Hyundai vs Acura

[YYZ_PAJ]

I am heading out this week to replace my dying Saturn and I would love some feed back from owner's and perspective owners out there. I, like most on here, also have looked long and hard at the RDX. It also looks and drives great, but comes at a premium (BTW - just noticed tonight that Acura Canada quietly raised the price of both models by 2k some time over the past few weeks) My reason for looking at Acura is that my other car is a 2002 RSX with 210K on it and it runs and drives like it was new. It will easily hit 325-350K. Based on my experience I know if I buy the RDX, it should be a car that I can keep if I choose for 10 years and drive almost trouble free. I am not sure about the Santa Fe.

Everything starts great out of the gate. Today's pack is seperated by what happens in the 5-7 year range. I am looking for opinions on how this thing will age. I just don't want to have buyers remorse in 5-6 years with multiple issues thinking I should have gotten the Acura...I prefer the look and features of the Santa Fe to anything out there - even the Acura. This is the one burning question that makes me hesitate. Help!!!

[dtech]

I looked at the Acura - and decided I didn't want to pay the extra $4 to $8k it would have cost to match a similarily equipped Hyundai. The biggest plus of the Acura I thought was the design V6 engine, I would say it provides a slightly more composed or refined chassis feel than the Hyundai, it might have an overall edge in long term reliability over the long term but who really knows at this point.
Depending on how you measure value I way rate the Hyundai a better buy. If the Acura was priced in the same range I would have bought it , but it's not or at least it wasn't last October in the US.

[Joe Las Vegas]

The interior of the SF is much better in every way than the RDX, hard to believe, but true.

[BSoares]

I think the RDX is smaller too. I checked it out when I brought my TSX for service at some point last year and didn't think it was an upgrade from it in size at all. The MDX is but then it's a lot more money.
I think the Santa Fe is between the RDX and MDX in size. And the value is better because it being fully loaded is still quite some $ less than the Acura.
As far as reliability, only time will tell. I had my TSX for over 5 years and never had any issues with it. Best car I've had so far. I hope in a few years I'll be able to see my Santa Fe has been just as good.

[DeMAN13]

What Acura RDX owers think of the two....

2013 RDX vs 2013 Hyundai Santa FE sport - AcuraZine Community

[casperr]

If I were to do it again, I would pick the new RDX. Acura is proven manufacturer and with all the problems I have with my santa fe, I dont mind paying an extra $4 to $8k price

[dtech]

Originally Posted by BSoares

I think the RDX is smaller too. I checked it out when I brought my TSX for service at some point last year and didn't think it was an upgrade from it in size at all. The MDX is but then it's a lot more money.
I think the Santa Fe is between the RDX and MDX in size. And the value is better because it being fully loaded is still quite some $ less than the Acura.
As far as reliability, only time will tell. I had my TSX for over 5 years and never had any issues with it. Best car I've had so far. I hope in a few years I'll be able to see my Santa Fe has been just as good.

did you check the 2013 RDX - it's only slightly smaller the SFS in terms of overall interior space and the 2013 has a V6 using cylinder deactivation so it will yield 27 ~ 29 mpg on straight highway travel ( a friend has one) .
Many people will rank autos like Mercedes BMW Audi Lexus Infiniti Acura in one class and beneath that a lot of other quality makers and I think Hyundai is now in that mix - but it comes down to what each person values in a car. I'd give the edge in powertrain and chassis (suspension) to the RDX over the Hyundai - Hyundai makes very well thought out and functional designs, particularily the interior but I in terms of overall engineering I don't think it quite matches the brands widely considered in the top tier - but look at the premium you pay for those makes. Before buying the SFS I looked at a bunch of well equiped Lexus RX350 2010 and those things really had little depreciation .

[BSoares]

Coming from an Acura I would love to have gotten another but the 2013 RDX just doesn't look good IMO. The SFS looks very nice. And the fact that RDX is more money, slightly smaller, and has a V6 (in the city it might use more fuel) made me not even go check it out now. Looks probably the biggest reason I didn't go.

[luck11]

I think I posted in another thread comparing the two. I test drove the RDX with my 13 year-old son a few months back. I eliminated it from my list. Some thoughts on the RDX:

Pros: Nice interior, 6 cyl is smooth and gutsy, Acura/Honda relatively good reliability, steering seemed tight.

Cons: Ride felt extremely rough for me...even my son commented how he felt every bump in the road; their hi-end top line stereo...just plain sucked...I tried to tune and adjust as much as possible and just could not get it to sound good; seats...my son detested the seats. He was about 5'7" then, and he could not get comfortable in the passenger seat due to the headrest....there was no position or height where he was comfortable; premium fuel....although not huge issue for me since I only put about 11-12K kms per year, but still ticks me off to have to pay an extra 10 cents a litre for gas; and finally, styling. Was definitely not a fan of outgoing design, but the styling of the new RDX is just not inspiring to me (of course, this is a personal thing), whereas the SF has more of a wow factor.

[DeMAN13]

Originally Posted by dtech

did you check the 2013 RDX - it's only slightly smaller the SFS in terms of overall interior space and the 2013 has a V6 using cylinder deactivation so it will yield 27 ~ 29 mpg on straight highway travel ( a friend has one) .
Many people will rank autos like Mercedes BMW Audi Lexus Infiniti Acura in one class and beneath that a lot of other quality makers and I think Hyundai is now in that mix - but it comes down to what each person values in a car. I'd give the edge in powertrain and chassis (suspension) to the RDX over the Hyundai - Hyundai makes very well thought out and functional designs, particularily the interior but I in terms of overall engineering I don't think it quite matches the brands widely considered in the top tier - but look at the premium you pay for those makes. Before buying the SFS I looked at a bunch of well equiped Lexus RX350 2010 and those things really had little depreciation .

Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus, Infiniti, Acura... are at the point where they are leased. Hyundai is probably headed that way. Late 30K+ vehicle are being leased or should be. They all whole their value up to 50k miles. All bets are off after that. Leases nowadays are 2-3 years 24k-36k miles tops for a reason. You can still ask for top dollar on vehicles under 50k miles.

Originally Posted by luck11

Cons: Ride felt extremely rough for me...even my son commented how he felt every bump in the road; their hi-end top line stereo...just plain sucked...I tried to tune and adjust as much as possible and just could not get it to sound good; seats...my son detested the seats. He was about 5'7" then, and he could not get comfortable in the passenger seat due to the headrest....there was no position or height where he was comfortable; premium fuel....although not huge issue for me since I only put about 11-12K kms per year, but still ticks me off to have to pay an extra 10 cents a litre for gas; and finally, styling. Was definitely not a fan of outgoing design, but the styling of the new RDX is just not inspiring to me (of course, this is a personal thing), whereas the SF has more of a wow factor.

This was my feeling in the MDX I test drove in 2010 before buying the Chevy Equinox. The ride was actually better, more car like in the Nox in my opinion vs Truck like in the MDX. To each his own.

Hyundai has not quiet made it to that group just yet, but this model (SFS) is definately a step in the right direction.