TAKEN BY SURPRISE
It’s well known if you’ve been following along for some time, you know that we are divided when it comes to what our next family vehicle will be. A large SUV or a minivan. The 2022 Acura MDX took us by surprise. It’s not often that we get into a vehicle for test driving and go “Wow! This is nice. This might be exactly what we’re looking for.” How is it that a vehicle could win us over so quickly? Read on to find out.
WHAT’S CHANGED IN THE 2022 ACURA MDX
The 2022 Acura MDX has gone through a redesign after taking a break from the vehicle in 2021. The exterior design has become more angular. There are no more dual-screen setup, instead, there is a 12.3 inch infotainment display. There’s a bit more passenger space in all 3 rows and there is more cargo room. You now have wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The standard is now synthetic leather. Newly standard to the vehicle are driver assistance features that include blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and driver drowsiness monitoring.
The MDX base model starts at $58,895 and goes up to starting at $69,895 for the Elite model. We were test driving the Elite. When it comes to Acura, we’re often torn between the A-SPEC and the Elite. If you are focusing on colour and wanting something bold and fun, you’ll want to look at the A-SPEC options. Hello, performance red pearl and apex blue pearl!
FEATURES THAT STOOD OUT TO US
The Surround-View Camera System was very impressive. The Acura MDX has 4 exterior cameras that give a 360 view of the space immediately around the vehicle on the navigation display. You can change camera views with a button on the end of the turn-signal lever, or with the camera buttons on the display. Parking lots are getting more and more squishy with stalls and lanes getting more and more narrow. Going into reverse you get the standard backup display and the 360 views. Seems Acura is on their way to competing with Tesla for camera views.
Previously, we’ve only seen this feature in the Honda Odyssey. We were thrilled to discover that the 2022 Acura MDX had Cabin Talk. This feature allows the driver or front passenger to have their voice broadcast to the second and third-row by the rear speakers. No more having to talk loudly or even yell to be heard over all the kids in the vehicle. There’s another feature that can be helpful to parents and caregivers, there is the Rear Seat Check indicator. While no one would ever think they may forget their child in the car, things happen, and hopefully, this is one step to never having that happen. I would love to see this be a mandatory thing in all new vehicles.
The ambiant lighting inside the vehicle was so much fun. We loved that we could change the colours to several different options. If the girls wanted pink, we could make it pink. If they felt like blue, we could make it blue. The whole time I ended up thinking about Sleeping Beauty and the fairy godmothers arguing about making her dress pink or blue. The ambiant lighting is really night in the evening and can be changed to something easy on the eyes or something fun that pops.
IS THERE ANYTHING WE’D LIKE TO SEE CHANGED?
Overall we were very impressed by the 2022 Acura MDX. There are two things that stand out to us that we would love to see Acura improve on. The first being legroom for the front passenger or driver if a rearfacing car seat needs to go behind either of these. Now, this isn’t an issue for many, but we’re both close to 6 feet tall and having a rear facing seat behind either the driver or the passenger meant we could not put our seat far enough back. A change to the depth of the front dash would change this promptly.
Since we were test driving this in the summer, having AC was so appreciated. Unfortunately, when we were using the third row, our passengers back there were quick to comment on how there was no air flow and it became very stuffy. We were not testing this during the extreme heat wave, if we had, it would have definitely been a problem. A quick solution to this would be air vents in the third row so that if you have passengers there they can adjust the air as needed. If the second row can have air vents and control, why not the third? Even just vents that can be open and closed in the ceiling of the vehicle would be a huge help.
HOW WAS THE CAR SEAT SITUATION?
With 3 kids and a bit of an age gap, we have a child in a rear facing 5-point car seat, a booster seat, and a high back booster seat. We have some awesome news for you that just pulled our heart strings as soon as we saw it; there’s rigid latch on all 3 seats across the second row! Thank you Acura! As parents, we cannot tell you how much we appreciate this. We could fit all 3 kids across. Our favourite configurations was having the two booster seats on the outer passenger spots, and the rear facing car seat in the middle.
Being able to use rigid latch for all 3 seats is incredible. If a car accident were to happen and a child isn’t in a booster seat, being able to have it locked in with rigid latch means one less projectile in the vehicle. The only hiccup, is that having car seats in all 3 spots made accessing the 3rd row difficult. The seat could not tilt forward for easy access to the 3rd row. We could take out the middle seat and have just two in the second row and one in the back, but for a family camping trip you want to maximize all the packing space.
OUR OVERALL THOUGHTS
The overall drive experience in the 2022 Acura MDX was so nice. We’ve just had a small taste of all the luxury features and it’s left us impressed. This has definitely jumped up there for our favourite family-friendly vehicle. Possibly the next one for us. Acura would have us completely won over if ithere was a hybrid option. Which we are crossing our fingers for in the future. We were averaging between 9-12 L/100Km between our driving in the city at home or on the highway to go camping. This is better and comparible to our current SUV we own.
When it comes to touchscreen vs touchpad, the Acura MDX has won us over the the True Touchpad Interface. It does take a bit of getting used to, but once you do it is so easy to control things without having to look down or over to the touchscreen. We found it very responsive and a great option for controling things in the vehicle.
If you’re looking for something thats got a sporty edge with a really nice look to the exterior, maybe you’re ready to downsize a bit from a minivan and you still want room for a large crew, or if you love an SUV but want some luxury to it… the Acura MDX is the vehicle for you. We have really missed driving this vehicle, it has definitely got our attention.
Thanks for this review. I *really* like how there are three lower anchors across the second row. This makes third row access less of a concern, generally, and I really don’t understand why more car companies don’t do this outside of minivans. And it’s an Acura! It’d look great in the garage next to the upcoming new Integra. 😉
Yes! Love all the anchors! The MDX is a favorite of ours now
Love all of the features! Great family vehicle!
This looks SO nice! Our family needs an SUV eventually too so I really appreciate your honest reviews
Thank you! We try hard to be open and honest about our experience 😃
Ooo this is so nice! I considered this vehicle when purchasing my now car, but sadly it wasn’t in our price range. It’s beautiful 😍