What to make of CR’s Acura Reliability Rating?

I just ordered a 2020 Acura RDX (advanced package). Then, CR releases its latest brand reliability rating, placing Acura near the bottom as a brand.

I’m confused by the ranking. When I drill down to the specific, see attached screen shots, the only area that had poor reliability was the infotainment system, which I understand has been corrected. So, my interpretation is that for those areas that matter most, mechanical, the car is superior but the infotainment system dragged the ratings down. Assuming that by in large the infotainment system’s reliability has improved significantly with the latest software update, then I would think that CR’s ranking does not accurately reflect the vehicle’s actual reliability.

That said, I am very aware of the danger of confirmation bias—meaning that those of us who own or have ordered one (me) want to have our decision affirmed.

What you are your thoughts?

 

Mechanically the car is probably fine (sans the limp mode issue that Honda has been having in the 2.0T Accord too). I'd be a little concerned with the 10AT given that Honda has had an uneven reputation with automatic transmissions, and this is their very first AT with planetary gears. Until people start hitting around 100K miles (or they start grenading) it's too early to make any conclusions on that. My main concern would be with the build quality (panel gaps, inconsistency, etc.), the electronics (I've had issues with Acura keyless entry and the backup camera), and the annoyance of dealing with Acura to get these things addressed under warranty. It's almost like they to have the mindset of "Well, it doesn't affect the way the car drives, so it's not really a problem" that so many apologists here seem to have. Even for drivability related issues (check out the SHAWD vibration complaints on the TLX sub-forum) they'll heem and haw over fixing it.

 

Well, that gives me pause. I’ve ordered a new 2020 RDX but only put $500 down so I’m not obligated to buy yet. I thought after 8 months of searching I’d found a car I’d be confident in regarding reliability. I had been considering the Subaru Outback—which I don’t like as well overall—but it much higher rated for reliability. Originally I was holding out for the 2020 Highlander (due in dealerships in January) but I don’t really need a 3 row SUV at this time.

 

PS, I’m not familiar with the “Limp mode” issue. What is that?

 

If I had seen that report before buying my RDX I certainly would have been concerned. And if you listen to some of the most outspoken members here, the problems do line up with the CR report; infotainment problems seem to have been widespread and serious (enough to require dealer visit or significant intervention by owner) and Acura took far too long to address them. Brakes are sensitive, and take some time to get used to. People report body creaks/rattles.

I personally have only experienced one infotainment glitch, which was not serious. I have no body problems. Brakes can be grabby but it just takes some getting used to. I've got less than a thousand miles on mine, and it's a 2020 which I bought specifically because I wanted to give Acura time to work out production issues.

 

I tried relying on CR for household items and appliances and electronics, and was never happy with their recommendations. I particularly dislike their car reviews. Get what your comfortable with. I drove the RDX and picked it over competitors.

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-rdx-...9-spec-971802/
https://www.driveaccord.net/threads/...p-mode.502130/

 

I'd expect the Outback to be less mechanically reliable than the RDX due to the turbo boxer engine (Subaru has had oil consumption issues with these in the past) and the CVT transmission. That said, at least they're all built in Japan, and I have confidence that Subaru will resolve issues and honor the warranty should problems arise. I've owned 4 Honda and Acura products over the years, and I can't say I have the same confidence in Honda/Acura to do the same.

 

2020 here with no major issues. The whiners are few and loud who were warned about buying the first model year of a major redesign.

The CR list should be taken with a grain of salt. The RDX is too new to critique its future reliability. Do you honestly think german or american cars all of a sudden are more reliable based on a magazine every changing yearly rankings?

You should be basing your decision on a company 30 year history/reputation. Thats why Toyota/Honda continuously get recommended by word of mouth which holds more weight than a magazine.

 

I’ve said it before and I know some disagree but I don’t think infotainment issues should weigh a score like mechanical issues can. I’ve had plenty of CarPlay issues (not since the latest update) but in several road trips in the car I’ve never worried about getting to my destination safely and reliably.

 

If people were going to read CR and buy cars, today MB, BMW and Audi would have gone out of business. If these guys have so much influence over people's behavior, then the QX50 would have outsold GLC, Q5, X3 and RDX.

CR is good to review stoves and fridges and not cars.

 

This is like 2015 all over again:

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-mdx-...s-list-937701/

 

"predicted reliability based on surveys"

Odd they give that rating when "owner reported trouble spots" has "no data available" on that same page. If they're linking this to limp mode I would imagine that should be an explicit note of concern.

 

Seems fair enough but no longer true. There were big infotainment issues for pretty much the entire 2019 release year that were just recently fixed with an OTA update. I think it was accurate, but the fact that Acura has come out with a large update recently and will likely continue to push out updates, it's not accurate anymore.

 

My 2019 Advance has been literally trouble free with the xcpetion of the occasion infotainment quirk, which has now been rectified it appears. I saw one owner survey a while back that showed 84% of 2019 RDX owners would purchase it again. That came from a different pool of owners than are on this site. But it was knowing the infotainment hassles. The car has many attributes. I'm thrilled with this car.

 

If all you want is the most reliable car, buy toyota/lexus.
they are boring to drive, but get best consumer reviews!!
10sp was in 2018 accord, 2 years and no major issues is a good sign.

 

Has there been report of limp mode in 2020?
limp mode does not seem to be a wide issue either.

 

I personally have had no issues with my car including the infotainment system. While l I think the transmission is kind of quirky, it really has not been problematic to date and on all the car is a joy to own and drive.

I really like the brakes on the RDX, they're halfway between my old Toyota Camrys which are soft and spongy and my wife's 2016 ILX which are super touchy.

 

There must be an awful lot of "whiners" to be trashing the ratings on CR and JD Power, amongst others.

Perhaps it's the loud apologists who should be ignored.

Trends should not be ignored. And having owned about a dozen Honda/Acura products over a few decades, I'm not very happy about the trend I'm detecting.

Toyota/Lexus appears to be a very different case. Why would anyone lump them together?

To be clear, I don't plan to dump my 2019 RDX and overall it suits my needs, but Acura needs to up their game and stop coasting on reputation.

 

Toyota and lexus suvs are so boring to drive!!! Dont care how reliable they are

 

I lump them together because the common recommendation in the industry says buy either toyota or Honda. That motto has been goin strong for the past 20 years and I dont see it changing cause of one model that's only been out for a year and which looks to be resolved (knock on wood)

 

It's not just one model. The MDX hasn't exactly been a darling either.

 

Nor has the TLX....oh that's 3 out of 5 models.......well technically 4 since almost nobody can afford a NSX.

 

Which is exactly why I went with another Acura.

And because I don't have a bag big enough for the face of the current Lexus. But she's a nice cushy ride, if that's your preference.

 

Lexus NX, really? I would not even consider it.

 

No, probably more like RX, but I didn't really consider it.

And I wouldn't let myself test drive an Audi either. Traditionally I buy and hold, and those seem to be more lease friendly. But automotive tech is changing so rapidly that I'm not sure historical trends are relevant, for better or worse.

I might even consider a Jeep again ( after about an 18 year recovery from the last one... ).

 

I've rented a Hyundai Elantra. It had Apple Carplay. I could tell you right now compared to my Acura, the infotainment system on the Hyundai Elantra is much more stable, snappier, and changing music is much faster using the steering wheel controls. It also doesn't take 10 seconds to load up like the Acura.

While my RDX infotainment system has really only crashed once or twice in the last 6 months of ownership, it sure is much laggier compared to the competition.

 

Yeah, but some people dont care about infoteinment.
and according to CR I should buy NX lexus, no thank you, its not comparable to RDX

 

I also struggled with these rankings - I bought an RDX Advance a few weeks ago. I was looking at Hyundai Santa Fe, Buick Envision, Lexus RX350, Audi Q5, and a couple others on my short list. I agonized over the rankings for reliability of Acura the brand. Hyundai ranked way higher, I think 6th? But anecdotally all I heard was nightmares about the warranty process and breakdowns and engine issues. I damn near bought a Santa Fe, and if it had driven just a little better I'd probably have one in my garage now. As it was, the RDX was noticeably nicer to drive. And anecdotally, everyone I talked to and forums I read indicated that overall they were very well built cars and lots of praise for the engine and transmission. It was about $10k more but I went with the "safer" bet that was a little more, without being as ridiculously expensive to own and maintain as some other brands.

My thoughts on Subaru for anyone reading who has Outback on their short list... Make SURE you go for a long test drive including highway speeds. I'm not saying Outbacks are bad cars but they have a fatal flaw that to me means I would not trust it to drive my family around in. I'll start off by saying that I love Subaru and have a soft place in my heart for them.. I owned two Subarus for a combined total of 2 years and during that time they were rock solid cars. I travel occasionally for work and I'll drive a rental if the drive time is < 5 hours vs flying. Recently I got a chance to drive a brand new (<10 miles on the odometer) Outback as a rental car from National. I'll also temper this by saying I am a careful driver and do not expect racing performance out of cars. That 2019 Outback was one of the slowest new cars I have ever driven... to include a Hyundai Accent and a Ford EcoSport that I've had as rentals also. I thought maybe I just had to get used to the CVT, and I already know what to expect when driving one which is why I don't own one. I've driven them at length. Anyway, the Outback is alarmingly slow to get up to speed. As in, so slow off the mark that if you had to get out of an intersection in a hurry I daresay you wouldn't make it. The last straw for me was when I had to turn right onto a 2 lane highway from a stop. Traffic was fairly heavy and so I needed to get up to speed in a reasonable time frame. After several seconds I realized I wasn't going anywhere in a hurry and in desperation I mashed the accelerator to the floor for an agonizingly long climb to 60 mph. In disbelief I tried it again at another opportunity to do it again, this time doing a full 0-60 run at full throttle. I made it to 11-mississippi before hitting 60. I don't know what the deal is with these cars. I'm no fan of the Jatco CVT they use (also in Nissan and others). It's just nothing like the Subaru's I owned before which felt reasonably peppy.

 

Hyundai and Kia have the best infotainment setup in the industry. Even the 10 year old models with like 4 generations old headunits still work very very well. The next closest (or on par) brand would be FCA with Uconnect.

 

I can't edit my post. Should have said 12 years. 2 years combined would be silly.

 

I quite enjoyed my 2016 OB with the smaller engine....it was peppy enough.....part of going a new car route this past yr, was getting the 3.6r OB.....people on various forums made it sound like a speed demon....Once I test drove it a few times, I was pretty disappointed.....and the heated steering wheel was only at the 10 and 2 positions. Guess that was last yr at this time, and the 2020 had not come out yet with the new engines.

 

The regular Outback is exceedingly slow, but I'm not sure who is cross-shopping a regular Outback with an RDX, considering that the XT model is what the RDX would stack up against.

 

I would be less hesitant to buy a new RDX now than when I did a year ago, but I continue to be impressed by Mazda's CX-5 as a CR-V competitor and the CX-9 as a Passport competitor. All of Mazda's current models are built in Japan, although they're going to start building crossovers in Alabama in 2021 at a new factory being built with Toyota.

There's no question Uconnect is one of the benchmarks for how infotainment systems should work and has been for several years. That's good, though, because you'll need something to keep you entertained while you're waiting on roadside assistance to dispatch a tow truck when the engine dies.

 

Lmao 100% true. You can read the manual and play with the different buttons while the tow truck arrives 😂😂

 

Speaking of building in Japan vs US, this is no longer significant. Decades ago there was a belief that Japan can build things better, but nowadays its all done by robots and there is not much difference, so it really means nothing

 

Not sure if Korean cars being compared to Acura is a testament to Korean Car Industry innovation or start of Acura's decline.

 

That's not entirely true. Quality control is still done by humans, and frankly the attention to detail in Japan is much higher than the US (and even moreso compared to Mexico). The fit and finish on the new Mexican made Fits is laughable compared to the older Fits that were built in Japan.

 

There is much more automation now than in 1990s, human error is minimized. I think its an old tale that american workers are lazy, and japan is perfect. The problems are mostly in design, assembly issues
are not common.

 

Also, people in Japan take pride in their work. They have a very selfless outlook on life and are raised to be part of the community rather than of themselves. Meanwhile, you have the fat American with a high school education fuming that he should be making 6-figures because his union rep told him so and he can't put two matching fucking plastic pieces together properly.