Hi I'm Chris Wardlaw for CarGurus and today we're going to talk about the pros
and the cons of the updated 2016 Acura RDX Acura has made a lot of changes to its
entry level crossover SUV this year we're going to talk about a few of those
while we go for a drive, common, let's go
turbocharged four-cylinder engines might be the hot new trend but
in my opinion nothing beats a powerful and refined V6 the Acura RDX has one it 3.5
liters of displacement makes 279 horsepower and it makes this little crossover
really fun to drive it sure does help that the steering is perfectly weighted
and responsive and that the chassis is willing and while the brakes can fade a
little bit under duress overall there's really nothing to complain about here as
far as driving dynamics if you enjoy driving the Acura RDX is for you
now for 2016 Acura has upgraded the RDX's underlying structure for improved crash
protection basically what that means is underneath the sheet metal the hard
components that are underneath here that are designed to protect you
they've been strengthened for 2016 now the early results are looking good
the federal government has performed crash tests on the RDX it gets five star
ratings across the board
the real test though is going to be the small overlap frontal impact tests
conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety basically that measures
what happens if you hit something hard on the front corner that test hasn't
been conducted as we're creating this video but based on what the Honda CR-V
upon which this vehicle is based has done in that test it looks promising
now another nice thing for 2016 is the Acura watch Plus package of safety
technologies not only does it include forward collision warning with automatic
emergency braking and lane departure warning system and a lane Keeping Assist
system but it's also available on every RDX
Acura's not making you spend all your money on the top trim level package to
get the safety features you can get it on any one of the RDX's it sells
nice thing about the RDX is that it's really easy to find what you're looking
for and to use it
you're never gonna be driving to the side of the road and angrily ripping out
the owner's manual to figure something out if you've watched my video of the
Acura MDX and you're looking at this dashboard in seeing this two-screen
infotainment system you might be thinking all right Wardlaw why did you
criticize that design so much in the MDX but you'd love it in the RDX let me
explain in this vehicle the climate controls are already down here the only
thing related to climate controls that is on this screen is the temperature
display that means nothing but the radio and your media choices are operated
through this middle screen all the other functions of the infotainment system
are accessed using these buttons and knobs and this top screen
and what that simple change with the climate controls does is that
automatically makes the driver remember I use this for radio use this for
climate everything else is done here and looking here in the MDX that's not
necessarily the case and so I find the RDX is setup much more user-friendly
much more intuitive much easier
so now that we've discussed a few of my favorite things about the RDX let me
tell you about some of the things I'm not so crazy about now as much as I like the
V6 engine in the way that the RDX drives I gotta tell you I'm a little bit
bummed that Acura does not employ its super handling all-wheel drive system on
this particular model now super handling all-wheel drive is a torque vectoring
all-wheel-drive system that can actually put about seventy percent of total
engine output to just one rear wheel and it makes vehicles with SH-allwheel-drive a
lot of fun
the RDX uses a more simplistic all-wheel-drive system it primarily
powers the front wheels it'll send up to 40% of the power to the rear wheels as
conditions warrant I really wish this vehicle had two more sophisticated
SH-allwheel-drive system
now another problem for me personally is the driving position in the RDX the seat
itself is perfectly comfortable in fact in the advanced package it comes with
heated and ventilated seats and I'll tell you these ventilated seats are
doing wonders today because the heat index or something crazy like close to a
hundred degrees rather for me the driving position is the issue I don't
feel like I have enough height and I don't feel like I have enough rear
seat track travel now I'm only six feet tall but I'm built like all the guys in my
family have got long legs and a short torso so that means I like to sit up high and
as far back as I can my legs require 33 inch inseam pants so if you've got a 32
or higher you may find that you sit kind of split legged in the RDX kinda
like I do and while right now that's ok
over many many miles and many many hours on a road trip that gets old pretty fast
if you're wondering what this beautiful blue paint color is called its fathom
blue pearl in my wife loves it
unfortunately Acura only offers this paint color with what it calls a
greystone interior my wife can't stand the gray interior now other RDX models
are available with ebony or parchment leather but this particular fathom blue
pearl is only available with greystone the problem with that is that luxury
vehicle buyers expect to be able to get things the way that they want and
because of Acrua's approach in terms of limiting choice not only when it comes
to the paint colors on this vehicle but also the equipment packages and how you
can configure an RDX my bet is that a lot of people pass this vehicle up for
something that gives them more choice so what's the verdict when it comes to the
2016 Acura RDX should you go test drive this vehicle right away is a work in
progress or should you just cross it right off your shopping list
before you answer the question one thing I want to convey to you is that I
really like Acura products they're fun to drive their very refined their
impeccably engineered but then so are the Honda's that so many Acura's are
based on it because they're based on Honda products that makes Acura a
premium brand rather than a luxury brands in america people buy luxury
brands because they tell the world how awesome you are a premium brand doesn't
do that so until the calipers on that grill are able to convey that palpable
sense of awesomeness that you want to tell the world about I think that
Acura is going to continue to struggle now as far as the RDX itself is
concerned I recommend it
i buy one of these myself if I were in the market but what you basically got here
is a really nice Honda CR-V with the V6 engine and until something changes there
I think Acura going to continue to struggle for more information about the
RDX be sure to see my full review on CarGurus.com and thanks for watching