My Week with the 2024 Acura MDX (and it was a weird week)

My week testing this Acura MDX can be summed up in one word, and that word is weird. And through all of this weirdness, we're going to find out how this Acura MDX stacks up as an SUV and whether it can be effective in not only day-to-day normal use, as well as some weirdness. What's it like? Well, buckle up and let's go for a drive. I'm your host, Brian Max Racer, lover of driving fast, fun things. And on this channel, you get reviews for drivers, from drivers, and it's been a really, really long time since we've looked at an Acura MDX and the way things worked out, I've done all sorts of things with this MDX. And it involves celebrities, it involves road trips, it involves car parts, and it involves a whole lot of people jumping in to these three rows of this MDX. And before we get into what this is like to drive, let's have a look at it in a little more depth. Mechanically, this MDX uses Acura's tried and true mechanical recipe to produce this three-row crossover. Under the hood is a naturally aspirated 3.6 liter V6, makes 290 horsepower at 6,200 RPM, 267 pounds of torque at 4,700 RPM. There's a 10-speed automatic, super handling all-wheel drive, of course, you can get this front-wheel drive here in Canada, it's all-wheel drive only, variable assist, variable ratio steering, double wishbone front suspension, multi-link at the rear, conventional dampers. Wheels and tires on this one are 20s and they do look appropriate for this kind of luxury-oriented trim of this particular MDX. Curb weight of this one is 4,562 pounds and it'll tow up to 5,000 pounds. Did you know that about 80% of you are not subscribed? Yes, it's true. I checked the data and 80% of you are not subscribed. So if you enjoy the content on this channel, do me a solid, hit that subscribe button while you're at it. Be sure to like this video and share it. And if you don't mind, drop by our merch store. There's lots of great stuff for driving enthusiasts like us, including our very popular line of Save the Manuals merch. Now back to your regularly scheduled episode. In terms of this interior, I think overall the best way to frame this is that I've got a love-hate relationship. So let's start with some love, first of all. And that starts with an excellent seating position. You're just seated perfectly behind this wheel. Great relationship to the pedals and to the steering wheel. The steering wheel is wonderfully shaped to encourage you to have your hands at nine and three. And of course, the steering wheel is heated and actually encourages you to have your hands here at nine and three because the heating elements are primarily here at nine and three. There are some shift paddles on the back of the steering wheel, and we will talk about those later. As for the seat, it's overall a crowd-pleaser of a seat. It's not that bolstered, but on long distances, it's well-cushioned, it's supportive, and it's comfortable, of course, heated and cooled at this trim level as well. The hate side of things enters the conversation when we talk about the second-level ergonomics. Not all of them, but some of them, as we will discover. What I don't mind is all of the stuff that you interface with on a daily basis from the turn signal stock, the wiper stock, the controls on the steering wheel, just fine. They work in Acura's unique way, and that's just fine. Once you get accustomed to them, they work very effectively, as does the shifter. If you're coming from other vehicles, this is a strange situation, but once you get used to it, it's just fine. After that, that's kind of where we go in a place I don't like. Maybe it's a bit of a dark place, and it all has to do with this infotainment system and this controller. All you Acura fans aren't gonna like this, but the reality is this touch-based controller is simply not as effective as other systems or even a touchscreen, and I know I'm gonna get hate for it, but I really don't care because what I find is when I'm using this touchpad, I often have to take my eyes off the road to figure out what I'm doing on this screen. With the third row in its upright position to accommodate passengers, there's not that much room under the hatch. It's when that third row is folded flat, you've got an enormous volume of room, and that's what I had to do with this MDX. And in another bit of weirdness, in addition to being the vintage car parts mule for a well-known person, in addition to hauling a lot of people, which I don't normally do, I had the strangest thing happen, and that was a bottle of wine kind of fell out of that mess of things under the hatch, touched the rear bumper, bounced off, and broke somewhere in between, landed on the ground, and broke. It was very, very bizarre. I can't explain how it happened, but that is perfectly in line with this whole theme of this drive being just simply weird. In terms of acceleration, well, this is modest, but what I do find is that the drivetrain is pretty well-sorted. Some things I like, some things I don't like. One of the things I do like is I find the all-wheel drive system distributes torque appropriately, even though this is front-wheel drive architecture with an all-wheel drive system, what I do like is that there does seem to be an adequate amount of torque transfer to the rear axle, so that this MDX doesn't really behave like a front-wheel drive crossover. What I do find is that the 10-speed automatic has so many gears that if I'm cruising along on the freeway, for example, somebody pulls in front of me, I have to slow down. If I want to get back up to normal highway speeds, it takes a bit of work for that transmission to react because it's shifting down so many gears. In that situation, I'd go foot to the floor and the transmission would think for a moment and determine whether it needs to shift down by one, two, three, four, five, maybe even six gears to give me the acceleration I'm asking for from the throttle. Otherwise, the transmission shifts smoothly. It is incredibly smooth. This is very well integrated, very well resolved in terms of its drivetrain. Love the way everything works in that regard, except for maybe the paddle shifters. I don't remember the last time I drove anything where paddle shifters were more of an affectation than this. They tend to not hold gears when you want. It's just for a very short duration that they will accommodate. So what I do find is I will drive this in either the sport transmission mode or one of the sport drive modes. The highlight of the entire drivetrain is of course that V6 engine. It is incredibly smooth and delivers power like a properly, naturally aspirated V6 should. In terms of handling, all I can say is that it is generally crowd-pleasing in terms of ride. Acura would love to tell you that this is maybe a little bit more sporting than the competition, and maybe it is to a very small degree, but ride comfort is clearly the priority here. It is exceptionally comfortable. And on top of that, we don't have adaptive dampers on this model. It is available on the Type S, but we don't have adaptive dampers here. They're a little bit more sophisticated than a typical damper, but overall this ride and handling package is very, very comfortable. It made my longer trips in this very comfortable for both myself and my passengers. And that seems to be the name of the game. It's very comfortable, very quiet, and that's really what you should expect. In terms of overall dynamics, I have to make mention again that this doesn't drive like a front wheel drive crossover. This does drive more like an all wheel drive thing. So it doesn't really exhibit any of those unwanted front wheel drive qualities like torque steer or wheel spin. This is a very well resolved all wheel drive system and that helps the overall dynamics to be a little bit more satisfying. This is pretty maneuverable in some tight spots. I do live in a big city and I've been able to park it everywhere I've gone. Feel and feedback aren't really much of a thing in terms of steering, but it does steer the way you expect. And overall it's relatively satisfying in that regard. In terms of braking, I do have to say that the brake pedal has a lot of travel. The brake pedal is a little softer than I'd like. And that is unusual for any Acura that I've driven in a really long time. Typically brake pedals are excellent and I really enjoy braking these things. This one has a lot of travel. It's a little bit softer than I like, which I'm willing to chalk up to the fact that this does have a lot of hard media miles on it. Now in terms of its handling to satisfy drivers like you and me, no, this is not something capable of extreme performance. The extreme version of the MDX is of course the Type S and there's a lot more going on there and we'll save that evaluation for when we get our hands on a Type S. But this MDX with its conventional dampers and traditional suspension setup is very much going to satisfy the vast majority of drivers who are looking for a comfortable ride overall. And that's exactly what this gives. When you're throwing it around in the corners, well, keep it under seven tenths and you'll be very, very happy. How do you spec yours? Well, that is an interesting question. And for driving enthusiasts like us, the answer is not like this. What you're looking at in the US is called an Advance. Here in Canada, it's called a Platinum Elite. And basically that is the top luxury oriented trim level of this MDX. In the US, base price is 63.8 plus $600 for this Platinum White Pearl paint for a total of as tested at $64,400. In Canada, it's $71,680 plus $500 for the optional paint for an as tested price of $72,180. And those prices are before freight and local taxes. So why wouldn't driving enthusiasts like us want this? Well, that's because there is the Type S with a lot more power, more button down suspension, bigger brakes and all of that. And of course, who doesn't want more performance? But if you're not looking for the extreme of performance in terms of your MDX, well, this fully equipped one definitely does the job. It's simply a matter of choosing your colors and being happy with your MDX. My verdict, well, let's start with fuel consumption because that is the question that's on a lot of people's minds. And with mixed driving and all of the driving that we've done in this thing, I've been able to achieve about 20 miles per gallon or 12 liters per hundred kilometers, I believe for my Canadian friends. That said, all of the weirdness of this week with this MDX, all the driving that we've done everywhere that we've gone, all the people that we've put in this thing and all of the things that we've carried with it have proven to me that this MDX is a fantastic value when it comes to a modern luxury oriented crossover, does all of the right things as far as most people are concerned. Driving enthusiasts like you and me may be interested in the Type S and that review is to come on this channel. But for now, this MDX has been a delight to live with. It's been a pleasure and it's been really, really easy living with this MDX. Thanks for hanging out with me today and having a look at this Acura MDX. Hope you liked this episode. And if you did, you're not new to YouTube, you know what to do. Smash the subscribe button, turn on your notifications, like this video, and as always, sharing is caring. So please share this with your friends, especially on Reddit, because on Reddit, they really need to see reviews for drivers from drivers. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. And if you want to support the channel, please hit up our merch store. Links here, links below, lots of great stuff for driving enthusiasts like us, including our very popular line of Save the Manuals merch. And we know Acura still makes manuals. Thanks again for watching. We'll see you again next time. And remember, cars don't understeer by themselves, not even Acura MDXs.