Houston Acura Dealer

A friend of mine is considering buying the 2009 Acura RL and asked me to accompany her to the dealer and give the car a once over.

At first glance, the thing you notice is the redesigned hood, nose, tail, rocker panels and the trunk lid.

The wheels were widened to 18 from 17 inches and there’s a larger rear stabilizer bar.

On the inside, the front seats now sport an eight way power adjustment plus lumbar compared to four from the previous model.

Heated front seats are now standard and a ventilation function not previously offered is included with the tech package.

Also new in the tech package is the real time traffic rerouting system.

Real wood dashboard trim and the automatic shift gate now sports a better looking leather knob which is now linear by the way.

A lot of the changes were a bit superficial-a couple of buttons were shaped differently and the steering wheel has imitation wood at the top and bottom.

Speaking of steering wheels, if the F 22 Raptor had a steering wheel instead of a stick, this would be it.

I counted 14 buttons and a blank and this is not including the shift paddles.

There was a slight increase in length at the back, giving rear passengers slightly more legroom.

Under the hood I was surprised to find a 3.7 liter, 300hp VTEC V6 engine instead of last years’ 290hp 3.5 liter which I expected.

The 09 RL has Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive or SH-AWD, which is an upgraded version of its’ all-wheel drive system.

Unlike the older version wherein power can be shifted front to back, the SH-AWD can direct it to the individual rear wheels.

So during cornering if you were to gun it, the system will direct more power to the outside rear wheel than the inside which will essentially cancel out any understeer or oversteer and if I’m not mistaken, Acura is the first one to do this.

Get the lowest quote from the Houston Acura Dealer.

Incidentally I’m looking at the Acura TSX 5 speed AT.
MSRP or Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price is the suggested price by the manufacturer to the dealer/retailer. Also known as sticker price, this is usually what you see stuck on the windshield of the car on display at the dealership. The MSRP can be considered as the “asking price” of the dealer and this is where the haggling begins. What the MSRP does not cover however are transportation to the dealership cost, registration, miscellaneous fees and taxes and this varies from state to state.
Total Cost to Own or TCO is the more realistic price. This takes into consideration several factors such as cost of fuel, insurance, financing, maintenance and the like over a span of 5 years. It may be that you may be able to afford the car but you can’t afford to run it.
Since you’re decided on the Acura TSX, and if you are really concerned about the TCO, then I would get the TSX without the Tech Package. Why? For one thing, depreciation over 5 years for the non tech packaged TSX is lower by about $2400. Add on the lower cost of financing, insurance and taxes well, it may not be much but after 5 years and you’re looking to sell your car, every cent counts. This plus the fact that the “Technology Package” won’t be that hi-tech 5 years from now.

On the market for a new vehicle, I decided to give the 2009 Acura RDX with the Technology Package a look over. As luck would have it, I had a buddy who owns an 08 RDX drive me to an Acura dealer in town. Having the ability to compare the two side-by-side was great. Looking at both of them, there is not much difference between the 08 and 09 RDXs. In fact you could say that they’re practically identical save for a few things that I doubt anyone would notice. Curb weight is lower by 40 lbs, rear legroom is 0.10 inches longer than the 08 and exterior length for the 09 is 0.30 inches shorter than its predecessor (duh!).
The RDX isn’t much of a head turner. Not exactly boring but it just doesn’t seem to make a statement. Some say that its 18 inch tires are a saving grace. Looking at the inside though is a different story and you must appreciate Acura’s attention to detail. Leather trim and breathable perforated leather on both front and rear seats, user friendly controls, the huge center console, that big interface dial for the navigation system You still see the same user friendly controls.
Looking at the interior The 09 now comes with a Passenger Multi-Adjustable Power Seat. It still doesn’t have the front side airbag that provides head protection. But what it does have though is the same efficient turbocharged, 16 valve, DOHC, IVTEC inline 4 engine that still produces 240 horsepower. This coupled with Acura’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) technology makes the RDX a very nimble beast. Though not really meant to go off road (no skid plates to rock strikes), it’s agility on the pavement and perhaps gravel roads are a statement in itself.

I had a couple of weeks of vacation time and decided to go abroad. My first week was in Hong Kong and now I’m in the Philippines. The weather here is great-the total opposite of the winter temperatures we have back home.

Cars here are the same. You have your Suburbans, Expeditions and Beamers. Then again some that we don’t have: AUVs or Asian Utility Vehicles. To me they seem like the offspring of a marriage between a 80’s minivan and a mini SUV. The one thing I didn’t see here were Acuras.

Acuras in other parts of the world are actually Hondas.

The Acura brand is sold only in Japan and North America. The reason for the rebranding was Hondas answer to their fear of being regarded as a line of “economy” vehicles, even for the Accords and to some extent Civics which are their higher end products. This concern was shared by the other top Japanese car makers-Toyota and Nissan. Hence we have the Lexus (Toyota) and Infiniti (Nissan).

Back home we have the RL, TL, TSX, MDX and RDX models. Here they have the Accord, Civic, Jazz, City, CR-V and Pilot. Acuras are actually based on the Accord and Civic platforms. The Jazz by the way is the “Fit” back home. The “City” is something I don’t think we have. It comes with either a 1.3 or 1.5 iVTEC engine and cranks out 100hp for the 1.3 and 120hp for the 1.5.

Built into your brake pads on your Acura is this U shaped piece of metal.

Acura came up with a KISS style reminder that you need to replace your brake pads.

The screeching or squeaking sound you hear is the result of the ends of that U shaped piece of metal coming into contact with the rotating disk.

When the pads are brand new, there is a space between the rotating disk and that piece of metal.

As the pads get worn down, this space gets smaller and smaller.

At first the noise is barely noticeable. But as the pads get thinner and thinner, contact between the rotating disk and that piece of metal becomes more prominent, and that screeching sound you hear becomes more and more audible.

It is very unadvisable to ignore this sound. It really is a warning to the driver.

Best thing to do is not to ignore it and head over to the nearest Acura dealer’s service shop and get the pads replaced immediately.

Friendly reminder: make sure that you get original Acura pads and parts.