Acura’s MDX is a sci-fi experience

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Back in March, when the days were short, the nights were cold and cabin fever had reached its very peak, I made one of my once-in-a-blue-moon excursions up to Saratoga, Wyo., this time traveling in the very all-season-capable 2007 Acura MDX.

Saratoga, home to an oddly well-maintained and absolutely free 24-hour-a-day hot springs pool (a bit more like a European spa than those sketchy hippie pools in Steamboat), served to be a good distance to test out Acura’s sporty luxury SUV.

Powered by a 3.7 liter VTEC V-6 engine cranking out 300 horsepower, the MDX and its fancy-sounding Super Handling All-Wheel Drive help to create a machine that’s pretty fast and fun, despite a 4,597 pound curb weight. The V-6 produces mileage figures in the low 20s, but offers acceleration and passing power that’s quite astounding.

The MDX’s sweeping and encapsulating wrap-around interior cabin design makes you feel like you’re at the controls of some futuristic vehicle (especially with that great Vulcan-styled shield on the nose);,with a small set of third-row seats, you can carry up to seven forward-looking passengers in style.

A Ph.D. in electronics might help you understand the rather overwhelming package of audio, navigation and climate-control gadgetry, but once you’ve fiddled with things for a while – a good, long trip to a place like Saratoga will give you plenty of chances to experiment – the MDX’s buttons and pointer joystick and video screen all start to make sense. My tester, a top-of-the-line Sport/Entertainment package-equipped MDX, was priced at $47,795.

Big P255/55 R18 tires made handling just a little heavy, especially in parking situations.

The overall driving feel was just a little top-heavy during sharp cornering or heavy braking, despite a million or so electronic systems designed to mitigate the vehicle’s reasonable girth.

While they’re not quite as excessive as those on a Lexus, the Acura’s electronic motion dynamics programs (even a trailer stability assist mode, if you’d like to haul up to 5,000 pounds and not be waggled to death by your load) are certainly plentiful, including an active damping suspension system. You’ll have to decide if that’s high-tech cool or Volvo-styled overkill.

If you’re traveling with motion sickness-prone passengers, you can electronically soften the ride, or crank it into a firm sport mode if you want to keep things tight for more adventurous travel. The slightly cockeyed, console-mounted shifter can also be slipped into sportshift mode should you want to second-guess the transmission.

When I hit a serious snow squall near Virginia Dale while rolling up U.S. 287 to Laramie, the SH-AWD kicked in a little more noticeably. The system is designed to split torque between the front and back axles and the left and right wheels. Unless you’re driving like a bat out of hell, the most tangible thing you’ll discern about the system is a cute little electronic graphic of the torque split on a small, terribly distracting trip computer screen in the middle of the instrument cluster.

At least a few of the Acura’s designers must have been completing a massive Star Trek marathon while they were crafting the MDX, as the angular leather seating, the steering wheel and the whole center console look positively 23rd Century.

An eight-inch navigation and information screen (which also includes a back-up camera) included the very cool AcuraLink navigation system, which will project real-time traffic conditions and highway speeds and warn you of accidents (unfortunately, only in urban areas, at present).
The regular navigation system can, like many of the car’s other systems, be controlled by voice recognition. It was, in my experience, a little overly sensitive when I didn’t follow its exact directions – but usually readapted to my new route after a bit of nagging. Program it correctly and it will even come up with Zagat reviews of restaurants in your travel area. This was not necessarily the case in little old Saratoga (where, much to my dismay, the bar in the Wolf Hotel no longer sold Dean Swift snuff, but you can still smoke like a chimney, indoors, should you feel like doing so) but it might be useful when traveling in other parts of the country.
The MDX’s 410-watt audio system is simply stunning, with Surround Sound and the ability to play six-channel DVD audio, which will blow you away, should you actually have DVD audio discs. Regular CDs still sounded pretty awesome. Acura and Honda, unfortunately, still have never figured out how to properly interface their stereos with XM Satellite radio and that portion of the sound package is oddly tinny.

Some of the MDX’s other technology, admittedly, was beyond my comprehension – the tri-zone climate control system is magically connected to the GPS system and can tell when the sun’s position is likely to bake you inside the cabin, thereby automatically adjusting the temperature.

The MDX’s rear tailgate is also electronically controlled, and can be opened using the keyfob, a button in the cabin or the handle on the back.

All in all, quite the machine indeed. Those ball-cap wearing Wyomingans didn’t know what hit them.

http://www.vailtrail.com/article/200...YLIFE/70712002