K2 Drives: 2007 Acura RDX SH-AWD

A familiar face experiences a rebound in the marketplace.

240 hp, 260 torques, turbo 4-cylinder....but 2 tons. Ouch.

Low bumper height. Better to crash into things
with during the decent 37.4 turning circle.

A couple of years ago, I helped a friend buy a used 2007 Acura RDX with about 70K miles on it for just over $7K. It was a heck of a car for the money, very luxurious and relatively fun to drive for being Honda's first turbo-charged production car.

So I won't go into what it's like to drive one of these first-gens, but I thought we'd add it to the mix of consideration for the Shadowagon replacement. What flabbergasted me is that the market seems to have boomeranged back on itself and it's hard to find many of these with (1) low mileage and (2) that cheap. Realistically, we're talking a vehicle that has 100K+ mileage and is over $10K unless we find a desperate private seller (they are out there, but seem fewer and farther between). I guess we missed the sweet spot.

Everything I could ask for, gadget-wise.

The example I found had 130K on it and the asking price was $9K. You can't see it from the photos, but there was some wear on the interior that indicated that this car had not been babied. The center armrest in particular needed recovering.

This being a loaded variant with navigation, there's every bell and whistle. But unlike the Flex we took for a spin, everything was very logical and the stuff you didn't use all the time was easily ignored. Despite the condition, this was still a very nice car.

One thing that surprised me was the chintzy mechanism for making the second row flat. The seat cushions are basically on thick wire hangers and they sort of flop up and over, then the seat backs can be folded. Once that's done (an easy task), it's nice and flat. Cozy.

17/22 with premium. Dangit. But 0-60 in 6.3 seconds and .81 gs.

I suppose I should have been documenting the measurements which are the criteria for cars that do and don't make the second round for us; here's the RDX:

Bumper = 26"
Seat Height = 26"
Step In = 18"

For comparison, here are the stats for our Hun Die Enter Your Age:

Bumper = 25"
Seat Height = 29"
Step In = 16"

Unlike a lot of SUVs and crossovers (and even sedans, minivans and coupes) nowadays, the RDX is reasonable. The bumper height in particular has removed a lot of vehicles from consideration for us.

Rear view camera is in the rear view mirror, like the RAV4 was.
I still don't like it there. Would much prefer it in this screen.

The RDX is yet another victim of the Takata airbag fiasco, which will have to be addressed at some point if it hasn't already. An Autozone starter is a pricey $191. Nowhere near the whopping price tag for the Flex, but still. The Acura is a premium vehicle, but it still boggles my mine that a starter for this needs to be more costly than, say, an '07 V6 Accord at $115-$170. It's also worth noting that the first tuneup is supposedly at 100K, so I'll need to factor that into the sale.

I want one. It would work for us and I'm extremely comfortable in it. Just gotta find the right one and that's if I don't find something even better in the meantime. I just wish prices had stayed so low.