Instrumented Test
The 2016 version of Acura’s bestselling model may look the same as last year’s, but there’s a lot going on behind that chiseled visage. For starters, the MDX crossover gets a new ZF nine-speed automatic transmission. Adding three more cogs creates a wider ratio spread than in the previous model’s six-speed, ostensibly helping to keep the MDX’s 290-hp 3.5-liter V-6 in the more efficient parts of its power and torque bands. Not that last year’s 290-hp/six-speed combo was a laggard, but Acura, like all automakers, is looking to improve the EPA estimates of its vehicles however it can. And apparently, Honda’s luxury arm is more comfortable offering a nine-speed than a continuously variable automatic.
First is a superlow creeper gear. The MDX storms out of the hole from rest using a 20.4:1 overall ratio (first-gear ratio times final-drive ratio, not counting help from the torque converter) and sprints to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds, half a second quicker than the 2014 model we tested with the six-speed automatic. It then continues on to a 95-mph quarter-mile trap speed in 14.6 seconds, three-tenths more rapid than the 2014. You’re into second gear before you can finish saying “Acura.” Wide-open-throttle shifts are torque-clipped and quick. Of course, having more gears doesn’t necessarily mean the transmission quickly finds the right gear—as sometimes when tipping in with part throttle at 20 to 35 mph it will lug in a too-tall gear for a while. But mostly, there’s a whole lot of shiftin’ going on.
About that shifting: driver inputs are via buttons instead of a lever, as is the case on nine-speed versions of the new TLX sedan. Although off-putting at first, like learning to play the clarinet, we eventually got the hang of it. There are some instances, perhaps when trying to do a quick three-point U-turn in front of an approaching semi, where you might yearn for the Neanderthal familiarity of a PRNDL shift lever. With the push-button setup, you need to take your eyes off the road, look down, find the desired button and push it (or pull a switch back in the case of reverse). Eliminating the console shifter does free up access to the bottom of the center stack, but the button farm takes up about the same amount of real estate on the console as did the old shifter.
Another new-for-2016 feature is “idle stop.” Like other automatic stop-start systems, Acura’s shuts down the engine at stoplights to save fuel. That’s partially responsible for a 1-mpg bump in the EPA city fuel-economy rating. There is also a bump felt as the engine abruptly restarts after an idle stop; it’s not as harsh as we’ve experienced in some BMWs and Porsches, but it’s not the silky awakening of a similarly equipped Mercedes-Benz, either. Overall, we saw an average of 21 mpg with the 2016 MDX while in our lead-footed care, a 2-mpg improvement over the six-speed MDX we tested in 2014.
As with other luxury-brand crossovers, Acura lards the MDX with technology features. For 2016, we see the expansion of AcuraWatch to all versions of the MDX. Our $58,000 test vehicle, equipped with the Advance and Entertainment packages, also featured rear cross-traffic monitoring (a nice feature for all large crossovers and vehicles with wide C- or D-pillars), Road Departure Mitigation, and Collision Mitigation Braking. A monocular camera needs to be able to “see” the road or another car or object for the latter two systems to function. Thanks to poor road maintenance, we couldn’t depend on the “active steering force” of the road-departure system. Sometimes it worked and other times we might have gone sailing off into the weeds. However, when we tested the collision-mitigation system on a similar Honda/Acura product at a test track, it never failed to do a full-ABS stop short of the parked “balloon car” stand-in vehicle at 20, 30, and 40 mph with no driver intervention. Very cathartic. Having said that, our test MDX suffered brake fade after just a few ABS stops were executed to record its 185-foot, 70-mph-to-zero stopping distance.
But at its core, the Acura MDX remains one of our favorite seven-passenger crossovers. The 2016 transmission and technology updates help keep it competitive in its class and take nothing away from its spirited handling and fun-to-drive character.
