Replacing a dying 2008 Acura RDX
Driving a 2008 Acura RDX with 135,000 km at the moment … it’s rusting out, the tailgate is jammed shut and the mechanic couldn’t fix it due to extensive corrosion, and the check engine light has been on for a while, and fixing it is out of the question. We do like acceleration and handling, but the trunk is tiny and it uses ~16L/100km of premium gas in the winter.
We average just under 8,000 km a year living in Toronto. We mostly drive on weekends for short city errands, with the occassional highway trip (e.g. zoo, highway downtown, longer road trips ~450km). Neither of us are car enthusiasts, and we tend to be moderately neglectful when it comes to keeping up with our vehicles (need the car to nag us, will get to it within a week or so).
Have a ~2 year old and another kid on the way. So we are also stuck deciding between a two-row or three-row SUV, since fitting any additional passengers alongside two car seats might need a third row, though it would sit empty most of the week.
We spent some time test driving recently. Our impressions:
2026 Honda Pilot & 2022 Mazda CX-9: Both felt noticeably larger than our RDX and drove too much like trucks for our taste, which put us off
2026 RAV4 Hybrid: My wife absolutely hated the driving feel and called it “cheap feeling”. These are also at a premium nowadays and the dealership put us off trying to force useless addons
2026 Honda CR-V Hybrid: Uninspiring but familiar interior and OK. Handled well enough passing on the highway but nothing compared to the RDX. Good trunk space, and also the dealerships seemed a bit desperate to sell so we can get below MSRP
2022 Mazda CX-5 Turbo: Handled and responded a lot like our current RDX during test drive. Can also pick these up for fairly cheap. It seems like a safe lateral move. Doesn't solve the space issue and potential maintenance with a turbo
2026 Outlander PHEV: My personal favourite, mostly because we could plug it in at home. My wife found it uninspiring, “heavy feeling”, overly gadgety with all the different drive modes, and complained about weird noises and the EV-like feel. The third row is tiny and useless since you can’t get to it with car seats in. Buying new doesn't make financial sense for us, though picking up a used 2023+ model could work.
2026 Subaru Outback XT: We both liked the 2026 XT. Good turbo feel, seems even faster than the RDX and drives more like a car than an SUV. Tried older models, we liked the redesign. The main drawbacks of the XT are the higher price tag, being limited to two rows, and needing turbo maintenance
2026 Acura MDX: This was the first three-row SUV we tried that hid its size well and drove familiarly. Handled great and we liked the lux finishes and space. Downside is that it is a bigger car at the end of the day and might be hard to park in the city, and wife says she feels guilty about buying another gas-guzzler even if the $ savings don’t really amount to much
We are torn between paying up for the Outback XT we both enjoy but the turbo might not make sense with our driving habits and parked outside all week, getting a CRV even if it’s “boring”, or accepting the awful gas mileage of the MDX to get a usable third row and lux feel. Appreciate the advice