Getting your player ready...
The Acura MDX, for 10 years one of the best-liked of all the seven-passenger luxury SUVs, staged a big sales spurt in December, and showed up at my house Monday in time to get me around on the ice and in the snow that’s still on the ground from last week’s storm.
Its sinister-looking grille, an Acura mark of recent years, goes well with its sharp-edged exterior styling.
It’s been almost four years since I’ve driven an MDX. The 2011 model has added, in addition to its crisper styling, a smooth 6-speed automatic transmission and higher-tech navigation and entertainment systems.
These enhancements helped the MDX post near-record sales numbers last month.
The MDX was introduced for the 2001 model year and for six years beginning the following year, from 2002 through 2007, the Acura was the most consistently strong seller among all luxury midsize SUVs. It suffered sharp drops in the automotive recessions of 2008 and ’09 before climbing back during the past year.
SET IN A BOX
UP AND DOWN
Here is the 10-year sales history for the MDX:
2001 40,950
2002 52,955
2003 57,281
2004 59,505
2005 57,948
2006 54,121
2007 58,606
2008 45,377
2009 31,178
2010 47,210
This year’s MDX, like those previously, lends a quiet, exceptionally comfortable ride, and its handling is improved with active dampers in a more sophisticated independent suspension with MacPherson struts in front and a multi-link rear.
Powertrain assembly links a 300-horsepower, 3.7-liter V-6 engine, the 6-speed automatic and SH-AWD (“super-handling, all-wheel-drive” are Honda engineers’ terms) system, which distributes torque to all four wheels depending on road and weather conditions.
There is no turbocharging available. The lack of quickness and power can be overcome somewhat by well-designed paddle shifters, one at the left of the steering wheel for downshifting and to the right for upshifting.
With the 3.7 liters and the new 6-speed automatic, the MDX carries a so-so EPA rating of 16/21. I averaged 19.9 miles per gallon for 300 miles of highway driving and 100 miles in town, much of which was in the snow.
There is little fault to find with the beautifully finished, plush leather MDX interior. Well, there’s one thing – the tight clearance allowed for entering and exiting the third-row seating. The third row, though, really isn’t designed for adults, but kids hop in and out with little notice of any restrictive space.
The form-fitting supple leather seats and wood trim highlight the roomy interior.
The ’11 MDX’s sticker price of $54,965 is about $8,000 higher than the one I drove four years ago, due greatly to an Advance package with rear-entertainment DVD setup. A voice-activated navigation system and rearview camera are among amenities in the package, along with upgraded audio with USB port and 15 gigabytes of hard-drive media storage, ventilated front seats and heated front and second-row seats, the sport suspension and 19-inch alloy wheels.
An active cruise control, which can flash a “BRAKE” alert at the driver approaching too quickly a slow-moving vehicle ahead, is also among the technological wonders of the Acura. I like the fact that the Acura cruise system, when the vehicle is shut off and then restarted, maintains the cruise speed previously set.
Power liftgate and moonroof are included in a long list of standard equipment on the MDX.
The Acura line of SUV/crossover vehicles, besides the MDX, includes the RDX and ZDX.
Notes from e-mail
Q: Bud, I am a fan of yours and appreciate your work on the Drive column. Having just finished your take on the 2011 Volvo S60 and having read other reviews on this car, I noted you referred to the engine as a V-6. Isn’t it an inline-6-cylinder set transversely in the chassis? A look at the Volvo website gave no indication of engine layout. Happy New Year. – B.E.
A: You know, Bruce, and I know that, with Volvo, it is an inline-6. In 35 years of writing a column such as this, I don’t recall ever misidentifying a V-configured engine for an inline. Your critical eye is appreciated.
Q: Bud, how can I review previous test drives, printed over the past year? – D.L.
A: Simplest, Dick, would be online. Go to DenverPost.com, click on Autos, scroll down past Saturday Drive to Auto Tools at the bottom of the page and click on Bud Wells Archive.
