There is something exhilarating about driving a brand new car. Aside from the obvious “new car smell” you’re given the chance to really be impressed, you have no (or very little) expectations. You can fully trust your first impressions and you’re wanting to be impressed. So when given the chance to drive it, and we mean really drive it, putting the car through above-average rigours in a short period of time, you take it. With that said, the Sidewalk Hustle team headed out to the West Coast on Vancouver Island, racing around the twist and turns, the hills and dips that the mountainous terrain naturally provides, in the brand new, completely redesigned 2019 Acura RDX.
The all-new RDX takes inspiration from the brands super sweet futuristic Acura Precision Concept, and is the first all‐new Acura model designed from the ground up. This is the 3rd generation of the RDX and is packed with a ton of new technology, with an updated sleek design, and created with the Acura spirit of Precision Crafted Performance.
Jumping inside the spacious and very luxurious RDX interior, you’re immediately made aware that this is something special. With all the bells and whistles you would expect, high‐grade, authentic and premium materials, hand‐wrapped, stitched leather surfaces on the soft‐touch instrument panel, doors and center console, set off by brushed aluminum or in that luxe top of the line model open‐pore Olive Ash wood accents.
The front area of the car features Acura’s signature diamond pentagon grille, those sleek next‐generation Acura Jewel Eye™ LED headlights and functional, wing‐shaped lower air curtain opening, inspired by the brands NSX supercar. The outside of the car looks premium, there is no doubt about it, and features the very cool slide panoramic moonroof. Basically, the entire roof is a glass. Talk about #views.
The 2019 RDX also includes a bunch of new technologies, including the cool new Acura True Touchpad Interface™, a huge eyesight level 10.2‐inch HD display and an innovative touchpad with the first‐ever application of absolute positioning in a driving environment. Meaning it is intuitive and sits in the perfect position for your hand to work the controls without being distracted from the road.
You know how when you are out for a cruise in your car the tunes can make or break the experience? Well don’t even sweat it, the 2019 RDX also debuts the Acura/ELS Studio 3D™ premium audio system, which was tuned by Grammy‐winning music producer Elliot Scheiner. The 710‐watt system utilizes 16 discrete sound channels and 16 speakers, including four ceiling‐mounted Highline™ speakers to create a more natural and omnidirectional high‐fidelity listening experience – the most advanced audio system ever offered by Acura. The beats were fat!
Okay cool, sounds great but how does it handle? Like a dream! The RDX has been redesigned from the ground up with more of a focus on performance than ever before. Power comes from a new direct‐injected and turbocharged 2.0‐liter 16‐valve DOHC inline‐4‐cylinder engine with VTEC® valvetrain. Which honestly, doesn’t mean much to us, but from a practical standpoint the acceleration is a beast when you have to pass a slow-goer on a mountain road, you need to make sure that when you start to pass, you can make it before you run out of road. Featuring 10 gear transitions, the car can easily leave all looky-loos in your dust. When you need to slow down because where you’re going you still need roads, the car quickly downshifts through the 10 gears making it a smooth experience. This is where the RDX’s easy to reach “dynamic mode” dial comes in handy, literally. With a quick twist of the wrist, you can set the cars driving mode form “comfort,” to “sport,” to “sport+” or “snow” for… snow. As you can imagine Sport+ mode is by far the funniest to drive. The steering wheel tightens up, the acceleration is more racecar-like and it a ride.
The all new 2019 Acura RDX will officially hit dealerships across Canada on Friday June 15 th.
