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We keep our cars for a long time and purchased our Advance thinking it would most likely be our last new vehicle. The RDX is perfect in so many ways for us, from the interior room, power, feature set, overall size and a very conveniently located dealer for any service needs. We've also had almost none of the various problems that have been talked about here on the forum other than a few infotainment hiccups and we don't use that enough for it to be an irritation. Our one and only complaint is what to us is the excessive road noise and we've pretty much come to the conclusion that it's not something that we're going to be willing to live with for the next 10-15 years.
What we would like to find is something in the RDX's size range but with a much quieter ride, a bit smoother ride would also be nice. I've been watching some Alex on Auto's videos and he likes the direction Lincoln is going with their Corsair and Nautilus models as far as ride goes so we will be looking at those. The Genesis GV70 will be worth a look also when it comes out. I guess we owe it to ourselves to test drive the Lexus to but damn that grill is hard to get past.
Given that you have an Advance which has the noise suppressing windows, I'm surprised to hear about the road noise but also I think it may just be the tires. Last I looked on tirerack.com, the OEM tires that came with mine had fair noise ratings, i.e. not the best. So if it's really your only complaint, I would at least research if changing out the tires would help.
Update...I have done much research, discussing with friends, and thinking, and I have concluded that there isn't a vehicle currently available that meets my needs better than my RDX (as I wrote in post #112 above). And that, my friends (and I mean this sincerely) is why I bought it to begin with. MOST of the issues that I/we are experiencing are most likely more annoying than true reliability issues. Sure we all expect 100% perfection, but that, I think is a pipe dream.
One more point, we each have different tolerances for vehicular issues.
Thank you all!
As per your post #112 and this current post:
Yea - I get it JB. When I was younger I used to take negative reviews about my beloved Acuras pretty harshly. Almost felt personally offended. Like I screwed up. But as I got older, things change. For my 60th birthday I was given a tee-shirt that says, "I'm 60. If it seems like I do not care it's because I. Do. Not. Care."
I read some reviews about our RDX and they can be harsh, but now it's just words on a paper that are meaningless to me. I chose my RDX for specific reasons and I love it. Case in point: we needed another in-town and regional beater, so my wife and I leased a 2020 ILX. Now, I read all the reviews and they were brutal. "Worst car for a small luxury vehicle." "Glorified Honda Civic." "A Tin Can." Y'know what? They're right! It's all that and the ride is harsh and noisy. BUT - the car is a blast to drive and it fits the needs of who we are in this moment. Reviews be damned. My wife is 5'4" and she fits perfectly in it. Plus, its RED. We never would have chosen a red car but, life is full of surprises.
Bottom line and I'll end with this: you're absolutely right there is no perfect car. We all have different needs for different life scenarios and we choose the automobile in the moment we are in at that time. If it doesn't work out we can always trade it in. Lucky us. As I always say, these are first-world problems.
1) My wife, a Honda Fit lover, sat in a RED ILX at the dealer one day and I almost had to buy it for her on the spot! She loved that car. And yes, its an upgraded Civic, but that is not a bad thing.
2) As for JB, I feel for you, Brother. When I retired from the industry I no longer had that fleet of brand new free cars to chose from to drive. I had to buy my own car (and gas!) with my own money and it was a dark day. I was so spoiled! I never worried about being bored with a car or truck and knew that next week I would just get something different if I wanted.
But no car is perfect and all are compromises. What we have to do is find the car where we make the fewest compromises. I find on my RDX, the RED one, that there are few things where I compromised. Sure, I would love to get the fuel mileage of my former CR-V but that wasn't going to happen. I loved the bigger engine but needed to remember more power needs more fuel. Also I liked the Garmin GPS in my CR-V as I was very muck use to that model and it made sense. But, on the flip side I now have a GPS where I can pick out my destination on my phone and send it over to the car. Also, Android Auto seems to be working pretty darn well on my RDX now and I am getting use to some of its nice features. I guess after all these decades in the industry and all the different vehicles I have owned and used at work I just have a different outlook on my relationship to vehicles. I know I will never find perfection as it does not exist on this earth. I know to pick a vehicle with the features and attributes that are most important to me and to insure that if the vehicle does have any niggles that they are things that don't bother me. I looked at a lot of cars and found this RED RDX to be my best option. Oh, and it was the one car I looked at that the wife really loved (and she is usually bored with cars). She wishes Acura made a smaller SUV or something the size of her Fit so she could get all the Acura upgrades but the ILX was the smallest model they had.
1) My wife, a Honda Fit lover, sat in a RED ILX at the dealer one day... I find on my RDX, the RED one, that there are few things where I compromised....I looked at a lot of cars and found this RED RDX to be my best option.
RED. We're now fans of Red, at least on our A-Spec ILX there's something really cool about the Performance Red which caught our eye first thing. It doesn't seem like a typical Red like we've seen on a lot of cars. Seems these days car manufacturers have stepped up their Red Game several levels and we are impressed.
That's a bummer. I really appreciate having it kick in a long traffic lights.
I got quite a surprise one time when I combined brake hold with auto stop. When the auto stop stopped, the brake hold stopped holding and I jerked forward. Fortunately, I was right on it and did not end up testing automatic braking. If we even have that feature.
1) My wife, a Honda Fit lover, sat in a RED ILX at the dealer one day and I almost had to buy it for her on the spot! She loved that car. And yes, its an upgraded Civic, but that is not a bad thing.
2) As for JB, I feel for you, Brother. When I retired from the industry I no longer had that fleet of brand new free cars to chose from to drive. I had to buy my own car (and gas!) with my own money and it was a dark day. I was so spoiled! I never worried about being bored with a car or truck and knew that next week I would just get something different if I wanted.
But no car is perfect and all are compromises. What we have to do is find the car where we make the fewest compromises. I find on my RDX, the RED one, that there are few things where I compromised. Sure, I would love to get the fuel mileage of my former CR-V but that wasn't going to happen. I loved the bigger engine but needed to remember more power needs more fuel. Also I liked the Garmin GPS in my CR-V as I was very muck use to that model and it made sense. But, on the flip side I now have a GPS where I can pick out my destination on my phone and send it over to the car. Also, Android Auto seems to be working pretty darn well on my RDX now and I am getting use to some of its nice features. I guess after all these decades in the industry and all the different vehicles I have owned and used at work I just have a different outlook on my relationship to vehicles. I know I will never find perfection as it does not exist on this earth. I know to pick a vehicle with the features and attributes that are most important to me and to insure that if the vehicle does have any niggles that they are things that don't bother me. I looked at a lot of cars and found this RED RDX to be my best option. Oh, and it was the one car I looked at that the wife really loved (and she is usually bored with cars). She wishes Acura made a smaller SUV or something the size of her Fit so she could get all the Acura upgrades but the ILX was the smallest model they had.
Originally Posted by Vince D
RED. We're now fans of Red, at least on our A-Spec ILX there's something really cool about the Performance Red which caught our eye first thing. It doesn't seem like a typical Red like we've seen on a lot of cars. Seems these days car manufacturers have stepped up their Red Game several levels and we are impressed.
Red! You guys are killing me! ROFLMAO Now I AM SURE that you are all friends!
I really think that IF I saw a RED RDX every time I approached it, I would be happier! And get this, my wife has always said she doesn't like red cars, yet now she says white is so boring! I can't win!
Given that you have an Advance which has the noise suppressing windows, I'm surprised to hear about the road noise but also I think it may just be the tires. Last I looked on tirerack.com, the OEM tires that came with mine had fair noise ratings, i.e. not the best. So if it's really your only complaint, I would at least research if changing out the tires would help.
Yes it's definitely tire/road noise and it depends on the road surface on how bad the noise is. On some pavements the noise is low and very acceptable and on others the car just roars. We changed out the OEM tires for Michelin Premier LTX tires at 5000 miles hoping that would help but it made no difference. Perhaps a different tire would be quieter but I've kind of given up throwing money at it for now. Prior to changing the tires, I had sound deadening added to the doors and that didn't help either.
We have a stretch of freeway here where the noise is very bad and there is a Lexus dealer located quite near there. We're going to test drive a Lexus on that stretch of road just to compare, who knows, we may end up thinking the Lexus is just as loud or worse.
Yes it's definitely tire/road noise and it depends on the road surface on how bad the noise is. On some pavements the noise is low and very acceptable and on others the car just roars. We changed out the OEM tires for Michelin Premier LTX tires at 5000 miles hoping that would help but it made no difference. Perhaps a different tire would be quieter but I've kind of given up throwing money at it for now. Prior to changing the tires, I had sound deadening added to the doors and that didn't help either.
We have a stretch of freeway here where the noise is very bad and there is a Lexus dealer located quite near there. We're going to test drive a Lexus on that stretch of road just to compare, who knows, we may end up thinking the Lexus is just as loud or worse.
Lexus has worked to make their cars very quiet and smooth. I recall a time, long ago, when I was working at the Boston Region tech center at Toyota and we had a lady who complained of a rear end noise on her Cressida (the Lexus of its time and RWD). The guys rode in it and they actually had to get in the back seat and put their ear to the floor to hear that noise! Funny thing is they agreed with her that it was "too loud" and had a new rear end installed in it! Toyota developed this special steel for the floor pan of the Lexus that was multi layered. It had two sheets of steel with a layer of soft material bonded between them to dampen out road noise. They also had a front suspension that was isolated from the "frame" (unitized body actually) which did cut down on noise but also makes the car feel a little "loose". Oh, and those fluid filled engine mounts that worked like shock absorber started showing up back in the 1980's. These evolved to "smart" mounts now that are actually computer controlled. Anything to make this beast smoother and quieter even "counter-vibration"..VIBRATION CANCELING TECHNOLOGY
On a 2008 Lexus ES350, a more sophisticated setup is used to reduce NVH. On this application, “counter-vibration” is created within the active motor mount to help cancel engine vibrations. It’s sort of like noise-cancellation headphone technology, but instead of sound waves that are out of phase to reduce noise, the ACM system reduces the amplitude of engine vibrations via its active motor mount that generates its own counter vibrations.
The Lexus ACM system has its own separate computer (the Active Control Engine Mount ECU). Inputs from an acceleration sensor attached to the front motor monitors the amount of engine shake. The control unit then energizes the actuator inside the active mount to generate a counter shake that reduces the intensity of the vibration. The result is reduced engine vibration and booming that can be felt inside the vehicle when the engine is idling.
The ACM control unit also looks at other data inputs via the Controller Area Network (CAN) communications bus. These include engine load ratio, engine coolant temperature, transmission gear position, vehicle speed and even the outside air temperature. Why it needs all this info to help cancel engine shake is known only to the Lexus engineers who programmed the system, but with all of these inputs it can fine tune the dampening characteristics of the active motor mount as driving and operating conditions change.
Of course all of this tech adds complexity and cost.....you get what you pay for!
Visited a Honda dealer - studied CRV inside and out - loses in all aspects of RDH - lower class, smaller size, cheaper materials and their elaboration, not to mention the comfort of the seats, the class of the audio system, the quality of the headlights. Separately, it is worth noting the elasticity of the engine in terms of acceleration and overtaking. The last century - albeit economical and reliable - I think spare parts will not be much cheaper. would never change!
besides, do not forget how much the price of a car drops immediately after leaving the salon - you will not gain anything from such a deal
We test drove the RX350 yesterday and my wife and I both agreed it was quieter on the bad stretch of freeway. It was not night and day better by any means but it was enough to be noticeable. We think the ride might have been a little bit smoother over bumps and potholes but not enough to say for certain. One thing I noticed right away though was that there was wind noise coming from the drivers door or window, it was very noticeable. Another thing we noticed was that we could hear traffic noise from cars and trucks passing by. Our RDX has the acoustic windows and I had sound deadening added to the doors so maybe that's the difference because traffic noise is virtually non existent in our car.
We will still take a test drive in the Corsair or Nautilus someday but all in all, I came away impressed with how the RDX compared to the Lexus.
Visited a Honda dealer - studied CRV inside and out - loses in all aspects of RDH - lower class, smaller size, cheaper materials and their elaboration, not to mention the comfort of the seats, the class of the audio system, the quality of the headlights. Separately, it is worth noting the elasticity of the engine in terms of acceleration and overtaking. The last century - albeit economical and reliable - I think spare parts will not be much cheaper. would never change!
besides, do not forget how much the price of a car drops immediately after leaving the salon - you will not gain anything from such a deal
My 89 year old mom passed on suddenly this last Tuesday. Today, while taking an RDX car load of boxes full of items from her apartment to Goodwill, I was rear ended! I was stopped, and the estimated speed of impact was ~40 mph! I'm fine, so far. Car, not so much.
The other car was a complete total! I forgot to get pictures of it, as it was a sight to see.
I took a couple of quick pictures; I'll get more tomorrow. I think it is much worse than it looks, as the tailgate is cracked on the inside in more than a few places. The right muffler was pushed into the rear tire...
Maybe a decision to change cars has been made for me? UGH! What a week!
The vehicle that hit me was a 2020 Kia Forte. Comparing the video you posted, the Kia probably had a smaller frontal area, and seemed to hit my RDX at a lower point. Also a 40 mph impact would have significantly less force than a 50 mph impact. Thankfully! I wish I had taken a picture of the other car. Oh well. A good thing, and surprisingly, the other driver only seemed to have facial burns from the air bag...Also surprisingly, considering that there were no passengers in the Kia, both driver and passenger air bags activated. In fact, while I didn't study it, I noticed that the windshield of the Kia was broken on the passenger side, seemingly from an impact.
I hope you remain OK and don’t have any whiplash after-effects.
your car might be totaled, but if the insurance company wants it fixed, insist on Acura parts and diminished value. Be enough of a PITA that they will total it, otherwise your car’s carfax will make it hard to sell.
I hope you remain OK and don’t have any whiplash after-effects.
your car might be totaled, but if the insurance company wants it fixed, insist on Acura parts and diminished value. Be enough of a PITA that they will total it, otherwise your car’s carfax will make it hard to sell.
no way they will total it, the car is relatively new and they would have to pay a lot more to have it totaled vs repair.
Find good body shop that specializes in Honda/Acura, and they should do decent job. Good news its rear, and not front.
getting diminished value from insurance company? I do not know anyone who was successful, their contract probably stipulates that they only have to pay to restore vehicle to original condition. Unless of course he has special policy, but I doubt it.
no way they will total it, the car is relatively new and they would have to pay a lot more to have it totaled vs repair.
Find good body shop that specializes in Honda/Acura, and they should do decent job. Good news its rear, and not front.
getting diminished value from insurance company? I do not know anyone who was successful, their contract probably stipulates that they only have to pay to restore vehicle to original condition. Unless of course he has special policy, but I doubt it.
Yes, I also doubt it will be totaled...and regarding demised value...the thing is, it the OTHER party's insurance company that will be responsible, so who knows. I am aware of diminished value and will do everything I can to get it.
I very much enjoy this thread. Before buying a white/tan, FWD, RDX w/tech last month, my wife and I considered an X1/X3, XC40/XC60, NX300/RX350, GLC, Q3/Q5. Our last car was a 2010 Toyota RAV4 Limited V6 with 100,000 miles and all of those SUVs represented a huge upgrade. But none were perfect and all required compromises.
As someone who prefers a firm suspension, I immediately connected with the road manners of the RDX, even more so than the X3. The only seats I liked more were in the XC60. (The F-Sport’s seats were great too, but I did not want a black or red interior.) While the European cars felt a little more upscale inside, it was only by a very small margin. Given the likelihood my wife and I will keep this car for many years, I did not want the long term uncertainly of those European cars. (They are commonly leased for a reason.) For my wife and me, the decision to buy the RDX was easy.
My 89 year old mom passed on suddenly this last Tuesday. Today, while taking an RDX car load of boxes full of items from her apartment to Goodwill, I was rear ended! I was stopped, and the estimated speed of impact was ~40 mph! I'm fine, so far. Car, not so much. The other car was a complete total! I forgot to get pictures of it, as it was a sight to see. I took a couple of quick pictures; I'll get more tomorrow. I think it is much worse than it looks, as the tailgate is cracked on the inside in more than a few places. The right muffler was pushed into the rear tire...
Maybe a decision to change cars has been made for me? UGH! What a week!
Sorry to hear about your mom, JB and glad you came out of this unscathed. Side note: you may want to get checked out just in case. Back in 2004 I rolled one of my Honda's in the rain. Complete total. I was wearing a seatbelt so I came out fine, and chose to not go to the hospital. However, it wasn't until two years later I started having neck pain issues and still have to maintain it to this day.
Anyway, I have always been curious how the RDX would hold up under a rear collision being that the rear end and the tailgate is plastic; the video posted by fiatlux was fascinating to me. I thought for sure you would have had way more damage then it was. I hope it all works out for you and you're back in the driver's seat soon.
Sorry to hear about your mom, JB and glad you came out of this unscathed. Side note: you may want to get checked out just in case. Back in 2004 I rolled one of my Honda's in the rain. Complete total. I was wearing a seatbelt so I came out fine, and chose to not go to the hospital. However, it wasn't until two years later I started having neck pain issues and still have to maintain it to this day.
Anyway, I have always been curious how the RDX would hold up under a rear collision being that the rear end and the tailgate is plastic; the video posted by fiatlux was fascinating to me. I thought for sure you would have had way more damage then it was. I hope it all works out for you and you're back in the driver's seat soon.
As others have stated, I'm sorry to hear about your mother and relieved you were not hurt in the accident. If your photos show frame damage, it may be totaled. Sorry about that too. Although, some may argue that could be the lesser evil compared to having it repaired.
On the subject of how the RDX fared in that accident, here is some info off the IIHS website:
Of all the luxury mid-sized SUVS made, the RDX was the best. None have a better overall rating, not even the mighty Volvo XC90 or the Mercedes GLC/GLE.
Volvo's seats are awesome. I like the seats in the Model Y too. Aside from seat comfort, I'm very happy with the RDX. I don't use the infotainment for much beyond radio, nor do I use features like lane keep assist and lane departure warning. If I did, I probably wouldn't be as satisfied as I am with the car.
What's your estimate for the repair? I had a minor fender bender recently (probably 1-2 mph), and it cost $2500+ to fix it. I'm in CA, so that may have something to do with the cost of repair.
What's your estimate for the repair? I had a minor fender bender recently (probably 1-2 mph), and it cost $2500+ to fix it. I'm in CA, so that may have something to do with the cost of repair.
If you are asking me, I don't know yet. I hope to have an estimate in the next couple of days. I will post when I have an estimate.
Really hard to guess what the insurance company will say about this. They seem to have different feelings on different days. Seems it all centers on their latest cost cutting measures or how many times they have been sued. I watched them bound around on this many times over the years. I have seen times when if a car was worth say $30k and it could be repaired for $29.8K they would repair it to save $200. On the other hand, if they have to pay out "diminished value" as part of the settlement their decision may go another way. One thing is for certain, its very rare for any insurance company to make the "best offer" first. Most will try to get by as cheaply as possible. In this case the other driver clearly was at fault as they rammed the back end of your car. In a "diminished value" claim this works in your favor. My experience has been you have to work a bit to get properly compensated for your loss.
What's your estimate for the repair? I had a minor fender bender recently (probably 1-2 mph), and it cost $2500+ to fix it. I'm in CA, so that may have something to do with the cost of repair.
6k - 8k. My rough estimate.
Reason Its not a write off cause this car is still new and the airbags didn't go off.
The vehicle that hit me was a 2020 Kia Forte. Comparing the video you posted, the Kia probably had a smaller frontal area, and seemed to hit my RDX at a lower point. Also a 40 mph impact would have significantly less force than a 50 mph impact. Thankfully! I wish I had taken a picture of the other car. Oh well. A good thing, and surprisingly, the other driver only seemed to have facial burns from the air bag...Also surprisingly, considering that there were no passengers in the Kia, both driver and passenger air bags activated. In fact, while I didn't study it, I noticed that the windshield of the Kia was broken on the passenger side, seemingly from an impact.
Thanks for posting that video.
Condolences to you and your family for your mom, and glad you're ok after the accident.
+1 on the impact the 40MPH impact has only 0.64 the amount of energy of a 50MPH impact.
Good luck with the repairs, if you can get to see and take photo's once the bumper cover is removed to see how the rear unibody fared. I suspect the bumper beam absorbed alot of the energy but look at the areas around the opening of the hatch and see if there is any distortion in the chassis relative to the hatch.
My 2019 Tech was rear-ended when it was only 10 days old. The new tailgate, bumper, and exhaust repairs came to just under $7,000.
I used a Honda/Acura Pro First body shop and the repairs were immaculate.
I asked my insurance company to subrogate the other insurance company for diminished value but, nothing ever came of it.
Fast forward to November 2020 and my $30,000 trade-in value was reduced to $27,300 based on Carfax despite the repairs being undetectable.
Best of luck getting any compensation for diminished value. Insurance companies control us. All we do is pay them.
Does anyone here have any suggestions for me in contacting the Mexican insurance company (that supposedly insures the driver who hit me) called Sura? I have tried several numbers I found on their website, with limited success. I did finally talk to someone today, after asking a Spanish speaking person to transfer me to someone who speaks English.. This English speaking person gave me a US phone number to call...It has been disconnected!
If a US Citizen was involved in an accident like this in Mexico, they would be in jail.
My insurance company (Geico) said if it was an American insurance company, they would be contacting them for me, but because it is an international company ,it is up to me . This doesn't sit well with me, and just seems wrong.
Does anyone here have any suggestions for me in contacting the Mexican insurance company (that supposedly insures the driver who hit me) called Sura? I have tried several numbers I found on their website, with limited success. I did finally talk to someone today, after asking a Spanish speaking person to transfer me to someone who speaks English.. This English speaking person gave me a US phone number to call...It has been disconnected!
If a US Citizen was involved in an accident like this in Mexico, they would be in jail.
My insurance company (Geico) said if it was an American insurance company, they would be contacting them for me, but because it is an international company ,it is up to me . This doesn't sit well with me, and just seems wrong.
This is so hard.
This is not a good first impression. Sorry JB. I hope this works out.
03-31-2021, 07:00 PM
RED. We're now fans of Red, at least on our A-Spec ILX there's something really cool about the Performance Red which caught our eye first thing. It doesn't seem like a typical Red like we've seen on a lot of cars. Seems these days car manufacturers have stepped up their Red Game several levels and we are impressed.
Now I AM SURE that you are all friends! 
