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What do you HATE about your RL?

338K views 1K replies 394 participants last post by  KH111 
#1 ·
Don't get me wrong, we all absolutely love this truck - but it's not perfect! So what do you hate about your RL?


I'll go first..

I hate the fact that the hood doesn't have hydraulic struts. For a $50K vehicle, you'd think they wouldn't have cheaped out on that!
 
#86 ·
You're driving home and stop for gas. Everyone is hungry and wants snacks. It is twenty minutes later and there are five empty chip bags, three candy bar wrappers, the corpses of five different drinks, the wrappers for five individually wrapped wet wipes, the wet wipes, someones used facial tissue and more all scattered around the car because there wasn't any central place to put it. You finally get home exhausted and carry in all the stuff and now go back out to pick up all that mess. Of course the kids didn't eat all the chips and with no where to put the bag they tossed them on the floor, so the remnants are scattered about and you have to take out the vacuum to clean that up.

You are more disciplined that I am. In both my CR-v and my Odyssey the center consul doesn't go all the way to the dash and I have a small trash can there that I empty every time I fill up at the gas station. They only place I see that would sort of work in the Ridgeline is on the floor at the middle seat, but when all five are in the car it will be in someone's way.
 
#87 ·
For trash, we use the little 1-gallon on-the-go trash bags, and hook one handle over the shifter handle. I forget the name of the bags, but you usually find them at the checkout aisle. If you Google "Ruffies on-the-go bags", you can get an idea. I think the ones we use are called Handi Sacks, or something like that.

There are trash cans that hang over the seat, but they aren't very elegant.
 
#96 ·
The windshield wipers sit in under the cowl. When it snows, the wipers pack snow under the cowl. It would be nice to be able to lift the wipers off the windshield when in the off position rather than turning them on and shutting the truck off, mid swipe, to be able to clean the bottom part of the windshield.
 
#101 ·
Beginning to hate the flimsy bumpers. Discovered yesterday that sometime within the last week someone has backed into the rt. side of the rear bumper. Going to need a new fascia and some bed side repair just under the rt. tail lamp. Of course no one taking responsibility. I'm sure it was in a parking lot somewhere.
 
#102 ·
Sorry to hear that redman. I kinda wish that Honda would go to a more traditional truck rear bumper for the reasons you are facing. It could be done and still have decent styling that matches. Better chance of just needing a bumper replacement instead of bumper cover and body damage.
 
#109 ·
I agree 100%. Talk about a cheap sounding, wimpy horn!

I'm trying to see if the hot lead for the horn can be identified and accessed from the engine compartment. Rather than removing the entire nose to access the stock horn, I'd like to splice into the hotlead and add additional horns mounting them in the engine bay facing forward.
 
#111 ·
Not that I have it yet... No Michelin LTX M/S option (or Defender LTX)

I had 125,000 km on the first set of Michelin LTX M/S on my G1 and probably could have had more except for the impending winter snow. The second set has just over 75,000 km and have plenty of life on them.

I hope that the Firestones are nearly as good on the G2.
 
#117 ·
Living here in the NorthEast US, I'm really wondering about the Firestone's in the snow - even though they rate pretty highly for light and heavy snow traction. Seriously considering this new Continental A/T tire: Continental*TerrainContact A/T

No ratings yet as it's new - going to try the Firestone's in the snow first - if they are not great moving to the Continentals - maybe there'll be some testing and reviews by then.
 
#114 ·
I don't hate this but it's rather annoying (more a gripe):

If I'm not using Android Auto, which happens when I'm too lazy, I want to see what my audio is on the default screen. However, I'll get navigation one day. Phone another. Doesn't seem to be in common thread to it but I've used it recently. I wouldn't be complaining about it if it weren't for the fact that I used my audio screen last and it never seems to default to that.

I don't recall seeing anything in the manual or the settings to choose: default to ________ on startup.
 
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#115 ·
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I like my steering wheel low and my forearms resting on my thigh, so I don't have to hold my arms up the whole time while driving, especially on long drives. I am used to a dial (analog) speedometer and the digital only speedometer sits too high in the dash cluster and is cut off buy the top of the steering wheel. I have the seat back and as low as it can go.

:frown:
.
 
#119 ·
I put the Blizzaks on my wife's 2008 Accord last Thursday. Got snow on Friday with lots of wind, caused drifting across the roads, melting/re-freezing and icy patches. Picked up my wife at the airport 60 miles away at 10pm Friday and drove back home. On the way, saw 7 or 8 vehicles in the ditches, mostly SUVs, a police Durango and another police car. The Accord never felt unsafe in those conditions with the Blizzaks.

One thing going to remember about snow tires...it is not just the aggressive tread that makes them effective. They have rubber compounds that remain softer and more pliable in freezing conditions. This gives them much better traction than your typical all-season or A/T tire. The down side is that the tread will wear quickly if temps are above, say, 50 degrees F.

I use winter tires as insurance. Might cost a bit initially, but you recoup some ofriends the cost by having your alternate tires last longer, and if you avoid an accident because of winter tires, their benefit can be priceless.

I keep our sets on another set of wheels, so I can just change them over in my garage in about a half-hour, no need to take to dealer or make appointments, etc.
 
#120 ·
On the topic of spare sets of wheels/tires: How does the Honda TPMS behave when different wheels are swapped on? Does it throw an error/warning right away?

I currently run winter wheels on both my wife's car (a Ford) and mine (a Mitsubishi). As long as the Ford is not driven over a certain distance and is parked near the stock tires it will not throw any sort of TPMS warning. My car, however, throws the warning after the first drive.

Just wondering about Honda TPMS since it is sort of annoying to drive around with the light on all the time. I realize I could have the system re-programmed each time I swap back and forth but that is even more annoying to me.

Thanks.
 
#123 ·
Just brought our RTL-E home yesterday. No issues at all. But if I had o pick one thing that I dislike about it, that would be the finger-prints on the touchscreen. It drives me crazy!

I'm constantly wiping the screen and rubbing my finger on my pants to try and get as much oil off my skin. Today I'm going to try to use a soft tipped stylus. I already have the NuShield and, Photodon screen protectors on order. I ordered both of them just to see which one does the better job regarding the fingerprints.
 
#124 ·
Max learn the steering wheel buttons. It cuts down on the finger prints a lot. You still have to touch it every once in a while but it's not that big a deal.
 
#125 ·
Yes. I agree. I was just doing that now. As you suggested, you can do the majority of functions through the steering wheel controls.

I also found that if I set the screen sensitivity to 'High' and use a soft pointed stylus, it works GREAT! You barely have to put any pressure on the screen and absolutely NO prints left by the stylus! :grin:
 
#127 · (Edited)
Dang, not the best first post. But, here are annoyances (followed by likes) regarding my G2, BE.
(Edit: Original list was after two months. Update: this now at 18 months)

Complaints

  • Parking assist features shut off immediately when you select drive. If you are adjusting tight parking or trying to navigate a trailer, the mirrors normalize and the camera shuts off immediately when put into Drive. Other vehicles I’ve had, they will leave it engaged until you reach something like 2 mph.
  • "Walk away lock” feature fails 35% of the time. (video in the “walk-away” thread).
  • Cannot disable Walk-Away-Lock Fail "fast beep" and rely on successful only beeps. Becomes a neighborhood annoyance.
  • Cannot shut vehicle off and place in Park while maintaining Accessory mode. It will disconnect phone calls and radio immediately.
  • No window control on Accessory mode, frustrating when working while not running.
  • Rear view camera is in the gate, so you cannot use the camera when parking with gate down, which is when you really wish you had it.
  • Tailgate not lockable (but trunk is). Cannot secure with tonneau cover.
  • Parking sensors falsely alarm in the rain EVEN AT HIGHWAY SPEED! I’ve never known a vehicle that doesn’t disengage the parking sensors when above the certain speed. (I have videos in the sensor thread)
  • Auto headlight dimming doesn't work well at all. And also it is a terrible design and you must pull the high beams lever and HOLD for 40 seconds to disable "Auto Dimming". Obviously, you cannot do this while driving with active traffic.
  • Cannot change seat memory positions while driving must be in park. I’m used to setting a couple of positions and alternate between the two on a long drive.
  • No dome light control once it times out on you. You must enter accessory mode again. Should be just turning light off/on would re-engage.
  • No current gear display as it is shifting (e.g. currently in 2nd, or 3rd gear). Annoying for a truck.
  • No quick downshift bump or even manual control of gears for traffic jumping or assist with towing. There is D4 mode, but that is not the same and useless when mid-way through gears (which you wouldn't know, because it doesn't indicate).
  • No idea which driver's settings are active (that I can find). It shows “briefly” which fob is active when starting, but not after the fact.
  • No rear view mirror dimming “off” switch. With the sensor on the backside of the mirror, you cannot hang mandatory parking tags without making the mirror too dark at night.
  • No light in the trunk. If you have a bed cover, the lid doesn't raise enough to provide light from the bed. Ah, but... there are also no bed lights when gate is dropped (only open if open sideways).
  • Cannot engage Bed lights while driving to check cargo. They forcefully disable it.
  • No bed light switch in the box or on fob, must visit the cab to reactivate when they time-out or turn off.
  • Speedometer at top of instrument panel is somewhat obstructed by a lowered steering wheel. Should have placed it in the center or lower region.
  • Terrible horn (The Canadian model got better dual note horn option)
  • The dual hinged gate is great for ramps when loading heavier equip that the gate cannot support, but the gate does not open to 90 degrees from the side. So there is some access restriction.
  • The main windshield has too much black-dotted tint in the center area preventing convenient placement of a dash-cam. They use this tint to shield the glare on the display, cheaper than embedding the display.
  • Cup holders are WAY too big and you need coozy-sized anything otherwise they are not being held. Not even spring tensioners like most other vehicles.
  • No seat Height/tilt-position for passenger seat like driver.
  • Inconvenient, to jump start. Honda only gives immediate access to the hot terminal and you need to remove the engine shroud-cover for the Negative placement. Portable Jump packs cannot reach the engine hanger, and grounding to the chassis doesn't work well for a jump-pack.
  • Honda’s bed design has very large gaps at the gate corners and any tonneau cover will exhibit open gaps in the rear that won’t seal. Even the OEM cover.
  • My driver side window takes 8 seconds (longer when colder) to roll up. The motor is weak (video in the window thread). had to have it repaired and lubricated
  • The climate temperature balance is pretty lackluster, always need to adjust.
  • The American Model has a rocker switch for the heated seat so you must remember to have them engaged for remote start to enable them (The Canadian model is automatic).
  • No seat ventilation for swamp-ass control (except in Canada)
  • Driver Armrest is very narrow for long driving.
  • No motorized folding mirrors. I have to fold both mirrors for a single car garage and it's a pain (someone said Canadian version has this).
  • Just a common sense note: The trunk is handy but useless if you have cargo in your bed. You then cannot get to the spare, which ironically most likely when you will get a flat.
  • The fuel tank is small for that mpg, needing to consider refill around 260 to 280 miles and often.
  • The AC inverter in the bed is only 2 pronged, if you use quality extension cords you will need to remember a ground adapter.
  • Remote start offers no indication if the truck is still running or shut off after 10 mins.
  • Very poor infotainment Interface. I cannot wait to replace it, if I ever can. Station Presets are not global, they are only per band (AM, FM, SXM). Cannot quickly switch from FM to SXM preset.
  • CarPlay cannot negotiate already active calls when starting.
  • CarPlay is ONLY available on USB in dash (not in center console to stuff away phone).
  • CarPlay does not handle contacts well if a person has multiple numbers. It must rattle off every digit and expect you to choose by repeating every digit. Useless.
  • Cannot even bring up contact list manually while driving (restricted), forces the driver to pickup the phone, which is worse. But funny, Honda won’t do other important safety things like mute the radio when in reverse.
  • Volume control cannot mute from the steering wheel or quickly (without shutting off). No knobs (tough with gloves as well due to this).
  • As always with Honda/Acura, the steering cluster is poor and difficult (like the useless radio MENU buttons).
  • The Honda paint isn't the smoothest or very durable at all. The vehicle shipped directly and still It had to be wheeled for paint protection. Scratches very easily with a lovely WHITE primer under the BLACK paint.
  • Great storage space when the rear seats are folded up, but you cannot get anything worthy in there because the doors don't open very wide, so infuriating to just want to put a box or something there that would fit in any car.
  • Bed is very shallow measure carefully if you put a cover on it, it will barely clear a milk crate.
  • My particular Honda hitch rattles badly in the receiver.
  • On very long trips a certain tonal resonance destroys my ears. Not a problem on short trips, I noticed it was painful around 11ish hours of driving. I'm an audio guy and never really had this irritation with other vehicles at this distance.

    Likes:
  • Anti-rollback on a large incline
  • Lane assist/Blind Spot/Forward Collision Alert/Side Approaching Traffic in reverse, are all pretty good. With exception of the parking sensors and rain at highway speed.
  • Awesome bed-liner material/construction.
  • The various drive-train/traction control management seems pretty good, so far. It has some fantastic torque capability in other modes (e.g. Sand Mode).
  • Remote start is handy.
  • The premium stereo sounds good for factory.
  • The ride is fantastic for a truck.
  • The payload capability is impressive for the ride. I have handled some slightly over-rated weight loads, easily. Little squat, and easily controlled.
  • Somewhat Ok turning radius for a truck.
  • Tows pretty well. I’ve pulled 3200 lbs very effortlessly. It wasn’t a huge load, but big enough that I expected it to persuade the truck, but it didn’t.
  • Cabin is pretty quiet overall, very welcome for a truck (weird ear irritation have long drives though noted above)
  • Braking is smooth and not grabby, but can react when needed. (Edit: But my brakes have become spongy lately and squeal at 3k miles).
  • Love the built in AC-110v inverter in the box. Wish they had an outlet in the cab to power a laptop.
  • Steering feels good, and isn't electric and lifeless like most drive-by-wire.
  • Decent cargo/storage space, in general. Although rear passenger door and box gate side openings are poor.
  • Good Height / Climb in access
  • Body roll exists, but not as much as I had expected. It handles nicely.
  • Extending sun visors
  • Tire pressure assist is nice. As you are filling, it will beep when you reach the recommended pressure.
Would I buy it again? Yeah, given the current choices, but barely. I would not pay what I did. The vehicle is currently not worth the price tag with these issues and oversights (and Canada getting a better package). But still a good truck when you weigh the features to the daily driver capability and still factor the annoyances. It still meets my needs pretty well. But, I feel it can still be improved greatly and it wouldn’t take much for a competitor to take over this space. The sore spot is the Canadian version with much better features at a somewhat less cost when you factor the exchange rate. And the build quality control check needs improvement.

I don't want to start a flame war. Just pointing my own experiences.

Cheers.
 
#128 ·
Good list

Dang, this is not the best first post. But, here are the annoyances (followed by likes) regarding my G2, Black Edition.

• Walk away lock sensor is always falsely beeping. 50% usable. Could be handy when it works.
Took me a while on this one with mine, but I've found that mine goes off like that only when one of my kids closes their door after me. If the driver door is the last one closed, no problem. When that beeping happens, the door is not actually locked.

• Rear Seat Clips do not hold the seat well when folded down in normal position, so they rattle or pop up slightly (mine anyway)
You should get that looked at. Mine is fine.

• Cannot shut vehicle off while maintaining Accessory mode. So it will disconnect phone calls, and/or radio. (seems to be an annoying Japanese trait)
Other posts on the forum here explain how to do that. Apparently it's in the manual as well. As I recall: Press the start/stop button while still in drive, then move the shift to park.


Generally agreed on the software problems. Too much menu diving in and out. Should automatically show what's playing. But on the volume control, I've found the steering wheel control to be perfect. I don't miss the volume knob anymore.


• Speedometer at top of instrument panel obstructs lowered steering wheel, they should have placed it in the center or lower region.
Your preference, of course, but make sure the steering wheel is pointed where it's supposed to be. This is a strong recommendation for the airbag to help avoid smashing ribs etc. When in that position, unless you have a really long neck or something <g>, it should be fine. I had this problem in my pilot years back with seeing the top of the speedometer. Realized it was because I had the wheel incorrectly positioned.

• Eco mode is terrible. Dampens acceleration so much that it feels like it is always running out of fuel. And weirdly, I get .5 better mpg with it disabled.
Agreed. Makes for a boring drive, but it does give you a few MPG more. After the 8 hour drive I took a couple weeks ago, I've just left it off. I figure I'll turn it on if I'm running on fumes trying to find a gas station. ;)

• No trunk light which is frustrating. When you pop the lid at night, you cannot see inside.
Now I need to check. I could swear my RTL-E has a trunk light. Or maybe it was just the bed light shining in. Either way, I was able to get into the trunk at night and see what was in there.

• Build quality has me wondering at the moment… not negative, yet, but not impressed. Simple things like pulling the door handles to close the door flexes way too much like they will come apart soon (and then things like my rear seat rattle).
Build quality for me is generally good, but I did notice the same thing with pulling the door handle. That was the only quality "hmm" moment for me.

• The climate temperature balance is pretty lackluster, doesn’t maintain consistent temperature all that well. It seems to always need adjustment.
100% agree there.

• No seat ventilation option for swamp-ass control. In fairness, this leather material isn’t as swampy as others I've had, but Honda will “try” to pretend they are upscale with nearly useless steering heating control, but no seat ventilation.
I put in a feature request for a bidet ;)

• Gas mileage is not hitting its advertised mark. You would think for a '17 model (and especially with Honda’s questionable VCM ) and it's weight, that it would do better than 15.4 mpg city, max. I haven’t driven enough freeway to measure. Makes me miss my TDI Q5 (24 mpg city.. and yes I know it is not apples to apples).
This is where that eco button comes in.

• I love the built in AC-110v inverter in the box. (I do wish they had it in the cab to power a laptop).
This. The only power in the back seats is USB. Ok for some things, but my kids wanted to play their Nintendo DS games on the way up, and had forgotten to charge. They have the cig lighter chargers, but the only 12v outlet like that is up front. I know it's not a minivan, but there's plenty of space in that center console to provide some more options.

Like you, I like my RL. It has some warts, which (IMO) are to be expected in a redesign. But I'm quite happy with it overall.

Pete
 
#129 · (Edited)
Oh, and hope to never have a flat with substantial cargo in the bed. You will never get to the spare. That's too bad when the probability for a flat is most likely increased when you have cargo, due to the environments of acquisition and destination (e.g. construction, landfills, storage facilities, whatever); to the actual load of the cargo.

@Psychlist1972 - Thanks for some of the feedback... I haven't mastered "quoting" multiple segments, so I will just reply

Re: Walk-away-beeping
Other Pilot and Civic owners are having the same issues. It fails even if it is the only door involved. Also, if no cell phone, 2nd fob, or any other obstructions. Can't figure it out.

Re: Shut off and maintain "Accessory Mode"
I have not found a single reference in the manual. If it exists maybe you can point it out? And I believe the "Shut-Off" while in Drive is a terrible "Hack". For one, it isn't "Accessory Mode" it is "Power on" and it keeps the climate system engaged... and if it is not running, having the climate system engaged is useless. It is just a horrible design.

Re: Trunk Light
Yeah, let me know if you have one, maybe a thief broke into my vehicle and stole only my trunk light! I do have questionable neighbors.

The whole bed light thing is weird, they are in the side panels, so if you have tight cargo (including their novelty camping TENT) then you have no light... other trucks put the light on the cab which Honda could include as the underside of their 3rd brake light. Too bad they didn't). They could have easily included a bed light switch inside the panel where the 110v inverter is, too... and if they designed that tent properly, there could have been an access flap for it). As I had listed in the prior big list, the bed has handicaps. It is a modern day El Camino.. But, it is still fine.

Re: 12 volt power.
There is a cig 12v in the center console. But agree, it would be nice to have one where the rear USB charge is.
 
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