[taraedwards]

A great forum here. I read through a lot of posts here and elsewhere before finalizing my choice. I ended up with the RDX Advance. I originally started out looking at Pilot and cross shopped it against the MDX. Ruled out the Toyota Highlander because of no Apple Carplay. Ruled out the MDX because of the lousy infotainment 2 screen system. Thought the latest Honda version was better. Really liked the MDX Sport Hybrid and probably still would have overlooked the intotainment system if I could have least towed anything but it has ZERO towing capability.

Saw the Passport Elite and took it for a drive. Really loved the vehicle and was going to buy it. Had a very good deal worked out and just wanted my wife to drive it before I finalized it all. Wife drove it and wanted something more upscale interior wise. We drive a lot in heavy traffic so another big plus for Acura was the ACC to work all the way down to about a stop. I had also really wanted a 360 degree camera for parking.

So back to the Acura dealer but stopped by Lexus, BMW, Mercedes and Volvo on the way there. Nothing really hit the price/reliability points as well as Honda/Acura. So revisited the MDX and found a gorgeous A-spec one but my wife didn't like the red interior and it didn't have the 360 camera but it did have ventilated front seats which I really ended up liking.

So on a whim I took the RDX for a drive. The infotainment didn't suck, the sound system as amazing, very capable handling and I could at least tow 1500 pounds which was about all I needed. The 10sp automatic trans seemed much more responsive than the 9 speed in the MDX/Pilot/Passport. Can't say I was a big fan of the sound of the 4 cylinder motor but with the turbo it pulled better down low than the Vtec 6 cylinder in the larger CUVs.

So basically I backed into the RDX Advance and it has been a great choice. Has enough room for most of what we do. The materials are good. The pano sunroof is much better than I thought it would be. The SH-AWD lives up to its billing. The drive modes really make a difference. It sort of reminds of a Golf GTI but bigger to drive. The harder you push it the better it works.

If it wasn't for my wife I would have been rolling in a Passport Elite in white. I probably would have been quite happy but would have been annoyed but it starting in 2nd gear all the time. The collision detection didn't seem as well sorted as that on the RDX and I even had false positives while test driving the Passport. It also got better mileage during the test drive then the RDX. No need for premium fuel but Acura just recommends" rather than demand it. I did some instrumented testing on the RDX and 0-60 is the same regardless of 87 or 93 octane.

So far no issues with our RDX. I've adapted to the touchpad quite quickly. I actually have more room in the front of the RDX but the Passport has more seat room. At the end of the day I spent a few more thousand for the RDX than the Passport but I got a 2020 model vs a 2019 and got some features we both really like and wanted. I am so glad I didn't get the Pilot. Unless I really needed so many seats or room I think the Passport is a better vehicle for the money. That is one thing I love about both the RDX and Passport, they don't look like a soccer mom car like the Pilot does. Nothing wrong with soccer moms of course.

 

[taraedwards]

Thanks Stevenm I was this close > < to buying the Passport. I probably wouldn't have been disappointed. Tt would have been a great choice however in retrospect the RDX is a better choice for us. I must have spent a good 300 miles driving Passports and more with the Pilot. I was fortunate enough to have a few overnight test drives.

Something interesting I found is the Pilot consistently got better mileage than the Passport and MDX (except hybrid). The Passport got better mileage than the RDX and MDX. The RDX got better mileage than the MDX by about 1 mpg.

Out of all those I really think the Passport is the best value. It is much cheaper than the PIlot for almost similar trim. If you don't need the 3rd row and an entertainment system (you can always put monitors on the headrests) the Passport is the way to go. I have to say that if you want to tow a trailer, I think the hitch costs from the dealer are pure extortion. They also should have put the tranny cooler on the Passport/Pilot stock. Super expensive add on for the dealer to do. I was towing something more than a small trailer from time to time the Passport would have clearly been my go to option.

One thing that might be helpful to people shopping all of these is if AC performance is important to you, I think Acura does a better job. I drove them all on very hot days, anywhere from 95-100F. While they all did a pretty good job going down the road at 70 mph even in high humidity, the RDX followed by the MDX were clearly better than either of the Hondas. DIdn't matter what color the car was either. From standing outside, to getting the car quickly down to a comfortable temp, the Acuras were significantly better. Even my wife who likes it typically warmer than I do often asked if I actually had the AC on in the Hondas until we were rolling. I don't know what the difference it was noticeable and consistent across the board. My son even commented that we shouldn't buy the Honda because the AC wasn't effective. So if in the South clearly do some testing before you buy. Thankfully you can remotely roll down the windows to release some of the heat before you get in on all of them. That would be mandatory on the Hondas but on my RDX I don't usually bother with it unless close to 100.

One thing I noticed in all the test drives, Pilot included, was the 9 speed kept the engine better in the powerband on the Passport than the 6 speed Pilots. Those extra ratios are handy for acceleration and fuel economy. I drove a '18 Pilot 9 speed and the transmission logic in the '19 Passport & Pilot is clearly better. The 10 speed in the RDX though is much more intuitive in responding to your commands.

I took some time to analyze my purchase price and at the end of the day I paid about a 2k premium for the RDX over the Passport. Real difference was about 5k but that was a 2020 RDX vs let's blow out the remaining 2019 Passports. I still keep thinking thought somewhere in the back of my mind that the RDX is basically a 50k CRV... I keep telling myself there are at least more significant differences between the CRV and RDX than the Passport/Pilot and MDX at a drivetrain level. Anyway enjoy whatever you have, they are all so good it is hard to go wrong with them.