Anyone looking to get one of these? It seems like it is getting rave reviews for its driving dynamics. I am currently in a 13 TL-SHAWD tech with 18k on it bought 8 months ago. I drive 95miles a day(the other car that I am looking at is a Tesla S), the better fuel efficiency can come in handy.

 

what I don't like reading is the "hesitation/vibration" when going from 3 cylinders to 6 cylinders and vise versa.....SH AWD is awesome. Are you referring to the Sport Hybrid RLX yet to hit the dealerships? The auto reviews rave about handling in spirited driving.....they also shared the same lously handling on poor roads for a car at $60++++ I would wait to compare it with the TLX SH AWD vehicle (but good luck finding one as they will keep it limited on purpose and those bought will be ordered and likely never to see the dealership lots). As I was told years ago.....ONLY BUY THE ACURA/HONDA YOU NEVER SEE ON THE LOT!!!!! And the sport hybrid will be VERY limited and pricey.....

 

I was looking at the sport hybrid RLX seriously until the TLX prototype was unveiled. Depending on the final interior choices, drivetrain, and pricing, it appears more likely that I'll be a TL owner for the third time.

We'll see....

 

I've looked at one, and will probably look at a second one at the local dealer. I suspect, however, that I'll stick with what I have (regular RLX Advance).

I like the transmission...except the one that I drove still had the weird hesitation when going into R. Just afraid it's going to lead to a parking lot incident at some point if it's not fixed. It also thunks pretty hard going into D sometimes, truth be known.

The brakes are good, but weird. This was the only hybrid car that I've ever driven, and I'm told they're better than other hybrid cars, but I can tell there's something going on with the brakes. :-)

Power: Not as strong as you'd think, because only the electric power goes to the rear wheels. It's only about ½ s quicker to 60 than the P-AWS car.

Still...377 HP and 30 mpg...you have to wonder....

:-)

As I said in another thread, I'll drive it one more time. You never know.

 

yea, im probably going to wait till my lease is up in 2016 and see where the SH-AWD model is at that point. hopefully improved with any kinks or bugs worked out, including all the other small nuances and improvements to the RLX line.

 

I didn't find the SH-AWD as aggressive as it was on my 4G TL 6-6.

If I lived in Atlanta, I don't believe I'd find enough value in the Hybrid SH-AWD to be worth it over the regular RLX Advance. Because of how the Hybrid SH-AWD is designed, I think that its biggest advantage will be in those of the States that typically experience worse weather than you do.

The HUD would be nice to have, and I think that in the future they should consider making it a part of the Advance Package, even if it adds a little more to the price. Most of the work is already done insofar as installing the electronics, anyway.

With the RLX Advance, I am getting 26-27 mpg right now...mixed driving. Is it worth the extra money to get ½ s quicker 60 times, and 3 more mpg? I dunno. If it were a 377 HP conventional SH-AWD setup, the performance would make more difference.

As it is, (and please bear in mind that although I have 15 years of advanced driving under by belt I am not claiming to be a Fangio) my impression is that in regular use the Hybrid SH-AWD flattens out the handling very nicely. But, then, so does P-AWS flatten out the handling very nicely. When pressed, the torque vectoring would give you a slight edge, but not as much of an edge as the 4G TL 6-6 would have in the same situation.

I hate to sound like I'm justifying and excusing owning a P-AWS car now instead of SH-AWD!! :-) The Hybrid SH-AWD is just not quite as edgy as the TL was, and I suspect that if you want that kind of edginess the TLX SH-AWD might be the way to go.

In a year, of course, I might change my mind completely.

 

I guess what I wanted was a performance car with good mileage for the amount of miles that I drive each day. My current TL SHAWD is great except for two things:
1. Choppy ride when the road is anything but pristine
2. Gas mileage-I drive 85% freeway and I have averaged 23mpg over the last 10000miles. WHen I bought the TL I was driving only 25miles a day but now my work requires me to commute 47 miles each way at least 4 days a week and sometimes on weekends too.
The Tesla is great but at almost 100k and yet to be proven technology I am apprehensive. I have been in the honda/acura family since 2004 and wanted to keep it that way as these are great cars for the money. I am not into german cars and those are not an option.
The jist of it is that I need 30+mpg(city and freeway combined) in a performance sedan. I have already checked out the leaf, volt and numerous hybrids and although the mielage is great these are anemic offerings. I spend 3 hours in a car each day. Is it too much to ask for a fuel efficient yet fun to drive car.

 

on the same boat, actually. So I'm looking to get SH-AWD RLX when my ZDX lease is up in July. Thought about Tesla, but I didn't like that giant screen with 3G connectivity. It's was so slow...

 

Keep in mind also that Acura can de-tune the SH AWD system as they did just that with the 2008++ Sport MDX due to all the ladies bitching it was too STIFF.....HELLO ! That is what its about!!!! So the 2008 and 09 Sport MDX does NOT have the same SH AWD system as the 07 did.... then they renamed it ADVANCED model 2010 ++.... Glad I got the 2007 Sport MDX as I LOVE its handling esp in Sport mode......

 

I don't think this is correct, there is an electric motor mated to the DCT that is adding ~47 hp to the party. I wonder if what you're feeling is because they're limiting power to the wheels to limit wheelspin or preserve the transmission? BTW, I'm curious about how you managed to drive one already?

 

Colin,
perhaps he works at a dealership and not telling us that? I thought the same as ONLY the dealerships have them right now for training purposes......

 

^^Well, I'm at a dealership and we certainly don't have ours yet.

 

 

Hmmm George gets a ... I get

 

Ha ha ha ha ha.....

I am old. :-). I know I am new around here but I am not entirely alien to the community. I have been in Hondas since 1989.

They are out there.

Funny, though. I haven't heard from the dealer that was supposed to get one on the 15th. Maybe reverse gear got fixed or something.

 

Haha, well as an 'over 50' guy, I'm not far behind. However, we started with H/A in 1994 with a GS-R, the first of 3 GS-Rs, followed by 4 S2000s, a TSX, an RSX, and currently have a CR-Z 6MT and ILX 6MT.

My dad was an executive with our local Toyota distributor so we were a Toyota family prior to that.

 

Do you think that with the RLX and TLX they're making a mistake by marketing to people like us, people that already "get it" ?

They seem sometimes to be more interested in making sure that people like us continue to have a place to go inside the brand.

But are they missing out with converting people?

I got to know the Audi A6 pretty well when I was shopping around, and it is very hard to imagine that an Audi guy that "gets it" (even though he's paying with discount 71,000) is going to move to an RLX Advance (even though the equivalent is going only cost 52,000).

I'm glad they're continuing to give me something to buy after all these years, and I continue to "get it" with Acura, but I can't help wondering if they'd be better off forgetting about people like you and me and trying to form a newer kind of relationship with people outside the brand.

I can tell you why I stuck with Acura instead of moving to Audi.

But I don't think the Audi guy can give you a reason to switch to Acura.

If that makes sense.

 

^^^^^
Too true, George. I moved away from Acura for now but still have a garage full of other Honda products as I'm a nine-time Honda/Acura owner myself......and still hang out here.

Acura does a borderline job of marketing to Honda people like us. There are multiple millions of Honda owners in this country alone and just marketing to them should yield more sales than they've got.

Then there's the separate matter of marketing outside of the Honda faithful. In that regard....It's funny you mention Audi because that's the German automotive brand closest to Acura (FF and FAWD drivetrains, excellent interiors, emphasizes driving dynamics over power in its usual offerings). You'd think Acura would make a pitch to at LEAST those owners.

In any case, it looks like I may be an Acura owner again soon, likely this year. It's going to be a tough choice between the Sport Hybrid RLX and a SH-AWD TLX for me. I'm leaning toward the latter based on styling so far. Acura has successfully gotten me to look at its sedans again in a serious manner.

 

In that case, we'll see you in your new TLX very soon. :-)

The last time I talked about production capacities, somebody acted like I didn't know what I was talking about, but it will be very unlikely that any dealer is going to get more than 3 RLX Hybrids per year. I don't think they're going to be able to meet their originally projected 75/month and I think it'll be more like 50/month.

That's about what Type R production was.

Originally limited by complications to manufacturing these hybrids, complications to an already limited production capacity for the RLX...and now even more limited by an inability to supply the necessary high quality, high capacity batteries.

And even if you can find an RLX Hybrid, I am afraid that dealers will be trying to attach "added value/demand" stickers, making potential purchasers wonder why they'd buy a Hybrid with 28/32 mpg over a regular RLX with 20/32 mpg for 20 grand less or, better yet, look at that TLX over there at the other end of the floor....

So is most of the rest of America!! :-) And it's great that they've got you to think about Acura again.

Looking forward to a TLX that's a big hit.

 

I still can't imagine any dealer adding to the RLX sticker. From what you are saying, it's possible that the RLX Sport Hybrid will be as rare as my V wagon....and that's pretty rare. I seem to gravitate toward the rare autos for some reason.

How are people supposed to test drive a RLX hybrid if they aren't on the lot?

 

I don't know. I only got about 30 minutes with my Type R before I bought it. In fact, I had to drive from Richmond to Atlanta just to see one.

You know...I think that maybe half the dealers have their training vehicles now. If you know somebody well, you might want to ask about that.

(I was about to add where I'd seen a couple, but I wouldn't want to find myself disenfranchised.)

 

Are you near a dealer that actively supports Honda Challenge or any racing effort?