Speed demon's intensifying visage blurs in your rear view mirror, as your heart's yen for teen spirit beats a tattoo in your chest. My advice to you, if you are driving one of the 50 SUV's that are in the market today, is to hold your damn horses. These vehicles aren't made for speeding, and they are notorious for rollovers during quick manouvers at high speeds. Mostly, they are built on truck platforms and as such have the handling of pregnant donkeys. (oh yea, I am using obnoxious titles in protest to the continuation of the advisor status. Never mind that I am an advisor myself. )

People who enjoy driving will hardly be having a field day in an SUV as a sports car wizzes past them. Fortunately, alternatives have been popping up recently, alternatives that passionate drivers like myself find intruging. Lexus RX300, BMW X5 and the Mercedes M-class are some I can think of from the top of my head. I call these car-like SUV's.

Honda is very good at watching the industry market and mimicking a success story. They seem to have no outrageous ideas of their owm, but sometimes they will take what is good and even make it better.

Their first attempt to the car-like SUV segment was a camouflaged version of the Isuzu Trooper. It seems though, that people have problems paying more for the same car with a different body. A sigh of relief is at hand, for the hoi polloi isn't as stupid as I previously thought. So now there is a Acura bred entry in the car-like SUV market -- the 2k1 Acura MDX.

Whats the trick with this guy? Well, since truck based SUV's handle like trucks, build an SUV on top of a minivan platform. Unlike a truck-based vehicle, you'll end up with something a bit more sensible than a full blown fuel sponge. For the sake of being reasonable (ahh, a common quality of all Honda cars in fact -- reasonable) MDX is built on the Odyssey platform.

So, is this an Odyssey pretending to be a luxury SUV?

Hardly so.

MDX weighs around 4.3k lbs (Ouch!). It packs a lot more punch with its 3.5L Variable Timing SOHC. The 240HP 6cyl engine is quite preppy, but the car is just too damn heavy despite matching torque (245lbs/ft). Nope, MDX is not a screamer, but it wasn't meant to be anyway. It won't leave you choking while making a pass, but I still wish it had more juice.

Also in contrast to the Odyssey, its suspension is quite stiff. The handling is more sure than driving...lets say an Explorer. Yup, definitely. MDX handles better than the Ford's V8 monster.

Yet there is one similarity -- that is the FWD on both MDX and Odyssey. Don't be fooled, Acura does make up for it with an AWD system that kicks in when needed. Also to help you with those passes, the engine will direct torque to the rear wheels in furious acceleration. Sweet eh?

Costing around 35k in its most basic form, MDX offers more than enough that is needed on a luxury car. The interior is full leather trim, there is AC, power almost everything, keyless entry, 17inch wheels, and a decent sound system.

There is also a Touring Package that comes with a bunch of other stuff, and it pumps the price up a bit. The only thing worthy in that package is the 8 speaker sound system. Would you rather go for Kenwood instead?

Last addition to ignore is the 2000$ navigation gimmick. If you have money to waste, mail to it me and I'll be your 24 hour phone-navigator.

In essense, MDX is not another pretender. Its an SUV on its own right, and a direct competitor in the car-like luxury SUV market. However, these guys aren't meant to be performance cars, so if you want speed look elsewhere. Though I do find them more reasonable than huge-butt monster vehicles that are to unnecessary.

I strongly recommend,

Sky
Amount Paid (US$): 35000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2001
Model and Options: Base