The 2019 Acura RDX: Turbos, Touchpads, and Torque Vectoring

The new RDX will come with Acura’s new True Touchpad Interface, a trackpad that maps your finger one-to-one to a high-mounted screen.

byChris Tsui|
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Acura took the wraps off of its fully-redesigned 2019 RDX at the Detroit Auto Show on Monday, revealing a car that aims to inject even more turbocharged, fashion-forward pragmatism to the ever-lucrative, largely-turbocharged, fashionably pragmatic segment that is luxury compact crossovers. 

As the first Acura wholly designed with the pentagonal-grilled Precision Concept in mind (in contrast with the mid-cycle nose jobs given to the current MDX, TLX, and RLX), the new RDX is wider, longer, and less overhang-y than the car it replaces. Like a freshly-pressed button-up shirt, Acura's overhauled mall crawler looks adequately handsome and by modern standards, conservative. For buyers who not-so-secretly wish they were behind the wheel of an Integra instead, a sportier looking A-Spec trim will be available for the new RDX as well as every "core" Acura model from here on out

Sitting on a new, stiffer platform built exclusively for Acuras—no hidden Honda bones here—the third-generation RDX will be powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter matched to a 10-speed automatic transmission. As power figures have yet to be released, an undisclosed amount of power will be sent to all four wheels via the company's torque-vectoring, Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive system for handling that Acura hopes drivers will patently deem as super.

Speaking of super, sitting smack dab in the center of the RDX's center console is an NSX-inspired drive mode selection knob that lets the driver (or any passengers with little sense of boundaries) switch between Sport, Sport+, Comfort, and Snow. Surrounding said knob is a cabin that looks well luxurious, features real leather, aluminum, and wood, and boasts what is apparently the biggest panoramic moonroof in its class.

On the tech side of things, Acura is touting its new True Touchpad Interface, a Lexus-style trackpad that maps the position of your finger one-to-one onto the 10.2-inch, Android-based screen it controls. Allowing for the screen to be placed high and in the driver's natural line of sight, the system supposedly takes touchscreens and more remote-based infotainment solutions and offers the best of both worlds. 

To be built in East Liberty, Ohio, the 2019 Acura RDX will hit dealerships mid-2018 and is expected to start in the mid-to-high $30,000 range.

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