Curry Acura

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Walk Around

The MDX was designed in America, at Honda's facilities in Los Angeles and Ohio, with input from design centers in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Milan, Italy.

The grille is a metal-filled hole that looks like a battering ram, the new bumper air vents looking very much like a Pontiac cue and drawing the eye to the center. Darkened headlight housings place signals above the headlights as on much larger trucks, and the hood is relatively flat.

At the rear the license plate recess carries the same five-angle shape as the grille and the tail-lights are easily mistaken for an Audi. Tailpipes resemble a wide vacuum cleaner snorkel and, combined with a lack of roof rails and the broad shoulders, make the MDX look lower and wider than it is.

Substantial arches frame the tires to promote the rugged look, while a gentle upward curve in the body mirrors the downward slope of the glass from the front door back, all meeting up above the rear wheel. Adornment is thoughtfully limited to chrome door handles and window trim, with no cladding to hold road salt or eventually fall off.

The 2010 MDX an inch longer than the 2007-2009 but all other dimensions remain the same. Relatively speaking, the Q7, X5 and GL-Class are all notably longer, the Volvo XC90 and 5-seat Lexus RX and Mercedes ML-Class almost the same. A three-seat-row Escalade or Yukon Denali is much larger.

Acura's power tailgate system can be operated either from the key remote key fob, a button on the driver's door panel, or from a button located inside the tailgate. The tailgate motor is in the D-pillar, not the roof, which yields more headroom for the third-row occupants. The tailgate can also be operated manually.

The rear edge of the MDX is a flat-black finish not easily scuffed by errant shopping carts or bushes, but the paint on top of the bumper could be vulnerable loading and unloading the cargo area.

The engine's relatively low placement under-hood is good for stability and pedestrian protection, and gives away the MDX is more suited to pavement that four-wheel drive trail travel.

Interior

2010 Acura MDX

The interior of the Acura MDX is designed with luxury, business and family all in mind. It is stylish and functional, with generous space for four adults and two kids.

Seats are powered and heated in front with a driver memory system, and offer excellent support for winding lanes or long road trips. Leather, perforated for the ventilated front seats on Advance models, is the default fabric for the front two rows. Third-row seats use a synthetic substitute for leather that is easy-to-clean and more scuff resistant; besides, you don't want to spoil the little buggers too early in life. Entry an exit to third row is best left to smaller, more agile bodies though a subcompact adult will fit if needed.

A ram's horn shape dominates the dash, with wood sweeping from a near-point where the dash and console meet, up and across, then rolling right into the door trim panels. The wood is new for 2010 as is the black-matte finish on the center control panel, and we have to admit the matte-black came off better than the wood which seems too busy with graining, sort of a combination of BMW's horizontal-grain dark walnut and Infiniti's vertical grain-maple.

The driver works with a tilt-and-telescoping dished leather-wrapped steering wheel, the aluminum trim punctuated by eleven switches; shift paddles are standard for 2010. Speed and engine rpm show in two nacelles, with coolant temperature and fuel level in half nacelles outboard. The center display offers the usual mix of info and data, including a bar-graph function for the all-wheel drive that shows the power split among wheels. Trust us, if you see more than three bars for either rear-wheel and aren't going straight ahead you should return your eyes to the road.

On cars with navigation, the top center is the nav screen, a full VGA display that works faster, has real-time weather and traffic, auto-rerouting, and a lane guide to help you find your way. It is controlled using the big multifunction button at the bottom of the panel but does voice recognition as well as any such system. The screen is also used for three rear camera views; a semi-wide-angle normal display, 180-degree fisheye for backing into a parking lot with vans on both sides, and an overhead display for trailer loading or best depth definition.

Switches and controls on the center panel number 48, a lot of white-on-black that might overwhelm at first but quickly becomes more familiar. At the top, the climate controls surround a digital display for radio and climate data; there is no need to go through the central controller and nav screen to do all common operations. Below that, the audio disc drive and controls, with the DVD drive and control source underneath. Bottom center, near the nicely-angled shift lever, is the main control button and hard keys for the majority of the car's systems and setups.

The shift on the left of the console leaves space for a big cupholder on the right and a deep center console with tray for your i-whatever. The forward edges of the armrests curve outward, making less of a dent in your forearm when it's not pointed straight ahead.

Three-zone automatic climate control allows the driver, front passenger and rear passengers to set different temperatures for maximum comfort. Advance models offer seat heat front and middle and ventilated front seats, and on navigation cars the climate control system is linked to better account for sunlight.

The middle row outboard seats are nearly as comfortable as the front and fold down wide side behind the driver. Despite the nearly-flat floor we'd still recommend the center position only for smaller types or baby seats. The third row is compact though Acura did the smart thing making it two seats and 50/50 split rather than three seats.

In addition to the big console there is storage space in the doors, glovebox and right side of the console. Dropping the third-row seats (without removing headrests) increases cargo space from 15 cubic feet to 42; dropping the second-row delivers about 83 cubic feet or very nearly what the much-longer Mercedes GL delivers.

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