The RDX is almost an experimental car for Acura, an exploration into the crowded small-SUV market for an upscale brand. The turbocharged power train is unique among the company's models.
Wayne Cunningham
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
The RDX is a luxury small SUV, competing with the Infiniti EX, BMW X3, and Mercedes-Benz GLK.
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Although the RDX looks like most other small SUVs from other angles, the front reveals Acura's signature beaked grille, along with a high front bumper, allowing a steep angle of approach.
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The turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine puts out 240 horsepower, but acceleration is uneven due to turbo lag and the fuel economy isn't very good.
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The RDX is comfortable for four, but a little cramped when three people are sitting in the back seat.
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With Acura's all-wheel-drive system, the RDX is one of the sportiest small SUVs we've driven. It's suspension is tuned more for sport than luxury.
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The cargo area offers practical space. We were able to fit a bicycle in back pretty easily with the rear seats down.
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Like other Acura models, the RDX's cabin is tidy, but doesn't really offer a luxury feeling.
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The steering wheel gets overwhelmed by buttons, especially on either side of the bottom spoke. These buttons look plasticky and cheap.
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The instrument cluster echoes the sport handling of the RDX to some extent, except that the tachometer is hidden to the side of the speedometer.
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We would like to see a six-speed in the RDX. As it is, the five-speed automatic, the only gearbox available, does shift quickly in manual mode.
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The navigation system features integrated traffic, and is designed to dynamically route around bad traffic.
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A weather map and forecast is also included as part of the navigation system.
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As weather and traffic data come over satellite radio, satellite music stations are also available. The RDX only offers CD/DVD and an auxiliary input for other audio sources.
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Acura uses an ELS branded audio system in the RDX, which puts out 5.1 channel surround sound.
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The speaker set includes this big subwoofer in the cargo area, and a center channel on the dashboard.
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You can import a phone's contact list to the car, but voice command to dial by name didn't work for us.
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A rearview camera is a nice feature, even though the RDX isn't very big.
