type issues, such as the infotainment application

hans471

Recently on this forum on another thread there was this big "I want a Tesla" thing. I read about how wonderful they were and made so well and would last forever. Just today I read two different articles on Tesla's. In one they were telling about how Tesla had recently quietly cut its used car warranty coverage way back. The second article in one of the car magazines was talking about how on the 2020 JD Powers quality survey Tesla was Dead Last! It was even below Range Rover (which is piss poor!). Of course the same survey put Kia at #1 in customer satisfaction. My wife and I were discussing that and I was recalling how JD Power does their survey and it made sense. Many Kia buyers traded in some old ragged out POS and that new Kia must seem like heaven to them compared to what they use to drive.
As for real numbers, that is what the market is seeing actually sold as of Sept. 2020 most car companies are down for the year over all (for many reasons). What was interesting however is that Acura is up almost 17% compared to the same month last year. Honda was up around 11% for the same month. Meanwhile that highly rated (by CR) Dodge sales were down by around 23% for the month while its down 381?2% for the YTD. Umm...guess those people need to read more of CR's reviews! The car market has always been crazy as its driven as much by what is "in" and emotion, not always so much what is "best".
I'm a car guy (professionally) and I always seem to do OK on the cars I pick. Only once or twice did I pick a less than perfect car and those two I didn't keep too long. I don't consider that too bad considering I have been buying cars for over 50 years.
If you hate you RDX I feel for you. Get something different next time or trade it off, whatever works for you. But having spent my life in the business when I get a car I have to really love it to buy it. ( I got all those 'free' new cars to drive for years. Now I have to pay for them and I am careful about what I get).

DriverOne

Surveys are pointless and, as I said before when I started a huge forum battle about it, are entirely dependent on a) who wants to answer and b) where they're mentally coming from. I won't rehash it all, but I'll just say that Teslas can burst into fire and many of their owners don't actually care because they think they're saving the planet and/or are super-smart because they drive the "most cutting edge tech" car. It's like when the Prius first came out. You could say anything you wanted about the car and the owners would just shrug and buy six more. This forum is clearly non-representative of Acura owners. People are sitting around dumping on the car and meanwhile, in the real world, they're flying off the lots.

fiatlux

Are you saying that Teslas don't rank dead last in initial quality and that the surveys about them are wrong?

DriverOne

I'm saying I don't care what the surveys show. I mean, if you say that Teslas are dead last in "initial quality," then I'd ask you "how are Teslas selling?" To inform you how little I care about surveys, I have no idea where Teslas rank. It's entirely irrelevant. Even if you say "they help to inform consumers," the answer is that no, they do not. It would be the same as if you just asked a random guy off the street "hey, what do you think about Teslas?" and then followed whatever he said.

hand-filer

I traded in my 2013 RDX Tech for a 2016 KIA Sorento SX and it seemed like heaven compared to the POS it replaced. Glad you got a good one.

russianDude

To you it was POS, I am sure there are happy 2013 owners

Ludepower

You drive a kia though

leomio85

Rando: Ugh, my Acura has shit quality, this brand sucks.
You: OMG! You're just a minority, don't bash the brand because you (and a bunch of other people) have issues! Acura is great!!!! Acura does so many things right!

Tesla: *handful of cars burn down during crashes* (because internal combustion engines running on gasoline never catch fire during crashes)
You: OMG! Teslas are absolute shite! They'll burn you alive!!
Tesla owners: Oh well, it happened on a few vehicles and it isn't the norm. There's still plenty of up sides to having one.
Also You: Ugh, what tree-hugging morons.

leomio85

And you overpaid for a Honda. That's what plenty of people think about Acura owners.

We're not exactly in any position, with how little prestige the Acura brand brings, to be condescending towards any brand. Regardless, there's no need for that no matter what car you own. Having a "I have no idea if they're a luxury brand or performance brand" Acura doesn't make you superior in any way, shape or form to anyone else. That's some nonsensical bullshit I thought I'd only see on BMW and Mercedes forums.

russianDude

Acura is a nice Honda, always was, was it a secret? Nothing wrong with it being Honda, which it is

leomio85

It's why I went with it. Honda engineering with a bit better quality materials, at least externally. I'd never rag on someone buying a Kia tho. Heck, that new K5, inside and out, is on par or better than anything Honda is putting out.




A Mopar, yes. Mopars are shit. =P

DriverOne

That's right. You're the one who spends all your time trying to talk down the RDX and meanwhile nobody cares what you write and everyone is still buying the car. Then, you're turning around and defending "just a handful" of Teslas burning down. That's exactly why I don't care about surveys. Because you're the kind of guy taking them.