| DWONJ |
Just bought a '05 MDX (touring, Nav, RES) and love it....also looked at the RL in the showroom and thought of it as a second car, especially with AWD standard.
Has anyone else experienced the AWD of the RL vs. the MDX? |
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| JL_SS |
quote:
Originally posted by DWONJ
Just bought a '05 MDX (touring, Nav, RES) and love it....also looked at the RL in the showroom and thought of it as a second car, especially with AWD standard.
Has anyone else experienced the AWD of the RL vs. the MDX?
It would hard to equally compare the two as they are very different vehicles and the AWD systems are different.
The RL AWD system (called SH-AWD for Super Handling All-Wheel Drive) typically runs with 70 percent of the power going to the front wheels and the remaining 30 directed to the rear wheels. Under such circumstances as heavy acceleration or hard cornering, more power can be directed to the rear. And like the front wheels, the rear wheels can receive as much as 70 percent of the engine's power. What is unusual is the RL's ability to split the power between the left and right rear wheels. If needed, the AWD system can direct some of the rear wheels' available power (never more than 70-percent total) to just one wheel. Using sensors to determine the position of the car relative to a turn, the car will spin the outside rear wheel faster in order to more accurately point the front of the car in the direction the driver intends. The result is an amazingly capable handler, even when driven aggressively.
If you are considering an RL then compare it directly against it's similiar priced/configured competition (Audi, BMW, Merc, Etc). |
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| pianoman41 |
quote:
Originally posted by JL_SS
If needed, the AWD system can direct some of the rear wheels' available power (never more than 70-percent total) to just one wheel.
Correct. Even sending 100% of that 70% to just one side or the other as needed. |
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| vincent |
I had the RL as a loaner for the 5 days between trading in my 03MDX for my 05MDX back in March.
Not Impressed!!
Maybe I had one of the "first off" editions, but the tires were louder then on my new 05 MDX, one of the power windows didn't work, one of the chrome exhaust tips fell off during the 5 days, there were lots of fit and finish problems and I didn't find it very comfortable to drive. What's with the carbon build-up I see on all the RL chrome exhaust tips??
Once again a fine piece of Acura engineering poorly executed.
I hope they get their act together - FAST
vincent |
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| anjan |
vincent,
To be fair, the rental TL I get during service drop-offs was very unimpressive, noisy and dirty. Since that's a car I had in mind for a second car, I was disappointed.
Until my friend bought a new TL (same model year) and what a difference! I think loaner's are driven hard and kept poorly. You should not decide on it on the basis of driving one of them. RL has always been a front-runner in reliability, value for money, and blandness. The new model is less bland but plagued by some software issues that should be gone by next year's model. |
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| SuperTech |
| I get to drive them before anyone else does...so we can rule out being "ridden hard." I was also equally unimpressed with the '05 RL. The SH-AWD system is just not needed, nor is it worth all the extra weight. Most for the people that buy that car want luxury and space above all else. It seems like the RL it replaced had more room. Especially in the back seat. They could have chosen a better tire for performance or noise...but Acura stays with the Michelin MXM4 for most of the line because it has a low rolling resistance to help out the fuel economy every little bit. 300hp is nice...but in a car this heavy, it just doesn't seem like it has that kind of power. They'd be better off saving the AWD system and paddle shifters and putting the money towards an active suspension, active cruise control, and seats with more power adjustments and a cooler like the competition has. Seems like Acura tried to focus on handling as much as luxury...and they wound up being an "also ran" in luxury to Mercedes and handling to BMW. |
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| Blackura |
We've owned our 05 RL since they first came out, and we had an 03 MDX until recently. I really loved the MDX, but traded it in for this area's first hybrid Lexus RX400h.
Unlike what you've read above, I find the 2005 Acura RL to be very comfortable, lots more so than the TL loaner I had for a day. I really liked the TL but it wasn't a good fit for my size. I find the 05 RL much more comfortable and luxurious than the old RL model as well. I'm 6'3" and don't have any roominess problems except a little bit in the way of rear seat headroom.
The car is quite refined, well thought out, very quiet, and handles better than any luxury cars in it's class or even 30 grand more expensive. No problems here with the exhaust, but my car is black so even if we did have that problem, it wouldn't be as noticeable. (This replaces the black MDX as our new "Blackura.") Two neighbors have one in silver, and one in light blue with no exhaust problems visible on their cars. I'd honestly have to disagree with all the quibbles posted above.
That said, the car is certainly not perfect. The computer is not nearly as intuitive as it should be. Sure, it easily destroys BMW's ridiculous iDrive and the terrible MB systems, but these complex controls are a royal pain the butt. I love gadgets and computers even more than most people, but this is really not a good trend in cars. It takes too much time to do simple things and it requires that the driver take his/her eyes off the road for way too long.
If you leave the car with the engine running and the electronic "key" in your pocket for a moment (which we seem to do quite a bit) it registers a message on the screen. Ridding the system of all these #&@% messages requires lots of button pushing for EACH individual message (no mass delete option). The voice guidance sounds like a bad 1980s sci-fi movie. By contrast, my Lexus' voice sounds completely natural. The Acura NAV is excellent, and the XM Traffic interface is cool.
Our car now has numerous electronic glitches that didn't appear until they "upgraded" the computer system to "fix" things we never had any problems with in the first place. The XM radio cuts out a lot, the newly reprogrammed computer is now very slow to update the screen with which song is playing (takes roughly 35 seconds to catch up). It didn't do that until the "upgrade". Also, the right mirror tilts down when you back up but now won't come back up when you shift back to drive. Quite annoying.
Overall, it's a very nice car and we get lots of compliments and see lots of people gawk as we drive by. The problems are all related somehow to the computer in the center stack. If they fix the software, it'll be a great car. But right now, I can't help feeling as if Acura got a great closeout deal on eBay for some old Microsoft Windows 3.0 software to run their flagship sedan. |
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