Acura MDX -Your Thoughts

MT930 · 02-22-2018, 11:23 AM

Looking for a daily driver, love Honda for reliability, resale & operating cost. I have never had surprises with Honda's
Like the Wife's Pilot for trips but want a little more comfort and driving experience.

I just don't like $$ surprises in a work car. They are sort of expensive for a fancy Pilot.

What do you like and dislike about the current body style MDX. Hard to image a Honda SUV being fun to drive. Going to test drive one next month in Salt Lake.

I would like to hear your experiences.

rammstein · 02-22-2018, 12:41 PM

Wife has had a Gen 1 and presently a Gen 2 MDX. By SUV standards they are a reasonably good drive- the Gen 2 with SH-AWD can be mildly entertaining. I presume the FWD versions are not as much fun. Reliability is standard fare Honda (meaning good). Replace the stock rubber with something stickier. Bought both used and both have served well. Gas mileage is not a strong suit. Comfy seats, good stereo. I'd recommend if it fits what you are looking for.

Word of caution- on the Gen 2, if you don't get the technology package with the useless Navigation, the leather is that fake bonded leather **** that will fall apart in 2 years. That's why I sprang for the tech package. 3 dogs and 2 kids later the leather still looks great.

crustychief · crustychief's Garage

Not an MDX but I have a 2017 RDX SH-AWD tech that is pretty peppy, lots of features. but as stated fuel economy is almost like my F150. No maintenance issues in 70K miles.

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Sister has had one a long time, not sure what year, but it is HIGH mileage now. She has not had problems with it. Her second one, her daughter got hit in the first one and it was totalled, niece had no significant injuries, I seem to recall it was MDX vs late model F-150.

mgatepi · 02-22-2018, 01:48 PM

I have a 2017 MDX, love it. It has been absolutely flawless. So far about 20,000 miles, only oil changes. Comfortable, peppy, looks good. This is my fifth Acura and I have never had a bad experience.

Yorkie · Yorkie's Garage

We have a 2011. Utterly reliable. Drinks gas and wears out expensive tires like a kid burns through Vans. Rear view visibility is not great but they now have cameras. The seats can fall apart pretty quickly. Compared to a Euro SUV they are cheap to run.

mattdavis11 · 02:21 PM

We have a 2009 with 165K, tech/entertainment. Leather is still great. Have not worked on it yet, but it will need front struts soon. Also noticed a tear in the front right cv, but that has to be from road debris as the other(s) look fine.

There are a few in the family, brother has an 08, mother has a 07, the 08 had it's timing belt,wp,rollers, etc... replaced at 140K but did not necessarily need them. Not much wear. The 07 looks to be needing at least one catalytic converter, 160K. I will find out which one this weekend, and I'm pretty sure it's because mom was too cheap to run premium gas.

aigel · aigel's Garage

You do realize that the MDX is a dressed up Pilot, right? More sleek, luxurious maybe more quiet / smoother, but essentially the same car for 10+k more.

All these don't do it for me. Glorified minivans.

I am a station wagon guy if I need that type of interior space.

G

mattdavis11 · 02-22-2018, 03:46 PM

I've driven Acura cars since I've had a license. Our 2002 Accord is not nearly the car that the 1990 Acura Legend was. Not even close.

beatnavy · beatnavy's Garage

I have a 2005 MDX that now has 190K miles and it's still running like a champ. There has been the normal maintenance wear/tear, as well as a few slightly annoying recurring issues like rear A/C blower fan, but on the major things like drivetrain it's been pretty bulletproof. It's been a beast, and overall I've been very happy with it.

Just bought a year-old 2017 MDX last month. It's very nice, and I'm fully expecting it to go the distance as well. I will say the tranny does not shift terribly smoothly from 1st or 2nd during acceleration. That's my only (minor) complaint. I had read reviews beforehand that mentioned this. When we were test-driving these the dealer said the AWD versions received a firmware upgrade that corrected this, but I don't know if that's true. Mine's FWD ....

mattdavis11 · 02-22-2018, 05:03 PM

You can manually shift the Sh-Awd MDX from 1-2-3-4-5. Every Honda car I've driven had a hard 1-2, except a manual box.

MRM · 02-22-2018, 06:48 PM

Our cabin next door neighbor only had MDXs and he gets a new one every couple of years. He raves about them. I read a consumers report article that rated them higher than a Mercedes M Class. I would buy one before buying an M Class and I like the Mercedes.

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Rob, I think that is one where the frequent drain and fill smooths out the transmission some.

mattdavis11 · 02-22-2018, 08:45 PM

Wrong. It's the 07, first sh-awd, torque converter, and honda corp owned it.

aigel · aigel's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRM

Our cabin next door neighbor only had MDXs and he gets a new one every couple of years. He raves about them. I read a consumers report article that rated them higher than a Mercedes M Class. I would buy one before buying an M Class and I like the Mercedes.

A lease guy is probably not the best one to get long term ownership information from. Most cars will be great the first 2 years. The M class is a different car altogether IMHO not being based on a FWD platform. That said, I'd definitely own a Honda product over a MB product.

G

LakeCleElum · 02-23-2018, 02:05 AM

Research transmission issues. Shopping myself. Leaning toward a Rx 350

crb07 · crb07's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by LakeCleElum

Research transmission issues. Shopping myself. Leaning toward a Rx 350

I have heard this as well about Accura. In the early 2000’s my sister had a transmission issue and was 1500 miles over the warranty, oh well, too bad.

I am going to be replacing my Saab wagon soon. It is AWD and has been great. Looking at Volvo.

jhynesrockmtn · 02-23-2018, 05:06 AM

I owned an 05 fully optioned, bought it CPO with 19k on it. Ran it to over 160k. Kinda wish I still had it. Nothing but normal maintenance stuff. I dated a gal for a while that had an 2012 version, really nice rig inside.

Wife has an 05 (I think) RX 330 we bought from Speeder, more luxurious on the inside, MDX was a sportier drive for an SUV. The RX is Buick soft in comparison but she loves it and so far it has been 0 problems.

recycled sixtie · recycled sixtie's Garage

I will also give a high five for the RX350. We have had our 2011 CPO RX350 since 2014.
I would not buy new and the three year old RX was one third off the new price. I got talked into an extended warranty and really was not needed. Have installed a new battery and a new shock absorber(latter covered by warranty). Had 40k miles on when we bought it and now has 55k miles. The RX rides softer than the Acura RDX.

The RX350 rides quietly and is super solid but you could say a little boring to drive but I don't expect an exciting ride from an suv. Wife won't let me trade it in for an Audi suv she likes it so much. It is her turn next for a newer vehicle but an Acura is not on her radar.

MRM · 02-23-2018, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aigel

A lease guy is probably not the best one to get long term ownership information from. Most cars will be great the first 2 years. The M class is a different car altogether IMHO not being based on a FWD platform. That said, I'd definitely own a Honda product over a MB product.

G

I don't know whether he leases or buys, but the cost of a new MDX is pocket change to him and that's the vehicle he sticks with when he could buy anything. That suggests to me that there's something good about it. The article I read compared the driving experience and luxury of the MDX to the Mercedes ML class and found that the Acura was more luxurious and drove better than the Merc. Again, not definitive, but a positive indication for the MDX. It's on my short list if I ever need to replace our current cabin hauler.