Acura’s redesigned MDX SUV returns to the brand’s roots

Now must be an interesting time – in the Pratchettian sense – to be an automobile manufacturer. All you want to do is sell vehicles, but there are economic slowdowns and an occasional pandemic. Around the world, climate change policies are strongly favoring electricity-powered machines, at least in Europe and China, and a Californian newcomer was embarrassed by all the usual players in the process. And, in addition, all your customers are bored with the cars they used to buy – everything has to be a crossover or an SUV, preferably with wifi.

In the case of Acura, the company had to deal with all of the above while going through something like a midlife crisis. After decades of competing for sales with Lexus and Infiniti, Honda’s North American subsidiary decided to engage in an examination of conscience to see if this is really where their efforts should be spent. And Acura decided that, instead of focusing on luxury, it needed to return to its roots as a performance brand.

In the past, Japanese luxury brands were seen as a step below their German competitors, mainly in terms of driving dynamics, mainly due to the preponderance of front-wheel drive platforms. But if Acura’s plan was to dislodge BMW as the driver’s choice, the MDX is the SUV to do that. Particularly the version he sent us for 48 hours – $ 57,100 2022 MDX A-Spec. A-Spec, in addition to having something to do with Gran Turismo, it’s also Acura-code for “this is what works great”, a bit like those BMWs you see with M Sport emblems.

This redesign makes the 2022 the fourth generation of SUVs to wear the MDX emblem, and our test example looked resplendent in its Performance Red Pearl paint. (It’s a shade similar to Mazda’s Soul Red, but maybe a little deeper.) From the front, the new MDX is a less complicated shape than the model it replaces, with the front dominated by a larger Acura grille and an emblem that hides some of the sensors facing the future of the SUV. However, the black inlets on both sides of the grid are actually blocked, even in this variant – tests have apparently shown that it was better if those outlets were permanently closed. (The main grille also has active shutters that close to reduce drag when needed.)

An official car for a promising imperial officer?

A return to Acura performance does not mean exchanging a luxurious interior for something spartan. Darth Vader would probably be a fan of the interior of the MDX A-Spec, with its black ultrasuede on black and leather, red stitching and shiny black panels. Acura says that 30% of the polyester that is transformed into ultrasuede comes from molasses produced as a by-product of sugar refining, which is the kind of nerdy fact that one day can be useful.

Behind Acura’s latest multifunctional steering wheel, a 12.3-inch digital display replaces the physical dials that you can find in a TLX sedan. It changes its appearance depending on the activation mode and, in the middle of the display, there is an informative graphic representation of what the sensors are seeing around the MDX.

The infotainment system is the latest iteration of Acura’s True Touchpad Interface, first seen on the RDX crossover. It uses a touchpad on the center console that has a 1: 1 ratio to the screen – if (for example) an icon or UI element is in the upper right corner of the screen, you touch the upper right corner of the touchpad to touch this. There is a little more learning curve than using a normal touchscreen or trackpad-based interface, but with a few hours of familiarity, you’ll quickly realize how easy it is to operate without taking your eyes off the road.

There are many USB ports (five or seven if you choose the MDX Advance, which also gets a 10.2-inch color heads-up display) and a wireless charging pad, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto work wirelessly (though, as always, you can discover the use of a cable for a more bug-free experience).

The middle row of seats slides 5.9 inches (150 mm) back and forth and comes with a party trick – you can remove the middle seat. Removing the seat means that you can only carry six people on board, and you will want to leave the middle seat at home. But it makes entering the third line much more practical.

Stay on target

The new MDX gained a high degree of rigidity in the chassis in search of better handling, mainly through the use of high-strength steels in strategic locations. The double-wishbone front suspension is new and suggests that this SUV means business; there is also a new multilink rear suspension design on the rear. And I must say that the engineers were successful – this is an SUV with excellent handling, which bodes well for the more powerful MDX Type-S that is in the pipeline.

His gross weight of 4,534 pounds (2,056 kg) is standard for the class, but the MDX’s posture and body control mark him as one of the smart kids sitting in the front. There is no delay between the entry and the reaction that afflicts many SUVs (or even the Acura TLX sedan that I recently tested), and the SH-AWD torque vectors effectively from front to rear and, on the rear axle, on one side for the other, it all helps you to change direction more quickly.

Unfortunately, there is only one choice of powertrain for the new MDX, a 290 hp (217 kW) and 267 lb-ft (362 Nm) variant of the company’s 3.5 L 60 degrees V6 coupled with an automatic transmission. 10 speeds. It is rated at 21 mpg (11.2 l / 100km) combined, which slightly exceeded (I have 21.8), but it is still disappointing to report that there is no hybrid MDX for this generation. When I double-checked this omission with the Acura, the company said that it still loved electrification, which is not only good for the planet, but also for performance, and indicated the competent NSX supercar as proof of that.

List image by Acura