Well, it has its limits.
I made a point of taking a road in my travels that is known for its tight switchbacks.
This is a big car, and there is no denying that you're going to encounter challenges associated with that when you're trying to get somewhere in a hurry on a tight, twisty road.
I would not call it ungainly, but the limitations become obvious when you're trying to change directions quickly and radically. It's obvious, and safe, but you can definitely tell when the car's reminding you that it's 4,000# not 2,000#.
Not being able to change the damper settings in Sport Mode, you reach the limits quickly, but the car's obvious in its rejection of a maneuver, so it's clearly safe and clearly let's you know you're reaching the car's limits.
But having said that, it's still quicker and faster than a car that size would be without the vectoring electric motors. It's quick for a big car, but it's obvious that it's still a big car.
In a tight right hand turn that is very bumpy, the suspension design was an advantage. Although you knew you were bouncing over the bumps, the car did not get upset and did not experience any kind of bounce sideways or any kind of bump steer or other deleterious effects.
I believe that the RLX Sport Hybrid handled that section of road better than my TL 6-6 SH-AWD handled it, largely because of the way the torque vectoring acted to quickly rotate the car. The TL SH-AWD could only push on the outside, perhaps braking on the inside if it was serious. The RLX pushes on the outside and retards on the inside without using the brakes up to a point, but it can still engage the brake on the inside rear wheel if you've really cranked the steering.
The DCT worked well in automatic. Because of the nature of the road the paddles were useless. I had to shuffle steer my way through, which meant I would not be able to find the paddles when I needed them. Without the paddles the DCT did a good job keeping me on the torque curve throughout the whole series of turns. Not perfect...but good.
I waited for stability controls to try to straighten the car, but they never did. Whatever the combination of factors, the car never thought it was in trouble to use any stability controls.
This was interesting.
This technology in the upcoming NSX will make the new NSX a devastatingly enjoyable experience!
I made a point of taking a road in my travels that is known for its tight switchbacks.
This is a big car, and there is no denying that you're going to encounter challenges associated with that when you're trying to get somewhere in a hurry on a tight, twisty road.
I would not call it ungainly, but the limitations become obvious when you're trying to change directions quickly and radically. It's obvious, and safe, but you can definitely tell when the car's reminding you that it's 4,000# not 2,000#.
Not being able to change the damper settings in Sport Mode, you reach the limits quickly, but the car's obvious in its rejection of a maneuver, so it's clearly safe and clearly let's you know you're reaching the car's limits.
But having said that, it's still quicker and faster than a car that size would be without the vectoring electric motors. It's quick for a big car, but it's obvious that it's still a big car.
In a tight right hand turn that is very bumpy, the suspension design was an advantage. Although you knew you were bouncing over the bumps, the car did not get upset and did not experience any kind of bounce sideways or any kind of bump steer or other deleterious effects.
I believe that the RLX Sport Hybrid handled that section of road better than my TL 6-6 SH-AWD handled it, largely because of the way the torque vectoring acted to quickly rotate the car. The TL SH-AWD could only push on the outside, perhaps braking on the inside if it was serious. The RLX pushes on the outside and retards on the inside without using the brakes up to a point, but it can still engage the brake on the inside rear wheel if you've really cranked the steering.
The DCT worked well in automatic. Because of the nature of the road the paddles were useless. I had to shuffle steer my way through, which meant I would not be able to find the paddles when I needed them. Without the paddles the DCT did a good job keeping me on the torque curve throughout the whole series of turns. Not perfect...but good.
I waited for stability controls to try to straighten the car, but they never did. Whatever the combination of factors, the car never thought it was in trouble to use any stability controls.
This was interesting.
This technology in the upcoming NSX will make the new NSX a devastatingly enjoyable experience!