RNM GS3

That is just WRONG.

The RDX was actually a nice looking Suv before the beak.

mmarshall

Acura beaks can be painted black or body color to lessen the visual effect. Some Acura dealers are actually doing this, free, for their customers, on request.

The G Man

So then why cant Acura do it in their factory?

mmarshall

Not all customers notice.....or care. To you and me, that grille may be ugly, but not to many average car shoppers. Same with Audi.....their grilles don't impress me either, but many Audi customers don't care.

The G Man

mmarshall, just to be fair, I think so far you are the only one who suggest that the Audi grill is as ugly as the Acura's. Personally, I like the Acura grill a lot. That grill is one of the reason why Audi is selling better in recent years.

mmarshall

Of course. I respect your opinion. But I still don't like the new Audi grilles. They may not be "ugly" in the classic sense of the word, but they are, IMO, garish and oversized. The last-generation ones, IMO, looked much better. To an extent, the Chrysler 300 has more or less the same problem with its factory grille......though aftermarket replacements are common.

The G Man

The Audi oversized grill do look better with the filler plate or the front license bar installed. I am not feeling the look of the grill on that new A8 picture, I hope the production car will not look like that.

IS-SV

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The beak is a poor attempt to improve the RDX, already selling at a subpar rate.

The G Man

The beak will not help the RDX. The problem with the RDX is that the turbo chargeed 4 cylinder use too much gas, they should have just stuck a V6 in there. On top of that, it take 91 octane gas. The ride is very stiff, the handling is averge. The back seats are very uncomfortable for anyone over 5'7". Cargo space is poor and the it has a lot of road noise.

nthach

The RDX is basically a more powerful and cramped CR-V.

UDel

The reason the RDX does not get great gas mileage is because it is heavy, has awd, and has SUV aerodynamics, not because the turbo 4 is inefficient. Put a v6 in it and it will still not get great gas mileage because of its weight, shape, and awd. Ride is a bit stiff but handling is excellent for a sporty suv, performance is good too from the 4 cylinder with 0-60 in 6.4 seconds. The RDX is not my kind of vehicle and I think it is priced a little too high but the people who own them seem to really like them.

The new RDX will offer a non awd version which should improve gas mileage but you still can't expect good gas mileage from a sporty, heavy, performance based SUV even if it may not be very big.

If they put that turbo powerplant in a much lighter vehicle with better aerodynamics like a TSX it would get pretty good gas mileage especially considering the performance it offers, probably better then a v6 of similar power/performance.

IS-SV

That's exactly the point, there is no advantage of a turbo 4 in this type of application..


The competition chooses to use a smoother, more refined V6 for this sized SUV (heavy, awd, blunt SUV aerodynamics as you mentioned). This is a relatively expensive segment of SUVs, so engine selection is important.

UDel

The turbo 4 offers good torque which is its main advantage, many complain NA Honda 6 cylinders lack torque so they are addressing that with the turbo. A NA 3 liter v6 putting out 240hp would have nowhere near as much torque as the RDX 260lb of torque and it would be much slower then the turbo 4. They would have to stuff the 3.5 liter v6 in the RDX to get decent torque if that is possible considering its size and it may ruin the driving dynamics and still may not be any more fuel efficient or that much quicker. The 3.5-3.7 is better suited for a larger MDX type vehicle.

None of the competitions vehicles with v6s are selling well either, it is a small niche segment with little interest from buyers.

The G Man

You bring up a good point, why the #@*% is the RDX so heavy. It is a 4000 pound mini SUV. The RAV4 V6 AWD which is much bigger and faster and more fuel efficent is 400 pounds lighter.


The last time I check, the RAV4 V6 is selling very well.

IS-SV

Even the expensive Mercedes GLK (w/3.5L V6) easily outsells the RDX, despite the difficulty of selling premium small (useless to some) SUV's.