Verdict
Acura is rightly proud that the MDX is the world’s best-selling three-row luxurious SUV, however despite the corporate’s advertising and marketing, it hasn’t cultivated the sporty panache of a few of its rivals. That’s going to alter when the 2022 Acura MDX hits showrooms, its snappy new duds hiding a beautiful, brand-specific SUV platform that brings the luxury-SUV combat to Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.
The MDX’s metamorphosis right into a bona fide luxurious crossover begins with a planted stance that’s a dramatic departure from the outgoing mannequin’s barely squat look. In the meantime, a extra spacious inside brings the MDX firmly into the trendy period with a brand new infotainment system and superior security options. Lastly, underneath the pores and skin is a double-wishbone entrance suspension and stiffer platform that makes it really feel concurrently sportier and extra secure. Backside line – you now not must qualify your MDX buy with some marketing-speak about worth or reliability.
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One Look Is All It Takes
The 2022 MDX instantly asserts its Acura-ness with a particular “diamond pentagon” grille and chicane LED headlight accents (impressed by the corporate’s ARX-05 race automotive), in addition to taillights which can be seemingly ripped from the TLX. Step again from these particulars and also you’ll additionally discover that Acura elevated its dash-to-axle ratio by over 4 inches, giving the MDX an extended hood that appears rather more swish. The corporate’s flagship rides on a 113.8-inch wheelbase (a rise of two.8 inches), and its monitor goes up 1.4 inches to 67.7, giving it a wheels-at-the-corners stance that’s essential to imparting a dynamic first impression.
The cabin is way improved because of a design that takes a cue from the Precision Cockpit idea. A low sprint recollects Acuras of outdated, decreasing claustrophobia and bettering visibility, whereas its split-cowl decrease dashboard design offers the intimacy that’s acceptable in a automobile with sporting pretensions. Gone is the complicated dual-screen infotainment system – sitting up excessive within the driver’s line of sight is a 12.3-inch show, with extra automobile and driving info coming through an ordinary digital instrument cluster that measures the identical 12.3 inches.
Serving to Acura earn factors is a well-crafted inside that boasts real leather-based and aluminum (Advance fashions add matte wooden trim, whereas our A-Spec bought fake suede seat inserts). Supplies are beautiful aside from the hard-plastic knee bolsters on both facet of the middle console. And even the bottom MDX will get a digital instrument cluster, in addition to wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wi-fi charging pad, three-zone local weather management, and a sliding panoramic moonroof, which impacts headroom solely a tiny bit in comparison with the outdated MDX. That’s a small value to pay for the way ethereal the inside is with the shade retracted.
Constructed For The Boulevard
For now, all 2022 Acura MDX fashions obtain a carryover 3.5-liter V6, with figures which can be an identical to that of the outgoing SUV: 290 horsepower and 267 pound-feet (don’t fret, a sportier Kind S is coming). A ten-speed automated gearbox is now commonplace, changing a nine-speed within the 2020 MDX.
Modest output however, the MDX within reason responsive in both town or the freeway, and the transmission selects gears very nicely – paddle shifters are commonplace for management freaks. As earlier than, the bottom and Know-how trims get front-wheel drive; Acura’s torque-vectoring Tremendous Dealing with All-Wheel Drive is an choice that’s commonplace on the A-Spec and Advance.
So geared up, the MDX can ship as much as 70 % of the engine’s energy to the rear axle, portioning as much as one hundred pc of that to the proper or left rear wheels. The clutch-based system nearly erases understeer when accelerating by a nook, however the technological trick solely works when making use of throttle. Underneath braking or coasting, the MDX’s 58/42 weight distribution (out of 4,534 kilos whole) is on full show. The racing adage, “Enter gradual and exit quick,” means all the pieces right here.
The clutch-based SH-AWD system nearly erases understeer when accelerating by a nook.
Physique management can also be a really slight challenge. The MDX feels nervous on undulating pavement and reveals some physique roll in corners, comprehensible for the category however a bit disappointing given Acura’s sporty posturing. Lively anti-roll bars, equivalent to these on the Audi SQ7, BMW X5, and Mercedes-Benz GLE, would assist. That mentioned, the MDX pays large dividends on the freeway, with a quiet journey that’s remoted from pavement imperfections and sonic disturbances.
And the MDX remains to be a genuinely gratifying SUV to hustle up a canyon highway. By protecting the pace considerably in verify in the beginning of a nook, the motive force can squeeze onto the throttle early and work that SH-AWD magic, the nook line tightening up because the SUV sends energy to the skin rear wheel in a confidence-inspiring arc. And the sweetly tuned 3.5-liter V6 engine is a pleasure to tear from idle to redline, providing the smoothness you’d usually affiliate with one thing Bavarian, with an uncommon exhaust bark to set it aside.
In Type And Consolation
An extended wheelbase and wider monitor yield extra inside room – whole passenger quantity is 139.1 cubic ft, up 6.4 cubes over the outgoing MDX. Consolation and assist for the motive force and passenger are aggressive, thanks to straightforward 12-way heated energy seats – the MDX A-Spec brings air flow to the combo, to which the Advance provides adjustable thigh assist and seat bolsters. The seats themselves are formed for the common American, with considerably much less lateral assist in comparison with a BMW X5 or Audi Q7. The payoff is extra wiggle room for these with huge shoulders and hips.
Sadly, the bigger second row isn’t fairly as comfy because it was on the 2020 MDX. The 40/20/40 bench’s heart seatback folds right down to function an armrest for the outboard positions, however it’s not tall sufficient for grownup elbows, with no storage except for a pair of cupholders. The outdated structure, a 60/40 cut up seat and a deployable armrest with cupholders, was cushier and extra supportive than its considerably flat substitute. And the outgoing MDX Advance’s luxurious bucket seats and heart console are gone. To Acura’s credit score, the middle seating place is detachable, which makes third-row entry simpler when youngster seats are put in.
Sadly, the bigger second row isn’t fairly as comfy because it was on the 2020 MDX.
Talking of, the third row wins some factors again for the 2022 MDX. Passengers will admire a seating place that’s additional off the ground than earlier than, in addition to noticeably extra headroom and legroom. It’s nonetheless a bit tight for adults, however your folks received’t protest sitting again there for brief jaunts, and pre-teens have sufficient room for lengthy journeys. The highest-spec MDX Advance even contains USB charging for each third-row passengers.
Baggage area behind the third row is 16.3 cubic ft, up 1.5 over the outdated MDX, and dropping the cargo ground to its lowest place makes room for 18.1 cubes. With the third row folded, the Acura will get 39.1 cubic ft, and with all seats stowed, there’s 71.4 cubes of area.
Hit-And-Miss Know-how
Acura’s polarizing True Touchpad Interface exhibits up within the 2022 MDX, and it’s higher right here than in every other product from the automaker. As on the RDX and TLX, the infotainment display screen is mounted simply out of attain from the motive force, close to the bottom of the windshield. A touch-sensitive rectangle on the middle console corresponds to the show in that urgent down on one nook of the touchpad prompts the identical space on the display screen. After some familiarization, it’s fairly straightforward to make use of Acura’s embedded apps and features.
Nevertheless, when CarPlay is energetic, the touchpad should as an alternative be used just like the trackpad of a pocket book laptop, making it a lot much less intuitive and requiring extra consideration and nice changes than we’d like. For what it’s value, that’s resulting from Apple’s software program limitations, however it doesn’t change the truth that a touchscreen can be extra handy than Acura’s answer. CarPlay additionally precludes the usage of the system’s embedded navigation (commonplace on Know-how, A-Spec, and Advance trims) and USB audio. That meant we needed to disconnect our telephones to understand the stellar ELS Studio 3D sound system that comes commonplace on the A-Spec and Advance.
Uncompressed audio information on a USB stick reveal how great the audio package deal actually is. “Three-dimensional” sound comes through 4 audio system within the MDX’s headliner, and the processor will even ship particular stereo tones to a selected speaker. For instance, the start of Dire Straits’ “Cash For Nothing” performs from each inside speaker till the signature guitar riff silences the rising cacophony, sound emanating primarily from the entrance audio system till the remainder of the band rejoins. Streaming audio, equivalent to Spotify or Pandora, sounds fairly good too, although there’s some compression hiss.
Making Cents Of It All
The 2022 Acura MDX is a big enchancment over the outdated one, so one would possibly anticipate Acura to demand a premium for its efforts. To wit: the front-wheel-drive Acura MDX now begins at $46,900, up $2,400 over its predecessor. That value hike appears cheap given how a lot nicer the brand new MDX is, though it have to be mentioned that leatherette is now the usual upholstery – the 2020 MDX will get leather-based proper from the get-go. An MDX A-Spec like we examined prices $57,100 to start out, with an as-tested value of $58,625 after including its deep, steely Liquid Carbon Metallic paint ($500) and a $1,025 vacation spot cost.
If you happen to’re hellbent on saving money, a loaded Lexus RX 350L prices about $57,000 (up from $48,000 to start out), although you’ll must sacrifice inside room and driving dynamics within the cramped, sterile Lexus. A rear-drive BMW X5 sDrive40i provides heaps extra energy and barely higher dealing with than the MDX, however it begins $59,400 – a value that doesn’t embrace leather-based, superior driver-assist options, or premium audio. The Audi Q7 45 TFSI begins at $54,950 in turbocharged, four-cylinder type; ditto the rear-drive $57,250 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350. Predictably, a well-optioned Acura is about the identical value as a base-model European SUV.
In fact, value is just one ingredient of worth. The Acura MDX SH-AWD achieves 19 miles per gallon metropolis, 25 freeway, and 21 mixed (add a tick to mixed and freeway numbers for those who’re going with front-wheel drive). That equals the Audi and Lexus’ mixed numbers when evaluating all-wheel-drivers, however it lags behind the GLE 350 4Matic’s mixed rank of twenty-two mpg. Surprisingly, the torquey, turbocharged BMW inline-six beats all, at 23 mpg.
Nonetheless, if the MDX’s urge for food for fuel is palatable, it’s a really aggressive, comfy, and premium-feeling SUV. Though its engine’s output is a bit underwhelming and it rolls in corners greater than we’d like (we anticipate the forthcoming turbocharged Kind S mannequin to eradicate each complaints), the Acura remains to be nimble, spacious, straightforward to stay with, and many enjoyable to drive. The logical causes for getting an MDX proceed into the brand new technology – reliability, high quality development, and passenger room – however lastly, Acura has constructed a bona fide luxurious crossover that makes an emotional attraction for itself, too. No disclaimers wanted.
