Acura MDX Type S 2024

After spending a little over two years with my Acura MSX Type A 2022 I went to the Acura dealer for an small service update and ended up driving a new 2024 Type S, I bought it on the spot. It was obvious, to me, that it was so much better than the older Type A that it was worth the difference it cost. It was apparent to me in the first few minutes of driving that the newer Type S was faster, handled better, rode quieter and smoother, braked better, and looked better.

The type S does not look a lot different than the two year old car I had, but enough different so that I like the new one better. Overall of the almost 40 cars I have owned in my life time this is one of the very best. It is a well rounded comfortable fully loaded very solid SUV that should last for many years.

Highlights

• All around great motor with excellent performance.
• Excellent adjustable suspension and handling with double wishbone suspension at all wheels. Air bags to adjust ride height and stiffness. And super handling all wheel drive. The last item was on my last two MDXs and helps this car take the corners better than something this big can normally provide.
• Very good ride quality. This is vastly improved over the 2022.
• Quiet
• Very good 10 speed transmission.
• Excellent brakes.
• Great huge sun roof that opens up and has a power shade. (Something Tesla needs to add to their model Y – The sun shade)
• Very good acceleration.
• Large area behind the seats when the third row seats are folded up.
• Excellent quality external and internal components.
• Good wireless charge pad (Unlike my Tesla model Y)
• Connects to Apple Car Play easily most of the time. Most of the time this is automatic, but as with almost all electronics does not work easily often the time. Acura’s Apple Car Play is a lot better than my Tesla’s lack of Car Play.
• Very good key fob remote and automatic car lock system.
• Very good auto window wipers when set to auto.
• Comfortable well made leather seats with heat, cool, and massage built in.
• Very easy to operate heat and cool system that is very effective quickly.
• Easy to operate audio system that has some physical controls and some you need to use the computer for. It includes AM radio. When I say this system is easy to operate what I mean is it is easy compared to my Tesla model Y. It is not easy to use or complete as my 2013 Jeep Wrangler or 2008 Acura MDX were. Both the Jeep and the 2008 Acura had two traditional controls for volume and station selection which are missing on this car. This car also has sat radio. This car does not include a CD player. I still have about 400 CDs and enjoyed using them in my cars when it had a player. Also, CDs do not need internet.
• This car has a built in sat radio GPS. This is essential if you travel outside of cell service areas. And if you go on trips it is usually ver easy to be outside cell service. Unfortunately the GPS supplied with this car is about 10 times harder to use than a Garmin GPS. And the screen for the GPS is much inferior to the Garmin. To me the last Garmin I had which my daughter still uses sets the standard for easy travel directions.
• Relatively good looking. The red color Brembo brake system adds to the looks.
• Made in Ohio. This is one of the highest USA content cars you can buy today.
• The Acura MDX is on Consumer Reports “Ten most likely to make 200,000 miles” vehicles list.

Not So Great

• Auto motor shut off. Mind numbingly stupid. Only people who don’t care about the driving experience would put this in the car. This is a government mandated system not an Acura choice.
• No spare tire. I find this an especially bad omission. My 2022 Acura MDX had a spare. I was told they omitted it on this car because they put in a system where you can wave your foot under the car’s back end and the back door opens. I would rather have the spare back. All cars should come with spare tires.
• I would rather have had a slightly larger normally aspirated V6 than a smaller turbo motor. Turbos are unneeded complication and do not help gas milage.
• The touch pad system of operating the computer. It works, but is not easy to use at all. Acura should just copy Subaru who has a great simple system.
• Wants premium gas. So Hondas with mostly the same motors take regular and Acuras take premium?
• Buttons are not better than the Acura 2008 MDX simple stick gear selector. Go back to the old system Acura.

Even though I like the adjustable ride system I wonder at the complexity and cost of it. The 2008 Acura MDX drove wonderfully and had one setting, the one that came with the car. It worked perfectly. This new complex air bag control system is much more costly to include and to me does not work better than the 2008. Same with the transmission. The 2008 Acura MDX I had had only 5 gears and worked perfectly. Maybe adding a sixth gear would have been nice, but 10? My 2024 MDX does work a lot better than my 2022 but not better than my 2008. And as mentioned earlier the old stick gear selector was better than the current buttons.

Back to the GPS. A good GPS is better than a phone system. Yes the phone is easy to look up your friend’s addresses in, but a modern GPS could include your address book easily. Phone based systems have a habit of not working right at the worst moments, and also when you are in heavy traffic and something goes wrong. If Acura does not want to make one of their own just have Garmin do the job. Hire them to put one in.

Conclusions. This is a very good car. One of the best I have ever driven or owned. I have had it a couple months and it has had zero defects. Everything works. Acura has answered pretty much 100% of my complaints on the 2022. This car is now a legitimate SUV as in Sport Utility Vehicle and not Luxury Utility Vehicle. Although I think for the majority of the time most buyers of this car will drive only moderately fast, it is capable of moving rapidly when wanted or needed. I find the handling very safe.

Final comment – Why did I pick this over another Tesla or electric car? I liked the Tesla model Y quite a lot. It is also one of the best cars I have ever driven. It has the best auto drive package I have ever used. I had the beta version of full self drive and it was really amazing. But for the first time in many years I only currently have one car. As an “only” car at this time I think gas is a better fuel to use than electric. If I had bought the Tesla model Y instead of leasing it I might have kept the Tesla and sold the 2022 MDX. It would have been close. If I go back to being a two car family I would be open to the second car being electric if it was a Tesla. Unless I buy another motorhome, and the best tow car on the planet is a Jeep Wrangler gas powered.