After owning 2 Lexi, my parents are wanting to switch to Acura & are trying to decide between a 2014 RLX & MDX. I tried to convince them to get the Top-of-the-Line Advance Package just-cause but they are more interested in the Navi Package because they want a white exterior with black interior (Advance only has the tan interior which is a big no-no), they want the simpler rims for ease of cleaning and they do not like interior wood trim.

Side note: as she was looking at the pictures she commented on how she does not like how luxury cars, including her 2 Lexi, have the fake looking wood. Yes, even tho the wood is real, they make it so shiny that it looks like plastic to her.

Anyhoo, I have been curious but could never find a good picture of the base/navi interior w/out the wood grain trim until now. Acura of Concord has several pictures of a white/black navi in which you can clearly see what the interior looks like. I think I like it more than the wood trim.

They will not let me link directly to the pix but here are a few closeups from other sites for anyone else who wants to know what the non-wood interior looks like:

 

the wood is fake - its plastic impregnated with wood
I believe the first couple years of the 2G RL had real wood, from then on plastic

 

I prefer without wood as well. That looks pretty good.

Advance only comes with a tan interior, or just at the dealer you visited? Yuck. I hope the seats are less susceptible to dye transfer than my RL was. I had parchment interior on the RL and it transferred dye easily.

 

To be clear: when I stated that the wood was real but looked fake to my parents, I was referring to their GS300 & not the RLX (which is fake):

If memory serves, the 2005-2006 RL came with real wood. It was ~2007 when they decontented it that the base came with fake wood but the upper levels retained the real wood.

As for RLX, according to the Acura builder:

Bellanova White Pearl is not available on the base
It only comes with the Ebony interior with the Navi
It comes with either Ebony or SeaCoast with the Tech
On the Krell it only comes with the SeaCost

Acura really needs to work on their color palette by the way. Honda has some colors that could be used, like Tiger Eye Pearl, if they do not want to create a new 1.

Here is another pic:

vs.

 

Yeah, they need to limit the choices! IMO, if you're only going to give dealers 3 a month, you can't offer 100 color+trim combinations. OR, they need to re-vamp their entire order>build>finance>ship process to better accommodate special orders. AND we'd need to 're-train' all our clients that they need to plan 3 months ahead when their lease is expiring.

 

I know this is slightly off topic but the wood in the 2014 MDX (top trim model in Canada) is simply stunning!! I dislike wood trim in a vehicle but would have no problem if that type was in my vehicle. Why it is not available on the RLX is beyond me....

 

Check out the Acura.com/ future vehicles/ colors - they have gone nuts!

 

I was never a fan of wood trim in a car until my RLX Advanced with Seacoast. The contract between the light colored leather, the black vinyl and the dark-brown wood accents is stunning and done soo well. you can check out my pics on on another post to see for yourself.

 

Wait, wait, wait let me get this straight.

The $60,000 RLX has fake leather and fake wood on the dash?

 

I just answered my own question by visiting Acura.com.

The $60,000 RLX has real leather on the doors and console, but fake wood. Why fake wood?

 

I think fake wood has been implemented on the dash for virtually all cars because of the air bags. Don't want wood splinters flying all over

 

My 2005 Acura RL has real wood. The current Lexus GS has optional real wood (or bamboo in the hybrid model). Acura is just being cheap.

 

Those pics of the Base with Nav look pretty good -- the 'pleather' (fake leather) looks decent -- a lot better than BMWs fake leather.

If the fake leather lasts longer and is more durable than the real stuff (I agree Neuronbob -- the parchment leather in my '05 seems to attract dirt and dyes too), it might not be a bad proposition...

I don't really care what the material is as long as it looks nice and is durable

Chris

 

My RLX 2014 Advanced has real leather - which I wanted - the base models do not - I did some research and some folks prefer the (good) artificial leather that Acura uses and believe it sets (more comfortable) and wears betters - Mike Landon

 

My local dealership finally has a tech white on black & it made me think of this thread. Also, I found even better pictures for those interested in the non-wood interior:

 

That's horrible that the RLX has fake wood. My 2011 RL Advance has real wood, you can see the wood grain. The RLX is very disappointing.

 

The wood does look really fake as you can actually see the pixels that make up the black parts. I do, however, like that they added some orange glitter to it so it sparkles when the light hits it just right.

On a semi-related looks topic: the TLX builder is now online. I realize this is their volume sedan so there will be more options but I wish the RLX had more. The chrome door trim would have been nice as I always thought the RLX could use a little more bling on the sides (front & back have more than enough):

 

When I bought my 11 RL, I needed to get the adv. package, the fake wood really does look terrible. The real wood looks quite nice however, you can really see the wood grain.