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4 out of 5 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"The height of technology, but missing a few essentials."
Pros: Voice-controlled navigation system, 10-speaker sound system, peppy turbocharged engine
Cons: Manual controled passenger seat, no "memory" for 2nd driver's seats, bluetooth only available with tech package
Summary: I bought this car for my wife. I own a TSX myself, so I will be bringing in some comparisons from my experience there (which is marvelous; 9 our of 10).
First, this "car" is awesome. It handles like it wants to be a sports sedan, but it has the luxury and utility to make it one of the best crossovers we test drove.
The peppy turbocharger makes it jump off the mark, and the "super handling all wheel drive" really improves the cornering. Watch out for the AWD status display on the dash: you should have your eyes on the road whenever you actually need the torque to be redistributed!
The technology package is awesome, but the only reason we shelled out for it was to get bluetooth connectivity. In my TSX, this comes standard (even without the navigation display). What's up with that?
Another thing my TSX has is the "memory" seats. Depending on which set of keys remotely open the car, the driver seat will revert to the pre-programed position (useful for car washes or valet parking where they mess up your seats). With all it's vaunted "technology", this is absent on the RDX.
Another glaring omission is the manual controlled passenger seat. I don't care about this so much except when I'm trying to show off the car to a friend & they fumble around for the (absent) electrical controls. The shame! This is yet another thing standard on the TSX. The driver-side seat, on the other hand, is 8-way powered, AND has a powered lumbar adjustment (which, unlike the TSX, offers significant support). The dichotomy between the adjustment of the two seats is night and day. What's going on with that, Acura?
About the sound system, now. I speak only for the 10-speaker deal included with the tech package. What an AWESOME system. The in-dash 6-disc changer will gobble up any audio format I could think of (including my extensive MP3 disc collection I had made for my old car; something unfortunately absent on the TSX). The sound quality will blow you away. It has crisp highs, and earthy robust lows (that, thankfully, don't seem to shake the car apart).
The navigation system is pretty smart and can recognize mumbled commands. But if you tell it something it doesn't recognize, it will just perform its best guess. This is a problem if you don't know how to phrase the command (eg, "cancel route" doesn't work; it needs to be, "cancel navigation"). It is annoying when it does something random instead of asking you to repeat the command. The live traffic seems to work fine; just make sure your city supports it. The reverse camera is fun to show off to friends. I guess it would actually have a purpose if you have kids and they like to run behind cars going in reverse.
All-in-all, I am pleased with this purchase. For the price, though, they really need to put in at LEAST powered passanger seats and seat memory (I barely drive it anymore because of all the changes I need to make to the seat).
