Colin

In the second spy photo, I think I see a rear door "cut line" like on the TSX. The RDX blends the trailing edge of the door into the rear fender well arch.

deandorsey

98AccordEx

Hey Deandorsey is that real or photoshopped?

I'm not liking the front, too many creases and edges.

deandorsey

real

98AccordEx

Opinions everyone????

Colin

What's the source? Any more? Finally a look at the "real" front headlights. Looks loke a body kit is installed....

jaobrien6

I didn't post right away, because I was trying to figure out what I think. Frankly I'm a little underwhelmed... I'm not instantly in love with it. I think like the overall shape a lot, but the front does look very busy to me. I'm not normally a fan of body kits, including the Acura body kits, and the front reminds me of a body kit. It's a sharp contrast to the sleek, smooth front on my stock '04 TSX.

It does have a nice stance, and looks aggressive. If the front was toned down a little, I'd probably really like it. But maybe it'll grow on me. I'd like to see it from some other angles.

jaobrien6

Looks like the same pic from the Acura Style Magazine posted on page 1 of this thread, but scanned in at a much higher resolution.

98AccordEx

Underwhelmed is a good description. Hopefully in another color or different angle the front will seem less 'over-worked'.

The side looks good but would look better with brighter wheels. Looks like 18" rims as they do a decent job of filling the wheel wells. Kind of wish the mirror was up in the window instead of on the door.

hondamore

The pic is of the soon to be debuted "RDX prototype" which is close to the production model but with some cosmetic changes. Some of the front spoiler bodywork may be lost in the final production version. Overall, I like it. Also, don't judge a car based on one picture. If my RL is any indication, pictures don't always capture the true look of a car - the RL is way better looking in person.

SPUDMTN

I was painfully underwhelmed by the TL concept and the RL concept as well. But Acura conecpt/prototype vehicles have never had an "oooo...wow!" affect. Is everyone forgetting Acura's conservative/timeless/understated elegance design philosophy? It's the same "less-is-more" design philosophy all of the German manufacturers used to have.

With that in mind, this RDX prototype looks quite nice. It's a clean design, with an aggressive, simple front end. The body contours along the side are nice, as well, straying away from the slab-sided designs that had been oh-so-popular. With a different set of wheels (think: silver painted) this would look really sharp. I'm sure I'll like the production model, better, as well, for it will hopefully be sans the over-wrought styling elements on the front (a simpler grille, less hard lines on the lower bumper, etc...).

But it's key to remember what Acura is all about and what their design direction has been: performance-oriented understated elegance. More and more I see Acura as the "Japanese Audi".

hondamore

You're right. Most importantly, Honda's "understated elegance" will still look good and be stylish 10 years from now.

SPUDMTN

Which explains why the Legend, G1 TL, and G1 RL still look great. They may have been conservatively styled, but they are really holding up well as time goes by.

As a side note, I've never understood why people don't like the G1 RL (from a styling standpoint). It's quite stately looking. Maybe I'm a bit biased, though

phile

I actually like the earlier prototype (the one with the fake headlights) better than this one. As someone already said, it looks like it's wearing an after-market body kit. There is just one too many air dams in that front fascia. The earlier prototype was clean and aggressive; this one, while still aggressive, has a very cluttered front end.

Also, are those chrome side mirrors??

Edit: I just went back and looked at the earlier prototype pictures and it actually has 3 air dams in the front. I can't put my finger on it, but there is something different about those this time around.

hondamore

The gunmetal wheels are the same style that were on the RL A-spec concept. I doubt that the production model will have those - likely will have some conventional looking 17's stock and optional chrome 18's just like the RL. They'll end up selling a whack of optional wheels that way and I'll end up putting snow tires on the stock 17's again.

hondamore

The more I look at the new production prototype picture, the more I convince myself that the darker grey trim along the bottom of the car is an add-on spoiler/skirt/A-spec kit that won't be on the final production car. They've gotten their feedback on the first prototype, and now they are looking for feedback for the A-spec trim. They may have dressed up the production prototype in A-spec trim to try to accentuate the sportiness of the new RDX. Just my guess.

Benush

I liked the design of my Prelude and Integra from the front/side where the lines of the top of the fenders sweep down to the hood line to a nice crease and was just getting used to the small bump up on the RL, but this looks like a slab was added to the hood deck. If it's really a 4 cyl, why such a big hood deck? The other thing that looks bizarre and maybe its just the lower quarter coloring change is that it looks like they started with one lower panel area and glued another one on top of it to add height. Almost like some kid with a couple model cars that takes the lower quarter of one model, cuts it flat and then glues an entire body on top. It sure doesn't seem to flow/contour very well

Maybe it will grow on me enough in two years when the 1st generation has had all the bugs worked out and I'll go for the 2007. Anyway, if it handles well with SH-AWD and gets decent mpg (since the RL gets 25+ highway I'm expecting 33+ with that turbo 4), I guess I won't care what people think of it. After all, most of the time I'm around it, I'll be inside looking out. Of course if the interior is just plain ugly, there's always the new BMW.

again, just my 2 cents

Ben

jaobrien6

I think you're dreaming with your 33+ expectations. If you look at some other turbo-4 AWD Wagon/SUV/Crossovers, here's what they get on the highway with an automatic transmission ('cause that's what the RDX will have):

Forester XT: 26
Outback XT: 24
Mazda CX-7: 24 (as reported at insideline.com)
Audi A4 Avant: 30
Volvo v50 T5: 28

No car out there that's remotely similar can pull >30MPG numbers. Only the A4 with a smaller engine and less horsepower is able to hit 30. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the RDX in the mid to (hopefully) high 20's on the highway. The fact is, a turbo 4 isn't that fuel efficient. It is small and light, though, and I think that's why they used it.

Benush

One of the reasons I do not consider any of the Subaru products is what I consider horrible gas mileage (since they feel so much smaller compared to Blazer/etc but get similar mileage). My 96 S10 pickup 4WD with 200 pounds of sand in the back for winter traction gets 22mpg highway miles and its the V6 X model engine (more horsepower). Almost makes me wonder why I even consider a new toy when the truck works fine in the winter and the Integra is a fun summer car.

I'll hope that you are wrong about the MPG, but will presume that your estimates are much more realistic than my desires.

phile

The 4-cylinder in the TSX also gets relatively decent mileage, but not stellar by Honda standards. It's because it's geared so aggressively to make the TSX as fast as it can be. So yes I think the same emphasis on performance over mileage is in play here in the RDX.

jaobrien6

I agree that the TSX gets decent gas mileage, especially on the highway, but it's only decent, not class-leading or anything. And my statement was mainly in response to the hopes of 33+ MPG in the RDX. The TSX can only pull 31 highway with less weight, no turbo and no AWD. I don't see how the RDX gets above 26 mpg or so. And while that would be good gas mileage for an SUV, it's nothing to get too excited about.

jaobrien6

Oh, I definitely hope I'm wrong, too.

hondamore

I agree that the RDX will be doing well to get 28-30 mpg highway. SUV's have to push a lot of air with the large frontal area and even with a 4 cylinder, the RDX will still weigh in at around 3800 pounds. Hopefully the turbo 4 has enough power to allow them to put in a 5 speed tranny with a very tall 5th gear for highway cruising.

98AccordEx

Here is another scanned photo, apparantly also from the Acura Style Magazine, posted on vtec.net.

Hopefully this will be the front end on the production version of the RDX.

jaobrien6

That looks like the concept from last year, look at the headlights. Maybe the other picture is more representative of an A-spec kit, and the normal front end will look more like this (except the headlights, obviously). A couple more days and we'll see what they say.

ostrich

I agree - with those nasty grey rims and the busy front end, that probably is not the regular RDX.... now, isn't this blue color just perfect for the RDX? I think a nice metallic red will be wonderful too.

ostrich

Though some say that this was the same vehicle as the concept one we saw earlier this year, the interesting thing is, this blue RDX has those side mirrors, while the other silver RDX concept did not.

So, is this still the concept? Or the prototype?

jaobrien6

Interesting, good call on the mirrors, it definitely looks like it has the same headlights as the concept, which were definitely not production headlights. I wonder what this blue one is...

hondamore

More kudos for ostrich for noticing the mirrors - I had dismissed the blue RDX as the earlier prototype from a year ago. The blue RDX must be an "interim prototype" from a few months ago. Maybe there was a dealer meeting or factory workers meeting where it was shown off before the "production prototype" with the HID headlights was ready. Those wheels look more like they will be the production wheels or close to it. I'm not sure which of the two prototypes' front end/grill/bumper the final production models are going to look like but my gut feeling is that it will be closer to the blue RDX and the A-spec version released a year from now will look closer to the silver one.

Colin

That picture is from the Dealer meeting in Las Vegas late last year. I suppose the car shown earlier is the Concept, this car is a pre-production model. I like having the mirrors on the door vs the A-pillar. Like the S2000, NSX and Legend. I'll bet good money that this is exactly what we'll see! I have seen the video from the show, and if I remember correctly, that car has projectors. The angle in the scan is not too good.

ac00lra

I just read this thread and I must say I haven't seen so much TSX 4-cyl bashing since... well, the first announcement of the TSX. :-) And I'm seeing the same thing with the RDX. A lot of my friends asked me when I bought my TSX back when it first came out that why would I want to pay that much for a 4-cyl. My reply was simply that I'm not buying cylinders but rather I'm buying a car as a whole package. And that was the deal with the TSX, the whole package was put together extremely well. Didn't the TSX earned the Car & Driver title of Sports Sedan of the year for the last 3 years? So hold your judgment on the 4-cyl thing until it's out for everyone to touch and feel.

One thing to keep in mind is that Honda tend to make controversial decision quite a few times. Didn't a lot of people laugh and ridicule Honda when they were the first Japanese car maker to announce that they will make a luxury car in the 80s? Just a thought.