I planned on getting the Advanced Trim over the Tech Trim, but I'm not seeing $5,000 worth of value here, especially living in Los Angeles. Active dampers, HUD, and ELS 3D are cool features though.

Thoughts?

 

To me the dampers should improve the ride then to me HUD and Hands free tailgate as well as 360 camera are worth it. I loved 360 camera in my Audi and we routinely walk up to RDX with hands full of groceries.

 

If I were buying this car it is the trim I would get. Some of these features are more desirable than others, but overall that is the RDX I'd want. I spend many hours sitting on the 405, while the dampers may not be of help to me, the ELS and ventilated seats would come in handy. I think Acura should have included Remote Start as standard on the Advance. Advance trims would usually get the biggest discounts, but this car is not going to be discounted for a while.

 

I'm going for the Advance. The dampers system, the stereo, head-up display, ventilated seats, heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, surround view, acoustic front glass. It may not be worth $5K, but dammit I want it!

BTW, remote start comes on the Advance Package per the Acura website. I was glad to see that, because it's reputed absence was annoying me. Remote start came on our Civic and CR-V so I certainly expected it on an Acura. I am surprised it's not part of the Tech Package, Remote start is pretty techy, no?

 

 

True. The A-Spec is really sharp. Unfortunate you cannot get Tech/A-Spec or Advanced/A-Spec.

 

I was going to go for the Advance, but ended up going for the A-Spec once I was sure that the stereo was the same and that it had front and back sensors. The black trim looks so much better than the chrome, and the wheels on the Advance look like crap (to me). I can do without the HUD, as it looked very odd and I am not sure i would like it anyway, and the rear seat heaters? Who cares. I could always add the rear hands free lift gate if I wanted to.

To me, the look of the car and wheels, plus the $2K difference in price, made it a no brainer. I also think that the A-SPEC's will retain more resale value going forward.

 

Acura's website indicates that the A-Spec package includes the Tech package items. So you can get a Tech/A-Spec.

 

 

Didn't know that but it's no big deal.Thanks, tho, for the info!

 

Correct. It's Tech plus either A-Spec or Advanced.

 

I went to the dealership today and got to take a deeper look at the 360 camera, and I came away very unimpressed. Acura still hasn't improved the quality or resolution of the backup camera, and even on the large screen it looks mediocre compared to Lexus.

The key Advanced features that I like are the auto dimming mirrors, heated steering wheel and rear seats, and adaptive dampers. Maybe the hands free lift gate. But is that worth the few extra thousand from the tech? Probably not. The A-Spec seems to fit quite nicely in the middle.

 

I'm going Advanced unless the lease payment ends up too high, if it does I'd "settle" for A-SPEC. To me the biggest reason for going Advanced is the 16 way adjustable seat and other ride luxuries.

 

I concur; these seats are extremely adjustable and comfortable. The side bolsters can be deployed to behave like aggressive sport buckets, and the ventilation works wonders.

The stock Advance wheels are the biggest disappointment, in my opinion. The Tech package wheels are better, as are the A-Spec, obviously. Once Tire Rack has measured the RDX, I plan to order 20" wheels with proper summer tires, keeping the 19's for winter duty.

 

 

Indeed. The antidote to "I wish I could have the trip and wheels from the A-Spec but the heated wheels and seats from the Advance" complaints is to unbundle everything, ie the Porsche model, and then everyone complains about how expensive the cars are and drive themselves crazy wondering if they need leather-covered air vents.

Life is short. Less time on regrets, more time driving.

 

Amen to that!

 

When I bought my TL in 2005, one of things that drew me to Acura is that pretty much everything was standard and there was only a tech package available. So going to a dealer and finding exactly what I wanted was very easy and helped with negotiating as the exact car I wanted was already on the lot. Looking at other brands, most options are kept separate so you have so many different combos that finding exactly what you want on a dealer lot becomes impossible.

If I go RDX later this year it will have to be an Advance. I definitely want the ventilated seats and 360 camera. Having had those in one of my loaners in the past made them a must have for me. I don't care about the wood or the chrome. I don't like the wheels but after spending $50K, I probably won't hate them enough to spend another $2-3K to replace them. I would probably wait until the tires needed to be replaced, then buy some rims with the tires I do want from Tirerack. My money will probably go lot further there than at a dealer anyways.

I drive my cars about 10-15 years at a time so the main negative for me with the Advance is with more tech there will be more things that can break or malfunction over time requiring more $$ to fix or replace. Replacement dampers or HUD probably won't be cheap.

 

 

Good question...active dampers are the feature I'm more interested in on the Advanced.

 

What I can't understand is why I need to pay $2,000 more than the A-Spec to get a worse looking car (chrome and wheels) with active dampers, HUD, and upgraded seats and sound system.

 

Actually it's the same sound system between the A-SPEC and Advanced

 

My BMW 340 (with M-Sports package) has the sport seats with (manually-)extendable thigh supports, which go nearly to my knees. They are supremely comfortable, though I might give the edge to the 16-way seats in the RDX Advance. The thigh supports work differently (articulate up and out, rather than just extending), and don't extend as far. But it's still welcome, and the side bolsters hold your torso in place extremely well. The A-Spec seats were very nice as well, and offered the contrasting textures (leather and micro-fiber inserts), but I like the Advance seats better. Of course, your shape and size and preferences might be different, so I suggest sitting in both and making your own call.

I drove the A-Spec and purchased the Advance, although I didn't drive them back-to-back so it's tough to make a call about the adjustable dampers. I will say, though, that they seem to hold a firm overall posture for the Advance model, yet still soak up mid-corner bumps and ruts very well.

 

You're right - one less reason to get the Advanced.

 

You can't get Silver and Ebony in an Advanced Trim only Espresso or Graystone.

Not a deal breaker, but I'll have to see what Espresso looks like.

 

The decision to limit the Ebony interior to only the Black and White Pearl and Steel and Gunmetal Metallic exteriors seems like baffling choice to me.

 

Really? Is that confirmed? I was thinking between A-spec + the handsfree accessory or Elite Platium trim.....

 

 

Yea for me it's A-spec or Elite Platinum. But wife wants the surround view cam and handsfree tailgate, and I like HUD and adaptive dampers. So it seems like we will be getting the Elite Platinum. Can't wait to test drive one! Hoping to convince my wife to consider Espresso interior....as she seems to be dead set on parchment.....which I'm kinda getting sick of it now (both my 2G TL-S and current 1g RDX have tan interior...).

 

I'm a big fan of the Advance - but the woven wheels are a not attractive to me at all - to the point where I might go with A-Spec.

 

They are that bad to me as well.

 

Good comparison. I would love ventilated seats. I do not see the $5000 in value (to me).

Tech is a sweet spot (for me) and I will get some kind of ventilating cushion. If you have $5000 to burn then do so. we have freedom to do so.

In fact the base model is easily out done by the Tech. For $3000: Great smelling leather, RCTA, BSW, rear USB, NAV, cute wheels, ELS basic all seems worth it.

Plus not a fan of the real wood in this application for some reason.

 

remote start yes since standard on most CRV, Accord and Civics.

 

I think the Tech is the best value, but A-Spec is the trim I most likely would get. Advanced is nice but a bit overpriced IMO
Now I am talking about if I bought the car brand new. However fast forward 8-12 months depending on what market you live in I would target a Advanced CPO which probably would see -$2K-3K off MSRP sticker price

 

Ventilated seats are on the A-Spec. The Tech is a great value IMO, but it's worth $3k more to me for the better appearance of the A-Spec, better seats (heated/ventilated/stitching), and 3D sound (although I question how much better it is than 12 speakers on the Tech).

 

The two dealers that I visited only had Tech and A-Spec; no base or Advance so I didn't have the opportunity to sit in the enhanced seats or hear the ELS 3D system nor to check out the adaptive dampers or extra sound insulation.

I can say that the 12 speaker ELS system in the Tech sounds excellent; better than the 10 speaker ELS in my TLX.
The seats are very comfortable for me as well.
I actually prefer the brushed aluminum trim in the Tech to the dark aluminum in the A-Spec and to the pictures of the wood trim in the Advance.
The wood probably comes across better 'in the flesh' than in pix.
My wheels are more attractive than the Advance wheels. They're a 19" version of the 18s I had on my TLX and always liked.

The only vehicle I've ever driven with HUD is a 2018 Mazda CX-5. I can't say I'm a big fan. It's distracting to me.

I would like to have all the features of the Advance except the HUD and wheels.

I did a cash deal and just don't have another $5K to spare

 

 

 

 

I would normally get the Platinum (Canadian model), but the ASpec exterior is what I like with all the blacked out chrome and those black mags are amazing looking. What I am not sure about is the interior suede inserts. I don't care for that look or the possible wear to them. I would only go for the straight black seats as opposed to the other colours with the 2 different chair/insert colours.

Guess when they get them in, I will look at them. I am not in the market until next year anyway.