2022 Acura RDX Vs 2022 Genesis GV70 _ A sport luxury showdown.

I've been waiting a while to drive the Genesis GV70. Ever since it came out, ever since Matt Smith reviewed one, I want to drive it, and today I'm testing it against the Acura RDX. Here's the thing about the GV70. It sounds a lot like the G70 sedan, which beat the 4-series BMW in a recent comparison test. So with all of that said and all the similar mechanical parts as that incredible sedan, I'm expecting it to beat that Acura by a long shot. But here's the thing. The Acura RDX has its game down. It's older than the GV70, but it beat out the Infiniti QX55 in another one of our comparison tests. It may not look as fancy as the GV70, but this car drives so well. And when you're shopping for a compact luxury SUV, how they drive is just as important as all the technology and the style. If you want to sell your car and get one of these, let us help you. You can sell your car with CarGurus and get a dealer offer in minutes. They'll pick up your car, and you get paid. We've reviewed these same cars before. Watch our other reviews if you want to get an in-depth look. These two are as loaded as they can get. The Acura is the A-spec Advance. The Genesis is the 3.5T Sport Prestige. But the difference between them is $10,000. That's a big difference, because the GV70 has a twin-turbo V6 instead of the Acura's single-turbo inline-four. For this comparison, I'll make it as even as possible. Because when you price a 2.5T Sport Prestige, it's within a few hundred dollars of the RDX. I like driving fully loaded cars because this is how the car designers wanted them to appear. You have the best stance, the largest wheels, the biggest tires, the brightest colors. What you see here for both these cars is a whole lot less utility and a lot of sport. Acura goes for a clean look all around. This came out for 2019, still looks really fresh. These jewel-eye LEDs all stack nicely here. This kind of chicane-looking LED running light. The LED turn signal. It's a fresh look. I like the trapezoid grille here. Acura used to have this crazy grille from many years ago as a really kind of bad-looking beak. But that was then. Acura design now, sportier, flashier than ever, but still refined. You got this time-warp looking effect going into the A-grille. And for 2022, there's some minor changes all around. You can check out my review to see all of them. What you really need to see is this is the A-spec Advance. So you get the 20-inch, 15-spoke wheels. At the rear, it looks considerably plainer than the GV70. It actually reminds me more of a Honda CR-V than a true Acura luxury vehicle. But on the A-spec Advance, you get these big silver exhaust tips. And the overall form, still pretty decent. If you park one of these, people might think you're really rich. Maybe driving a Maserati or an Aston Martin. There is some exotic flair going on with the GV70, but it has a unique style all its own. This big home plate grille and that nice darkened honeycomb texture. This is the Sport Prestige, so it darkens a lot of the chrome, gives you gray 21-inch wheels with this really unique spidery web kind of pattern texture all over the spokes. I really like how these cars look. When you see it here, double bar LEDs. No one's doing that. Only Genesis is. It combines the turn signals, the headlights, the DRLs all in one look. I love how it looks, to be honest. The stance on this car is just awesome. The only thing I don't like is this hood gap here. Now, in order to avoid a cut line along the top here, they actually had it dip below this first headlight. But when you look at it close, it just isn't flush to the body. It sticks out. It's the one design thing I don't like. The rear quarter glass has this teardrop shape. I really like that. And check out the entire rear. Massive double bar lights, just like the front. You'll always recognize this car, plus giant exhaust tips. Absolutely menacing on a car like this. To be honest, I don't think the new Maserati Grecale looks as hot as this car. All this extroverted and emotional style says, I'm fast. I'm fun. So let's see if the GV70 and the RDX can deliver the excitement from the driver's seat. Of course, the GV70 feels quick. It better. It's got 375 horsepower and 391 pound feet of torque. This is a big V6 with two turbos, 3.5 liters. It's a little bigger than the 3.3 from the G70. And it does take off really well. It's smooth. All wheel drive is standard. It's rear wheel drive biased. And when you get on the power, yeah, there's a lot of it. There's a lot more of it than the Acura. But that's obvious, right? Big engine versus smaller engine. There's no exhaust note to speak of, but inside it actually sounds pretty decent. Acceleration is impressive in any gear you're in. It flat out takes off. It's really good. It's certainly a lot heavier than the RDX, but this power makes up for most of it. There's six driving modes, including an eco mode that will actually disconnect the transmission from the engine. It lets it coast to save fuel. That's kind of nice, but you still get terrible fuel economy in this car because these engines just suck it down. It really does. 19 city, 25 highway, 21 combined. I've been getting about 18, sometimes less. And when I drove the GV80 with the same engine, it was even worse. When I drove the G70 with a similar engine, it was 3.3 liter version. Also just bad. So you get a lot of power, but you will pay for it. Shifting is almost a little too rough. When you go into sport plus, you really can feel every shift. Normally I'd say, yes, that's good. But I've been caught off guard with this thing. And in sport plus, it just keeps the revs really high all the time. If you do this and say a BMW or Mercedes, when you back off for a while, the car's computer recognizes that you just want to chill for a bit, drive normally, and then it'll kick it back up. When you put your foot down, this one always stays high. The panel shifters do respond well, but I do think the gear shifts could be improved a bit in terms of smoothness. Now, if you elect to get the 2.5 T, that's the one that really competes with the RDX in power, performance, and price. That one has 300 horsepower and 311 pound feet. That's a pretty decent engine. But I think if you're buying a Genesis, you pay a little bit more for that V6. And it's kind of worth it, at least in the G70 it is. Yeah, the speed really is fun. Thankfully, the brakes are also good because you build up speed very quickly in this car. It's a brake by wire system, but it does feel pretty natural. And if you go into the infotainment controls, you can switch how the feel is between normal and sport. Unfortunately, things start to fall south when you turn. Initially, it's good, but a lot of times you'll understeer and you'll oversteer kind of quickly right after that. It's not balanced. It feels kind of ponderous. My biggest disappointment here is that the GV70 is not tuned like the G70 sedan. It's based on the same kind of chassis. It carries a lot of that same unique style, a lot of the same hardware. It's got an electronic limited slip rear diff. It's got adaptive dampers that are reading the road with a camera here in the windshield to change the firmness before you even reach any imperfections in the road. So it's got some pretty high level technology along with this engine, along with the big wide tires. These are the same all season performance tires you'll find on the C8 Corvette. So I know it's not the tires, but it's just not as direct. It just kind of falls short. I really don't understand why I really didn't expect it to be kind of like a one way ride, really fun in a straight line. So I don't want to say that the GV70 is flat out bad. It's not. It's a fun car to drive, but it's not as sporty as all of that hardware suggests. As the look suggests, I wanted more of the balance of that poise of the direct, really snappy response that I felt in the G70 sedan. Because Genesis has that car so well tuned. Now, obviously, this is an SUV. It's going to be heavier. The center of gravity is higher. I get all that. But when you drive vehicles like the X3, like an AMG version of the Mercedes GLC, you start to feel what an upgraded sport version demands. And do not forget, this is almost $65,000. It's right in line with cars like the X3 M40i. And it is not delivering the full performance that it should. Yeah, I'm going through these twisties, but I'm not having as great of a time as I would in the Acura. This is all to say, when you just want to drive and you just want to commute or take a long road trip, this is definitely a very comfortable car. No one doing any of those things is going to be disappointed with the GV70. The ride is very quiet, super isolated in here. It is a bit firm. Even in the comfort setting, I can feel a lot coming through the chassis. These are 21-inch, very low-profile tires. So I expect that. I just wish that as a trade-off for that firm ride, there'd just be more responsive handling. So if you don't care about that, if you just want this gorgeous interior, all the technology, the GV70 is going to be the one for you. For an engine that's almost half the displacement of the Genesis, the 2.0-liter four in this RDX really hustles. The fact that it sounds good is another bonus. It's a Honda engine. It's a detuned version of the one you'll find in the Civic Type R. So it's got 272 horsepower and 280 foot-pounds of torque. Still really healthy figures for an SUV. And the first thing you'll notice is that this has a 10-speed automatic transmission. That means there's extra ratios down below and more in the mid-range that give it a better response. The 8-speed in the GV70 is pretty good. But the reaction time here, the shift quality, notably better. For 2022, they remapped all the driving modes. So sport is now sportier. Comfort is more comfy. And normal, I guess, is more normal. I don't know. What is normal anyway these days? And the RDX, you don't really care about that because in any mode, you feel right at home with it. There's another reason why the engine pulls so hard. It's about 600 pounds lighter than the GV70. Even though it gets a little loud, I like the sound. And the paddle shifters respond really well on this transmission. Easily one of the best 2.0-liter turbo fours out there. The way this engine responds is almost like it doesn't have a turbocharger. There's hardly any lag. Honda's been really good with that. So when you get into an Acura, yeah, you're getting an engine developed by Honda. That could be in a Civic Type R. The 1.5-liter turbo responds very similarly in the regular Civic. So it doesn't matter that this RDX costs double that of a Civic. You get the same kind of quality. That's what I like about them so much. Acura really nails the handling. I gotta say, the chassis just feels so much nimbler than the Genesis. When you come out of turns, there's a mechanical torque vectoring rear axle that will overdrive the outside wheel to get you on a better trajectory. That makes a big difference. Braking is really strong as well. There's a big difference in how nimble the RDX feels versus the GV70. First off, it's weight. It's about 600 pounds between these two vehicles. Now, of course, if I was driving the 2.5T version of the Genesis, it would be a little lighter, but not by too much. So that V6 might add another couple hundred pounds. But even so, the balance in this vehicle... And remember, this is a front-wheel drive car to start, unlike the GV70, which is rear-wheel drive based. The GV70 comes only with all-wheel drive. On the RDX, you have to order it as an option, except if you're ordering the top two trims, like the one I'm in right now, the A-Spec Advance. That's when it comes standard. When you get the A-Spec Advance, it's not just a cosmetic package. It does give you more performance. There's adaptive dampers that correlate with these driving modes. Those have been retuned for 2022. The steering's also been retuned a little bit more direct. You'll feel one with the road when you're in the RDX. It definitely gives me whiffs of the NSX exotic sports car. It does. I'm trying to squint in here and try to imagine that I'm driving that right now. It's a far stretch. But the same kind of character is here. The same kind of willing and able chassis development that Acura put into it. I feel it on the everyday drive. And you don't have to be bombing around a back road or tearing up the highway to feel that way. It just feels more secure, more planted. When I'm driving the Acura, I feel there's a nice balance between handling and a nice ride. It has both. And the GV70, it always feels firm, even in comfort mode. When I'm driving this Acura, comfort truly does feel like I'm relaxed. Now, this car is a little louder than the GV70. The engine does buzz a little bit more, and I do feel there's less insulation overall. But it's nothing that's going to throw you off. It's just not quite as isolated inside here. To me, I would gladly throw away a few pounds of insulation for some better performance. And the RDX is easily one of the best driving vehicles in this segment. Truly is. Better than Audi, Lexus, even the Mercedes GLC. Fuel economy is just so-so with this smaller engine. It's 21 city, 26 highway, and 23 combined. That's not much better than the bigger V6 in the GV70, at least according to the EPA. If you get the Genesis with the 4, it's about 22 city and 28 highway. So these vehicles, not the most efficient, but they're certainly fun to drive. What's also really confidence-inspiring are the brakes. Right down to the last bit of pedal travel. I like them. Many times, you can't have fun on the road. You just have to sit in the slow lane and calm down. That's the other job of a luxury SUV. It has to relax and pamper you. This is like no other SUV in any size. The forms, the curves, the attention to detail. It's a special place to sit. It's all about ovals in here, but not in the 1990s Ford Taurus kind of way. The way the climate controls look, the carbon fiber trim, the speakers and the door handles, even the overhead lighting. It's all that same oval shape. The center stack has a haptic feedback screen and buttons kind of hidden in this black trim. There's a thin silver band connecting the instrument cowl, the air vents and the doors in one pretty sweep. The leatherette dash and all this red stitching contrasts so nicely against this dark navy blue leather. And you can't miss these big, beautiful screens, the glass rotary touchpad or the illuminated shifter with all this multicolor ambient lighting. There's a problem with those last two things. When I get in the GV70, I mean every time, my arm goes here and I'm touching the touchpad instead of what I thought was the gear selector. That's back here. So you always have to have your arm back further than you would naturally when you're getting into any car. Plus, they're the same size, the same shape, almost the same colors and everything. I really think they should be different looking. I also have a problem with Acura's gear selector. Now, I'm used to it by now, but really, if you were first time looking at this, what is this? Push, pull, different buttons, different sizes. In an emergency, you'll never figure this out. The materials and the fit, they're not as classy or fine to the touch as in the GV70. Some of the things like the climate control readouts and all the busy looking panels all over the dash, they're a bit older and a little cheap looking, but the leather is soft and it's got this really pretty black striping and contrast piping. The dash is also soft. It's got micro suede on the passenger side, plus all this dark aluminum trim on the console and the doors. I like how this center stack flows right into the center console. There's a wireless charger underneath, so it kind of looks like this nice bridge. Very nicely crafted. I also like this steering wheel. It reminds me of the one in the NSX, and even though this is not a digital instrument panel, these analog gauges with their red needles, really classic. Both cars feel spacious and roomy in the front and the back. Both have cooled front seats and heated rear seats, panoramic moonroofs, and their cargo space is almost identical. 29 cubic feet behind these seats and either 57 or 59 when they're fully folded. Acura doesn't do touch screens now. They used to, but they've gone backwards. So now all the German manufacturers that didn't have touch screens, they have them. This one has a touch pad, but it's not all that easy to use. You have to touch and hold where you want to select. As soon as you take your finger off, it's gone. You have to do it all over again. It takes some getting used to. It does get easier after some practice. Plus on the other side, you can show split screen with some more information, but try to use Apple CarPlay. This is supposed to be a touch-enabled system. That's the optimization it uses. It's really tough to do this and you can't even really, yeah, I don't know what else to say. This is not ideal, but it is wireless and you can't get that in the Genesis. On some screens, some of the typefaces are really small. I think there's some legibility issues and it's not just my eyes. When you're at this distance, yeah, try to read what's going on here. It's also not as easy to adjust all the settings. You got to go left, right. You're not really sure where your finger should be. However, the system does work quickly. There's also Alexa, onboard WiFi, all the usual apps. The central screen also has some legibility issues, especially when you're switching modes. It's hard to see what you're going forward and back from, but you get a lot of information all at a glance. Plus you get standard AcuraWatch, which does have automatic lane centering and a whole host of other safety features. The ELS stereo has 16 speakers. Sounds really good. Plus there's four speakers in the headliner. Genesis goes IMAX wide with this screen, 14 and a half inches versus 10.2 in the Acura. And it's also a touchscreen, but you can't really reach it. Try to get all the way to this corner or that one. It's better to use the rotary controller now that I know it's not the shifter. The menus are easy to adjust. There's also shortcut buttons below the climate controls and all these sub menus actually show you what they actually do. Very helpful here. Overall, it's much easier to use in the Acura system because you have multiple points of input, but there's no wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. They both require wires. There's so many features the Acura doesn't have, such as automatic air recirculation when you're using the windshield washer fluid or if you're driving through a tunnel, the driver's seat will automatically move to the ideal position based on your inseam and believe that your weight and your height. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't really feel like entering this info into the car. I do think you'll like the massaging seat. Now that does the back, it does the cushion and it will move the seat bolsters automatically when you drive above a certain speed or if you put it into sport mode. And get this, there's a fingerprint scanner that lets you start the car without using the key fob and you can use your Android phone as a digital key. It doesn't work with iPhones. The digital instrument panel has a 3D effect that you really have to see in person and it has all these really interesting animations for each drive mode. That's becoming kind of standard, but it looks good. There's no full screen maps on here. You can see other information if you so choose, but not as full features of what you'll find in say a Mercedes-Benz. The head-up display shows all kinds of info and when you have the driving assist on, it'll show blind spot and cars in adjacent lanes. There's a really good highway driving assist that has automatic lane change and automatic speed adjustment based on the navigation data. There's also an eye tracker to see if you're paying attention. Here's the thing, if you discount the V6 engine, these cars are fully loaded for the same price. $54,295 for the RDX, $54,920 for the GV70. They start much lower, $41,500 for the GV70 and $40,600 for the RDX. They're both great buys against the Audi Q5, BMW X3, Mercedes GLC, Cadillac XT5, Lexus NX, and Infiniti QX50. The Lincoln Corsair can be nearly as supple as the Genesis, just as fun as the Acura. But if you're paying $64,670 for this Genesis, that's serious money. And on value and performance, it falters next to the BMW X3 M40i or the Audi SQ5. But the Genesis has such a unique style and a unique warranty. Five years, 60,000 miles, better than any luxury brand. I went into this comparison test thinking the Genesis GV70 was going to mop the floor with this Acura RDX, but that's not what happened. Now, the GV70 has a nicer interior. There's more luxury features. There's better technology, but not that much more of it. And when you compare both infotainment systems, they both have significant drawbacks to them. So what does it really come down to? The drive. The RDX has it. The GV70 is an incomplete package when it comes to a sport luxury SUV. That's what you're paying for in this class, and these cars have to deliver. The RDX delivers more of it. That's what I think. What do you guys think? Keep watching CarGurus. Go to cargurus.com because we have more comparison tests, more reviews all the time, every week. We'll see you around.