Is the NEW 2023 Acura MDX Type S the BEST Luxury SUV?

The 2023 Acura MDX Type S luxury SUV is improved in nearly every way. The cabin has a high-quality look and feel, and every MDX comes with a full complement of standard safety and advanced driving aids. A frustrating interface of the infotainment system and is its biggest negative, but otherwise the MDX is one of the best luxury midsize three-row SUVs on the market.

The acura mdx has been around for a while and this is the fourth generation but it is the first generation to have the type s badging which gives it the type s performance and a lot of other special goodies so you’re going to start seeing this type s going across the lineup but the first vehicle is the 2023 acura mdx and we’re going to show you this one is in tiger

Eye yellow it is really a pretty goldish color tons of metal fleck in it it almost looks like that 80s boat color but it is really cool in the sun and it’s actually almost blinding so we shot this in the shade for you so i want to get started with what makes this vehicle look different and what makes this type s different than a regular mdx which is a three row

Suv starting off with this black grille you’ll notice the surround is body color there’s no chrome here gigantic acura logo they’re running to see who’s got the biggest logo it’s between acura and mercedes at this point i don’t know why they make it so huge but it’s a great place to hide all those safety features which is what they do you the cameras are hidden in

There as well as some of the sensors you’ll also notice that down below it’s all black additional air cooling which is required when you have a higher performance motor and that black splitter across the bottom to give it better airflow now one thing i did notice when i started driving this is when you stop at a traffic light the front end will settle down if you

Set it into the different drive modes it’ll rise and fall and that is all because it is actually an adjustable suspension system we’ll talk about that during the drive portion so you’ll want to stay for that all mdx’s have led lighting both front and rear really nicely integrated into this really cool muscular looking hood down below you have ventilation here and

This is going to be not just for brake cooling but you got to keep this engine running cool any way you can because it does have a lot of performance our test vehicle is the top of the line trim level with the advanced pack and all those type s goodies and one of the things you’ll notice right away is this beautiful alloy wheels they’re 21 inch and they’re running

On continental cross contacts also notice this type as badging and there’s a lot of nice details around this vehicle some of the unique design cues include this indentation here that’s also got a black trim line and the lower sill plates that are gloss black as well as the roof rails which come in gloss black on the type s coming around to the back the type s also

Has this upper airfoil as well as the integrated satellite radio your wiper blade is here kind of wish it was tucked up underneath it just makes for a cleaner looking vehicle especially if it’s going sporty a lot of the competitors do have that your acura logo here is more reasonably sized and then you’ve got your led tail lights with that type s on this side and

The mdx here down here super handling all-wheel drive we’ll cover that in the drive portion these vehicles with super handling all-wheel drive will go through any weather and this vehicle is designed for that with different drive modes you’ll also notice these quad exhaust really nice and the vehicle sounds actually has a good exhaust note to it but it’s still

Pretty quiet inside the cabin and we’ll show you that on the drive portion as well you’ll notice some of this black gloss trim and that rear splitter this is all to integrate this vehicle to its competitors which come from bmw audi jaguar genesis and of course lexus and many others the vehicle into reverse you can see that you have different choices for which way

You would like to see that’s going on and the wheel will turn with the markers so that you can see the quality of this camera is really critical and it is crystal clear which is not true with everything in this category but this one is really impressive and because this vehicle sits high there is excellent visibility it has cross traffic alert around view camera

As you can see and the visibility is excellent there are three rows in this vehicle so you have captain’s chairs in the second row and seating for two in the third row starting with the front row you’ve got lumbar on both sides and nine-way massaging seats that is a very nice touch for this vehicle and other cars in this category have the same thing the material

Is really nice it’s leather in this case this beautiful cream color with gray stitching really stylish and very modern there’s additional adjustments on the seat itself and overall the comfort is excellent and it gives it a really nice ride on those long highway drives let’s take a look at the second and the third row and i’ll show you some interesting things that

You probably didn’t know heading into the second row you have manual window screens to protect whoever wants to the second row from being blinded behind the center console you’ve got your climate control three-stage heated seats and of course you can adjust things with the vent there’s different power outlets you get your 12 volt your usba as well as a regular wall

Outlet the second row has three latch attachments which means you can put three child safety seats across this vehicle excellent also you get that els audio system in the door to put down the center seating you pull that little lever and this then becomes captain’s chairs in the second row and two cup holders a little bit of storage really nice feature in addition

You can remove this if you wish and make it captain’s chairs like i was saying earlier it’s meant for two two and two but these seats also move forward and back as well as recline because when you have child safety seats sometimes you have to do that so you can remove this go to the second row or there’s another way all the way back here in the third row with

This center console down you have a little space to put the things that you want as well as cup holders in the sides and usba connections it is very tight back here i’m 5’8 and i’m all legs so for me this is a little bit tight however i’m shorter on the torso and there’s still plenty of headroom i suggest whoever would sit in the third row on a regular basis it’s

Also important to note there are no child safety seats in the third row andy’s headrests do fold down and that is something you might need if you’re putting something long here or you just want to fold those seats down and have that extra storage another way to get out of the third row instead of crawling over things that you could is there’s a button behind each

Seat you press the button the seat moves forward for easy entry and exit with the third row up you have 13.1 cubic feet of storage and there’s some secret storage under here which is also good if you’ve got groceries that are tall it gives you that little extra height now to put down this third row and the second row you have a maximum of 95 cubic feet of storage

Pull this lever and push and the seats go down and also you can fold down the second row seating as well when it comes to technology there really is a lot of cool stuff here and one thing that drives me crazy we’ll start off with the center screen in front of you it’s got all the gauges they’re digital as you change the drive modes it also makes a little noise but

It also changes along with you and the height of the vehicle changes based on which drive mode that you need because that’s what adaptive suspension does and of course if you hold that sport button with that dynamic mode change and you go into that sport plus mode one of the neat things is you see that little picture of the acura mdx right here you hit the brakes

It turns on it also does the turn signals with the brakes or without i think it’s a cool just a nice little thing also it shows other vehicles if you’re coming up next to another vehicle uh the dial on the right changes with the dial on the right side of the steering wheel you can turn that to get additional information depending upon what you’re looking to access

While driving and on the left side of the steering wheel that’s going to be your drive modes you also have paddle shifters as well as your standard stocks which is nice right here easy to use and your wiper blades both front and rear on the driver’s door you’ve got three memory seat settings which is really nice your standard controls if you press this button here

On the right you can access your safety features in the right gauge pod this is for your heads up display which is really crystal clear and works even with polarized lenses when you press that safety button on the right gauge pod you can turn on or off the lane departure blind spot detection cross traffic alert whatever you’re looking to turn on or off moving over

To that center screen it is not a touch screen if you want to touch that navigation not letting you do it you have to use the mouse down below i find that extremely frustrating and the mouse is equally as frustrating although it’s better than in the past so if you go to that navigation you gotta play around with this mouse you got to get used to it you can get

That navigation to load it’s okay it’s not my favorite part of this whole vehicle there’s other nice things in this vehicle satellite radio fm you also have am you can do shortcuts put your favorite thing in their apple carplay or android auto you can swipe over bluetooth your social playlist i’m not sure what that necessarily means but i’m sure you do if you uh

If you listen to a lot of podcasts am radio your cabin talk which is fabulous for talking to the kids in the back when they’re not listening to you your att hotspot alexa if you use alexa like her acura link messages and that’s just one of my favorite radio stations i was just playing around and if you swipe over you can get a list also as well and you don’t have

To use that split screen there is a split screen adjustment that allows you to pick the different adjustments this is the touchpad i cannot stand you can put in that little side pod or not pick what you want or hit your home button i find this very frustrating personally and i’m sure you get used to it if you own it but this is the major negative to this vehicle

Going further down you have this nice gloss black trim detail it is nice and everything’s soft but we’ve got all soft touch materials everywhere beautiful quality materials that is excellent your climate control is here you’ve got automatic of course for your cooling and then there’s automatic for the seats and there’s also three-stage heated three-state pool or

Automatic it’ll go based on the temperature setting in the middle you’ve got your drive modes you just turn that dial to what you want this is your park reverse neutral drive very easy to use your auto stop which i put in your brake hold and on this side this is kind of neat it’s very high tech you can put that down if you don’t want if you don’t have to be charging

Anything or you don’t want to use the wireless charger or you can pop that right back up two cup holders some extra storage for whatever you want to put there your volume control this is for tuning this is a rest for your wrist while your work on this very frustrating keypad key fob has a type s on it really nicely done and then on the other side a lot of people

Are asking it does have the engine hole to start it and of course a trunk and you’re locking an emergency nicely done your wireless keypad is right here you can shut that off as well as a button to shut it off if you just want to put things there one other detail to note is accurate smart enough to put a nice little power outlet here because that’s good for radar

Detector or if someone would like to charge something from the passenger side in the center console you have two steps one is your nice deep center console with this additional power outlets and plenty of storage there is also a little area up top if you want to just put some change or a pen or a piece of paper just in case nice soft touch real stitch material

The seats are really really nice and i’m really impressed with the materials and the quality of the build gigantic sunroof or glass roof look at that really nice pretty quick to put it back and forth and all that is part of a standard package that comes with a type s under the hood is a new 355 horse 354 pound-feet of torque type s turbocharged 3 liter v6 engine

It has 15.1 pounds of boost at maximum this is a 5.3 liter base engine but that turbo gives it that extra get up and go with a 10-speed automatic transmission fuel economy combined 19 seconds 0 to 60 5.5 seconds 5 000 pound towing capacity all type s’s are super handling all-wheel drive with torque vectoring air suspension specially tuned adaptive dampers brembo

Front brakes different drive modes new lift mode for that extra 50 millimeters of ground clearance for that deep snow and hazardous road conditions and automatic load leveling dried moans for this vehicle you can go into the normal the comfort or snow mode and there’s a lift mode if you need to get over some deep ruts or whatever that might be we’re going to the

Sport and then hold it for dial and you go into the sport plus mode now this will give you that 0 to 60 time a 5.5 seconds it is very crunchy very reactive and 5.5 seconds is good compared to what’s competitors you’ve got the g 80s looking at the audi q7 the bmw x5 and a lot of cars in this category including from jaguar equals the land rover and the one thing

That’s right there’s tons of brands that feed in this area lexus and infinity as well now one thing that’s important to note is this vehicle really has that little extra punch and the reason it has it is because it is a type s and every single vehicle has the super handling all-wheel drive which gives it that all four wheels driven so you’re going to get the most

Performance the best power down to the ground here we go it wants to go and by the way it’s got brembo brakes in the front which comes in the type s package and that is excellent because attached to our go power it’s about low power and that’s really really important i think people don’t think about that and how fast something is you need to think about how well

It breaks and it’s done an excellent job with that overall the handling is extremely confident i mean this is one of the vehicles for acura that is their big seller it’s a three row suv that has performance now this is a very popular category on that luxury and you’re starting to see a lot of brands getting into that premium performance area because that’s what

Certain customers want in that area but what’s also important is all the safety features standard on the pipe mask and it is an iihs top safety pick plus but that’s really really important and something that people will look so all those safety features are standard you can go into the main screen and you can adjust them i’m one that hates lane change departure

But i do like ford collision warning it’s very easy if i’m watching this here i’m just gonna back into traffic and not even realize i’m there but he stopped thank goodness but i’ve had a lot of situations lately i don’t know if it’s just covid driving or what if people are making some dumb choices and you need to realize that sometimes you can’t see them but the

Car can and it will give you a break warning it will tell you in advance and that will help save you like the lane departure you can adjust different settings again all of that is in the settings screen also on the left side of the steering wheel there’s a button that’s a picture of the car with a circle around it that’s where you can go in you press that button

And then it changes everything right here in front of you you can add and subtract one points about protection you want your cross traffic alert whatever that might be i like all of them i’m just not a fan of lane departure won’t forget about that i’m here to drive a car drive a car and pay attention then you definitely want some of those things adjusted to your

Liking there’s no right or wrong whatever works for you and if you’re one that doesn’t pay attention you’ve got lots of distractions put all the safety features on their mac so it’s to your benefit and those that ride with you your precious cargo this vehicle gives you a lot of confidence and that’s what i think is important when you’re competing against german

Cars and this is a japanese brand you really have to give it the best and i think actors in a fabulous job this is the first and you’ve seen a type s in an mdx in an suv for acura and they’ve succeeded in making a really nice car now let’s talk about pricing the type s starts at 66 000 our type s has the advanced package it’s all-wheel drive as all of them are and

It came in at 72 550 this is a pretty well loaded vehicle this is the way they’re going to sell most of the vehicles in this category compared to some of the competitors when we were looking at the germans you got the japanese you got the korean brands you’ve got the british brands everybody’s in this luxury performance space so here are the pros and cons it was

A really nice balance of handling and a comfortable ride good zero to 60 time excellent cargo space tons of standard safety features across the lineup which i do appreciate comfortable seating really did a nice job as far as all the interior cabin space everything was excellent but there’s one negative that drives me absolutely crazy and that is that touchpad ad

And getting to certain things we naturally want to touch the screen like you would on your phone or your tablet or whatever it might be even laptops are doing that now why can’t we get this on these center screens it should be standard that you have your choice whether you want to use a mouse you want to use a dial or buttons or touch that center screen and you

Cannot so that’s my biggest negative for this vehicle however i suggest that you test drive this vehicle as well as the competitors the genesis gv80 is a main competitor the lexus of course bmw x5 audi q7 you’ve got your land rovers you’ve also got your jaguar f-pace they’re all in this category they’re three row suvs and there’s even more gm has them ford has them

So don’t forget to look at the lincoln and the cadillac lineup as well we’ve reviewed them all i didn’t go through every single little detail on this vehicle we’d probably be here an hour so ask your questions down in the comments if you bought an mdx and you ordered one with a type s package you’re a very lucky person this is going to be an excellent choice and

It has excellent resale value let’s start the conversation so that people understand is this the best choice or is it something else because your opinion matters and knowledge is power i call that car smarts so don’t forget to subscribe and click that little bell for notifications because we’re going to be covering even more than that also in the description down

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Transcribed from video
Is the NEW 2023 Acura MDX Type S the BEST Luxury SUV? By Car Coach Reports