On the top center of the dashboard, tucked under the windshield, is a narrow digital display that indicates time of day, radio station, the interior temperature setting on each side of the car, and where the vents are pointed. It's hard to see in sunlight.
The navigation system is controlled by a big ugly knob in the center of the center stack. It pushes in, up, down, left and right. Acura has an excellent reputation for its nav systems.
Our test model was the RDX Tech. Its rearview monitor, in the display screen, was as bad as any we've seen. Its focus is fuzzy, it's dim at night (which might be from dim backup lights), and it's often too dark to be useful, at dusk or on overcast days.
The perforated leather seats (standard) are comfortable, and the driver can perch herself or himself up high, to see over the short nose of the car. The front seats are eight-way power and heated, with high and low heat settings. There's lumbar support, although we still got a crick in our back after a four-hour drive with a lot of stressful freeway stop-and-go.
The gauges are nicely lit at night, in blue and white. The tach is at left, redline 6800, with an insert that shows turbocharger boost, from 0 to + (plus), with no numbers to indicate units, which would be pounds per square inch, maximum 13.5, but that wouldn't mean much to most people.
A big speedometer is in the center with an information display inside it, and on the right is a gauge of similar size but which only contains an indicator of what gear the transmission is in, plus fuel level. It would be nice if a temperature gauge was in that space, because, as it is, you can only find out if the car is overheating by suspecting it, and then checking on the information display inside the speedo, and scrolling through the other things.
The info display can also show which wheels are getting the power with the SH-AWD, or Super Handling All-Wheel Drive. This system sends more power to the outside rear wheel when the car cornering aggressively, which keeps it on line; but that's exactly the time you'd not want to look down and check which wheels are getting the power. So the display is just showing off, not an unusual thing with instruments in cars nowadays. There's also an instantaneous fuel mileage display, a bar from 0 to 50, again not practically readable.
The EPA-rated mileage is 19/23 mpg City/Highway, but we got 17.6 miles per gallon (on premium fuel) at an average of 34 mph running stop-and-go on the freeway and 80 mph when we broke out. The fuel mileage didn't change much after that, mostly around-town driving. Numbers lower than the EPA rating is also not an unusual thing in cars, nowadays, which is why they'll be changing the rating system next year.
The leather-wrapped steering wheel feels nice in your hands, if busy, with controls for a half-dozen or more things, including paddles for upshifting and downshifting the sequential transmission. It's kind of ugly, though. It has three spokes, at 3, 9 and 6 o'clock, and they're trimmed in aluminum-look plastic, with a design that makes the wheel look like a scale model of a space station.
There are terrific grab handles for closing the front and rear doors, something we wish all cars were smart enough to have, especially for the driver. There are nice little storage compartments, and a humongously deep center console compartment, with trays at the bottom that lift out to reveal a secret spot that's another couple inches deep. It's 16.9 inches from front to back, 12.2 inches deep and 5.5 inches wide, big enough for a laptop or briefcase, and it's lockable.
The parking brake pedal is too low. It catches your toe when you move your foot to the brake pedal from its resting position on the floorboard when braking with the left foot; you have to slide your foot right, lift it, slide it farther right, then lower it on the brake pedal, sort of a fast S-shaped movement. Not a good idea, when you need to get stopped quickly.
There seems to be decent knee room in the rear seat; we had a leggy female passenger back there, and she said she had enough room, although the specs of 37.7 inches are pretty tight. The rear passengers have cupholders in the folding armrest, door pockets and map pockets in the front seatbacks. The 60/40 rear seatbacks fold flat, after the cushions flip against the front seatbacks.
Cargo space behind the rear seat is in short supply, with just 27.7 cubic feet, but then this isn't a big SUV. With the rear seats lowered, there's 60.6 cubic feet.
