54 out of 56 people found this review helpful.
Is the Acura MDX's First Year Model Good Enough?
Date of Review: Feb 3, 2001
The Bottom Line: Wonderful vehicle, comfortable ride, plush leather interior and seats, excellent ride for long trips or short! Terrific surround sound Monsoon stereo with 6-disk CD player.
The Acura MDX is a top notch SUV. The ride is tremendous and provides a lot of luxury that is right up their with the Lincoln, Mercedes and Lexus SUV's.
The mileage is somewhat better than most of the SUV's. With our experience, we have about 19 city, 23 highway. This vehicle provides nice acceleration from a 6-cylinder, 3.5 liter providing about 240 horsepower. This vehicle has 245-pound feet of torque! And, for those with stronger emissions control areas, this SUV is an ultra-low-emissions vehicle.
Some of the more luxurious features have to be the heated leather seats! What a nice feature for those cold Iowa winters! You turn the heaters on, for either the driver or front passenger seat, and you will be toasty warm in no time! And, the seats are very ample for larger people. The seats seem to have a lot of cushion in them, instead of the minimal cushion that you see in most cars, trucks, mini-vans and SUV's these days.
My in-laws love the vehicle, and have asked us numerous times to share the driving responsibilities on some of our long trips! We love the handling of the vehicle. It has a nice "car-like" feel when driving it. When we compare it to our Chevy Blazer, we are amazed at the difference in handling. The Acura MDX has terrific steering wheel control!
One feature that takes a lot of getting used to though, is the reversing mirror feature. When you are backing out of your garage or parking space at a store, the passenger side (right) mirror angles downward to assist you. You are watching the ground when you are backing up. That is very, very distracting!
The seats are power seats that can accommodate short or tall people very, very well. If you are smaller like my mother-in-law, about 5 foot tall, you can adjust the seats to allow you to reach your gas and brake pedals comfortably, and still keep you a safe enough distance from the air bags!
This SUV provides you the economy of a front-wheel vehicle with other options to help you keep your traction! You can actually lock the rear-differential with the push of a button. Otherwise, the MDX will keep you in front wheel, and use the computer to decide where it feels the worst traction is, and it sends a signal to the wheel or differential when it feels it's needed. This is a very, very smooth transition too! You won't feel the vehicle "lurching". I have noticed that in other vehicles in the past that I have driven, and it is disconcerting!
For another nice feature, you have both front and side air bags in the front seating area! This will help keep you safe in the event of an accident. Fortunately, I have never had to use these features!
Now, for the sound lovers out there....MONSOON! The vehicle has an awesome surround sound Monsoon stereo system with subwoofers, midrange and tweeters. This allows you to thoroughly enjoy your 6-disk CD player! What a sound! You also have a tape deck for cassettes. That way, if you have motivational tapes to listen to, you can.
Another feature, one that my in-laws didn't opt for since it was about $2,000, was the GPS, global positioning satellite system. It's one heck of an option on this vehicle though. Let me tell you the stats, as provided in the manual:
4.7 gigabyte DVD navigation system with a touch screen
Off-road tracking system
The off-road tracking system is like the Reese's Pieces they used in ET to find their way back! This system will help direct you to a town, ATM's, restaurants, or anything else your heart desires!
As a final thought, since I am more cold blooded then the rest of the family, I like it hotter in the winter than the others do. Whether I am up front driving, as a passenger, or riding in the back seats, I can create my own temperature! You have an automatic temperature "gauge" in your front control panel where you set the desired temperature, and the car keeps it that way, no matter what, or you have the rear-seating console where you dictate your own temperature!
There really isn't much road noise in the front or the back. No matter where you are riding in this car, it's quiet!
I could add so much more to this review, but I have already made it too long. But, I must say if you have the funds available, and are looking for an absolute dream vehicle, and like the SUV-type vehicle, this is the best one on the market. For the comfort, affordability, and options, you cannot beat this one!
We helped the in-laws test drive a Lexus four times, a Lincoln Navigator, Chevy Blazer and the Mercedes, and they just do not compare!
For a first year production on this SUV, Acura should be very pleased!
Thanks for spending time with me today!
