Chris Johnson

Coolguy

I am bit old school . I know many of you prefer blackout wheels, but its bit more aggressive for me. I like 20" but not color. Acura should have given few more color options for wheels.

acuraada

Coolguy

well, Hondas are typically like this. I have always seen more options/configuration choices with Toyota brand vs Honda.

T-BasZ

I went with leasing the A-Spec over the Advance because of the following reasons:

RIMs - Advance RIMs are just ugly, the Tech even had better looking RIMs. I get more compliments on the RIMs than the car.
Interior - The A-Spec had a better feel and look, the seats were more comfortable to me in the A-Spec. The Advance seems more for older people, too many seat adjustments. I'm not crazy about the wood trim also.
Chrome - The Chrome doesn't do anything for me. I got White on Black and the the Black RIMs and Blackouts look great.

Here are the things I wish the A-Spec had:

HUD - This is really cool, but I can live without it.
Rain Sensing Wipers - Didn't realize how great this feature is when you don't have it.
Side Dimming Mirrors - Not as bad as other cars, the A-Spec seems to have a very very light tint on the front side windows. Or that could be me.

All the other stuff I can live without for now. This is just an awesome car and is so much better than the previous versions. BTW I'm 41 years old.

zroger73

Different strokes for different folks.

I can't stand black wheels. They remind me of vehicles where the owners couldn't afford to fix flats, repair damaged wheels, or buy new tires, so they gathered up a set of spare tires from all the junk vehicles sitting in the dirt yards surrounding their trailer houses to install on the only remaining vehicle that sort of runs. (Okay, okay... Maybe black wheels aren't that bad.)

Unlike the majority of Americans who are fat "average", I'm tall and skinny and have to shop at more expensive stores to find clothing that fits properly. As such, I appreciate a plethora of seat adjustments - especially the adjustable side bolsters on the Advance trim which would seemingly make more sense in the performance-oriented A-Spec to me.

I grew up in an era where chrome was associated with luxury. Body-colored everything looks cheap to me. Blacked-out trim also looks cheap. I can forgive the lack of chrome on public services vehicles paid for by tax dollars, Hellcats, or bargain-basement economy cars, but I prefer chrome otherwise. I think a vehicle's looks should match its capabilities. You shouldn't take a Lincoln Town Car and put racing stripes on it nor should you take a Honda Fit and put wire wheels on it - some things just don't go together like brown shoes and a black belt.

But, those are just my opinions and preferences. Thankfully, Acura offers different trims for the price-sensitive buyer (base), the reasonable buyer (Technology), the sporty buyer (A-Spec), and the luxury buyer (Advance).

"If everybody looked the same, we'd get tired of looking at each other. You couldn't tell the lady next door from your own damn mother." - We Are Neighbors by The Chi-Lites (1971)

birdonamission

Agree with the different strokes thing. The RDX is one fine looking car in all trims, but I personally prefer the Advance over the A-Spec because of the features the former has that the latter doesn't. I'm also not a fan of the blacked-out look and, IMO, the chrome on the Advance is not over-done (which I wouldn't have liked if was).

It's important that I like the way the car, the wheels, or whatever, looks. I couldn't care less about compliments. I agree the Advance wheels are not "fantabulous" - but it's grown on me... lol

OliveBread

Oddly, I like the Advance wheels a lot because they are different from any other wheel out there and I genuinely think they look really good too.

Yotrek

"Rain Sensing Wipers" Canadian A-Spec comes with it..

Madd Dog

RDX10

Hahah hey we pay so damn much for a lot of things here, I hear you guys talking about 30k for cars that we spend 50k on. Yes comparing USD to CAD I get it, but living and earning in CAD 50k is still 50k to me.

Sooooo let us have this one thing and hey in the past it was Canadians who burned down the white house but presently your president is doing an amazing job of that himself.

DrWoo

I got a little chuckle reading this, as an old person with a white advance, when you mentioned you got White on Black. When we pulled up in our new white Advance, my 30-something son-in-law said he always felt white was for old people. But he just bought a white minivan last weekend, so ......

I've always bought a car for myself, not for others to look at. And while I don't want to drive an ugly car (think Lexus front end), the interior is what's most important to me. The RDX dash is beautiful IMO, and the advance with the wood trim and the espresso leather is just gorgeous, and gets comments all the time. Add the HUD, comfortable seats and adaptive suspension (I am old after all) -- That's what I see and feel when I drive, not the wheels or the chrome. To each his own.

starlord

I'm curious on the age group of the people who bought A-Specs vs Advanced. I'm 31 and have my first kid on the way so I needed to sell my little sedan. I too chose an A-Spec over the advanced and extra features could not derail me from all the chrome and hideous rims on the Advanced.

HUD - Also didn't care too much about this. The HUD would take away my focus away from the awesome RSX throwback red cluster, it really makes you feel like you're in a sporty crossover.
Rain sensing wipers - Actually don't prefer this, had it on my Audi A4 and hated the fact it would go off randomly from just a tiny bit of water. It would cause more dirt across the windshield.
Interior - I chose the red interior, not a fan of wood trim.
Adaptive dampeners - I don't like body roll and if the ride is too soft I get car sick. I prefer a stiffer planted right and I would like that in all dynamic modes.

zroger73

I knowingly and willingly bought a brand new Buick when I was 26 years old. I actually chose it over a Honda Accord EX at the time because the Regal had more power, a quieter and smoother ride, and more features for the price. It never left me stranded during the seven years I owned it before finally trading it in on my first of what would become nine Hondas and an Acura so far. I've also proudly owned four Honda Ridgelines, so obviously a vehicle that fits my needs wins out over what others think. If they don't like what I'm driving, they're welcome to buy me something they like. Hell, I'd probably drive a Chrysler if someone else paid for it.

I find my RDX's rain-sensing wipers to work very well. The sensor behind the windshield has more elements and appears to be a different design than others I've seen which may explain the improvement. My brother had a Civic Touring and its rain-sensing wipers were useless - they'd often do the opposite of what they were supposed to do.

acuraada

I can't believe we are talking about rain sensing wipers between two trims that MSRP over 40k, something that my 10 yrs old SUV has and a 27k MSRP Mazda 2018 CX-5 includes. Shame on Acura.

RDX10

Right?! They should be standard. You're telling me auto braking and blind spot monitors and lane keep assist is standard but something available on 18k kias is not available on 40k+ Acuras? It's been around FOREVER, there is no reason it should be up for discussion.

Tom2

I don't really like the way the A-spec RDX looks. I do like the idea of bigger 20" wheels, but the dark grey color isn't exactly my favorite look. The exhaust tips look too big for the vehicle. I much prefer the more "normal" looking tips on the non-A-spec vehicles. I do like the blacked out trim, but only on certain colors. On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of all the chrome on the other trim levels either, but the chrome blends well with colors like white, silver, and even grey to some extent. The wheels on the Advance trim are decent, but I don't think they are any better than the Tech Pkg wheels. I really like the optional 20" wheels that Acura offers, but the price is beyond ridiculous.

Overall, the Advance was the way to go simply because of the features. The HUD is simply awesome and whenever I'm driving the RDX, I hardly ever glance at the dashboard anymore. The other stuff like rain sensing wipers and heated steering wheel are things I've had and still have in other vehicles and once you've had that stuff, it's hard to not have it anymore.

Spiller

RDX10

This exactly, the A-Spec here is pretty ridiculously loaded. There is really no reason to go advanced unless you want the ugly IMO chrome trim and wheels as well as heated rear seats. In Canada you have to jump up to platinum elite to get the goodies you guys get on advance. I'd still go with the A-Spec and save a good 5K.

Spiller

Sorry folks, I missed a couple of things on the Canada A-Spec.

Add: power folding side mirrors; Add: spare tire

Not that I had to convince myself...but that value equation just swayed even more to the A-Spec over Platinum Elite (~Advance).

B25Nut

I feel the same way as zroger73 about the blacked-out look, which reminds me of seeing cars in the past that lost their hub caps and the owners never replaced them. I do feel, however, that the two additional chrome trim options that are available for the front and back for the RDX would be overdoing the chrome attitude I like.

birdonamission

Interesting comment in this review from MacRumors,

"There's an additional Advance package that includes some other nice features such as rain-sensing windshield wipers, a heads-up display, a surround-view camera system, and 16-way power front seats including thigh extensions and side bolsters, but interestingly that package is not available on models equipped with the A-Spec package.

Acura tells me it's received some feedback from customers who would have liked to add some of these Advance package features to an A-Spec vehicle, so it's potentially something Acura will be taking a look at for the future as it weighs customizability against the simplicity of minimal trim packages."

By the way, despite the headline, the reviewer is mostly placing the onus on Apple to update CarPlay to better integrate with the True Touchpad Interface, which he generally likes.

Review: 2019 Acura RDX Offers Novel Touchpad Infotainment Controls, but CarPlay Doesn't Fully Support Them

rdXD

I'm 33 and am leaning towards white as well. I love the look of the white A-Spec, but really want the features found in the Advance. So I may end up getting the Advance then order A-Spec wheels and wrap the chrome trim.

That and the lack of a digital speed readout are surprising to me. My $28k GTI has both.