3.5L 4dr Front-Wheel Drive
2014 Acura MDX

2014 MDX Photos
The 2014 Acura MDX is the third generation of this seven-passenger luxury crossover with high performance. For all its years until now, the unibody MDX was built on Honda's Global Light Truck platform. The 2014 model is the first ground-up MDX, and boy is it ever ground-up. Everything is new, everything mechanical is better. And it was very good, before. For this new MDX, engineers focused on three areas: fuel mileage, comfort and safety.

Compared to the previous version (2007-2012), the 2014 MDX has quicker acceleration, better fuel mileage, more room and comfort inside, tighter dimensions outside, nimbler handling, shorter stopping distances, and improved ride.

The 2014 MDX is two inches longer, on a wheelbase that's 2.8 inches longer, than the previous-generation MDX. It's 1.5 inches lower and 1.4 inches narrower at the nose; 1.8 inches lower at the sides, 1.3 inches at the hips, and 1.2 in the tail. Longer, lower, narrower. Driven by aerodynamics, driven by fuel mileage. Win-win.

Here's an MDX first: front-wheel drive. For years, we've been hearing about Super Handling All-Wheel Drive. Has Acura lowered its Super standards? No, don't forget about Texas. We used to think you didn't need all-wheel drive in Florida too, but that was before the floods.

The front-wheel-drive MDX is EPA-rated at 28 mpg Highway, numbers apparently worth stealing the power from two wheels for. That's 23 mpg Combined city and highway, compared to the SH-AWD at 21 mpg Combined. Texans, you're good with FWD. Unless the droughts turn the streets to sand. We recommend getting the all-wheel drive for most people, however. It seems a shame not to have all-weather capability on an SUV.

The all-new 2014 Acura MDX is 275 pounds lighter than before, like a 120-pound person losing eight pounds. The weight dropped from the best place, the core, now with 64 percent high-strength steel, aluminum and magnesium. That plus the 16 percent improvement in aerodynamics, and the 19 percent reduction in rolling resistance, and we're talking real gains. Now the car weighs about a football player more than two tons.

The body of the 2014 MDX was developed using a new 40-percent-scale wind tunnel laboratory at Honda's U.S. R&D facilities in Ohio. With a rolling ground plane and computer modeling, engineers worked on the underbody and airflow through the engine compartment, as well as the skin, to get the coefficient of drag down.

For sharper response and isolation of road noise and vibration, the torsional body rigidity is up 12.4 percent. The new electric power steering ratio is quick. The new suspension, struts in front and multi-link in rear, is attached to lighter and more rigid subframes, with suspension mounting points 67 percent more rigid. The shock absorbers are fancily called Amplitude Reactive Dampers, because they use variable damping rates depending on the terrain and speed. It all makes for a more solid, comfortable and in-control ride.

Of course the gains move to the engine. The new 3.5-liter V6 is Acura's first direct-injected engine, incorporating a …
Full Review

The 2014 Acura MDX is the third generation of this seven-passenger luxury crossover with high performance. For all its years until now, the unibody MDX was built on Honda's Global Light Truck platform. The 2014 model is the first ground-up MDX, and boy is it ever ground-up. Everything is new, everything mechanical is better. And it was very good, before. For this new MDX, engineers focused on three areas: fuel mileage, comfort and safety.

Compared to the previous version (2007-2012), the 2014 MDX has quicker acceleration, better fuel mileage, more room and comfort inside, tighter dimensions outside, nimbler handling, shorter stopping distances, and improved ride.

The 2014 MDX is two inches longer, on a wheelbase that's 2.8 inches longer, than the previous-generation MDX. It's 1.5 inches lower and 1.4 inches narrower at the nose; 1.8 inches lower at the sides, 1.3 inches at the hips, and 1.2 in the tail. Longer, lower, narrower. Driven by aerodynamics, driven by fuel mileage. Win-win.

Here's an MDX first: front-wheel drive. For years, we've been hearing about Super Handling All-Wheel Drive. Has Acura lowered its Super standards? No, don't forget about Texas. We used to think you didn't need all-wheel drive in Florida too, but that was before the floods.

The front-wheel-drive MDX is EPA-rated at 28 mpg Highway, numbers apparently worth stealing the power from two wheels for. That's 23 mpg Combined city and highway, compared to the SH-AWD at 21 mpg Combined. Texans, you're good with FWD. Unless the droughts turn the streets to sand. We recommend getting the all-wheel drive for most people, however. It seems a shame not to have all-weather capability on an SUV.

The all-new 2014 Acura MDX is 275 pounds lighter than before, like a 120-pound person losing eight pounds. The weight dropped from the best place, the core, now with 64 percent high-strength steel, aluminum and magnesium. That plus the 16 percent improvement in aerodynamics, and the 19 percent reduction in rolling resistance, and we're talking real gains. Now the car weighs about a football player more than two tons.

The body of the 2014 MDX was developed using a new 40-percent-scale wind tunnel laboratory at Honda's U.S. R&D facilities in Ohio. With a rolling ground plane and computer modeling, engineers worked on the underbody and airflow through the engine compartment, as well as the skin, to get the coefficient of drag down.

For sharper response and isolation of road noise and vibration, the torsional body rigidity is up 12.4 percent. The new electric power steering ratio is quick. The new suspension, struts in front and multi-link in rear, is attached to lighter and more rigid subframes, with suspension mounting points 67 percent more rigid. The shock absorbers are fancily called Amplitude Reactive Dampers, because they use variable damping rates depending on the terrain and speed. It all makes for a more solid, comfortable and in-control ride.

Of course the gains move to the engine. The new 3.5-liter V6 is Acura's first direct-injected engine, incorporating a …
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Retail Price

$42,290 MSRP / Window Sticker Price
Engine 3.5L V-6
MPG 20 City / 28 Hwy
Seating 7 Passengers
Transmission 6-spd w/OD
Power 290 @ 6200 rpm
Drivetrain front-wheel
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