2010 Acura ZDX
Acura's new-for-2010 ZDX is the company's second premium midsize SUV. It shares its platform and powertrain with the Acura MDX.

Depending on who you ask, Acura’s new premium midsize SUV is either: 1) A vehicle that adds a dose of much-needed, head-turning style to a lineup blasted by critics for its new design direction, or 2) A spatially inefficient ugly duckling that doesn’t really fit in anywhere and stands out for its awkward profile.

Acura calls ZDX, its second premium midsize SUV, a cross between a coupe, sedan, and SUV. BMW applied a similar formula to its X6. Take a premium midsize SUV platform, lower it, add swoopy styling and a higher sticker price, and then subtract headroom and rear visibility. Voila: The Sports Activity Coupe is born.   

As X6 does with X5, ZDX shares its platform and powertrain with sibling MDX, using its 300-horsepower 3.7-liter V6 and 6-speed automatic transmission. But at 192.4 inches long and 62.8 inches tall, it’s longer in length and shorter in height than MDX, making ZDX a study in less is more. Though longer than the fairly roomy MDX, ZDX’s sloped roofline and squat stance mean rear headroom and cargo room suffer. In return, ZDX offers more-unique styling than any vehicle in Acura’s stable and a price premium over the vehicle on which it’s based. Prices have not yet been announced, but we expect it to start at around $44,000, or $4,000 more than a comparable MDX.

ZDX standards include a huge panoramic glass roof (Acura claims it’s the biggest on the market), leather seating and surfaces, a power tailgate, a wireless cell-phone link, a rearview camera, and iPod connectivity. Aside from the base model, two versions are available, Technology and Advance. Technology adds features like a navigation system with voice recognition and real-time traffic and weather, additional angles from the rearview camera, and Panasonic’s ELS surround sound audio. The Advance package adds Adaptive Cruise Control, blind-spot alert, ventilated seats, a driver-adjustable suspension with sport or comfort modes, and Acura's Collision Mitigation Braking System, which signals approaching objects and applies the brakes and tightens the front seatbelts if it determines a collision is unavoidable.

Click here to read our review of the 2010 Acura ZDX.
ZDX was unveiled at last year’s New York Auto Show; Acura invited us back to the Big Apple for its official coming out party. The drivers of Manhattan were aflutter with one common question: What is that thing?

What’s Cool…

Impressive Cabin
To sum it up, ZDX’s interior is posh and impressively well hushed. Top-notch materials trim the cabin from front to back. An enormous panoramic sunroof adds an airy feel. I tried not to drink the Kool-Aid during Acura’s press conference about the car’s interior, but ZDX is expertly appointed in rich leather with intricate detail stitching. Apparently engineers traversed the globe in search of the right type of leather and stitching techniques, finding them in Hungary. Public relations hyperbole aside, all the surfaces are nicely padded and expertly assembled. Techno-lux features like an easy-to-master iPod-integration system and real-time traffic/weather enhance its appeal.

Also exceptional is the cabin’s level of noise isolation. Quiet is an understatement; wind and road noise are nearly nonexistent and the 3.7-liter is almost too muted. It makes itself known during takeoffs, but fades nicely at cruising speeds.

Bring on the Twisties
We can roll our eyes when Acura describes ZDX’s “DNA” as part coupe, but in terms of handling, it almost hits the mark. ZDX adroitly handled the twisty New York roads along the Hudson River with fairly good cornering ability and very little body lean. The Advance version’s Sport suspension mode firms up the steering and delivers even crisper handling without making the ride too stiff.

…What’s Not

Rear Visibility
With that racy, sporty anti-SUV styling comes one major drawback, rear visibility. The thick C-pillars, low roofline, and small raked rear window combine to mar visibility straight back and to the corners. The Advance version’s blind-spot monitoring system went a long way to help. Unlike traditional systems that illuminate an icon on the side view mirror when a car is in the blind spot, ZDX’s system places the icon on the C-pillar, which I found less distracting.  

“2+ Freedom”
Acura calls ZDX’s seating configuration “2 + Freedom,” which is PR speak for “the backseat was an afterthought.” Aimed at young urban singles or couples without kids, the backseat is best left to children or packages. Because Acura put the emphasis on front-seat legroom and the rear roofline is so sharply sloped, headroom shrunk to a measly 35.3 inches and legroom to 31.1 inches. To compare, rear-seat passengers in Acura’s MDX have 38.6 inches of headroom and 38.7 inches of legroom. On the flipside, the seats easily fold flat to accommodate cargo instead of passengers.

CG Says:

As with BMW’s X6, ZDX’s look and purpose are very polarizing; people either love it or hate it. While it is marketed squarely at me (married, no kids, living in a large city), I still don’t get it. After thinking about it for a while, I figured out why: I’ve got to stop thinking. By suspending logic and reassessing ZDX solely on an emotional basis, it becomes clearer: Yes it offers less cargo and passenger room than the vehicle on which its based, and will cost more, but it also strikes one of the most interesting profiles on the road today.

X6 aside, there’s almost nothing like it out there, making ZDX an “it car” in terms of striking a personal styling statement on the road. One telling thing happened at the NY press launch, confirming ZDX could be on its way to a cozy spot with the “in” crowd. The Acura group stayed at the headquarters hotel of the VH1 Hip-Hop Honors awards. Super-star rappers were all over ZDX, causing one PR rep to jokingly dub it ZDXcalade. Some people may not get it, but the fact that ZDX gets the pop-culture nod from Flavor Flav means there are those with influence who do.


10.13.2009