When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
After much considerations (reading up on all the good, bad and weird), while brainstorming between waiting on 2020 MY of RDX or something else, decided to go with latter, the 2019 X3 M40i, for obviously more money, by about $5,000 (comparing my 2019 RDX build sheet shown below, which came even after Costco Auto discount, at ~$52,000 purchase price (before all other ancillary charges). The similarly equipped (and slightly more) 2019 X3 M40i i bought at $57,000 purchase price (before all other same ancillary charges). 2019 X3 seem about as roomy in second row as RDX. But then again, to each their own i guess.
Wait a minute......didn't your advance model already come from the factory with remote start and welcome light??
All cars have issues, I normally try and avoid first year of anything or at least the first 6 months or so of any new model run. So far my Advance AWD has been very good. Hoping with more miles mileage will get better. I have V6 power, V6 fuel economy and 4 cyl noise. Sort of a lose, lose, lose option. On the plus side in the mountains the turbo motor loses less power than the NA motors. Always have the option for a tune to get significantly more power but at the risk of possibly voiding the warranty.
Took a 5 hour drive and the front seats were great, AC worked much better than the MDX I looked at and wind noise was very good in the cabin. Adaptive cruise worked pretty well and actually had a chance to use the collision warning for real when some idiot pulled from the side of the road in heavy rain with his lights off right onto the highway while we are going 40 mph. His car was pretty much invisible.
I drove all the competitors from outside Honda and shopped up and down the Honda/Acura range. I don't need more than 4 seats and a CRV is pretty slow. So it was down to the Passport or RDX and I thought the RDX was more fun to drive and my wife liked its interior better. So far 1k miles on our 2020 and very happy with it.
FYI - we are 22.5 mpg overall. That includes a lot of idling and city driving. On the highway at 70 mph we got 28.5. At 80 mph we are at 24.5 mpg. Just for science I kept it at 65 mph and we got 33 mpg. I tried premium and regular unleaded and I can't see any difference in mileage or performance so far.
We have been down this road before. And have heard it all from both sides. "All cars have issues"
"Only people with problems posts on forums"
"Plenty of happy owners out there that you don't hear from"
"More tech, more issues"
Well, new cars issues are usually related to manufacturing and assembly woes, the Tesla model 3 is the prime example of that. Some have issues that were recalled (Subaru) but those are usually defects that may show up long term or in certain conditions.
Acura RDX however has issues that are down right dangerous and mechanical defects that can't seem to be permanently fixed. These are huge red flags.
What's worse is Acura's seemly uncaring attitude or refusal to admit these problems. The two major ones are the limp mode and jerk shifting in lower gears.
Ya, not every RDX has these issues but why roll the dice with your 45k?
There's something peculiar about this car that makes me angry at its flaws. I've bought other new cars in the past, and was mostly able to ignore their problems. I just accepted them as facts of life and moved on. But with the RDX, i tend to dwell on its faults for some reason. I think it's because it's otherwise such a good car, that its flaws stand out more.
I wonder if other owners feel the same.
But whatever the reason, i do share the other posters' disappointments. However, if i step back and look at it objectively, this is an overall great car.
There's something peculiar about this car that makes me angry at its flaws. I've bought other new cars in the past, and was mostly able to ignore their problems. I just accepted them as facts of life and moved on. But with the RDX, i tend to dwell on its faults for some reason. I think it's because it's otherwise such a good car, that its flaws stand out more.
I wonder if other owners feel the same.
But whatever the reason, i do share the other posters' disappointments. However, if i step back and look at it objectively, this is an overall great car.
Yes! I am with you! This is why I am here on this forum! Acura did an amazing job with the new RDX but execution felt short. They will not take over any of their preceived competition unless they can come out on top on reliability.
Did you get the brake TSB software update applied? Big improvement for me after that.
Nope, looks like we need need to bring it in. When did they release that update? I also suspect the brakes will just suck less as even when leaning I to them they just lack confidence.
Nope, looks like we need need to bring it in. When did they release that update? I also suspect the brakes will just suck less as even when leaning I to them they just lack confidence.
Having trouble parsing your last sentence, but the TSB is here: http://www.urvi.net/forumfiles/SB/B19-022.PDF
This is date 07/19 and it supercedes one dated 05/19. But you have to ask for it to be applied (by complaining about soft brake pedal).
I bought my car the 1st of the month from the dealer. There was only 4 miles on the car, and it was shipped from factory just last month. I don't have any of these issues (except back up camera is a little on the low quality side).
I only had car for less then a week. But, no brake issues, and interior cabin is dead quiet except for my music bumped up.
I bought the 2020 FWD Tech. Only issue is that I prefer Comfort mode over Sport mode. I feel the Sport mode need better tuning with the transmission transition. But, that's more preference then issue.
I text drove the Lexus UX and ended up getting the RDX. I wanted to test drive the NX300 also but the Lexus dealership was rude. The salesman asked if I was serious to buy or not in rather passive aggressive tone. So I didn't even bother to look at the NX300.
No regrets here. Though I worry a lot about the turbo. It's fun, but naturally aspirated V6 sounds much more reliable to me. I was tempted to get a CPO 2017 RDX Advance package for 26k. But, the "soon to be released" android auto persuaded me to get the new RDX.
I bought my car the 1st of the month from the dealer. There was only 4 miles on the car, and it was shipped from factory just last month. I don't have any of these issues (except back up camera is a little on the low quality side).
I only had car for less then a week. But, no brake issues, and interior cabin is dead quiet except for my music bumped up.
I bought the 2020 FWD Tech. Only issue is that I prefer Comfort mode over Sport mode. I feel the Sport mode need better tuning with the transmission transition. But, that's more preference then issue.
I text drove the Lexus UX and ended up getting the RDX. I wanted to test drive the NX300 also but the Lexus dealership was rude. The salesman asked if I was serious to buy or not in rather passive aggressive tone. So I didn't even bother to look at the NX300.
No regrets here. Though I worry a lot about the turbo. It's fun, but naturally aspirated V6 sounds much more reliable to me. I was tempted to get a CPO 2017 RDX Advance package for 26k. But, the "soon to be released" android auto persuaded me to get the new RDX.
Don't worry about the turbo. Honda makes an excellent turbo! I'm at 267K miles on mine!
I've got a 2020, doesn't seem to exhibit the issues that some people have with the 2019's. As for the RDX vs MDX, Acura sells a LOT more RDXs than the MDXs so not unlikely to have more people complaining based on shear numbers.
I deliberately skipped on the MDX because of the crappy design of the infotainment system. It really needs to be refreshed and after a bunch of test drives I realized it would drive me crazy if I bought it.
I am so glad I bought the RDX over the MDX. It is far more fun to drive. Less road noise, more comfy seats, better air conditioning, pano sunroof, better lights and more. Also the safety aids seem to work more reliably/consistently such as the adaptive cruise controls and collision warning. Sadly thought the bottom basement Toyota Corolla we have for a rental car has better adaptive cruise control than on my Acura.
So far I'd buy the RDX again if something happened to it. I am glad I went with the Advance package. I use the heads up display, 360 camera view and adaptive suspension a lot more than I thought I would. The main reason I went with it originally as I absolutely wanted the cooled seats and that was the only way to get them.
Things that have impressed since buying it is the sound system is excellent. Motor is pretty peppy. The harder you push the SH-AWD the better it works. Took a long trip and the front seats were awesome. I really like pano sunroof.
My main gripes so far are no auto folding mirrors (available on Canadian cars) and no remote start (other than using app which isn't as reliable as from a handheld remote).
Did you get the brake TSB software update applied? Big improvement for me after that.
Finally got the TSB, noticeably better, but wife still feels it could be better. At least it does not feel unsafe any more. Darn dealer said it did not apply to her car,I had to pull up the TSB and prove to them it did. They finally installed it. Funny how the only TSB they showed her RDX needed was the clock one, I asked them how is a clock fix a priority or even flagged over a brake fix? They could not explain how they did not show it in their system.
I am at a point now where I would say I would not recommend it any more. Although there is plenty to like about it, and I enjoy driving it, my problems with the infotainment system (Apple Car Play) are growing. Updated to 13.0, yada-yada-yada...but the it disconnects, reconnects, disconnects, reconnects and so on. Songs skip, songs stop playing, it's just ridiculous. These problems are getting far worse. Today I just finally disconnected my phone and played FM radio. I don't begrudge this car, or any car, for having issues, particularly as a new model (now about 15 months ago it was a new model though), but the issue here is Honda /Acura. All I see this company as now is a bunch of over-paid fat-cats completely out of touch with the cars they build. The infotainment system sucks, it has ongoing, serious issues, but the people running this company are far worse. Are there more Honda/Acura's in my future...no.
Wow, sorry to hear about all your problems with the infotainment. So far that has been the least amount of problems/concerns with my 2020. I do feel your pain with Apple Car Play but on a rental car we have. All the issues you are exhbiting with your RDX we are having with the rental car (non Hondacura). Since renting it, I've updated to IOS 13 and no better with it. Similar issues with son's phone and it is on IOS11 still.
I wonder in your situation, how much is really Acura's issue and what responsibility, if any, Apple has? What phone are you using?
Wow, sorry to hear about all your problems with the infotainment. So far that has been the least amount of problems/concerns with my 2020. I do feel your pain with Apple Car Play but on a rental car we have. All the issues you are exhbiting with your RDX we are having with the rental car (non Hondacura). Since renting it, I've updated to IOS 13 and no better with it. Similar issues with son's phone and it is on IOS11 still.
I wonder in your situation, how much is really Acura's issue and what responsibility, if any, Apple has? What phone are you using?
"I wonder in your situation, how much is really Acura's issue and what responsibility, if any, Apple has? What phone are you using?"
It's a 6S Plus, so not the newest of course, but still updates to the newest software. But, it's just streaming music and nav apps, the same music I stream to my Sonos (wi-fi), my Yamaha AVR's (bluetooth or Apple Air Play, depending), my bluetooth headphones and to my LR3, but in that case via the headphone jack. And in none of those cases is there ever one issue, so I guess it would be hard for me to imagine how Apple would have any responsibility for this. I've used different Apple cables and an Anker cable. Just over one year and I have only put 2700 miles or so on the car, so I have not been in it a lot....had I have had more time in it I am sure these Car Play issues would just be more frequent. Again, I don't expect a car to be problem free when new, but I do expect the company that makes it to step and resolve issues. From my experience as well as others posting here, this infotainment issue, which is in it's 15th or so month, is an issue that you now have to assume Honda/Acura has zero interest in addressing or resolving.
I have a Kia Soul at the moment. I am using iPhone XS. Now with IOS 13. Bluetooth works great but Car Play not so well.
In my RDX it has been much better. For the few times I've used BT rather Car Play it has been flawless as well.
How does BT on its own work for you? I love the functionality of Car Play but trying to determine if any other things at work here. My son's phone is a 7+. It has issues with the Kia (more than I do) but BT works fine all the time.
Other than one glitch in RDX Car Play has been rock solid. I wonder if any significant hardware changes between 2019 and 2020 that aren't being talked about.
With all of the problems that the German's have, they can all do CarPlay without issues and many (at least VW/Audi) can do Android Auto AND CarPlay without issues.
09-03-2019, 07:57 PM
