Tony Pac

Acura RDX is one of the best seller SUV in the market. Some members got unlucky by having certain issues that upset them. I highly suggest you read the following before purchasing an RDX. It's easy to criticize and find issues but no one looks at the overall package.

"Buying

Expert Advice

Last Updated: March 14, 2019

Strong Demand: RDX sales increased by 24 percent in 2018 compared to 2017. The trend continues in 2019 as sales have drastically improved by 35.8 percent relative to the same period in 2018. It is currently the top seller in the luxury compact SUV segment, beating out the Mercedes-Benz GLC and the Audi Q5." Also, read carefully the Rankings & Awards section along with Scorecard.

Source: https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/acura/rdx

FYI: this website collects data from multiple sources and it's not based on one person's opinion.

PAPI007

I saw the overall package and that is why I purchased one. As in multiple threads, most people are having issues with infotainment, which has mostly been worked out, brakes squealing, rough shifts, yada yada yada. None of which I am having issues with. Not to say that others are not.

romer

Is it accurate to say ‘most’ are having problems? What data support that? Maybe ‘lots’ would be accurate. What constitutes a problem? A good friend of mine also has an Advance AWD. She complained to me about engine noise in the early gears. But once she moved to Comfort it was all much better. So much subjectivity in claims of problems. Others love the engine sound in Sport mode. We have to be careful in how things get characterized.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

non-troubleshooters will always complain about minor inconveniences.

bobby2478

Perhaps another way of phrasing it would be "most people who are having issues those issues tend to pertain to the infotainment system"

HotRodW

If you're researching, you should check out Edmunds, too. They have it #5 in their rankings, awarding it 7.9 out of 10 stars. There are currently 118 consumer reviews posted, too. Consumers weren't so kind, however, giving it an average rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars. The number of 1-star reviews is shocking at 14%.

Madd Dog

The infotainment complaints are valid, even if a few have been corrected by now. Acura needs to completely stabilize the system in the next update, or it could kill this fine-driving automobile.

Three-finger reboots are not for the everyday drivers.

Tony Pac

Acura pushed at least 30-40K units so far. If 3-4% of buyers encountered some sort of issues (especially related to infotainment) doesn't scare me as a buyer. I believe this is normal for a first-year model. Also, no vehicle is perfect. Maybe Lexus

bobby2478

They sold over 63k last year (in 6 months) and another 9k so far this year through Feb, so as of the end of Feb they've already sold over 72k RDX

Tony Pac

You're correct but don't forget the first 6 months of the year, they were selling the older model. So, I think 50-55% of the 2018 RDX were new and the remaining from the previous model.

Again, I think I am underestimating the numbers...The issues reported are less than 2-3%.

bobby2478

Good point, technically those RDX numbers include all models, including any 2017's or 2018's that remained on dealer lots. So no definitive number of just new gen RDX, but I think it's fair to say they've sold a LOT of them as they're selling like hot cakes

Mark S Long Island

I agree with Madd Dog the infotainment quirks/problems are valid. If not taken seriously & corrected by Acura in their 2nd update since Mid-December, rumored to be any week now, I think the luster of buying this SUV will taper off drastically.

After driving the Advance model since late August it’s became clear almost immediately that Acura should have put much more resources then they did up front to stabilize the system as to not piss off long time Acura customers. And they have been playing catch up ever since.

Their communications to their dealers have been poor as how to guarantee the steps to take to eradicate with 100% certainty the glitches. Some say “try” a reboot to factory settings while others have said that did not work for the last customer. We all know to add the personal settings back is no simple thing & would be time consuming, but I’d consider it if the dealer was confident all the issues would be gone. Some say to turn the radio off before turning the car off & not to turn it on for 30-60 seconds after restart. I tried that & I can say for certain the results a better.

My major issue since mid-February update is my HUD display often shows that my next turn is a LEFT while the color screen says the correct turn is a RIGHT or visa-versa. I can only hope they fix it before someone make a life altering wrong turn.

This is my 3rd Acura & might be the last. While I love many aspects of the new design & don’t have any issues with the true touch pad rather than use of a touch screen, introducing so many quirks/problems even adding newer once from update to update, has many including myself annoyed.

bobby2478

While I don't have any experience with the RDX it does appear that Acura in general should be dedicating much more resources and have a much better plan in place to thoroughly test out brand new vehicle redesigns and tech before rolling out to customers. Catch as much of this stuff up front as you can, fix it and fix it on manufacturing lines so it doesn't persist for an entire year's worth of customers.

Way too many people experiencing issues that while even if they are eventually addressed for those owners at no cost, it still ticked them off and Acura's reliability ratings already took a massive beating because of it. I feel like with Acura by the time they are a few years into a redesign then they tend to have most of those early adopter issues ironed out by then (unless like the MDX they introduce brand new stuff like new transmission, hybrid, etc).

So in general I'd say if buying an Acura unless you are comfortable dealing with the liklihood of growing pains in a new redesign you'd be safest if you waited until maybe the 3rd year of a redesign, by then I would imagine many of the problems early adopters faced would be ironed out by then. So word of caution for anyone waiting to pounce on the 4th gen MDX when it's eventually unveiled as I'd imagine it will have it's fair share of issues the first year or 2 on the market (which is about the same with every new redesign, not specific to Acura)

Dereileak

I live in a city that doesnt have any acura dealers for 2 hours, and I have seen 4 2019 RDX's besides mine now, which is pretty darn good

NJMaverick

When I first saw how highly rated the RDX was in the luxury SUV segment, I thought, "wow! the RDX is really punching above its weight class"

Marino Moutafis

the RDX out-kicks it's coverage for sure!

oblio98

Quite frankly I am shocked that there have only been 2 updates since the end of last June when the car came out. It's April (well, almost), and there are reams of complaints about this infotainment system. You would think that they would be a lot quicker to get these issues fixed.

It would tend to indicate that the major issue is under performing hardware in the system, something that cannot be fixed with a software update.

Njbrandon

The first December update made things worse, also ruining the USB connection forcing us to unplug it every time. However the most recent update fixed a lot of other issues and lock-ups so I'm hopeful this next third update is the charm. You bring up an interesting point about the hardware. It's definitely an issue how long the system takes to boot up that I'm not sure an update can fix. I'm trying to be patient but if this next update doesn't fix things I'm cutting my losses and moving on.

JB in AZ

I hesitate to "blame" the hardware, as I have had near instant boot up and availability of features, and yet other times it lags. Which leads me to "blame" software more, perhaps a memory or buffering glitch? Which, being a long time Android user, I know this isn't out of the question. My last vehicle, an 18 CR-V Touring had a way to "clear the cache" on the head unit. I don't remember exactly how, but I bet there is a way on the RDX as well.

Njbrandon

Dealer replaced my system and did a factory reset which cleared whatever memory was cached but still didn't solve my issues. There seems to be a lot of inconsistency in build quality. Mine literally takes a good 45 seconds to boot up. I watch a lot of youtube car reviews and most other brands infotainment systems load instantly.

fiatlux

Therein lies the issue: Acura just doesn't have enough resources. They only sell cars in North America so they don't have the sales volume that Lexus, Audi, Merc, BMW, etc. have, and Honda still treats them like they're just a branding/marketing exercise that sells a gussied up version of their cars. I imagine that building "all-new" platforms just for NA has taken up quite a bit of Acura's already spread-out resources, so much so that they have to rely on third parties and suppliers to validate outsourced components like the infotainment system.

JB in AZ

Just to make another point about resources and outsourcing infotainment systems...

Outsourcing is not at all unique to Acura.

As an example, our 15 Ford Escape has a infotainment system built by Sony and "powered by Microsoft". I would think Ford would have all the resources they need, as they do indeed sell vehicles worldwide.

It just makes good business sense to build the parts of the car you are good at (engines, as an example) and outsource the parts to companies that have that system as their main business. There are MANY systems in cars today that are not developed/manufactured in house of the car manufacturer. Shock absorbents, glass, headlights, seat belts just to name a very few.

Madd Dog

Then what is the excuse for Toyota’s crappy Entune system? Or Lexus’ unusable mouse-type system, which Toyota has had running for years?

BMW finally got iDrive right, they say, but it has been under development for about 15 years.

These systems are very hard to get right, and I can think of very little that does that first time out of the box. I have learned to make the best of what is available, to mitigate problems, and to just deal with them as they came up, in addition to increasing my knowledge of the systems to the maximum extent I can, and not just giving up and throwing my hands up.

This has worked for me since the first Wang word processing hardware came into the office. Then transitioning to an MS-DOS platform, then Windows (remember the limitations on those? ), and on up through the first cell phones, an early iDrive, etc., Apps on my phone are bigger than the entire hard drive on the first computer I bought for home use.

I have friends who can’t figure out how to work their car’s nav systems, and this goes back to when they first started appearing. I was explaining the ACC and LKAS to a friend who has a 2018 Mercedes E. I said “ you probably have some of this”. He said, “I do? Mercedes told me to come back and have their people show me how all this new stuff works, but I never did.”

Friends with modern Mercedes, Kias, Avalons, and Mazda 6s all have stuff they don’t use or know how to use. A couple of them never even paired their phones.

So, I recognize how difficult it is to make this stuff work at all. I can tolerate a steep learning curve and adapt to shortcomings in order to get the advancements that modern technology brings, whether the modern technology is a ‘70s 8086, or a 2019 RDX infotainment system.

fiatlux

My cynical take on that is that they know their primary demographic is old farts who wouldn't know a good infotainment from a bad infotainment. In Lexus's case, it seems like they've taken the approach of just adding novel features for the sole purpose of differentiating itself from Toyota. Actual usability and usefulness appears to be an afterthought.

fiatlux

Outsourcing components is fine, but at the end of the day the responsibility of making sure everything works well falls onto whoever is at the end of the supply chain (i.e. the automaker). The Japanese appear to have eschewed this responsibility to the point that all they care about is that the component is built according to spec, but not that it works well. I haven't come across a single infotainment system in a Japanese car that wasn't slow, laggy, buggy, unintuitive, convoluted, or had graphics from 10 years ago. The best ones I've used have been from Korean cars, American cars, or some German cars.

ZipSpeed

This always makes me LOL when I see a driver in a modern high end vehicle hold the phone to their ear while driving. Perhaps I shouldn't laugh though. Tech is easy for me. To others, it might as well be a foreign language.

Madd Dog

I get upset with them, and start yelling. “You are driving a modern car, connect your bluetooth!!!”

Gaddammit, apply yourself. Foreign language? I took a foreign language in the seventh grade. This stuff is easily learned if people try. Get your 9 year old grandson to hook you up. Geez, do I get worked up.

/rant.

Marino Moutafis

PREACH!

I thought I was the only one ready to loss my shit when I see someone in an 2019 S-class going through the roundabouts in the area with the phone in their hands talking!

Stew4HD

I see this every day in many higher end vehicles.. I shake my head too. That means that they are driving with their knees since they are using their free hand to express themselves!

flames9

I just want to shoot people that are talking on their phones while driving....Wish police would enforce it more..easy $$$$ grab for them.....

Stew4HD

I am not as bothered by those talking as I am by those idiots that text with driving.. those make me crazy

markm929

Even better...every car I have purchased that has BT, the dealer has set up my phone to the car on delivery. No 9 yo necessary. Either the sales person isn't doing their job on delivery, or "you can't fix stupid" on these people.

bobby2478

Only thing I can think of is they either don't know what to do, or they are too busy/lazy to pair it and by the time they are in the car they are driving and thus unable to establish a new BT pair at that point so are stuck using the phone itself. When they get where they are going they don't remember to pair the phone so they can use BT and the cycle continues. I'd like to believe it's because they are too lazy/busy to do it, but I'm sure there are a fair number who simply can't figure it out

tangible

On behalf of my age cohort, let me point out that a characteristic of farts is that they become less obnoxious as they get older.

It’s incumbent on carmakers to come up with a UX that ordinary people can understand. The RDX is blessed with two infotainment systems, its own and, in the case of iPhone users, CarPlay. One works wirelessly via Bluetooth; the other only when plugged in. Features that they have in common are controlled and presented completely differently, without logical cause. Where’s the speed limit? What is my audio source? What happens when the phone rings? It depends!

I don’t have a magic solution, but I do know that blaming the user is a dead end.

Madd Dog

Nah, your sense of smell is going, along with hearing loss.