TampaRLX-SH

^^^

Yes I got in under the wire with ATT. Initially I went to a corporate store, who advised the plans were dropping the 2 year contracts soon. Apparently you can pay the upgrade anytime supplement or take a discount on the device up front and pay a fee if you leave before X number of months (kinda the same thing if you ask me). But the corporate store could not offer the $99 sale price, only online. So I called and got it shipped (arriving tomorrow), continued my grandfathered unlimited plan and got the 2 year agreement. Frankly I hate changing phones too often. It seems like I just get familiar with the technology I am using and it is changed.

I liked the windows phone. But the last few updates have been buggy. And most important it does not support the AcuraLink apps and interface apps I want to exploit with the Sport Hybrid.

I will likely get the LEGEND badge on this weekend. So far I have been dodging daily rain and thunderstorms and not ready for a wash. I will post pics when the deed is done.

FYI, I was in Austin a few weeks ago. I am still hoping to see Sandra Bullock again!

oo7spy

You're 2 for 2 now telling me after the fact.

3 strikes and .

TampaRLX-SH

OK, the deed is done. I prefer the name and the symmetry of the badges.

neuronbob

That's going to make someone drive off the road. "I thought Acura didn't make those anymore!". I just ordered a badge from eBay, so I'll be doing the same shortly.

DASS

iTrader: (2)

This looks amazing! It almost makes me want to cry with joy to see that Legend badge on a car again.

getakey

Trying to catch up on this thread. Did I see somewhere that Tampa had a little red light problem???

Also "Next I need to call XM and transfer the remainder time of my RL subscription onto the 90 Day trial of the SH. I was surprised to hear how good HD FM sounds over XM. I may not renew going forward."

Concur - HD FM is way better than XM.

TampaRLX-SH

Yes, the little light was RED until I called Acuralink and initiated my 90 trial (I actually purchased the 3 year CONNECT package and they tacked on the 90 days). The light was green in moments after I made that call.

I got my Galaxy Note 4 yesterday and set up Pandora and Aha. Even Pandora (I am not a paying subscriber) sounds better than XM. To me, XM sounded better in the RL's Bose system. Perhaps the Krell clarity calls out the muddiness of XM? But HD FM, Pandora and Aha covering the news & talk stations I listen to likely means I will not renew XM. Further Nav Traffic is now supplied by Acuralink (and also via Aha) as well as weather and gas prices. Last I stuffed nearly 2 dozen CDs into the HDD and not only do they sound wonderful on the Krell I was surprised how most all my copied CDs had album and track label info displayed. The Music Search voice commands all work nicely to launch an album by name, artist and even specific tracks / song titles.

I have been working my way through all of the Infotainment features with the exception of ipod / iphone interfaces (I am not going to the iContinuum). Everything simply works. Reading, responding to texts, reading emails, twitter feeds, etc. I have experienced no freezes, lags or long response times. I have not found the features disabled while driving a hindrance as everything can be done by voice command. My intial exposure to this system was from a 2014 PAWS RLX and and early MDX. It was not very positive and I found it clunky. My impression is now 180 from that, yet still in a learning curve.

My jury is still out on voice command as some attempts were misunderstood. VC is not perfect by any means, but I am still learning the pathways for VCs which are different than my RL. I think the most hit or miss is calling a contact from Phonebook. You have an extra step to take from the older HFL of the RL with a voice tag phonebook. You first have to prompt phonebook, then prompt the name. If you do not remember how you labled an entry in your phonebook the VC could miss it. Examples: Call Bob / Call Bob Cell / Call Bob's Cell / Call Bob Office / Call Bob Home.

At best it gives you a list of near matches to choose, at worse it gets Lost in Phonebook Space. By then I would just want to say "Dial 123-4567". In some ways the HFL of the RL was simpler.

getakey

If you have 3 numbers for Bob (cell, office, home), not 3 different entries for Bob, it returns list and allows you to select cell, office, home.

have you used reply to Text message yet? Mine will reread the initial message after replying. Seems odd.

Hoping that an upgrade will reduce UI lag in my car, but I'm betting it was a Hardware change in the newer models

In terms of Audio, I find it annoying that it cannot display artist/song when Navi is on

TampaRLX-SH

I think I will be forced to clean up my contacts on my laptop. It has my LinkedIn and Twitter contacts merged now so my phonebook has 939 entries currently.

I did respond to the text but it did not read the incoming text a second time. I think there is a setting for that to acknowledge when replying to a text. (I really do not plan to use it much, texting while driving, handsfree or not is too much for the zombies on the road).

I had to use the upper (NAV) screen to delete a few tracks from the HDD. But the song title does show on the lower screen (but truncated if a long title). I remember CNET carped on this. I will have to look again and snap a pic to see if the data rendered in the UI has changed from the earlier versions.

fsmith

Tampa - I understand that you do not want to go all i-lovey, but I believe that the best sound you will hear in your car is from an iPod connected to the USB port. Any iPod will do, including an old unused iPhone (with no cellular account). I have my entire collection of 450 CDs on an old, out-of-use iPhone, and the UI is terrific, allowing seclection by metadata on the Audio screen. The system "speaks" iOS, and the sound is I think the best you will hear out of the car, including better than a CD copied to the HDD (which compresses the music more than an iPod/iPhone). Of course you would have to copy those CDs into iTunes and onto the iPod/iPhone, and use a better-than-mp3 compression. Just a thought for you, as this system not only sounds great, but puts all one's music at one's fingertips! (Of course I did not suddenly copy those 450 CDs when I got the car; I have been using iTunes to put them on a music server in my house for years, so it was a trivial extension to put it all in my car - that may not work for you.)

getakey

song title shows in lower screen for FM?
does not in mine

TampaRLX-SH

It does (if the HD station has the digital tag)

1) FM HD
2) Aha
3) Pandora

I remember a post which complained the TLX and MDX had this functionality, but not the RLX (at that time). It does appear the RLX system aligns to the MDX and TLX system now.

TampaRLX-SH

I am sure you are correct. But I never adopted Apple. Initially as it was not permissible for most enterprise services and security required by my clients VPN access. I was using windows mobile for 7+ years. I have never had an android phone either. But I like Samsung products and the Galaxy series seem to offer the most interfaces with the AcuraLink II features.

I never had an ipod. I do have a USB MP3 player with the same 150 tunes from 11 years ago. I never had time to collect music, never mind settle on a medium and methodology. But the selections and choices today are staggering to me. I struggle for simplicity.

I guess I could manage an iPod if I had a service that would load it with the tunes I like. But then again, trying to find my music favorites would be a challenge. I listen to classical, jazz, rock, pop, and some crossover country.

For the amount of time I spend in a car, I spent more time configuring all these music options. I could do fine with a 6 disc changer that has my 6 favorite albums:

1) Dire Straights - Brothers in Arms
2) Beatles - Love Album
3) Jackson Browne - The Pretender
4) Supertamp - Breakfast in America
5) Boston - Boston
6) Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits

getakey

Interesting. That is an upgrade in the HW/SW from 2014

neuronbob

Glad to hear the 2016s have upgraded infotainment software. I'm still curious about a lack of response from Acura about updating the 2014s' software.

Acura fixed most of the issues with the 2014 RLX, but not the infotainment software, which in theory should have been an easy fix. There must be a really good reason there is no upgrade path for 2014 owners. Possibilities include a) hardware change, not compatible; b) low priority compared to the suspension issues; c) it's NOT an easy fix for whatever reason; d) Whiskers.

JM2010 SH-AWD

I'm with you on the music selection above. Just convert it to DVD-A and add a Springsteen album, and I'd be good to go for a long time.

TampaRLX-SH

Thanks. I had them all in DVD-A (including Springsteen) except the Beatles Love Album (not available in DVD-A).

However I gave them to the purchaser of my RL as the RLX does not support DVD-A. Fortunately I had non DVD-A copies of the same. Krell does have surround sound and IMHO exceeds the RL's Bose.

So the Boss is now also in my HDD along with another iconic, Alan Parsons Project - Instrumental Works.

Joy.

getakey

I have the Beatles Love DVD-A album. Had it in my RL. Not sure where it is now.

Would not argue with any of your other albums, but my New Favorite is Imagine Dragons.

fsmith

I agree the Krell system is terrific, but there was something magical about the RL's ability to play DVD-A surround sound. I enjoyed showing people the DVD-A demo disk. And I, too, had Love in my RL. I have replaced it with love for my RLX-SH!

getakey

That demo disk had better surround sound mixes than any DVD-A album that I bought. I looked all around for an album by the artists for one of the songs on the disk (cannot remember it now), but it seems that it was a 1-off production.

TampaRLX-SH

I spoke to my Tech and was told there is no update available for the < 2016 RLX head unit. They made updates to the MDX and TLX only.

It sounds to me like a hardware change of the head unit. This is reminiscent of the 2005 to 2006 RL, where the 2005 could not accommodate the rear-view cam.

Perhaps someone with parts access can check the head unit part numbers and see if they are unique? That may confirm there is a hardware change.

Since I got the new phone of Friday, I spent several hours over the weekend banging on this system to configure phone & system features. So far *fingers crossed*, no issues, lags or freezes. It all works.

fsmith

Tampa - You changed your username. Did not notice that before. Very nice!

TampaRLX-SH

So much for joining the witness protection program.....

JonFo

LOL, but seriously, a pic with your license plate visible and the EXIF data intact (I now know exactly where you live thanks to GPS data and that you took it with your Lumia 920) gives a bit too much away.

Tip for all: blur the plates and strip the EXIF data (or at least the GPS coordinates) before posting pics of cars in driveways

TampaRLX-SH

^^^

Ummmm...it was a joke. I have no expectations of hiding from anyone. I am listed in the white pages. A tag is a public registration. My car and driveway on are Google Maps. Inferring I must hole up and hide is more a reflection of your values.

But glad my joke served as a platform for you to express your skills.

paul_shrlx

Same last 5 digits as mine. Exterior and interior colour matches as well. Although mine is 2014 vintage.

TampaRLX-SH

I saw that in the sign in thread and commented. And we both were RL owners before hand.

Does that make you my Canadian Doppleganger?

or am I your American Doppleganger?

paul_shrlx

My third Acura first model year car. So far it looks likely that this car will perform as well as the last two. Who knew these cars were so hard to find.

TampaRLX-SH

I certainly did!

And I hope this car gives me the same bulletproof reliability that my RL did. So far I am very impressed with the build quality and overwhelmed at this first launch of SH SHAWD. It is seamless, so well integrated and clever beyond anything is this price range. But again, I said that about SHAWD which also was a home run IMHO.

TampaRLX-SH

Just speculation at this point....

But I read today that the 2016 Accord refresh will introduce appleplay and androidplay capability into the HondaLink system.

Being the 2016 RLX Acuralink II system seems to be an update to the system, I am wondering if it will be able to accept appleplay and androidplay?

Again, that quandry as to why a new product would be launched in the Honda brand before the Acura brand?

getakey

"Again, that quandry as to why a new product would be launched in the Honda brand before the Acura brand?"

Young people?

TampaRLX-SH

a possible factor, getakey.

My thinking is that the Accord is a very high volume product, and the family sedan segment is very very contested, so it is a marketing / packaging response to that.

As much as we like to think of the RLX as the pinnacle of both Honda and Acura brands, the bread and butter products must remain successful for both brands.

And personally, I think SH is a much bigger bone to bury in my backyard.

getakey

To be honest, I read quickly as Honda and not Honda Accord, so I should have said "Younger"

Agree that segment is very contested and needs to keep up with Ford - did I just say Ford?

Colin

Most likely, it's all about timing. Most likely it simply wasn't ready for the '16 RLX release. Also volume, it's not as if you'll get a good price from Alpine (or whomever makes the headunit) if you "wow" them with orders for 2400 radios....the Accord will sell ~300,000 units and the trims with the new tech might represent 25% of that. A much larger order to get the per unit price down.

TampaRLX-SH

Indeed. The parts suppliers have impact as to when and how often a manufacturer can effectively offer updates to products. The often have contract commitments to build out X number of units before they will retool or upgrade a particular part.

At some point, infotainment needs to be plug and play and more a slave to smartphones which has a shorter lifecycle and faster refresh than automobiles. Hopefully the platforms will yield backward compatibility to most apple and android devices (which dominate the market).

CFoote

The Accord is Hondas bread and butter car, like Colin said they sell hundreds of thousands of them. It's a very nice car, but still a bit of a tin can compared to the Acura (as it should be for the price differential).

Tampa, congrats on your SH RLX, I am hoping the Acura gods may create a non-hybrid SH RLX, chances are slim on this generation, but would love to see a car to fit the price point between the PAWS RLX and SH RLX Hybrid.

My RL continues to plug along, 140k, rear main seal and oil pump are seeping, but nothing bad yet. I still love the car, it's just a solid car.

Chris

TampaRLX-SH

Thanks Chris. The RL is still dear to my heart. And there are a few things the RL trumps the RLX. But the overall package of the RLX is simple stunning to me. I hate to confess, for all my whining about replacing the RL, it has all but fallen off my radar.

When I reach my 30 days with the RLX I should write a compare of the two. But in the meantime I wish the rain would stop long enough so I can wash the car! I need that "bonding" time with it.

RLX-Sport Hybrid

I was at a Coffee & Cars event this morning and among the many cars that were there, I had the only Acura onsite. There were tons of Porsches, Corvettes and Mustangs, but no Acura models. The best car there was the Mclaren. A grand total of one person who came over to me said they ever heard of the RLX, much less the Sport Hybrid. Granted the RLX-SH was not a flashy car to draw attention to it, but it did garner questions. The loudest and baddest car there was a black old school Cadillac that was tubbed with an enormous engine and open side exhausts. Truly ridiculous.

I'm very glad you are enjoying your car. It is very special. Completing my 7th month with it, it never gets old and I don't need an excuse to get some behind the wheel time for any reason.

oo7spy

I never understood this. I get not embedding GPS data into pictures, but hiding your license plate? Do you hide your plates while you drive or park your car? You are far more likely to be stalked from a local than an e-thug.




Paranoia, paranoia. Everybody's coming to get me.

TampaRLX-SH

Well I am glad I finally got my Sport Hybrid. And not a moment too soon. As of yesterday Mike Accavitti is out, and Jon Ikeda is in. Accavitti' twitter account went dark about 10 days ago, and now disassociated with Acura followings.

Acura replaces chief Accavitti with designer Ikeda

A engineer in this position will have what impact on the flagship RLX?

*Discuss*