Acura MDX Interior Review
The Acura MDX has a completely new interior decor for 2007. It's designed with driver-centric instrumentation and displays. Acura calls this area "mission headquarters." The beautiful new three-spoke brushed-aluminum steering wheel alone has nine control systems mounted on it for cruise control, telephone, entertainment systems, and information displays.
The new dashboard has a high-mounted large navigation screen in the heavily sculpted panel, with all other switches subservient to the big nav center, and carefully orchestrated into about one square foot of dashboard real estate. The two-line readout display for the climate control and entertainment systems uses large segmented figures and is very easy to read and interpret. The compact main instrument pod is housed in one deeply tunneled nacelle, with four even deeper nacelles for the main instruments. If you look at them long enough, they appear to be staring back at you, with bright white-on-black markings and red needles tracking your progress.
The seating is arranged as two front, two center, and two rear, with a third seat available in the second row. There is scant rear legroom in the third row for adults; the third row is strictly for kids. In spatial terms, the interior has 142.2 cubic feet of passenger space. There's 15 cubic feet of cargo behind the third seat, 43 cubic feet with the third row seats folded into the floor, and 83.5 cubic feet with all seats down. Translation: The MDX is competitive in the class.
Acura MDX Road Test
The new Acura MDX offers a quiet ride and brisk acceleration performance. With the five-speed automatic, the MDX is rated to tow up to 5000 pounds.
The 2007 Acura MDX benefits from a completely new platform, suspension, and unit-construction body with a built-in frame and subframes front and rear. The MDX is really stout, some 15 percent stronger in torsional bending and seven percent stronger in lateral bending. This time out, it has 56 percent of its body in high-strength steel as opposed to the original MDX's 13-percent HSLA steel content. It's longer and wider, with a 2.5-inch longer wheelbase and similar gain in overall length.
All that adds up to a quieter ride quality, with zero squeaks, creaks, groans or rattles.
The 300-hp 3.7-liter V6 engine is all-new for this application. Compared to the old 3.5-liter, it has been treated to a hot-rod upgrade, with a bigger bore, bigger stroke, higher compression (11:1, necessitating the use of premium unleaded fuel), and a higher redline (maximum rpm). It makes 47 more horsepower and 25 additional pound-feet of torque compared to the old engine. Acura says it's the most powerful V6 engine in any SUV sold in the U.S. market. It's quick, fast, and quiet, like every Acura engine before it, only more so.
One very significant development has come underneath the lithe lines of the MDX, and that's the active damper system in the Sport package option. These are the fastest-acting shock absorbers in the world, used by Cadillac, Ferrari, Corvette, and Audi, and they make driving an SUV much more sporty, with a flatter ride and less body roll in the corners. A console-mounted switch lets the driver select between sport and comfort modes with the shocks. With the additional power and torque available from the new engine, and the amazing capabilities of the Acura Super Handling All-Wheel-Drive (SH-AWD) system already on board, we wouldn't order an MDX without this new technology.
We drove the MDX in the hill country of western Pennsylvania and eastern West Virginia, and found it to be a delightful traveling partner. The torque-sensing variable power rack-and-pinion steering provided the right amount of help in every situation from parking to very high speed Interstate travel, with nice weight at the wheel and good center behavior. The wheel was connected to big 255/55R18 mud-and-snow tires, very nice to have along, not too noisy, with plenty of cornering grip. Braking performance in those hills was exemplary.
Acura MDX Lineup
The 2007 Acura MDX ($39,995) offers three major options packages, two of which are positioned as models.
With the Technology package ($43,495), the MDX gets Acura's wonderful voice-activated navigation system, this time out with Zagat reviews and ratings embedded, a rearview camera, AcuraLink satellite communications with real-time traffic data, a 410-watt ELS surround sound system with 6CD changer and 10 speakers, wireless telephone equipment, and three-zone automatic air conditioning.
The Sport package ($45,595) includes the Techology package and adds Delphi active-damping magnetic rheological shock absorbers, perforated leather interior trim, alloy wheels, and self-leveling HID headlamps.
The Entertainment package ($2,200), available with either the Technology or Sport packages, adds a DVD rear entertainment system, heated second-row seats, a power tailgate, and a 110-volt power point in the front console.
Safety equipment on the new MDX is as complete a package as there is in the industry. The front bucket seats each have two-stage air bags and active head restraints, two-stage driver and front passenger knee bolsters, front seat side air bags and three-row side-curtain air bags including rollover triggering. That's in addition to the mandated front airbags. Active safety features, designed to help the driver avoid accidents in the first place, include all-wheel-drive, electronic stability control, and anti-lock brakes (ABS) with electronic brake force distribution and brake assist for panic stops.