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It's been a long time since I've been here (in fact my "last visited" datestamp is 11-24-2015, yikes!). I was a 1st gen TSX owner back in the day, then moved on to a 2012 Jetta TDI. Well, I'm sure you know what's happening with that. Soo, the search for a replacement car went under way. I came across a 2014 RLX /w Technology Package that I could not pass up. A really good price/mileage/condition combination. Came home with it last night and I couldn't be happier! Looking forward to learning the car in and out like I did the TSX and for the most part the Jetta.
I'll post pictures a little later (though it's completely stock, so nothing exciting, lol).
Last edited by thunder04; 11-12-2016 at 01:21 PM.
Reason: It's a 2014, not 2013. D'oh!
Congrats! It must feel like driving a limo compared to the Jetta.
In the pic of the rear view, what is the red line on the bumper? The TSX and now only the RLX are the only Japanese builds for Acura.
Thanks! In some aspects, the car definitely feels bigger, but I think it handles better than the Jetta, so it's "bigness" goes away in the corners.
The red line is a mistake I made in editing the photo. I was trying to block out our house placard since it has the number and street name on it. I was using Apple's Preview app...I drew a line and it didn't show up. Lo and behold it was on the bumper, but I didn't see it until after saving the picture .
Congrats on the new ride, thunder04! The rear wheel steering on the P-AWS is extremely well implemented, and the result is that it makes the car feel much smaller and nimble.....
Enjoy it in good health.
Congrats thunder04! You are going to really enjoy your automobile. Keep us in the loop on your impressions and if you have any questions, you are in the right place to get the answers. We are here to help!
Well, unfortunately, I already do need some advice! It appears that I managed to get a nail in one of my tires in the 24 hours or so I've had the car. I took it to a local tire shop (Les Schwab), and they said it's not repairable. The guy was very nice about it and didn't charge me even though he dismounted the tire to look at the nail from the inside. Soooo, I'm in the market for new tires...
Any recommendations? I typically buy tires from Costco, and they only have these three all season options:
Bridgestone - Potenza RE97AS @ $195.49 per tire
Bridgestone - Potenza RE970AS Pole Position @ $228.49 per tire
Michelin - Pilot Sport A/S 3+ @ 230.99 per tire
Any opinions on these? Or should I consider another tire from somewhere else?
It looks like Tire Rack rates the Michelins the best all-season tire for the wheel size. I'm thinking I'll just order those. Wasn't planning on dropping $1k on tires so soon, but it is what it is.
I would step up to the 255/40/19 size that I did. They look great on the rims, provide a little more rim protection against curb rash, and well they look great. I have the Continental DWS06 tires and am happy, but I think next time I will try the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3+ in the same size next time.
I would step up to the 255/40/19 size that I did. They look great on the rims, provide a little more rim protection against curb rash, and well they look great. I have the Continental DWS06 tires and am happy, but I think next time I will try the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3+ in the same size next time.
Congrats on the new-to-you RLX! It is a steal of a deal in the mid-luxury department. It is to your Jetta what an apple is to a blueberry--a massive step up.
Congrats on the new-to-you RLX! It is a steal of a deal in the mid-luxury department. It is to your Jetta what an apple is to a blueberry--a massive step up.
Well, unfortunately, I already do need some advice! It appears that I managed to get a nail in one of my tires in the 24 hours or so I've had the car. I took it to a local tire shop (Les Schwab), and they said it's not repairable. The guy was very nice about it and didn't charge me even though he dismounted the tire to look at the nail from the inside. Soooo, I'm in the market for new tires...
Any recommendations? I typically buy tires from Costco, and they only have these three all season options:
Bridgestone - Potenza RE97AS @ $195.49 per tire
Bridgestone - Potenza RE970AS Pole Position @ $228.49 per tire
Michelin - Pilot Sport A/S 3+ @ 230.99 per tire
Any opinions on these? Or should I consider another tire from somewhere else?
Some advice, if you buy tires on-line ask about the tire warranty certificates. I have a 2012 RL and purchased new Michelin Premier A/S earlier this year (already put 25k miles on them...great tires in wet, dry, quiet, fuel economy). Purchased through DiscountTireDirect. They sold me 4 certificates for price of 3 (about $90). Got a screw in tire a few weeks ago and tire could not be repaired. Called DiscountTire and they shipped a brand new replacement Michelin to my Acura dealer. No charge and no question asked. Honor system. Great deal and peace of mind.
Congrats on the new-to-you RLX! It is a steal of a deal in the mid-luxury department. It is to your Jetta what an apple is to a blueberry--a massive step up.
Thanks! Yeah, I've been driving the RLX since I brought it home (my wife drove the Jetta home). This afternoon I cleaned out the Jetta, and decided to move it over a smidge on the driveway. I dunno if I could go back...lol.
What sort of mileage are folks getting? Is there a thread for the topic? I know the estimate is 31 MPG highway, but so far it's not looking like I'll get near that. I'll be lucky if I get 25 MPG . I'll have to keep a closer eye on it on my drive to work tomorrow.
Alright, on my drive to work this morning the trip computer claims I got ~26 MPG. This was with me idling in the driveway for 5 minutes or so while I topped of my slow leaking tire.
On my way home today the trip computer claims got ~29 MPG. Not bad.
Something I noticed on my drive to work and drive home today...from a stop, if I give the car moderate throttle to ease up to the speed of the road (in this case, a 55 MPH highway), the car seems to "chug" between 1k and 3k RPMs. Like, speed will increase for a moment, then go flat, then increase for a moment, etc. You can feel it a bit, but its more noticeable via the tach. If I give it a little more throttle, the chugging just about goes away. Hopefully I'm making sense. Anyone else experience this?
Alright, on my drive to work this morning the trip computer claims I got ~26 MPG. This was with me idling in the driveway for 5 minutes or so while I topped of my slow leaking tire.
On my way home today the trip computer claims got ~29 MPG. Not bad.
Something I noticed on my drive to work and drive home today...from a stop, if I give the car moderate throttle to ease up to the speed of the road (in this case, a 55 MPH highway), the car seems to "chug" between 1k and 3k RPMs. Like, speed will increase for a moment, then go flat, then increase for a moment, etc. You can feel it a bit, but its more noticeable via the tach. If I give it a little more throttle, the chugging just about goes away. Hopefully I'm making sense. Anyone else experience this?
Check the Thread about "Transmission Problems", last entry on 9/16. There was a problem and fix described By George Knighton about VCM rocker arms. He may be able to comment on your situation to see if it could be related. I'm monitoring mine for this.
Check the Thread about "Transmission Problems", last entry on 9/16. There was a problem and fix described By George Knighton about VCM rocker arms. He may be able to comment on your situation to see if it could be related. I'm monitoring mine for this.
Wow, his original post in that thread seems to be exactly what I'm talking about. The only difference is I have a P-AWS. Perhaps I should bring the car in to the dealer for them to give it a look.
Also, the shifts are more noticeable than I expected. Nothing terrible, but the Jetta shifted more seamlessly than the RLX. Hmmm....at least I'm still under factory warranty for another ~10k miles.
I'm thinking of getting the back windows tinted. What percentage do you guys think would look good? I did 20% on the Jetta, but it has a black interior. With the RLX having a light interior, I was thinking of going 10%? I think 5% would be too low. Thoughts?
Had my new tires installed yesterday. Went with a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+. It was a good thing I opted to do all 4. The guys at Costco said I had nails in three of the four tires (though I didn't witness it in person). He said they thought I was nuts for buying new tires since the ones on the car had decent life left, but then they started finding the nails and then understood . I only thought the drivers front had a nail, since it was the only one leaking.
So far I like the tires. I'm pretty picky on my balancing though. When I bring the car in to my local Acura dealership to give it a once over and to catch it up on any services (if needed), I'll have them do wheel balance. I always feel like the dealer balances the wheels of their cars better than anyone else. VW seemed to do the best with my Jetta, and Honda/Acura seemed to do the best with my TSX (I spent many days at America's Tire having them re-balance and re-balance and re-balance only to have Honda (no Acura dealer near where I lived then) do it and it was spot-on).
Obligatory over-sized tire photo below. Guess I need to wash 'em...
Have the tint scheduled for next Friday . Still not quite sure what percentage to go with, but I've seen a few light interior cars with what looks like 5% and it looks good. I may just do that.
Oh, the down view of the backup camera is becoming my favorite camera view. When I park at work, I can back into a space and put the dashed line where the wall meets the pavement and I have just enough room to get behind the car and grab whatever I need from the trunk. Works out very well!
Have a service appointment scheduled for Tuesday to have my local Acura dealership check out a few things. They're going to check out why the passenger air bag indicator never indicates that the passenger air bag is off, and look into the rough (though very consistent) shifts the trans does. Also going to have them balance the tires, check the alignment (steering wheel feels a hair off, but could be my OCD), and check the trans fluid and oil to see if they need replacing. Since I didn't buy the car from an Acura dealer, I'm not sure where the car stands in terms of service. Hoping to build a good relationship with my local dealer even though I didn't buy from them.
Waiting for the shuttle to come pick me up. The alignment was definitely off (I wasn't crazy there), so they corrected that. Oil and trans fluid looks clean, so no replacement needed there. They reset the PCM which supposedly fixed the funky transmission shifting...I'll find out when I pick up the car.
I would step up to the 255/40/19 size that I did. They look great on the rims, provide a little more rim protection against curb rash, and well they look great. I have the Continental DWS06 tires and am happy, but I think next time I will try the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S3+ in the same size next time.
I meant to ask you about this before, but I keep forgetting.
When you change sizes, there is always going to be at least a nominal difference in diameter, even if there is a theoretical equivalence in a Plus 0 or Plus 1 situation.
When you change brands on top of the size change, there's an even bigger chance that there is a noticeable difference in diameter.
Do we trust the metrics of the HUD to be entirely correct, since there is a revs/mi change?
Something I noticed on my drive to work and drive home today...from a stop, if I give the car moderate throttle to ease up to the speed of the road (in this case, a 55 MPH highway), the car seems to "chug" between 1k and 3k RPMs. Like, speed will increase for a moment, then go flat, then increase for a moment, etc. You can feel it a bit, but its more noticeable via the tach. If I give it a little more throttle, the chugging just about goes away. Hopefully I'm making sense. Anyone else experience this?
You will want to keep your eye and ear on this.
You said that after resetting the computer, it seemed to be fine, and you said that the transmission fluid looked okay.
There are three things to look out for.
There are two TSB that refer to the transmission and the torque converter going wonky.
This happens because there are conditions under which the transmission fluid can overheat because of how the car is being driving, causing the transmission fluid to overheat to a point that is just before the programming causes the extra cooling to cut in. Over time, this reduces the efficiency of the fluid to the point that it causes unusual shifting
After the first TSB is taken care of, there are conditions under which the torque converter will deliver symptoms like you described, causing further attention to be needed.
Both of those TSB are directly related to overheated transmission fluid, and both are easy remedied via a programming change.
There is a "quiet" bulletin that has not been elevated to a TSB, and this one has caused problems for me. It is related to the VCM rocker arm assemblies needing attention. They are still documenting this, and they aren't absolutely sure what is causing it, but it might be related to service personnel using oil additives despite the fact that American Honda has said over and over again not to use oil additives in the J Motors that have the VCM assemblies.
I think this one's a reach because of the RPM at which you said you were having difficulties.
But if this *is* partially responsible, it is going to happen to you again and will need to be taken care of.
My personal car is a KC2, so I'm not going to get the transmission problems. However, I did fall victim to the VCM rocker arm assemblies and they had to be replaced and the car was down for a considerable time.
I want to thank you for your exuberance over your new car, which has served to remind us that both KC1 and KC2 are really very nice vehicles.
^^
Are you asking if the speedometer on the car will compensate and autocorrect the speed difference between the two sizes?
I am almost certain it will not.
Sorry if I misunderstood the question, George.
Yes, that is what I was asking. I was wondering exactly how the electronic speedometers are working, and if they're measuring things that would be immune to the overall diameter and speed control problems that are introduced when you change sizes and brands.
:-)
Since you have fewer revs/mi now, you're supposing that you're traveling 1% faster than the speedometer is saying.
So at 80 mph, if you assume you're 10 over you're really 11 mph over. I wonder if that'd cause a picket to pull out after you.
And if your car says you're getting 31 mpg, are you really getting 30.69 mpg?
0_o
Obviously, people have the baking and roasting under control, leaving me with time on my hands. LOL....
Yes, that is what I was asking. I was wondering exactly how the electronic speedometers are working, and if they're measuring things that would be immune to the overall diameter and speed control problems that are introduced when you change sizes and brands.
:-)
Since you have fewer revs/mi now, you're supposing that you're traveling 1% faster than the speedometer is saying.
So at 80 mph, if you assume you're 10 over you're really 11 mph over. I wonder if that'd cause a picket to pull out after you.
And if your car says you're getting 31 mpg, are you really getting 30.69 mpg?
0_o
Obviously, people have the baking and roasting under control, leaving me with time on my hands. LOL....
Actually I may be mistaken.....I would need to figure out if our cars use the rotation speed of the transmission shaft, or the wheel speed sensors (usually used for the ABS)......
pgeorg is our resident RLXh scientist and engineer who we all depend on for his amazing depth of knowledge and information. Now that I have rolled his socks down, pgeorg is always on the spot with the info we all need and depend on. He is also a very nice guy too.
The replacement of the stock tire size with the 255/40/19 measurements was the best thing I could do to dampen some of the extra firmness the suspension provides. When I need to replace the current shoes one day, I will do it again, but this time with the Michelin Pilot Sport M/S 3+. Regarding the speedometer differential, it is minimal at best and not noticeable at all. In fact I asked a local state trooper who was parked at the entrance to my neighborhood if he could verify my speed if I put my car on cruise control at 30mph and approached him. I did this a while ago and he obliged as I explained why I was asking him to do that. The HUD registered 30 mph as did his radar gun. So make of that as you will.
11-12-2016, 01:06 PM
The red line is a mistake I made in editing the photo. I was trying to block out our house placard since it has the number and street name on it. I was using Apple's Preview app...I drew a line and it didn't show up. Lo and behold it was on the bumper, but I didn't see it until after saving the picture 
. Still not quite sure what percentage to go with, but I've seen a few light interior cars with what looks like 5% and it looks good. I may just do that. 
