ColoRDX

What are you trying to say?

fiatlux

That Acura has never been comparable to a BMW or threatened it’s status as top billing in the performance/luxury space?

22TypeS

Early on, right after Inifiniti got away from performance in the early 90's, I had a BMW GSM say that they looked at the Japanese up brands as Lexus vs. Mercedes and Acura vs. BMW (that is Acura more performance oriented), he added they thought of Acura as a bargain BMW and acknowledged they lost some customers to Acura (the bargain hunters).

ColoRDX

I presume you have or have had personal experience with both BMW & Acura. I owned a 2021 RDX and a 2021 BMW X3M40i and both resided in my garage. Of course the X3 M40i powertrain out performed the RDX powertrain. I cannot honestly say the X3 handled any better than the RDX. When it came to "luxury space", the RDX interior was the winner hands down. The X3 was okay but, not at the level of the RDX. The upgraded leather seats from the fake leather in the BMW is garbage. Also, the upgraded Harmon Kardon sound system in the X3 is not close in comparison to the ELS sound system in the RDX. Perhaps the "luxury space in the X5 is superior to my current MDX. I've made no direct side by side comparison like I did with the RDX vs the X3.

ELIN

The bad X3 seats have been a sore point in Bimmerpost and I really do miss the comfortable seat I used to have in my TLX (and I would imagine the RDX was similar in comfort). The HK system on the X3 also gets a bad rap but it's because BMW didn't tune it right for the cabin like Elliot Scheiner did for the ELS system in the Acuras. You do have to fiddle w/the equalizer settings as the "out of the box" HK audio is not the best. I can confirm that your Acura/BMW experience matches mine!

On a side note, the X5 is quite a step above the X3 in terms of luxury (including the seats). Not sure why BMW doesn't offer similar comfort in the smaller SUV as Mercedes certainly tries to keep it consistent across the board!

GhostTL09

iTrader: (1)

The seats in the TLX helped OP with his acceleration issues which is nice. It also added about 3hp as well. Too bad the seats in the x3 are not as nice to add a little extra umph during the ride.

ColoRDX

I don't think it is just BMW that gives you uncomfortable seats in their compacts. Although not nearly as uncomfortable as the X3 seats and much superior leather, the seats in my Mazda CX-5 are also quite narrow and uncomfortable. In fact the interior materials, fit and finish in the CX-5 are better than the X3. I think the majority of compact vehicles come with compact uncomfortable front seats. The front seats in the compact RDX are one of the exceptions.

robnalex

That's what we did. Our M340xi moves like a demon, even in comfort mode. In sport/sport+ it's insanely quick while still getting outstanding gas mileage. TLX has some very nice things going for it (some better than the BMW): seats, sound system. SH-AWD is excellent except for the FWD-based understeer. Ultimately it was the poor gas mileage and size (wider and longer than an RDX) that sent us over to Bimmerland. There's no pretense with the M340xi. It's all about serious performance and effortless speed.

ColoRDX

I hear ya with the all about performance thing. I felt the same way about my X3M40i. It was fun while it lasted and then I came back to reality and realized it wasn't really going to be a keeper with the after warranty self destruct reputation and rip off maintenance costs. Still......it was probably one of the most fun vehicles I've owned.