PaulNY

I have a v6 tech TLX loaner right now. I've been playing around with it and there are totally a few things that make me go 'I should trade my RLX in..' but at the same time 'I'd really miss this if I went TLX'

Things I like so far about TLX:
Exterior appearance is growing on me, its definitely a smaller beast than my RLX, but it still looks pretty nice. I really dont have many passengers, so smaller isn't necessarily bad.

The IDS is pretty fun, I do a lot of local driving during the week, so the economy mode would come in handy.

Although its something that's probably easily achieved with a software update on the RLX, the "3 line" radio display on the TLX's bottom screen is a great improvement. I can see radio station name/artist/song name. Sometimes in my RLX I switch back and forth from audio to nav to see whats playing. Anyone with an RLX knows how time consuming it can be switching inputs. For this matter, the overall improvement with switching inputs is so much faster and more fluid, and moving in the menus is almost instant on the TLX.

I'm actually starting to get used to that new push button gear selector and its been pretty nice, and feels pretty high tech. BUT I miss having the lever to rest my hand on when driving.

Acura Remote start v3 which integrates remote start with standard fob, only need to carry 1. Even the 2016 RLX still used the old v2, which is a pain.

Things I'm not crazy about on TLX:
Only LF/RF door keyless buttons, I often use the rear door buttons to either lock my door, or unlock for me when I'm loading stuff into the back seat.

Heated seat buttons are now on touch screen, and to get it up to max it requires 3 more presses (4 total, instead of just 'on' for RLX, or the old hi/low/off switch on my old TLs)

No Krell system...the ELS is pretty damn good, but I love my Krell speakers, even just the appearance of the Krell grills are pretty cool

Smaller trunk than RLX

Smaller back seat legroom. I don't have many passangers, but I do pack the car pretty tight when shopping or moving stuff around for work and usually find myself putting stuff on the floor in front of the rear seats.

If the RLX pulled some of the good features/fixes from TLX, I'd be so much happier

accord1999

Curiously, Canadian TLX Techs and higher have rear keyless buttons.

The Advance/Elites TLX have an auto setting which works well in controlling heat/ventilation; they relly should have kept the auto setting for the lower models because it's such a common complaint.

Mike_TX

Exactly my thoughts, with the exception of the Krell. The ELS system does everything I want it to.

Wonder why they put the rear door keyless buttons on the Canadian models and not the U. S. ones (?)

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wyliec2

RLX/TLX is an interesting comparison – I had been looking at the RLX off and on for about 6 months as I was contemplating trading my 2010 RL/Tech. For me, AWD, Advance and remote start were requirements.

Following the what/when/if/where of the RLX SportHybrid generated both intrigue (technology and performance) and skepticism (delay, no 2015 model, almost an urban legend status).

In any case, the list prices for comparably equipped TLX and RLX were $45,000 and $67,000 respectively – putting the RLX at a +50% premium. That was far too wide of a gap for me to rationalize and I basically decided to negotiate the best deal on a TLX and offer $10-12k more for the SportHybrid.

In late March I decided to get serious about trading and found that the SportHybrid wasn’t even listed any longer. I would like to have had an RLX SH option and it sounds as though an offer of TLX + $10k wouldn’t have been unreasonable. The dealer suggested there were only 300-some RLX SH models built (could that be correct?).

I’m now driving a 2015 TLX advance. I perceive no difference in front seat space, rear seat space is less. If I focus on the interior I can see where some TLX elements feel cheaper. I’ve settled on Sport mode for my default – the driving is different – my 5-speed RL ‘felt’ zippier; moderate acceleration with the 9-speed produces one or two downshifts. In hard acceleration from a stop into 55 MPH traffic the TLX is as fast or faster – I haven’t had to fully hammer it yet. I expect mileage improvement to be significant – the RL in-town was 15-16.

Being more of a ‘function over form’ person, the TLX technology was very persuading. The only feature I really miss is the active headlamps (portion of beam turns with wheels). My rural neighborhood has limited streetlights and the swiveling beams were very effective on 90 degree turns. I wasn’t sure if these were available on the RLX…

At this point I’m very happy with the TLX, the electronic shift took 3-4 days to feel natural; I like the automatic seat heat/ventilation with remote start. I expect to be haunted somewhat if/when a new version of the SportHybrid AWD is available.

That's my .02 on this comparison that I pondered for several months.

I did break my ‘rule’…which I’ve had since I started buying cars in the 1970’s…to never own a black car…no matter what, I kept coming back to the black copper pearl/espresso interior that sits in my garage.

hondamore

The RLX and I believe the TLX as well, no longer require the active, movable headlights because the Jewel-eye LED headlights illuminate a pattern that spreads out 20 degrees or more from the direction of travel. That is, the beams produced by the Jewel-eye illuminate directly ahead, 7 degrees from directly ahead, 14 degrees from directly ahead and 21 degrees from directly ahead producing a pattern that CONSTANTLY illuminates the area that would be lit up by the "turned" movable headlights (which I believe turned 20 degrees).
If you search "Jewel eye led headlights" on Youtube, there is a video that will explain things much clearer than my awkward attempt.

hondamore

^^the link to the youtube video regarding the Jewel eye LED headlights.

open contact

Heated seat buttons are now on touch screen, and to get it up to max it requires 3 more presses (4 total, instead of just 'on' for RLX, or the old hi/low/off switch on my old TLs)



you dont have to press three times, you can just press the last one for the max.

I have almost never use the touch screen, i just press the talk and say driver seat heat max

BellaTLX

I love Acura

George Knighton

I don't think any one of us is ever going to be fully proficient with the voice commands, or all of the different ways there are to perform the same task.

It's good that there are different ways of doing the same thing, but I suspect that some of us will go through the life of the car swearing that something is inconvenient just because we've never learned the other way of doing it.

And of course a big problem is that around my part of the world even those of us who've been transplanted end up sounding like something that is very different from the CBS News anchorman.

House can rhyme with hose, or loose, or sound like hah-oose with an almost equilateral accent on two syllables.

This voice commands crap is more complicated than we anticipated.

At least SIRI gives you an ability to switch between US, UK and Canadian. :-)

So. Do we pretend an affected Received Standard Oxford to get voice commands to work, or maybe try really hard to sound like the TV news guy?

But..wait...what if the TV news guy is Peter Jennings with his Ontario accent?

George Knighton

Wait wait wait....

Do you think that our problem is that the English voice commands were designed by some sound engineer in Saiyama with a Japanese accent?

Mike_TX

George (or is it Joorje, or Gee-arge, or Jayrge?) ... anyway, the system has always tended to adapt to my Texas drawl quite well, and I've found Acura's version of voice recognition to be better than most.

I think my most frustrating experience with it was with a Lexus LS460 ... I would often end up screaming obscenities at the robot lady hidden away behind my dashboard when she steadfastly refused to understand anything I was saying to her.

But you're right that most of us will never plumb the depths of, nor fully utilize the abilities of, the VR system.

Back in 2006 when I owned an MDX, I was invited to an Acura 'workshop' where the usage of the VR system was being studied. We were put in various Acura vehicles and asked to implement certain tasks while driving (change the passenger temperature, play cut 4 on CD 2, navigate to a certian address, etc.) solely by voice command. They were attempting to determine if people were actually able to utilize the system well, and how it could be improved. So maybe I played a small part in shaping the VR system we have today. Texas drawl and all.

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George Knighton

Aha!!

It's your fault!!

You folks down there have R's and G's, and we do not. I've noticed a Dallas/Houston and East/West Texas difference but for the most part, you all have final G's and pronounce your R's.

Mike_TX

No no no no. No final G's in Texas. You have us confused with Ohio. We're all about goin' and drivin' and doin' and eatin' and computin' and so on.

Now, R's ... yes. We like our R's. R's is good.

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holografique

You're overthinking it. The technology Acura is using simply doesn't work as well as other voice recognition systems. Siri, Google (and other systems) are great examples of voice recognition technology that works, and works well.

IMO Acura (like many of the other car manufactures) just need to step up their game in car technology. The mobile phone industry has completely changed the tech industry and the pace in which innovation is expected from even the average consumer. Even to the point of impacting enterprise computing and data center technology. The whole reason "cloud" is becoming so important for companies is because it's the only way they can keep up with the pace and demand that consumers are now expecting as a result of how accustomed they have become to having instant access to information anywhere, anytime, anyplace....all thanks to the smartphone.

The point im making is that a small handheld device that one can get for $30 a month on a 2-year contract is light years ahead of the tech we find in most cars today that costs tens of thousands of dollars. That needs to change.

Back to my silent hole.

Mike_TX

I agree it would be super nice if the tech in cars could do what my smartphone does. But unfortunately it ain't that easy.

Siri and Google Talk work so well because they are connected to all the resources of the internet sites that support them. Let there be web congestion or the occasional outage, and these things choke (just last night I got the "Sorry, Google is not available at the moment. Please try again." message while dictating a text message). The VR in our cars, OTOH, has to work with what it has onboard.

And yes, it would be nice if the car could access the cloud, but that would pretty much require a full-time cell connection and the costs attendant with that.

A recent article in one of my car mags discussed this very thing. Car mfr's have to commit to certain hardware and software as long as a couple of years before the car is in your hands, whereas phone mfr's are on a 6-month cycle and can incorporate tech much faster.

If we could blanket the Earth's surface with cellular connections and stop charging for it (), maybe car mfr's could do OTA updates and keep everything as fresh as with cellphones. But don't hold your breath for THAT!

Maybe the solution will lie in "mirroring" - speak the destination into your cellphone and it will appear magically on your Nav screen, or utter a command and it will route through the phone to your car's onboard system.

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weather

I LOVE the Texan accent, maybe because of my love for the twang in country music and that southern drawl?!

I remember I had to call an oil company in Houston for a work project several years and I swear that the lady that answered the call almost had me "pop the question" on the spot...I'll never forget how amazing she sounded!

Mike_TX

Well, just for the record, I'm taken so don't come on to me.

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fsmith

That's exactly the main issue. But I would also argue that the processor being used in the RLX is way underpowered, which you can see by the speed with which it handles commands. So they could at least spend a few more pennies for a faster processor and some more RAM, which could have been used to get more performance out of the voice recognition, IMHO.

weather

SHIT! Shot down before I can even use my French charm

George Knighton

Other brands are accused of this, too, and I don't know why they try to save money on such a cheap part that would improve the performance and enjoyment so very much.

George Knighton

I wonder if the ARM in the iPhone is stronger than the chip in the Acura.

I would believe it.

Not having access to every menu's commands at all times is supremely annoying.

If your iPhone as synced correctly (and there is a risk that it has not) then you can probably just say a name out of your iPhone contact list and the car will dial that contact (if there's only one number for that contact).

However, with many other menu items, you have to be on the menu for those items before it will work.

In other words, you might have to be in NAV or INFO before a command that directs that screen will do something.

Sometimes. But not all the time. Evidently, but not apparently.

It's maddening.

It's not terminal...it's not something that would make me take the car back...but it is maddening and just not quite right.

George Knighton

A quick YouTube search for Texas accents finds many of them with final G's.

I think there must be a big difference between East and West Texas.

Is that possible?

There might also be socio-economic factors involved as well.

George Knighton

This woman just tears me up. I think she's hilarious. :-)

George Knighton

This is the Virginia accent that seems not to get through to Acura much of the time.

I hope they're watching and trying to understand.

I me-ean, of koh-us, tryin' tuh unduhstan.

We have no monosyllables, and if Acura's trying to get us to change...we'll probably just buy another car.

It has to work better. More intuitively. The system needs more memory and more power, and it MIGHT need constant access to the aether for heuristic consultation.

Mike_TX

Well, George, no one really talks like that - even that white-haired lady on the Food Channel who tries really hard.

I suppose it's because I spent years traveling the globe on both business and pleasure, but you wouldn't know where I'm from by just listening to me speak. I seem to have developed a neutral accent over the years. But I still pronounce my "R"'s. Now, those final "T"'s .... those are something else entirely.

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George Knighton

Ooh..... LOTS of people talk like Mr Wilder, where I live now. :-)

Same here. My roots are in no way southern, but this is where I've settled and I've been here so long I just affect their accent (Piedmont/Tidewater) as the first resort.

Now, mind you, I can still affect Received Standard. For short periods of time, I can sound like I'm standing on the banks of the River in the town of Windsor. But it's affected, now...and I don't like to do it for long.

Received Standard is a cold accent. Everything's brought forward to the front of your mouth in a way that makes the language very precise, but also very cold.

George Knighton

And, mind you, I have tried Received Standard with Acura.

No affectation works 100%.

The damned thing just needs work!

Mike_TX

Well, kids, to get this thread back on track, I must admit I found the comparison to be in favor of the TLX for me, and I traded my RLX for a 2015 yesterday.

My primary motivation was to reduce the obscene lease payment I was facing every month with the RLX, and the TLX allowed me to do that. Not as much as I had hoped, but enough to merit a trade.

I will also admit I am already enjoying the superior ride comfort ... why the sporty mid-size model puts the big lux model to shame in that department escapes me. But it certainly does.

I'm still getting used to the push-button gear selector (where the hell to rest one's right hand?), and the 9spd trans itself. The nav has already made me smile with its easy address entry, though, and the LKAS is rather amazing (and spooky at the same time). The cross traffic warning has sounded off once already, too ... nice.

I still have my familiar controls, including the Brake Hold which has become a must-have feature for me, so everything is right where it should be.

Time will tell, but I don't think I"ll have any regrets about "trading down". Now I'm sure I'm banished from the RLX forum to the TLX forum where I belong.

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MisterZDX

^^ Congrats on the TLX man.

hondamore

Congrats on the new TLX Mike!!

There is never a need to justify or rationalize your decision to anyone - you did what was best for YOU and the discussion ends at that. Enjoy you new ride.

neuronbob

Just kidding. Congrats!

sooththetruth

Oh, my. That is impressive. I didn't think a woman's voice....

And I have just added the word "hang" to my list of favorite four letter words.

Mike_TX

NOOOOOooooo ....

Oh. Just kidding?

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hddnav

Congratulation on your choice, I think. A TLX is definitely more value-oriented and appeals to the left-brain, but not so much the right-brain (even compared to the RLX).

I presume that the problem is that the RLX does not emotionally justify the "obscene" payment, while a humble offering like the TLX (and Honda Accord) does a lot better in this respect. If only the FWD RLX was able to justify this emotionally (which is absolutely cannot, except, in my opinion, to a 75-year old grandfather), I bet that you would still have stuck with a technically "superior" (except for the gadgets) but emotionally underwhelming RLX.

Wouldn't the Hyundai Genesis have been a better "sidegrade" than the TLX?

Mike_TX

LOL. Where to start?

Right side/left-side-brain psychotomy aside, I did enjoy the RLX's "road presence' and premium fitments. I did not enjoy the firm ride created by the suspension and 19 in. wheels.

In addition, I don't require my cars to be emotionally compelling, and it doesn't take a hard look to see that in terms of features, the "humble", "value-oriented" TLX is actually superior to the RLX ... far better ride quality, better nav system, split-folding rear seats, better mileage, LKAS, etc.

So it's not a matter of giving in to one side of the brain, or depriving myself of anything of value. My choice was one of practicality for sure, but I don't think I gave up anything in the process.

As for the Genesis, I've been impressed with it, I've driven it, and I've decided it's not for me right now. I have owned or driven just about every kind and brand of car and truck you can imagine, and I've found through the years that Acuras have more things right than BMW or Lexus or Mercedes or any other mfr.'s cars. Just my opinion.

I can't speak for 75 year old grandfathers, since I'm only a 70 year old grandfather. Check back in five years. :wink:

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hddnav

Fair enough . Enjoy your new TLX, knowing that you're young at heart.

krava

I finally got to test drive the RLX after driving 200 miles to dallas to get some info. Didn't like it at all. Everytime I stepped on the breaks it felt like I was slamming them on and jerking the car for some reason. It felt too big on the inside, very hard to lay my arm on the window sill and still hold the steering wheel with my left arm only. I felt like I was taking up the entire lane on the freeway up also but I know that isn't true but from the point of view I felt like I was as wide as the whole lane. The ride is pretty rough over rough roads. It felt like the same experience as driving the 2015 genesis 5.0 the size of it. I got to sit in an advanced one and the radio is the best of any car anywhere which is nice. I am not used to the size of it and I might be able to. I test drove the TLX and that thing is nice, perfect fit drove nice etc, the closest thing I have seen to the GS350. I was disappointed with the RLX (the put me in one that didn't even have NAV) as it wasn't that much fun to drive. I was happy to get back in my older GS, that I know how to handle. I have heard they need to get the "transmission ghost" out of the TLX.

neuronbob

Sounds like you are a TLX person. Go get one!

The RLX is bigger and has a sportier suspension than the TLX. I think we all get that. We'll see if the suspension is changed for the 2016 RLX.

holografique

Who said he was justifying or rationalizing? He was just giving us details on the reasons he made the move.

So I dont think the discussion just ends there. This is important feedback for Acura to understand why the RLX isnt doing as well as it could be and take the opportunity to make it better than the car below it that costs tens of thousands less, yet captured this customers attention, and one that already owned the RLX. His reasons for trading down being both the unjustified high cost of the RLX (which IMO are due to lack of features that make it worth the cost) and the ride quality issues (of which Ive been saying for decades now) should be important notes for Acura to take back to the drawing board and hopefully improve upon.

Congrats on the trade in Mike. After having several TLX loaners, it is a superb vehicle and better than the RLX in a number of areas including the value/cost. It is a well excuted product in the tradition of what Acura has come to be best known for. The ONLY things that have prevented me from making the move myself are the lack of folding mirrors, parking sensors (huge one for me), automatic steering tilt, the bigger size and nicer leather quality of the RLX steering wheel (another big one for me), and the general interior design. I could almost deal with the interior if it didnt lack those other important features for me.

Which trim TLX did you end up with? PAWS or SH-AWD?

RLX-Sport Hybrid

Congradlations! I noted on another thread this morning that I think the better term is "right sized" rather than "down sized". If the RLX isn't hitting your sweet tooth, and the TLX does, who is anyone to comment whether that is right or wrong? If the TLX show car is what one could buy, I might have very well bought that instead of the RLX-SH. The wheel/brake package and the front/rear bumpers that were unique to the show car should have been what we saw in the showrooms. If we did I would have had a very tough decision on the visuals alone.

Be sure to give us pictures and no need to leave us for the TLX side. I think I can speak for all of us that we like you over here.