I have had my 2022 Acura for just over 2 years now. It has a bit over 13,000 miles on it. I have done several reviews of this car on this blog and if you want to see them scroll down to the bottom of this page and there is listed several other posts on this car. This is my third MDX in a row. I had a grey 2004 and a Maroon 2008 before this car. Of these three my favorite was the 2008. My second favorite was the 2004. And that leaves the 2022 in last place of the MDX’s I have owned. Why —
- The 2022 MDX is an LUV (Luxury Utility Vehicle ) in my opinion and not a sport utility vehicle like the first two were. The first two were lively – fun to drive, especially the 2008 and this one is not. The latest MDX does go around corners plenty fast and is safe, but it is not much fun doing it. Plus the ride quality is not as good as the 2008 or the 2004. So you have what I would call boring handling along with a somewhat rough ride.
- This latest one rattles more than the earlier two. Right now the hole in the dash in front of the driver that is covered with a plastic lid, and is where the windshield speed display is makes lots of noise. I am sure the dealer can fix this but I have not been in to get it done. The 2008 I cannot remember ever having an irritating rattle or squeak in it. The 2004 is going back almost 20 years now and I don’t remember rattles in that one either.
- This car has what has to be the most annoying feature of any car I have ever driven. Auto motor turn off when you stop at a light. That is not Acura’s fault of course it is the governments fault for forcing Acura to put on this long ago failed system of saving gas. Decades ago they put this on cars in Europe. The gas savings was likely to be minuscule /negligible and it is a system that is not good for the motor, driver, or general well being of a gas motored car. So keep in mind you will get one of these systems if you buy a car of this year.
- The Acura 2008 MDX had an excellent 5 speed auto transmission. It worked perfectly with the great Acura / Honda V6 motor of 3.5-3.7 liters (depending on which year). Maybe Acura might have added one more speed to the transmission to make it a six speed and that would be like the excellent Toyota six speed I had on my 2008 Avalon. But no, Acura went to ten speeds. Now what used to be a great auto trans hunts all over the place trying to decide what gear it wants to be in. I have figured out how to apply the throttle to minimize this, but still is a far worse transmission than what came with my 2008 MDX.
The shape of my 2008 Acura was much more conducive to knowing where the corners of your car were than the 2022. The newer one instead of rounding the corners so you can see when you are getting close to any obstacle is now blocked by a squared off slab sided shape. But I would have to say that my car did come with a very effective distance monitoring system so you know when you are getting close to something. All that said, the 2008 MDX has a light weight hood. When driving 65-70 MPH it can make all kinds of wonky movements that have caused me to worry the hood is going to flip up and block your view. Several passengers over the years have mentioned it.
The sun roof on this car is great. It is huge, quiet, has a great electric sun shade, can be open at 70 mph and not make much noise. It is much better than the sun roofs on the earlier MDX’s. I like the remote key system in this car. It is the kind you just leave in your pocket and push a button on the dash to start. The previous 2008 had a key fob that you unlocked and locked the doors with, but also had a key you put in the dash to start the motor. I like the 2022 system slightly better than the 2008. The 2022 has a very useful and effective adaptive cruise system. When driving you can set the speed and distance you want to cruise at, and the car will slow down to the distance you set even to the point of stopping. The 2022 also has a lane keeping system that might be OK on an interstate that does not have any curves in it. If there are any curves it does not work very well.
Heat and air conditioning. The 2022 has a very effective system. The front seats are also heated and cooled. The back seats have controls to adjust the temperature in the back. It works well. The audio, Navigation, phone integration hits and misses. This Acura connects very easily with Apple Car Play and the charging pad for my iPhone works quite well. On the other hand there is no AM radio in this car I can find. Maybe it is still hiding in the infotainment system. I hate that both of my cars now do not get AM radio. This car does have an FM radio but it is so hard to use I don’t. That is a loss. If you are on a long drive it can be entertaining to listen to local radio stations. It does have sat radio, which I don’t use any more as I don’t think it is worth the money. And there is no CD player. I still have 400 CDs. I like using them. The 2008 Acura had a six CD changer. I liked that. The older car also had a good AM FM radio. The 2022 Acura does have a GPS system. And that is great because there are many places in the USA where you do not get cell phone reception. However, the GPS in this car is hard to use. I have thought a little about getting another Garmin GPS which is the best GPS type ever.
- The 2022 has a great traction control system. Even on a wet day you can floor the accelerator when you start up and the Acura system will manage all that power. But the Acura 2008 was just as good. Both the 2008 and 2022 have had on my cars super handling. This over speeds the outside wheels when cornering. The Acura system worked really well on both cars.
- Even though this car handles well in corners as expected from a well designed four corner double wishbone suspension, it does wallow a bit and feels a lot like my 2008 Avalon (That I sold a while back).
- I like the safety system that tells you on the 2022 when there is cross traffic when you are backing out of a parking spot. My 2021 Tesla does not have that.
- I also like the 2022 Acura’s parking sensor system. It is very effective. Even more effective than my Tesla Model Y’s.
- The sound system in this car is excellent. Even though using the radio is so confusing I don’t bother with it and play Apple Music. And using the AM radio is worse since this $60,000 + car does not have one.
- This car is fairly fast if you put it in sport mode and set the transmission to sport. But driving around all the time with the car at those settings will annoy you with the extra noise and likely use of more gas.
- Comfort of the driver’s seat for me is only fair. It is plenty big, but the support in my butt area leaves a lot to be desired. I don’t have a bunch of cushion in my butt, so I notice when the seat is not supportive. Other than that the seat is fine. The 2008 MDX had nicer leather than this car.
- Now here is my biggest problem with this car. So far the 2022 Acura has had zero repairs needed except for the rattle in the dash. However, this car spent four months in the dealer’s repair yard this past year waiting for a part. I left my car out of my garage for two nights back in the spring of this year. The second night a rodent ate some of the fuel lines and electrical wires. The dealer did not have the part to fix it and it was a four month wait to get the parts. They did fix it finally and fixed all the wire damage except one control. The three choice settings for the drivers seat is down to one possession. So here is my problem. If you you take a drive trip and are 1,000 miles away from home and the car breaks down, what if they cannot get the part for four months? What do you do then???? My other car is a Tesla Model Y. The lease is over on that in Feb 2024. I am not getting another Tesla because I don’t want to be caught in the middle of nowhere in MT without a charger. The Tesla Y is a great around town car btw. But now I am unsure of taking the Acura out in the boon docks. Now parts from the dealers is a BIG issue, potentially. Of course it is not Acura’s fault if a rat chews a hole in a gas line, but if Acura cannot fix a relatively new car it can be a huge problem.
- My advice, buy a used MDX without the stop start feature.
Bob Nuttmann 