2021 Acura RDX SH-AWD // Review, Test Drive, Full Details // Gearbox Car Reviews

The 2021 Acura RDX is a Japanese compact luxury SUV made in America. With the 2022s on the horizon, is now the best time to scoop up a leftover 2021?

What’s up guys welcome back to the channel and today i’m back here at acura buy executive once again here in north haven connecticut make sure to come check them out make sure to ask for jonathan and he will help you out with some of these acuras now today i’m here with the 2021 acura rdx this one has the technology package you do a brief history here real quick

History talk a little bit about the features the options take it for a quick test drive so let’s go ahead and take a look so we’re here with the 2021 acura rdx and this one debuted back in 2007 for the first generation it shared a platform with the civic and the crv of course acura is part of the honda motors group but here now in the third generation started

In 2018 for the 2019 model year we are here on its own platform of course those cars are built right here in the usa in east liberty ohio now this acura rdx is the smallest suv that acura offers it is a compact suv and like the tlx that i reviewed it comes in front wheel drive or all-wheel drive no matter what trim level you’re in you get a standard you get a

Technology package you get an a-spec and you get an advance and those again across the board are the same as the tlx so if you’re a little bit more interested in what the advance has to offer be sure to check out the tlx advance video now this one starts at 38 grand for the front wheel drive version in standard form it goes all the way up to 46 grand if you’re

In the top spec advance package in front wheel drive format about 2 grand about 200 pounds and you can get that super handling all-wheel drive added to your rdx interestingly this one actually weighs a little less than the tlx type s that i drove because while that one is a midsize sedan a little bit longer got the big v6 got a little bit of extra equipment this

One is about 186 inches it’s eight inches less than the tlx type s that one was at 194. they also have a wheelbase of 108 inches and uh we’re about eight inches of ground clearance here as well all right let’s go ahead and take this thing for a little drive now one thing to note here as i pull out of this space this one does have the rear cross traffic alert

It is not standard on the base trim definitely a really nice thing to have the blind spot and the rear cross traffic are not available on the base trim and if you’re in and out of parking lots a lot that’s definitely something that i would highly recommend this one it does have a standard suite of safety features though things like your lane assist uh your front

Collision warning things like that are standard it’s just the blind spot and the rear cross traffic alert which is again something i would definitely consider i don’t have a heads up display here either that is only available on the advanced really like to see uh the advanced and the a spec kind of get mixed together really like the spec kind of updates to the to

The appearance along with like the heads-up display the cooled seats the heated back seats it’d be really nice to see that we’re due for a refresh here i believe in 2022 so hopefully we’ll see some of that now this does have the all-wheel drive system again it is a super handling all-wheel drive uh you can get in front wheel drive but this version is the all-wheel

Drive i think that super handling all-wheel drive does kind of live up to its name here it does handle really well for something with especially for something with an all-wheel drive system something that’s big and heavy but the it does have a higher center of gravity though so it’s not going to handle like your sports cars and your stuff that’s lower to the

Ground but for something that’s this tall it definitely does its job pretty well we’re also looking at about 22 city here 28 highway when you are in the when you’re in the front wheel drive version that’s for fuel economy of course and you’re looking at 21 27 if you get an all-wheel drive version so not too bad on fuel economy definitely okay to daily drive this

Thing now because we are not in the advanced package we don’t have the adaptive dampers that advance package is the only way to get the adaptive dampers again a little bit frustrating i’d like to see that in the a-spec especially since that one kind of has the sportier look um so the rides not quite as good as as it was like in the tlx type s and the tlx advance

That i’ve been in but it is still an accurate it’s still a luxury vehicle and it’s still a really comfortable ride just not quite as soft you definitely notice a difference if you do them back to back you might not notice as much if you’re not kind of going back-to-back with one that has the adaptive dampers i do have my speed limit up here which is nice i also

Have adaptive cruise that is standard i got to mention that before this thing is you know it’s punchy enough it’s a turbocharged engine 272 horsepower 280 pound-feet of torque as i mentioned it does get this thing moving pretty well about the same as the tlx again being about the same uh again about the same weight it’s just higher up off the ground it’s not a

Speed demon by any means but it will certainly get you where you need to go again comfortable but i can feel i can feel the bumps a lot a lot more than i could with the adaptive dampers one other thing to note when it comes to the handling is this one has a 5743 weight distribution so 50 of the weight is out front over the front wheels 43 and the back it goes about

59.41 if you’re in the front wheel drive version for obvious reasons uh you don’t have that all-wheel drive equipment in the back way and down the back a little bit more it’s also nice that we don’t have a cvt this is the same 10-speed auto as you see in the tlx it’s got the paddle shifters and i kind of went through that in a tlx video they do respond pretty well

Here they’re pretty aggressive they’ll let you go pretty aggressively here actually i can change through the drive modes we have a snow comfort sport and sport plus mode here it’ll change your throttle response a little bit change your shift points a little um it’ll let you stay in gear a little bit longer if you’re up in support plus mode it will still shift you

Out of gear if you start getting into redline or something i know that was a big complaint with the tlx type s when they took that one on the track some of the journalists uh out at laguna seca but again this is a this is an rdx this is an suv is not a performance car you got some body roll there on that turn again we’re higher up off the ground so yeah that’s

To be expected in any suv all right let’s see that’s still a quiet ride too you can you can hear it putting in the work to get you up to speed there i just downshifted on it responded pretty well didn’t care that i was up high in the rev range oh boy breaks well enough to avoid people pulling out in front of you that’s good you know i don’t really think that

The typical buyer is probably using these panel shifters too much but if you’re like me and you just prefer something like a manual or you prefer like having having the control it definitely responds well they feel good they’re in a good position and i i definitely like having this or maybe you just like playing race car driver we’re looking at 19-inch wheels

Here on all seasons these wheels change slightly with whatever package you get in color and style but they do remain 19s unless you’re in the a spec those are on 20s their mcpherson struts in the front multi-link independent rear suspension in the back moon roof there is standard no matter what trim level you’re in and coming in on these mirrors here we do

Have the integrated turn signals and these mirrors also are heated and that is standard definitely nice to have this black all right this chrome around the windows is black if you choose the a spec keep wanting to call it the sport package because that’s what the appearance package is in the honda lineup uh though this is slightly more than an appearance but for

The most part it’s an appearance package all right taking a look up around the front here you’ve got these jewel eye leds that’s what anchor calls them this front bumper here is a little bit different in the a spec but here this one has a technology package so this is what you’re getting on the other three trim levels do have your sensors behind that giant acura

Badge there your diamond grille classy look to it for sure note you do not get the front and rear parking sensors if you’re on the standard you have to at least have the technology package for that one also up front here you’ll notice no fog lights on this one you gotta get up into the advance or the a spec if you want those fog lights pop in the hydraulic hood

Here we’re looking at a two liter turbocharged four cylinder this is the same in line four as in that tlx not the tlx type that’s s that one has a turbocharged six cylinder this one is the four cylinder 272 horsepower 280 pound-feet of torque though this one again does weigh a little bit less than that tlx type s so you can get it moving a little bit faster though

It is about on par with the weight of the regular tlx coming to the back here we’ve got this dual exhaust those tips are a little bit different in the ace pack again the rear bumper as well a little bit different in the a-spec this one though is the technology package got led tail lights no matter what these dragons tail led tail lights definitely nice to have

Those again no rear parking sensor in the standard but you do have it here in the technology package there’s your rear view camera as well this one does open automatically just push the button down under here and it’ll pop right open looking at a cute 30 cubic feet of space back here with the seats up 59 with the seats down looks like a ton i could probably

Sleep back here with the seats up and under here that’s where your spare tire would be if this one had one obviously it does not got a pull lever here for the seats definitely nice and spot for privacy cover if you had one put that down there let’s go ahead and hop inside back here on the back i’ve got tons of space 39 inches of legroom here this one is actually

Pushed back a little bit because it’s got the memory seats that’ll go forward when i go sit up there but i still have some decent room hard plastic not the best but again 39 inches that’s actually more than the tlx despite the tlx again being about eight inches longer because it’s got this more efficient hatch shape this one actually has about four inches more

Of lake’s legroom and it has the big back space back there in the cargo area so that’s nice these are the sport leather trimmed seats here the seats vary across the board with the different packages they’re different in every trim level you can actually get heated seats back here but you have to get the advanced package that’s the only way to do that so let’s

Go ahead and hop up front see what we got up there up front here i am sitting in the 12 way power adjustable seats it’s a power lumbar definitely a nice thing to have if you go up into the advanced package you can get the 16 way power adjustable seats those have power power thigh extensions as well as power bolsters these bolsters are pretty nice i’m okay with

Them the way they are it’s a comfortable place to be heated seats in the front no matter what but you can get ventilated seats up in the advanced package at the dual climate here do have the same screen here as in the tlx and the glx type s with the touch pad down here again i wish that i could either have a touch screen or something some more physical buttons

Down here i don’t really like having a separate touch item but i’ve talked about that in the other videos not going to get into that one too much we do have the els studio here this is the 12 speaker system over the standard nine speaker acura premium audio in the base model and if you go up into the top two trims the advance in the a-spec then you get the 3d you

Get the els 3d studio that’s the 16 speaker system this one still sounds pretty nice with the 12 speaker and the els just not quite as nice of that sort of like surround sound system that you get in the 16 speaker audio system steering wheel here tilting telescoping no matter what pretty standard the a-spec has its own as well as some of the interior lighting is

Red instead of white the ambient lighting uh and other than that the a-spec has a few kind of different looks throughout the cabin you get the wood trim if you get the advanced you can see that in the tlx video the tlx advanced video i’ve got um but overall the interior pretty similar looking here and you can actually get a heated steering wheel if you get the

Advanced package so that’s definitely a nice thing to have but that is the only way to get that one android auto apple carplay standard through this system and you’ve got the lines here with the overhead you can get a 360 view if you’re in the advanced package as well and notice over here when i go between reverse and park mirrors actually move for me which is

Pretty nice little feature so there you have it again i’d like to see them kind of mix the a-spec in the advance if you have any other questions on this one let me know down in the comments if you have a car for me here in central central connecticut jason manuel dashcars.com obviously doesn’t need to be a manual so again thank you to acura by executive here in

North haven connecticut and thanks for watching and i will see you next time

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2021 Acura RDX SH-AWD // Review, Test Drive, Full Details // Gearbox Car Reviews By Gearbox Car Reviews