Is this 3G RDX a lemon - about to get one
 

I’m about to pull the trigger on a 2020 A-Spec but the problems and fixes sub forum has me running for the hills. Infotainment quirks don’t bother me, every Golf GTI and Golf R I’ve had never had a fully functioning infotainment system.

The concerns for me are the limp mode problem - my 2018 Golf R had similar problems when demanding WOT responses from the car so I got rid of it for that reason, too damn dangerous. The other concern is the oil dilution problem people are having.

I know forums are a double edged sword and anyone, owning a RDX or not can post whatever they want. But this car seems to have an awful lot of problems...

Insight, reassurances?? Thanks in advance

I have had no mechanical problems at all with the car. I had some infotainment issues early on, but I don’t stress the system and have not had a problem in months.

Oil dilution problems are mostly in a different Honda engine, and even there it is with short trips in cold weather.

YMMV.

The problem with basing your opinions on a forum is that there's not much to talk about except for problems (and hopefully fixes). Therefore, you're going to get a skewed view of the vehicle. Here's my two cents. I'm not a car guy, but I like this car so much that I joined this forum just because I like the car that much. I was like "man, I can't wait to talk about this car! I want to talk to other people about the car!" And even though there isn't much to talk about, I'm still sort of hanging out, lol. Every time I drive the car, I enjoy it. I said this on a different thread: are there better cars? Of course, there are better cars. You just have to pay more money. I think that's the problem with a lot of people who complain about the RDX, frankly. There's some weird expectation that it's supposed to be the #1 class-leading, best in all aspects SUV at basically the cheapest price point. If you go into it with that belief, then you'll just be disappointed.

Keep in mind, you could get a base model RDX with almost all of the safety features as the top trim and it would be under $38,000. Are you kidding? Now, it won't have SH-AWD, but it will still be a very good ride and have pretty good cargo space and have one of the nicest passenger rows I've seen. I think most people's "make or break" is, incredibly, the infotainment center. I got my car last calendar year and have had no problems with the center. I honestly wasn't even aware there were issues until I came here and people were all yelling about it. Now, part of it is that I will up front admit that I haven't used any auxiliary devices for music, so I don't know if that's a major issue for people. I think most of the remaining gripes about the infotainment center is that it's not a touchscreen. I will say that the TrueTouch pad is not that great, but it's certainly not a deal-breaker. It just takes a LOT longer to do basic things, like even change radio stations. But to me, that's no big deal. I will talk about it, but basically because I have nothing else to complain about. That's how much I like my RDX. (Some of my actual big gripes have nothing to do with Acura and have to do with the dealer. When I went to do my first wash, I hadn't realized it, but the barrels of my wheels were scratched up. I don't even know how that happens. It's the insides of the wheels, not the outer part. But, oh well.)

I haven't encountered "limp mode" and I don't know what the oil dilution problem is, but I apparently haven't encountered that, either. I would say go for it.

I’ve owned my Advance for 11 months, and am approaching 18k miles. Yes, I’ve experienced a few problems - limp mode one time, infotainment froze one time, occasional “function no available” when using thumb wheel to select radio stations, and the newly introduced incorrect navigation info in the HUD. But I just returned from a 1000 mile road trip, and I love driving this car. I’ve started relying on google maps, so don’t use the native navigation with the incorrect turn info in the HUD any longer, and most of the other infotainment bugs are getting better with each software update. Is it perfect? No. But it is so much fun to drive, and I have no regrets.

I second DriverOne's assessment of the forum issues. A relatively few members seem to have some legitimate issues, but they are a small fraction of RDX owners.

I bought mine (Advance) on Feb 1, drove it home 750 miles the next day in one sitting, and I could have kept on driving at the end of the day. Since then, I've put on 9,300 miles, I select the twistiest winding mountain roads available, and the car is so comfortable and convincing to drive that I can hardly stand it. I have not had many of the infotainment glitches that others report, and only one issue still exists which I have not found a satisfactory workaround for (the HUD turn-by-turn is out of sync with the display directions). I have found that the voice control is much preferable to the touchpad for most common functions (like changing radio stations). Even the much hated Nav system works very well with the voice control, IF you know the address to enter and IF your wife will stop talking long enough for you to use the voice control (the RDX simply refuses to listen to just one of us!).

Putting aside the minor infotainment issues, the car is simply wonderful to drive. Comfortable, confident, reasonably good mileage, plenty of power, quiet, and relaxing to drive. The handling is superb, performance on icy streets is excellent (with real winter tires it could be a search and rescue vehicle), lots of power for freeway on-ramps and mountain hills, braking that is scary good, outstanding lighting at night, and on and on.

Bottom line: take an extended test drive, make sure this is the class and type of car you want to live with, and the kind of money you want to part with, and make your own decision. Take the forum (and any other forum) with a grain of salt. Life is too short to fret over stuff you can't control. Enjoy your new RDX.

So now which color?

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...b0b8cd91c.jpeg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...f7452ff3c.jpeg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...703f12a32.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...7055ecfab.jpeg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...452f5c9d9.jpeg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...4ed56d345.jpeg

Only go with black if you really like to wash your car.

Why is there a board with two giant nails next to that car? LMAO

Wander the lot, and see what calls you.

They were supposed to have it on the lot for me but it never happened. I went to their compound and simply lifted the ‘security’ fence of the pegs, opened the fence like it was barn doors, and then closed it again.

Lol. I’ve been doing that for about a week.

I have a blue in the Advance trim, which I really like. All of those look really nice, but like I said, I'd probably not get black. It looks cool, but it's tough to keep clean. The grey looks like a police cruiser, but in a good way. I don't usually like white cars, but that black A-spec trim looks pretty sharp on white. The red looks very sporty, too. I think any of them would be good.

Because of survivorship bias, everyone on here is going to tell you the car is great. :)

Grey looks the best to me in the pictures.

I bought a black on black. Remember, the black, red, and brown colors have a $400 upcharge. The black is an amazing color, and it glistens in the light. It does get dirty, but the most professional looking one IMHO is the black. The red to me attracts all the attention but it also gets boring and dull after a while. Someone on my street has the red one. The gray one is good too, but there are too many gray cars out there now that it also becomes boring. White and gray are the most popular colors in general for vehicles.

I noticed all the photos have the mirrors folded, are they folded manually because they are at the lot or the 2020 Aspec comes with folded mirrors standard?

The US Version of RDX does not have any power folding mirrors, although it is listed in the manual.

If you're eagle eyed, you can see on the plate holders that he's in Victoria, B.C. and Canadian RDXs have power folding mirrors, is my understanding.

I hear a security guard calling me, ha ha.

Is that the new Platinum White (or whatever they're calling it)? In that pic, it looks "whiter" than the White Diamond Pearl.

The 3G RDX comes with power folding mirrors in Canada. The only 2020 in the photo is the black.

It is the new PW and is much whiter then the WDP. Especially noticeable if they are parked side by side.

I prefer White or Silver an or dark grey.. though black, red and blue look great going down the road.

Base your decision on what YOU like, now what we like

I thought PWP was a MY2020 color for RDX, but in the previous post you mention only the black one is MY2020. Did they start offering PWP in MY2019 in Canada?

Yet it looks SO good when clean. has made it much easier to keep mine clean and shiny. Glad I discovered that stuff a couple weeks ago.

Around here, black looks so good.. for about an hour then dust will begin to show on it!

Keeping the RDX clean is impossible. I could wash it and then have it sit for an hour and it would be dirty. (I don't have a garage, so mine just sits out on the street.) Plus, the hood is fairly flat, so whenever it rains the water will bead up, but it will just sit in place. Then, it evaporates and the dust is left behind.

You’re absolutely right and I thought to myself before I posted the color question, it’s your car, get what you want. That said, I did it more for people’s opinions on color based on what people here have experienced in the last year with ease of care.

You’re right. My apologies, the PWP is a 2020 color.

I managed a detail shop where we only worked on high end and exotic cars. Wet sanding was offered as an option to our customers and I was the lucky one who did the wet sanding work. I understand the double edged sword that is black. I can see the red and blue being colors that one might get tired of looking at on a daily basis. I’ve narrowed it down to white, grey, or black and in all honesty, grey isn’t that much easier to maintain then black.

I like white & gray.

Red is nice too, but after seeing the red on the NSX w/ the Andaro paint pkg, that's the only red I want.

I have a white A-Spec (Nevada=hot sun...so white helps some), which I love, but I thought the metallic black looked particularly good on the RDX also. I have had three black cars and each time swore never again...but I did think maybe the metallic might help a little in keeping it looking cleaner.

haha. i like how the mind plays games. :)

Thank you for everyone’s help here. I’m not new to this forum but haven’t been here since I sold my 09 TXS Tech, which was grey. I finally pulled the trigger on the grey for the RDX. It’s nice to see everyone being helpful with what at the end of the day is a subjective question. Thanks again for everyone’s help, it’s nice to be back.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Welcome. I also chose the grey!

Congrats and a great choice! I was torn between the white and grey

You're not the first person to shoot his new car before purchasing, and you won't be the last, but really? Don't we have enough gun violence? You're not hunting deer. Are you afraid the car is going to bound off into the woods when it sees you coming?! Enough with the pulling triggers on innocent vehicles!

I have the 2019 white A-Spec SH-AWD. I would have liked the grey as a first choice but it only came with red interior leather. I only wanted black interior leather so went with the white.