Elana Scherr: At the end of the day, it's
a competent rather than truly exciting SUV.
That's what the Edmunds crew said about the last generation
Acura MDX, which we all agreed was
a solid competitor for top three-row luxury SUV
but couldn't quite nab that spot from the Audi Q7.
Well, MDX took a year off, and it is back for 2022
with a total redesign from a longer wider platform
to a well-dressed and roomier interior.
Should Audi be scared?
Let's find out.
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Look at this front end.
It's all folded and action-packed.
It's got these thin headlights, and this grill
looks like it's going hyperspeed.
It is a lot more interesting than the previous generation.
Although your kids are going to complain if you make
them wash it that it's too hard.
It's too complicated-- too much like origami.
Do kids still wash cars these days?
I don't know.
Is that a thing?
The MDX is longer and wider, which means more room inside
but also more of an impressive presentation on the road.
Acura offers a bunch of cool colors too
and optional 20-inch wheels.
So order yours in purple pearl and make all your neighbors
in the boring silver Mercedes so jealous.
But it's the interior that I'm really excited to show you.
Look, I have a bit of a theory going.
See, new cars these days are all so good
that one of the only ways to stand out
is through interior design.
Let's see how Acura did.
From a functionality standpoint alone,
the new MDX's interior is significantly improved.
That whole make it longer and wider
thing means that there is more leg room in all three rows
and more headroom in the first and third row, not the second.
Nope, sorry, top hat fans.
A panoramic sunroof will be standard,
and it cuts just a smidge into the roof room.
All right, Acura, what have you done in here?
Well, the first things that stand out
are a lot of different, interesting materials.
There's shiny black, flat black, a nice metal trim
on the speakers, and this open-pore wood,
very fashionable, kind of bumpy.
I see it everywhere now.
One thing that is a fun bit of trivia
is that every different trim level of the MDX
has a different pattern for the perforations in the seats.
I don't know when you're going to be
able to use that information, but I
hope it comes in handy someday.
When it comes to comfort and usability,
I mean, these are nice seats.
They're big.
They're wide.
In this trim level, they are heated and ventilated.
In fact, this heater is on right now,
and I'm getting a little warm.
If it's possible, there is almost too
much room in here for somebody who's
as short as I am because I'm pretty far forward,
and I'm almost out of space here on the console,
which brings me to a complaint.
The console looks really nice.
I like how it's low.
I like how it wraps around here, but I
don't feel like it's the most efficient use of space.
First, you've got a big phone charging pad here,
which is great if you have a big phone.
But if you don't, then it's space
that you could have maybe used for something else.
Then, you've got this little armrest,
which you need because this is a touchpad-controlled
infotainment system, not a touch screen.
No touch.
This might just be a personal thing,
but I would have preferred that they
had made this screen a little closer to the driver
and touch sensitive because I find
it confusing to be driving and learning the muscle
memory for a touch pad.
It's just easier to use a touch screen.
Still, it is a great improvement over the previous dual-screen
thing that the MDX had.
And if it isn't quite as sci-fi high tech
as like the Mercedes MBUX or the Audi MMI, it's getting closer.
After doing so many reviews, I'm kind
of bored of listing all the safety features.
I mean, almost everything comes with almost everything,
which is how it should be.
Safety is important.
So here's a list.
Oh, it's got a redesigned passenger airbag,
and it cradles the face.
It's got a rear-camera wash.
That's helpful like in the snow.
Adaptive cruise-control with low speed follow.
That's a good one.
All right, second row, well, plenty of space.
No complaints here.
And also, these seats, they recline.
Oh, yeah, that's good.
We've got a lot of the same nice materials
that you see in the front seat.
You've got that wood.
You've got that leather.
You don't have the metal speaker grills.
I feel like they cheaped out a little on you there.
One of the things that MDX does that is very clever--
I would like to see more three-row SUVs do this--
normally, you have to choose between a bench
seat and captain's chairs in the second row,
but we've got both here.
So that's bench seat.
Now, we've got captain's chairs.
And if you have say, permanent car seats,
you've got two little kids.
You don't want to take the car seats in and out.
But you've also got somebody who's
got to sit in the third row, you can take this whole middle seat
out.
And it's easy.
And then, you just lift it up, put it in the back,
or put it in the garage.
And you've got this nice walkway from the middle to the back,
very smart.
OK, that wasn't the most graceful entrance.
There's kind of a big wheel well right here
that makes it a little hard to get in and out.
But once you're in the third row, it's a nice place to be.
Seats are comfortable.
There's a lot of headroom.
There's a lot of shoulder room.
And there's a lot of leg room.
And one of the ways that Acura managed
that is when they redesigned the rear suspension,
it allowed them to make a slightly lower floor,
make the seat a little higher.
And that means that you just have a more comfortable seating
position.
If you've ever been in a back row, where your knees are up
by your chest, it's uncomfortable.
So you've got a comfortable seat.
You've got your own window.
You've got the sunroof.
And if you have this trim, you even have dual-charging ports.
So this is a pretty nice place to be.
Good job Acura.
This is huge, 71.4 cubic feet with all the seats
down and 16.3 when you've got folks in all three rows.
But more important than raw numbers, is usability.
I really like the way the handles are designed
for putting the third row up and down, just very easy to use.
And then, there's this cool hidden area under here.
So people can't see what you've got.
Also, reversible, check it out.
Now, if you've been camping, fishing,
you can put your muddy boots right here
on this easy-to-clean plastic.
OK, here is a feature that I think
is awesome because I am absolutely
the kind of person who spills coffee
all over luggage while trying to get stuff out
of the cargo area.
It's called Power Tailgate with Walk Away.
And it knows when you've left the perimeter of the car,
and it can automatically shut the tailgate for you.
So I'm going to need you to use your imagination here.
Pretend that I'm holding a baby or I've got
a dog on a leash or something.
And I need to get all this stuff out of here.
I've got coffee.
It's like, I don't even know where the key is.
I'm going to put my coffee down, press this button.
Now, it's waiting for me.
Still waiting for me, it's great.
It's not shutting yet, but it's going to.
I got my bags.
I got my coffee.
I still have my dog-baby.
Boom.
That is power.
One thing that hasn't changed in the new MDX is the engine.
It's still the same 3.5-liter V6.
Only, now, instead of being backed
by a nine-speed automatic transmission,
it's backed by a 10-speed, more speeds.
The engine makes 290 horsepower and 267 pound-feet of torque.
That's a solid performer, if not exactly the fastest
thing I've ever been in.
It gets 21 MPG combined if you're
in the all-wheel-drive version, which we are
and a little bit more if you get it with the two-wheel-drive.
It's a big car, but it doesn't feel like one.
I mean, the steering is very light.
In fact, it's so light that at slow speeds,
I think it's a little bit too late.
But at highway speeds, it feels great.
And the new chassis is stiff, but the new suspension is soft.
So the ride is incredibly comfortable.
I mean, I'm not really feeling any of the bumps.
I'm just kind of cruising along here,
and yet it still feels tight around the corners.
I don't feel like I'm leaning over.
If you want a more special version of this crossover,
you could step up to the Type S. The "S" is for special.
Under the hood of that one is a turbo-charged 3-liter V6
with 355 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque.
That motor is paired exclusively with
Acura's SH-all-wheel-drive.
All right, you've got your choices of driving modes.
So you can do Snow if you want a little extra help
in slippery situations, a little less power right
off the throttle.
You can do Comfort.
You can do Normal, which I am clearly not allowed to use.
It's only for normal people.
Then, you've got my favorite, which is Sport.
And it just gives you a little extra throttle response.
It makes everything feel a little tighter, zippier.
I like it.
Although, I don't know if you'd be winning any drag races.
It's a little loud though.
Do you hear that?
Rawr.
Go, tiger.
Let's talk briefly about shifted-design.
I know you're not really using it while you're on the road.
But I'm sitting in here, staring at it right now.
And I'm irritated about it.
Oh, look, here's a red light.
We can talk about it.
I really hate this style of push-button shifter.
I mean, it's nice in that every gear has a different shape.
So you can kind of tell where you're
going without looking at it.
But they didn't make the buttons quite big enough,
so I always sort of hit the edge of it when I'm pressing it.
And it's uncomfortable feeling.
And if you had big fingers, I don't think you could use it.
That's it.
That's all I got.
The Acura MDX has always been a fun car to drive
and offered good value for the money.
It's only flaws previously were boring looks
and a meh interior.
For 2022, it's addressed the looks and the interior.
And the pricing starts at just under $48,000,
which is still considerably less than competitor Audi.
The Q7 generally starts in the low to mid $50,000 range.
So should Audi be scared?
Well, I think the Q7 might still have the top spot.
But the competition is going to be
closer than it ever was before.
And if you're looking for a way to move your family in luxury
while still having money left over for the luxuries,
the MDX was designed for you.
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