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There's a dealer near there who uses Tysons as an overflow parking.
I almost mentioned this before, but the Maryland plates threw me.
On the other hand, if two of us from Maryland were meeting at Tysons, I suspect somebody would've mentioned it.
Hey, George -- don't want to blow your mind but those two cars belong to me and the wife. We're in Bethesda, I assume that chances are pretty good that we may be the only family with two AWD RLX Advance models right now. The white one is my wife's third RL -- she had a 2005 and a 2011 before that.
I bought one of the first P-AWS RLX models back in August 2013 after concluding that the AWD might never arrive. I traded it in for a nearly identical SH-AWD (Pomegranate) and we got the wife moved over to the SH-AWD (White), both in January 2015. You probably recall that at that particular point in time, it was looking like there might never be AWD again in the RLX family, and I felt like this was the sweet spot between getting some price flexibility in the remaining 2014 models and in losing the opportunity for getting our preferred colors and trim.
I suppose I've been a member for quite a while but have never posted before getting "called out" in this thread. Our first Acura was a CL in July 1997.
Hey, George -- don't want to blow your mind but those two cars belong to me and the wife. We're in Bethesda, I assume that chances are pretty good that we may be the only family with two AWD RLX Advance models right now.
Well, hello there! :-)
I'm in Vienna for meetings every once in a while. Maybe we'll end up there at the same time.
and I felt like this was the sweet spot between getting some price flexibility in the remaining 2014 models and in losing the opportunity
In my case, the dealer thinks he me a little too much price flexibility.
Hey, George -- don't want to blow your mind but those two cars belong to me and the wife. We're in Bethesda, I assume that chances are pretty good that we may be the only family with two AWD RLX Advance models right now. The white one is my wife's third RL -- she had a 2005 and a 2011 before that.
I bought one of the first P-AWS RLX models back in August 2013 after concluding that the AWD might never arrive. I traded it in for a nearly identical SH-AWD (Pomegranate) and we got the wife moved over to the SH-AWD (White), both in January 2015. You probably recall that at that particular point in time, it was looking like there might never be AWD again in the RLX family, and I felt like this was the sweet spot between getting some price flexibility in the remaining 2014 models and in losing the opportunity for getting our preferred colors and trim.
I suppose I've been a member for quite a while but have never posted before getting "called out" in this thread. Our first Acura was a CL in July 1997.
Welcome aboard. Thanks for posting. Love to hear your thoughts about your Sports Hybrids. Everyone who has this car is a rare bird but two in one family is one of a kind.
BTW - if RLX- Sports Hybrid find out you have two Sports Hybrid he will be very jealous. As you may have seen he wants to acquire A second one just to have a spare.
Welcome aboard. Thanks for posting. Love to hear your thoughts about your Sports Hybrids. Everyone who has this car is a rare bird but two in one family is one of a kind.
BTW - if RLX- Sports Hybrid find out you have two Sports Hybrid he will be very jealous. As you may have seen he wants to acquire A second one just to have a spare.
I thought I was going to be the first one with "two"!!!!!! Congrats!!!! In September I will be at an event in CT and I think it would be great if the New York/New Jersey, Mass, DelMarVa and Ohio betas all were in one place for a photo op. I'm not excluding anyone else if they want to travel, but I think this is the most reasonable just based on travel distances. Guys from the Drive Channel are usually there at these events which is cool.
Hey, George -- don't want to blow your mind but those two cars belong to me and the wife. We're in Bethesda, I assume that chances are pretty good that we may be the only family with two AWD RLX Advance models right now. The white one is my wife's third RL -- she had a 2005 and a 2011 before that.
I bought one of the first P-AWS RLX models back in August 2013 after concluding that the AWD might never arrive. I traded it in for a nearly identical SH-AWD (Pomegranate) and we got the wife moved over to the SH-AWD (White), both in January 2015. You probably recall that at that particular point in time, it was looking like there might never be AWD again in the RLX family, and I felt like this was the sweet spot between getting some price flexibility in the remaining 2014 models and in losing the opportunity for getting our preferred colors and trim.
I suppose I've been a member for quite a while but have never posted before getting "called out" in this thread. Our first Acura was a CL in July 1997.
My mind is blown. Wow! His-n-hers Sport Hybrids is super-cool.
Welcome to the forum, and to the "beta-tester" club. Go post your purchase details in the "owner's sign in" thread. We hope to see you a little more often.
edit: we now have 13 Sport Hybrids on the forum, 5% of the 250 released last year.
Hey, George -- don't want to blow your mind but those two cars belong to me and the wife. We're in Bethesda, I assume that chances are pretty good that we may be the only family with two AWD RLX Advance models right now.
Welcome, djgross. You are clearly a men of impeccable taste in automobiles! Perhaps twice as impeccable as the rest of us SH-AWD owners.
edit: we now have 13 Sport Hybrids on the forum, 5% of the 250 released last year.
I count 14 (George, bob, Zoomer, Malibu Flyer, ptbarnett, RLX-Sport-Hybrid, timmins, hondamore, misu, pga#33, sri-gondi, djgross, ms. djgross, and me). Did I count one too many?
Welcome, djgross. You are clearly a men of impeccable taste in automobiles! Perhaps twice as impeccable as the rest of us SH-AWD owners.
Thanks, all. One of the motivations was to have true twin vehicles that my wife would feel comfortable using in the odd event that we need to swap vehicles. As you guys know, the RLX is pretty intimidating to the first-time driver.
In general, I think the cars have been pretty great. We test drove the TLX early this year, and even if it compares similarly on paper, the RLX still is much more refined ride.
The biggest disappointment has been the 19-inch wheels this winter. We lost three front tires on my wife's car due to some brutal DC-suburb potholes, and I am convinced that the firm suspension coupled with the very low profile tires are mostly to blame. I am now the owner of two spare tire kits, which has "prevented" further incidents. And I am not adept at installing the included IPU guard, after learning some hard-earned lessons.
And I suppose I should comment on the trunk. A major drawback for a road-trip vehicle. But I should note that we brought some suitcases to the dealership before pulling the trigger, and were surprised to confirm that it could comfortably hold two 22-inch bags along with a 26-inch bag. That space in the far-back of the P-AWS trunk wasn't that useful, and you can hide a few things on that mini-shelf over the batteries.
Since this is a mileage thread, I started out getting about 25 mpg in mostly highway commuting when it was very cold out. This was maybe 1 or 2 mpg better than the P-AWS model did in the same service. But now the weather has turned warmer, I've been getting closer to 30 mpg give or take a couple.
My wife does a lot more short trips around town, and she's always been in the 18-20 mpg range with her previous RL's. She is doing about 26 mpg in that service, which is a major difference.
I've had a few approximately 30 - 40 mile jaunts across the city where I achieved 37 mpg for the trip average, but I'm still at 29.7 for my latest full tank average (up from 29.4 the previous tank). Of course I have only put 1000 miles on my car so far and have yet to have it on the highway. Overall, I'm thrilled with the mileage considering that I still am having way too much fun driving the Sport Hybrid to really care about maximizing mileage.
I'm at 8220 miles as of today and my lifetime mileage is 23.6 mpg. It's going to take a long time to make up for the terrible mileage I returned in the (very cold) winter and wet, cool spring. Current tank is 27.3 mpg at nearly time to fill up. This is in the normal neuronbob daily test drive loop of roughly 40 miles of roughly 50-50 city-highway.
On the highway, if I'm driving briskly and my speed is consistently 78-80, I'm now achieving 27 mpg. In rush hour traffic, during which I might get a burst of Sport Mode for 1/4 mile at a time, then down to 50-60 mph, my mileage for that highway trip is consistently 33-34 mpg, not babying the car during those runs. In the city, I'm getting around 24-25 mpg, and this without even doing jackrabbit starts, etc.
So I'm the beta-tester with abysmal mileage. It hasn't stopped me from enjoying the car, though. As I keep saying, if I'm not getting the expected mileage, I'm still doing better than in my CTS-V by a lot. I don't see how you guys are getting incredible mileage without babying the car, which is what I'd have to do to get the same mileage as the rest of you.....and you guys are definitely not babying your cars from your description.
I'm stumped as to why this would be the case. I plan on mentioning it again to my service advisor when I take my car in for its first oil change in a week. I may also call Acura itself to alert them to the issue, not really to complain, but to see if they have any recommendations (other than babying the car, which I'm not going to do if no one else is doing so).
....and before anyone thinks I'm mad, I'm really not mad at all. I'm in beta-tester mode and trying to get this figured out.
I've got a little more mileage than Bob, 8,700, miles and am at a lifetime average of 28.6 mpg. On my short daily commute ( 12 miles each way) I usually average around 29-30 mpg. About once a month I take a jaunt down the coast to San Diego (125 miles each way). On the freeway driving I usually average 32-33 mpg (doing 70-75 mph in the car pool lane but still plenty of traffic). This is all with very mild Southern California temps. (Winter highs low 60's and summer highs mid 70s to low 80s). In traffic around town I am often only 20 mpg -- lots of stop and hard to get many EV miles.
My experiences are nearly identical to Malibu Flyer. I am at 29.1 lifetime mpg and seeing consistent 31-33 mpg on highway trips, but local runs can range from the mid 20's to the mid-upper 40's mpg. By no means am I babying the car, but traffic many times does not allow for Hoonigan activities for more than a few seconds. I spend 99% of my time in eco mode which I prefer except for when I need to merge on certain roads where you have just a car length or two of an entrance ramp. I'm at around 11,300 miles approximately.
I gave the Blackbird another polishing this evening just because. I will claim the best paint condition short of TampaRL's brand new ride!
I'm at 8000+ miles and my experience is somewhere in the middle. I don't have a lifetime number, but I can pretty confidently say the following: I've been driving weekly this summer from MA to ME 300 miles RT, half highway, half back roads. I'm pretty consistently getting 30-31 mpg highway at 80 mph, and 33-34 back roads at 30-50 mph. The latter seems to be the sweet spot for mileage, because I consistently get 26-27 mpg in all my mixed city driving.
These are summer numbers and are somewhat higher than my winter mileage. And I do not, ever, baby the car, except for when I start up in EV mode and have a passenger and want to show him/her how quiet the car is. For comparison, I used to get 21-22 mpg highway, and a lot less city, in my '06 RL.
I am reporting for comparison, not because I care about mileage in this car, except that it is amazing for a large 4400 pound highway cruiser that has so much power. I don't care that I don't get the EPA mileage; they'd just tell me to ease up on the pedal and I don't intend to! I still look forward to these weekly drives and I am still certain that I get to where I am going feeling more rested. I agree that we are all a little carried away in our enthusiasm for the car; it is not, I am certain, the best car ever made. But it is the best car I have ever owned and I am still delighted with it.
I'm reminded in reading these reports how much the SH-AWD mileage depends upon location, road type, speed, distance traveled, and temperature, as well as driving style (trying to get better mileage vs. trying to see how well the car accelerates). So it is not surprising to me that we are reporting a wide range of numbers, and I feel that if I drove behind Bob on his trips I might get his mileage, and if he were with me on Maine back roads he might be getting mine. I also know that I can get better mileage on these trips by trying harder. Just a thought.
I'm reminded in reading these reports how much the SH-AWD mileage depends upon location, road type, speed, distance traveled, and temperature, as well as driving style (trying to get better mileage vs. trying to see how well the car accelerates). So it is not surprising to me that we are reporting a wide range of numbers, and I feel that if I drove behind Bob on his trips I might get his mileage, and if he were with me on Maine back roads he might be getting mine. I also know that I can get better mileage on these trips by trying harder. Just a thought.
Yes, indeed.
If I had to point to one single thing that I've noticed is that my percentage of EV Mode usage seems higher.
Although I don't baby the car, much of my commute time is with ACC turned on, and speeds that vary between 45 - 60 mph.
At those speeds, the car will very often run on just the batteries.
Again, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining (much), I'm just being a beta tester. I am wondering how much of the issue is my driving habits alone and how much is the car. I'd like a more systematic way of tracking mileage in specific situations. I suspect the Honda engineers have a way to do that.
What I'd REALLY like to figure out, and I've stated this a number of times before, is how to get the electric motors to activate on a consistent basis. The only consistent behavior I know of is that I can activate EV mode almost at will under 57 mph--if I'm coasting on a level road. Beyond that, under about 40 mph I go into EV mode seemingly randomly, whether foot is on the gas or not, on a level road. There are times when I'm cruising and the GDI engine is on, even though the battery meter reads over 1/4 full. (I've noticed that if the battery meter is just under 1/4, the GDI engine is on regardless.)
Or am I just thinking too hard? After all, I have to use my brain to problem-solve all day long in my day job.
Driving habits did not change, but one thing that changed was a switch to 93 octane Shell, because the local station was the first one to drop below 3.00/gal and they've remained lower than BP.
This is what I saw on my dash last night. Notice the miles driven on the current tank and the range. Very impressive I think and that is on Shell 93. Full disclosure I did add an additional gallon over the cut off when filling it.
I typically get best performance and economy with Shell 93 as well. They tend to be the pricier fuel in my area, but I use it often. Oddly the second best performance and mileage I notice if from Marathon 93, which is usually least expensive in my area. The worst I notice is from Hess (now Speedway) which I believe has the highest ethanol mix.
I am still on my 1st tank which has a lot of idle time as I worked with learning features. But currently @ 26 avg mpg.
I typically get best performance and economy with Shell 93 as well. They tend to be the pricier fuel in my area, but I use it often. Oddly the second best performance and mileage I notice if from Marathon 93, which is usually least expensive in my area. The worst I notice is from Hess (now Speedway) which I believe has the highest ethanol mix.
I am still on my 1st tank which has a lot of idle time as I worked with learning features. But currently @ 26 avg mpg.
Your ride is still so new that your mileage will almost certainly rise as it breaks in and you also learn to finesse greater efficiency too. Here is a tip you can try. Once you get up to what ever speed you want (assuming it is less than 57 mph) and your EV battery level is at least 1/3 charged, take your foot off the gas for a moment for the engine to shut off. Then gently apply the throttle for ev propulsion only. If you see on the HUD only one blue bar driving the rear wheels it is working. If you apply just a little more throttle, the ICE will kick in. From a stop you can get up to three blue bars of ev propulsion up to about 15 mph and then the ICE will kick in. However, if you are on a flat road or a slightly downward canted road, you can finesse ev mode all the way to 57 mph if you do it right and you are in the right conditions without people behind you. If you are not in a hurry and want to drive super smoothly you can get crazy gas mileage. However I challenge you to hear or feel the gear changes. This car has the smoothest and fastest gear shift experience I have ever had.
Here is the other side of the discussion: If you drive the car like any other and don't pay attention to what mode you are in, providing you are not driving like a Hoonigan, you should see mpg numbers consistently around 29-32 mpg in normal everyday stuff (some stop and go, highway, secondary roads and around town local travel). I am assuming in that statement that you will enjoy the propulsion north of 50% throttle application at least once per day, and an occasional 100% for up to about 5 seconds (you will be breaking every speed law by then after 5 seconds). There are so many times that the engine will either be on or off and unless you are looking at the rpm gauge, you might not notice the ICE being on at all. The tomb like silence is simply marvelous and truly the only sounds I hear are the AC unit, my breathing, my tires and others I'm passing. The serenity is amazing. Truly an executive feel.
Now if we are in sport mode, you get more noise, more immediate throttle responses, and the feeling that the car just wants to go-go-go at the slightest throttle input. Your gas mpg drops but who cares! What an awesome car! Enjoy! Sorry for my long winded response.
Indeed! I am very much enjoying the multiple personalities of this car. And I have experienced much of what you state already. My former RL had a very smooth throttle tip in and 'taught' me to finesse the accelerator for smoothness, or mash it for fun.
I would say I have 'learned' how to finesse the electric dive, but I think it is more correct that this car has 'taught' me to finesse it. And yes, I get a bit Jekyll and Hyde with the SPORT mode. The car feels and sounds exotic when in SPORT. I love the throttle blips....my new favorite sound.
Where I am still working is the ability to launch the car without sparking the ICE and not being a snail. Also, after obtaining a full battery charge, I was able to drive most of a 10 mile B road trip without significant use of the ICE. A slight back off of the throttle will shut down the ICE. But once the battery level drops below a 1/3, the ICE is difficult to keep in sleep mode.
Since it is my 1st tank and the car is new with a lot of idle time I have no judgement on the efficiency at this point. But I am overwhelmed with the complexity of this drive train and how well integrated it all is. You can zone in on what the car is doing (by gauges and displays mostly) or zone out and drive it as a wonderfully engineered vehicle. It does what you ask and surprises you what it can do.
That is great mileage -- have you used the techniques that RLX Sport-Hybrid mentions?
It is interesting to me that while I got sold on the car because of it power and handling, most times I challenge myself to up my mpg [even though with around 28.6 mpg for my 8,800 miles I don't do so well]. I guess I have both of the proclivities that the Sport Hybrid has.
BTW - The local Chevron refinery cut back production due to problems [not enough profit ] and premium gas prices in the LA area are well north of $4/gallon. Aah, the price of paradise.
I may have mentioned this before, but in my other car, it captures your driving habits wrt 4 or 5 different criteria, e.g. anticipation of stopping. I cannot remember the other categories right now. It gives you a rating in each category - a sign of the times.
It only captures these when you are driving in a "eco" mode. Might be interesting to capture these in RLS-SH when in non-sport mode or if there was an eco mode. There are clearly 2 vastly different personalities to this car.
Again I say it with authority. It is too bad that only the enthusiast Acura owners of these cars and a room full of others can fully appreciate such a special vehicle. If any of the other New York metro RLX owners are interested, I will be at the Cars & Coffee event on Sunday morning in Yorktown, NY. It would be fun to see all of you there! We could have our own "pod". They have been attracting some really cool cars from all over at that event. If you want to go, just send me a private message to I can reserve us the right amount of parking spaces. Also there is a huge upscale event happening on September 13th in the area that maybe we can coordinate to meet at together? Some of the most exotic cars go to that event.
I just hit 1000 miles since I started a weekly commute to Maine, with half highway and half back roads, as well as a little "around town", and I'm at 30.7 mpg for that 1000 miles, so I can see George's 31.0. I am not trying to drive for mileage at all at this point, as the other personality of this car is just too much fun. Where I get hit on mileage, driving my long-term average down to probably 28 or so, is in all the short trips in my home town with lots of hills, as well as the fact that most of my 8,000 miles were driven in very cold weather.
But I am overwhelmed with the complexity of this drive train and how well integrated it all is. You can zone in on what the car is doing (by gauges and displays mostly) or zone out and drive it as a wonderfully engineered vehicle. It does what you ask and surprises you what it can do.
06-27-2015, 12:20 PM
I thought I was going to be the first one with "two"!!!!!! Congrats!!!! In September I will be at an event in CT and I think it would be great if the New York/New Jersey, Mass, DelMarVa and Ohio betas all were in one place for a photo op. I'm not excluding anyone else if they want to travel, but I think this is the most reasonable just based on travel distances. Guys from the Drive Channel are usually there at these events which is cool.
Hehehehehehehehehe...... 
] and premium gas prices in the LA area are well north of $4/gallon. Aah, the price of paradise.
