2019 Acura RDX Arrives To Defend Its Compact Luxury Crossover Crown

The RDX has been a top seller for Honda and its upscale Acura brand. In fact it’s sold over 50,000 of them every year for the past three – outselling the vast majority of its rivals. But now six years old, it’s beginning to show its age and lose its leadership.

Fortunately Acura has revealed a new version at the New York Auto Show this week, ushering in the third generation of the compact luxury crossover.

Previewed by the concept version shown just two months ago in Detroit, the new 2019 Acura RDX ushers in a new design language for the brand. The new theme stems from the Precision concept showcased (also in Detroit) back in 2016, and is slated to proliferate across the lineup.

Underneath the crisp new sheetmetal, the new RDX packs a 2.0-liter turbo four and Acura’s Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive system. It transmits its power to all four wheels through a ten-speed automatic transmission – a first in this segment – to make this “the quickest and best-handling RDX ever,” according to the manufacturer. There’s a sportier A-Spec model as well, but that’s more about show than go.

Designed in California and engineered in Ohio, the new crossover will be assembled at Honda’s East Liberty plant, and the engine in Anna – both in Ohio. That makes this a thoroughly American product, despite the parent company’s Japanese roots.

Expect the new RDX to start arriving at showrooms in the next few months. When it does, though, it’ll face a far more competitive market than it enjoyed when the first generation was introduced a dozen years ago.

By now the luxury compact crossover market has ballooned with Japanese contenders like the Lexus NX and Infiniti QX50; German rivals like the Audi Q5, BMW X3, Mercedes GLC, and Porsche Macan; other Europeans like the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, Jaguar F-Pace, Land Rover Discovery Sport, and Volvo XC40; and domestic offerings like the Lincoln MKC, Buick Envision, and the new Cadillac XT4.

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