You have to love the selling fellows. After all of the work of the design team, a new vehicle must pass through several rigorous channels including engineering, safety, performance, quality, durability, craftsmanship, executive inspections, and management clearance, before even the first rivet is drilled or body panel painted. After all is announced and done, the marketers get their chance to pitch the final product. In one word the MDX has been defined by these very same marketers : baseline. Will the MDX live up to this all important designation? Acura would like for you to think so. Let’s take a look at Acura’s seven passenger luxury SUV to see if it actually does rise to the level of class leader.

The marketplace is flooded with SUVs. Notwithstanding high gas costs, the requirement for high profile vehicles continues to stay strong, particularly in the sub-behemoth category which is anything smaller than an Expedition or a Tahoe. Still, a few of these less imposing models are fuel eaters too, supplied with V8 engines and all the latest gadgetry. If you would like to realize fuel savings in an SUV a compact Ford Escape Hybrid is just
about your only choice, and a new Lexus model just now hitting showrooms.

I digress.

The Acura MDX, with its less opulent sister the Honda Pilot, embodies a class of automobiles that offer 4 wheel drive capacities for optimum on road duty as well as medium off road duty . If you want a trail rated luxury SUV, then the Jeep Gran Cherokee is more your style. The MDX just cannot go where the Jeep can go.

All comparisons aside, the Acura is definitely luxury with a high profile view. The standard apparatus list is intensive and incorporates the following:

• 3.5-liter, 24-valve, SOHC V-6 engine

• 5-speed automatic transmission
• Rack-and-pinion steering system and an all-independent front and rear suspension
• 4-channel Anti-Lock Braking System ( ABS )
• 7-speaker sound system with AM/FM stereo, in-dash CD player, and XM® Satellite Radio
• Acura Navigation System with Voice Recognition™; OnStar®
• Tilt steering, cruise control, a power sliding-glass moon roof
• Electrically heated leather seating for front passengers
• Power everything; windows, mirrors, door locks, etc.

  Environmentally conscious SUV owners will enjoy the MDX for its up to date Ultra-Low-Emission Vehicle (ULEV-2) designation, a first for any SUV. What this means is that the MDX’s emissions ratings are highly low, far below that of acceptable government levels.

  The base MDX ships at a very competitive $37,125 with absolutely loaded versions topping out just about 40 five thousand dollars. Prices compare favorably with the Jeep Gran Cherokee, but the MDX undercuts BMW and Mercedes models by several thousands of dollars.

  Acura commends that owners use premium [91 octane] petrol in their MDX. Delivering 17 miles town and 23 miles road, the MDX’s fuel usage is about average for a vehicle of its size.

  While the marketers want you to think that the MDX is the other by which all other SUVs must be measured against, it fails to deliver in the all critical off road category. Still, Acura price, luxury, and quality is certain to be a draw for buyers interested in a vehicle that’s virtually as opulent as any production SUV.

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