2016 Acura MDX SH-AWD with 9-Speed Automatic

Gearing up for the future.

The 2016 version of the bestselling model of Acura may appear exactly the same as last year's, but there is a lot. And seemingly, the luxury arm of Honda is comfy offering a nine-speed than a continuously variable automatic.

First is a creeper gear that is superlow. It then continues on to a 95-mph quarter mile trap speed in 14.6 seconds, three tenths more accelerated than the 2014. You are into second gear before you are able to finish saying "Acura." Wideopen-throttle shifts are torque- fast and clipped. Naturally, having more gears does not always mean the transmission immediately locates the right gear--as occasionally when tipping in with component accelerator at 20 to 35 miles per hour it'll lug in a too-tall gear for a while. But mainly, there is a lot of shiftin' .

Buttons and Lumps
Around that transferring: driver input signals are via buttons rather than a lever, as is the case on nine-speed variations of the TLX sedan that is new. Although offputting in the beginning, like learning how to play the clarinet, we got the hang of it. There are a few cases, maybe when attempting to do an instant three-point U turn before an approaching semi, where you could yearn for the Neanderthal acquaintance of a PRNDL shift lever. Using the push button set up, you should take your eyes off the trail, look down, get the required button and shove it (or pull a switch in case of reverse). Removing the games console shifter does free up accessibility to the underparts of the the center stack, as did the old shifter, but the button farm takes up about exactly the same number of real estate on the games console.

Another new-for-2016 attribute is "idle stop." That is partly responsible to get a 1-mpg lump in the EPA city fuel economy rating. Addititionally there is a lump as the engine unexpectedly restarts after an idle stop felt; it is never as rigorous as we have experienced in some BMWs and Porsches, but it is not the glossy awakening of a similarly equipped Mercedes Benz, either.

Semiautonomously Yours
As with other high-end-brand crossovers, Acura lards the MDX with technology characteristics. To all variants of the MDX, we find the growth of AcuraWatch for 2016. Our $58,000 evaluation vehicle, equipped with the Improvement and Amusement bundles, additionally featured back cross-traffic tracking (a fine feature for all big crossovers and vehicles with broad C- or D-columns), Road Departure Decrease, and Collision Mitigation Braking. Because of poor road maintenance, we could not depend on the "active steering power" of the road-departure system. Occasionally it worked and other times we could have gone sailing off in the weeds. Very cathartic. That said, our evaluation MDX endured brake fade after only several ABS stops were performed to record its 185-foot, 70-miles per hour-to-zero stopping distance.

But at its heart, the Acura MDX stays one of our favourite seven-passenger crossovers. Technology upgrades and the 2016 transmission help keep it competitive in its category and take nothing away from its lively treatment and fun-to-drive character.