Acura MDXFor those readers hailing from the other side of the Rocky Mountains, let me tell you one thing you need to know about Vancouver: it’s full of incredibly wealthy people. Stand on a streetcorner in trendy Yaletown, and you’ll be treated to a cavalcade of motor vehicles that would look at home in Dubai, with things like Gallardos, DB9s and F430s all rendering little more than a cursory glance from the waiting valets. Although none of the vest-wearing car jockeys will likely forget their first short jaunt in something from Maranello or Sant Agata, any more than a few months’ service makes them jaded, and it isn’t until an Enzo or Reventon pulls up that you’ll see a few raised eyebrows amongst the crowd.
Of course, this being Vancouver, those all-too-expensive exotics are all but useless for the majority of the year as our local climate competes with the South Pacific’s monsoon season for rainfall records. But if you’ve got a Lamborghini parked in the garage of your trendy downtown apartment, you probably aren’t prepared to ride the bus for the remaining 10 months of the year, which brings us to this: the Acura MDX. One of the first premium SUVs on the market at the turn of the century and the first seven-passenger crossover, the MDX (which, coincidentally stands for “Multi-Dimensional luXury”) has been an unequivocal hit locally due to its combination of space, all-weather capability, and of course, trendy brand positioning. And after a thorough redesign recently, even Vancouver most narcissistic denizens found their eyes drawn to the dramatically styled SUV.
Because with the now-obligatory “Power Plenum” styling, the MDX is absolutely impossible to ignore, be it in the move or parked at the local Lululemon store. However, while the same styling looks a little egregious on the smaller sedans in the Acura lineup, the larger fascia of the MDX serves as a better canvas for Acura’s heavy-handed stylists. Flanking the to-scale grille is a pair of equally interesting headlights that, although sharing some shapes with the rest of the Acura lineup, manage to look a little more organic. On either side, the MDX’s fender flares bear a striking resemble to those found on its platform-sharing stablemate, the Honda Pilot, and do a good job of making the otherwise minimally sculpted flanks slightly more interesting. Out back, Acura finishes the MDX off with perhaps my favourite Acura styling trait; a pair of shaped exhaust tips that look as if they were machined from a solid chunk of billet. Interestingly, although being wider than all its competitors (the X5 comes close, but still measures about half an inch narrower between the wheels), the MDX’s body styling boasts impressive aerodynamic chops, besting even the big Bavarian in the wind tunnel. By testing the vehicle in a windtunnel equipped with a turntable, Acura engineers were able to turn the vehicle perpendicular to the wind direction to evaluate interior noise levels in strong crosswinds as well as during simulated highway driving, and the result is actually quite commendable. Commuting through farmland completely devoid of windbreaks, the moderate gusts that are indicative of late summer in Vancouver had little effect of the MDX’s composure and stability.
