About three weeks ago I noticed a low-level thumping from under the driver's position in the vicinity of the wheel well. This thumping appeared to occur after deceleration with the brake followed by coasting. During the coasting to stop, the thumping seemed to be a response to almost every imperfection in the road. After driving the vehicle for a while, this problem seemed to subside until this week. Now, the amplitude of the thumping has increased and occurs constantly, even at highway speeds, but most pronounced when there is no wind noise at low speed.

I had the engine mounts replaced on this vehicle because I was experiencing excessive vibrations at idle (so much so that I could see the steering wheel and dash physically vibrate). After all mounts were replaced and the idle learn procedure re-done by the dealership, my RDX is excessively smooth at idle after the engine warms up to typical operating temperature.

Could what I am experiencing be due to the mounts failing again or is this possibly something with the suspension such as the Amplitude Reactive Dampers (ARD)? I know the ARD is new to Acura and my car was one of the first sold from the second generation life cycle.

This car is amounting to be quite a problem child for me (18 months since purchase; 18K miles). Since ownership, I've had the following issues that other owners need to be aware of:

- The amplifier of the ELS failed and produced a distinct crackling sound through the center speaker (replaced under warranty)
- The sunroof would not close on its own (2x to the dealer, 1st visit CPU reset fixed the problem for a day, 2nd visit CPU reset again and sunroof track copiously lubricated; fix seems to be holding)
- The wheel-well cover on the driver's side of the vehicle separated from the car due to what appears to be a playskool quality plastic fastener. (replaced under warranty)
- Engine mounts failed producing excessive vibration in the cabin (replaced under warranty, but car was in the shop for over a week).
- Undiagnosed wind noise coming from the lower rear passenger door above 60mph (possibly due to undercarriage issue that other folks have noted here)
- The cheap dash and door and glove compartment plastics scuff and nick like crazy (clearly cost saving by Honda; not the type of materials I expect in a $40K vehicle.
- The aluminum paint look is wearing off of the passenger side internal door handle.
- The B-pillar plastic is discoloring taking on a chalky white look (how hard would it have been to carry over the piano black material used on other models).
- All of the silver paint rubbed off my fob - it is by far the most embarrassingly cheap car fob ever created. The 1998 Ford Escort called and it wants its FOB back (Has anyone seen the high quality FOB available for the MDX/RLX/TSX??? Inexcusable, Acura).

In short…I'm seriously concerned with the ability of this car to deal with everyday wear and tear. For $40K I could have picked up another vehicle with better, more durable material choices, and one that performed equally - if not better.

I doubt I will ever buy another Acura at this point (are you listening Acura?) - it's turning up to be nothing more than a gussied up Honda CR-V. Funny that all the issues I seem to be having are related to the actual differences between the CR-V and RDX that have amounted to nothing but reliability issues and time that I have to spend at the dealership.

 

Are you hard on your car? ie get in the throttle when taking off? Engine mount failure is typical on ANY transverse mounted engine that is in a tight space especially when one gets into the throttle... but I have never heard of them going out in 18K. I drive an 02 CL Tpye S and my mounts bit the bullet at 11 years and 118K. But then again I am not in the throttle on a daily basis. I have had the car since 2006 and 39K miles.

I had the 14 RDX for a week and I thought it was downright awesome and I am looking to purchase one in the next 1-2 years once I get a sense of their reliability

 

Wow sorry to hear about all those problems. I had an Infiniti about 12 yrs ago that was very problematic, stuff happens, unfortunately, even with luxury badged cars.

The RDX is more than just a gussied up Honda CR-V, engine and transmission are totally different among other things. If Honda offered the 3.5 V6 and 6spd auto in a CRV I might have considered one, the 4 cyl in the current CRV is too underpowered to me. The V6 is just ok in the RDX, since I'm use to powerful cars.

 

I totally agree about the cheap key fob. I've had the car only a year and the key fob looks like it's 15 years old already.

I used to own the first generation RDX before this, and I can tell you that the overall build quality of the vehicle has done down with the new model. It just feels less solid. It's still a good car though, but it's very apparent they cut some corners to save cost and weight. The next time I hear that a car got bigger yet weighs less than the previous model, I'm going to think twice about purchasing it.

 

Wow... Sorry to hear about all your issues. I just bought a used 2013 RDX AWD off a two year lease and I hope I don't have those type of issues, otherwise, that extended warranty I bought is going to get a workout. The Carfax on my car only had one fix on it and all the normal maintenance but it was built in Jun 2012 which means it's one of the earlier manufactured RDX's...