My wife and I purchased the Acura MDX with sport and entertainment package in December of 2006 to replace a 2001 Lexus Rx 300. I also own a Porsche 2002 Porsche 911 and a 2001 BMW 530i. In the past year my wife and I have put about 12k miles on the MDX. We are very happy with this car and really glad we chose the MDX.

Here is what we were looking for:
1- An SUV that drives like a Car
2- Can fit three car seats in the middle row
3- Excellent Navigation and Entertainment system
4- A third Row for occasional use

We also considered the following other cars:
1- Mercedes GL450
2- Yukon Denali
3- BMW X5
4- Lexus GX 470/LX 470

The only other SUV that came close was the Mercedes GL450.
While we are not huge fans of the way the MDX looks, only the MDX satisfied all of our criteria. The GL 450 came close but is less wide in the middle row than the MDX and has a questionable entertainment system.

Drive:
This car drives unbelievably well. Each time I drive the car, I am amazed at how well it drives. It has plenty of power and handles really well. The sport package has a button on the console that enables you to switch between comfort and sport mode. I typically leave it on sport mode.
It seems to tighten up the suspension. Around town, you can barely feel the difference, but on Winding parkways at higher speeds the drive is much tighter and you can feel the road more. I highly recommend the sport package.

Reliability:
No a hint of any issues so far. We have only been back to the dealer for scheduled maintenance.

Navigation:
We had touch screen navigation in the Lexus we traded in.
The Lexus has a very good navigation system. We were very concerned about the fact that this car does not have a touch screen. This concern was dispelled about 5 minutes into using the MDX navigation. I think the reason why they no longer offer touch screen nav in this car is because the screen is higher up and set back into the dash further. This makes for a better line of sight. They did such a good job designing this system that I actually prefer it to a touch screen. The joystick is very convenient and makes it really easy to use. It has a million features but the basics can be used without a manual.

Voice Commands:
The car has a voice command feature that enables you to speak commands to control things like the radio, temp, and phone. I really gave this a shot but it doesn't really work well for anything except making phone calls. My results may be skewed a bit here because we almost always have the kids in the car.

Blue Tooth:
If you have a blue tooth cell phone it works well in the MDX
You can leave your phone in your pocket and make calls by pressing a button on the steering wheel, you can then speak the number by saying for example: "Dial 212 555 1212". Works pretty well.

Entertainment System:
We have everything: DVD player, CD Changer, XM Radio. We also use the auxiliary jack with an MP3 player. The system is a bit complicated. For some people it may even be a bit intimidating. There are so many buttons. Once you do figure it out though you realize that you need all the buttons. The only thing I don't like about the entertainment system is that you can't set the DVD player to just play over the rear speakers. My kids are too young for headphones, so we usually play the DVD player and fade the speakers to the back so we don't have to listen to Barney up front. Other than that I say the entertainment system is awesome.


Car Seats:
The great thing about this car is that you can fit three car seats across the middle. I am not really comfortable putting a child in the back row. The MDX has a really wide middle row. We have sunshine Radian Car seats.


Engine Noise:
Compared to the other SUV's I tested, the MDX has a bit more engine noise than most. Its actually really loud when you are passing on the parkway. I actually like that kind of stuff, but it annoys the heck out of my kids when they are watching a movie.


Blind Spot:
This might be the biggest negative the car has.
If you have a Britax car seat behind the passenger seat in the middle row, you can barely if at all see out of the corner window. We have a rear-view camera, so this is not that big of a deal for us, but if we didn't it might be.
This is one of the reasons we switched to Sunshine Radian car seats. They sit about two inches shorter.

Driver Settings:
The MDX has stores setting for two drivers. This is great for almost everything except for Navigation and Radio stations. The car stores separate settings for each driver.
Not only does it store your seat position, but it also stores radio presets and navigation addresses for each driver. This means that you need to enter all addresses and radio presets twice, once for each driver. This is inappropriate for a family car. Worse than that, the settings are not loaded by whose key is in the ignition, but by who unlocked the car. It's kind of silly. It doesn't really bother us anymore though. We have all the addresses and presets stored for both drivers.

Gas Mileage:
In the past year we have averaged about 14 miles per gallon. Ouch. 75% of our driving is around town. The car takes premium fuel also, ouch again.

Third Row:
For children only. An adult will be very uncomfortable. Also if you recline the middle row too much for car seats, sometimes the third row seats get stuck and is hard to open.
Try this at the dealership.

Snow Driving:
I can't say the car is great in the snow. We just had small snow storm yesterday and I was sliding all over the place. I think it is due to the tires though. I think the tires are geared a little bit more towards performance which means they work better in dry and even rainy conditions than normal tires but don't work as well in snow.

Wrap up:
I am very happy with this car and highly recommend it. There are a few minor flaws, but the good significantly outweighs the bad. I highly recommend this SUV.








Amount Paid (US$): 50000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2007
Model and Options: MDX