Sussman Acura

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Walk Around

The Acura RDX is about one inch longer in wheelbase than the Honda CR-V, and two inches longer overall. The appearance of the two cars is similar, even with the styling revisions for 2010.

RDX has wavy sculpting on the sides that mimics large-scale corrugation.

The nose of the RDX is its most distinctive feature. The grille is a wide shallow vee below an equal-depth bright trim panel, the Acura theme, with flush-mounted side grilles and fog lights, and a dark panel in the center that appears to offer lots of snow-bank clearance.

Behind the C-pillar there's a small window not easily discerned because the C-pillar is black and the window is tinted so darkly. From the inside, it affords good visibility, with no major blind spots when looking over your shoulder.

Between the redesigned taillights is a trim molding that almost combines Acura's bold grille and five-angle themes. The lower bumper area is blacked out and the tailpipes capped off with oval outlets.

Interior

2010 Acura RDX

The Acura RDX dashboard cascades with colors, textures and levels. The top is wide and flat black vinyl, there's a three-inch-tall strip of dark titanium plastic in the center, broken by the display screen and, at the bottom, it turns to smooth vinyl in light gray. The top and the plastic strip are grained with minutely raised crossed diagonal lines, a sort of diamond-like golf-ball effect.

On the top center of the dashboard, tucked under the windshield, is a narrow digital display that indicates time of day, radio station, the interior temperature setting on each side of the car, and where cabin airflow is directed. It sometimes washes out in sunlight or with polarized sunglasses.

The navigation system is controlled by a sizable knob in the middle of the center stack. It pushes in, up, down, left and right. Acura has an excellent reputation for its navigation systems and we've found them among the best and easiest to operate. For 2010 the system incorporates real-time weather, traffic and automatic re-routing.

We found the rearview monitor fuzzy. It is on the dark side at night (which might be from dim backup lights), often too dark to be useful at dusk or on overcast days. For RDX without the Technology Package a backup camera image is displayed in the center of the rear view mirror, far less useful due to its size. Looking backwards still works well, of course, but rearview monitors are an additional aid for the driver, helping him or her to spot small children, short metal poles, parked cars and other things you don't want to hit. They can also speed the parking process. So we recommend the Technology Package.

A compass, automatic headlights and ambient footwell lighting have been added for 2010. The ventilation controls, said to be more intuitive, always gave us the climate desired.

We found the perforated leather seats comfortable, and the driver can perch up high to see over the short nose of the car. The driver's seat has eight-way power with power lumbar support, and the passenger's seat has four-way power adjustment. Both front seats have high and low heat settings.

The gauges are nicely lit at night, in blue and white. The tachometer is at left, with redline at 6800 rpm, and an insert that shows turbocharger boost. A big speedometer is in the center with an information display inside it, and on the right is a spot of similar size which contains a gear-selection indicator and a fuel-level gauge. It would be nice if there was a temperature gauge because, as it is, you can find the engine's temperature only by using the information display inside the speedometer, and scrolling through other information to find it. That makes it tough to see an overheating problem developing.

The information display can also show which wheels are getting the power with the SH-AWD, or Super Handling All-Wheel Drive. This system sends more power to the outside rear wheel when the car is cornering aggressively, which keeps it on line (though that's exactly the time you'd not want to look down to check the display). There's also an instantaneous fuel mileage display, consisting of a bar ranging from 0 to 50 mpg, but we did not find it to be easily readable.

The leather-wrapped, tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel feels nice in your hands, if busy, with 15 buttons and switches, including paddles for upshifting and downshifting the transmission. It has three spokes, at 3, 9 and 6 o'clock, and they're trimmed in aluminum-look plastic, with a design that makes the wheel look like a scale model of a space station.

There are terrific grab handles for closing the front and rear doors, something we wish all cars had.

There are nice little storage compartments, and a very deep center console compartment, with trays at the bottom that lift out to reveal a hidden spot that's another couple inches deep. It's 16.9 inches from front to back, 12.2 inches deep and 5.5 inches wide, big enough for a laptop, briefcase or champagne bottles you're bringing to a party, and it's lockable.

The parking brake pedal seems too low, as it can interfere with moving your left foot from the rest position to the brake pedal, for those who choose to brake with the left foot. We would sometimes catch the toe of our left shoe on the parking brake when moving our foot into position to use the brake.

There seems to be decent knee room in the rear seat; we had a tall passenger back there who said she had enough room. The specification of 37.7 inches is about par for a mid-sized sedan, though you sit more upright in a small SUV like this. The rear passengers have cupholders in the folding armrest, door pockets and map pockets in the front seatbacks, and the 60/40 rear seatbacks will fold flat, after the seat cushions are flipped up against the front seatbacks.

Cargo space behind the rear seat is about par for the class, with 27.8 cubic feet; with the rear seats lowered, there's 60.6 cubic feet.

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