Acura 101 West
24650 Calabasas RoadCalabasas,CA91302Sales: 800-472-3173
- Service: 800-473-4154
- Parts: 800-472-7820
Vehicle Reviews
2007 Acura MDX
All-new, more powerful, more fuel-efficient, more luxurious. edited by Jim McCraw
Driving Impressions
The new Acura MDX offers a quiet ride and brisk acceleration performance. With the five-speed automatic, the MDX is rated to tow up to 5000 pounds.
The 2007 Acura MDX benefits from a completely new platform, suspension, and unit-construction body with a built-in frame and subframes front and rear. The MDX is really stout, some 15 percent stronger in torsional bending and seven percent stronger in lateral bending. This time out, it has 56 percent of its body in high-strength steel as opposed to the original MDX's 13-percent HSLA steel content. It's longer and wider, with a 2.5-inch longer wheelbase and similar gain in overall length.
All that adds up to a quieter ride quality, with zero squeaks, creaks, groans or rattles.
The 300-hp 3.7-liter V6 engine is all-new for this application. Compared to the old 3.5-liter, it has been treated to a hot-rod upgrade, with a bigger bore, bigger stroke, higher compression (11:1, necessitating the use of premium unleaded fuel), and a higher redline (maximum rpm). It makes 47 more horsepower and 25 additional pound-feet of torque compared to the old engine. Acura says it's the most powerful V6 engine in any SUV sold in the U.S. market. It's quick, fast, and quiet, like every Acura engine before it, only more so.
One very significant development has come underneath the lithe lines of the MDX, and that's the active damper system in the Sport package option. These are the fastest-acting shock absorbers in the world, used by Cadillac, Ferrari, Corvette, and Audi, and they make driving an SUV much more sporty, with a flatter ride and less body roll in the corners. A console-mounted switch lets the driver select between sport and comfort modes with the shocks. With the additional power and torque available from the new engine, and the amazing capabilities of the Acura Super Handling All-Wheel-Drive (SH-AWD) system already on board, we wouldn't order an MDX without this new technology.
We drove the MDX in the hill country of western Pennsylvania and eastern West Virginia, and found it to be a delightful traveling partner. The torque-sensing variable power rack-and-pinion steering provided the right amount of help in every situation from parking to very high speed Interstate travel, with nice weight at the wheel and good center behavior. The wheel was connected to big 255/55R18 mud-and-snow tires, very nice to have along, not too noisy, with plenty of cornering grip. Braking performance in those hills was exemplary.
