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MDX Improvements Wishlist

7K views 30 replies 20 participants last post by  MDX14adv 
#1 ·
The MDX is a great car and offers a ton of value however, as with any car, there will always be features you wished were included or components improved. I'll start:

- Height adjustable power rear liftgate
- Reinforce the interior door handle used to close door because it feels hollow and creaks (I've checked with a handful of MDXs)
- Button-less smart doors locks (like MB, Lexus, etc where you simply touch to lock).
- Real wood interior accents
- Physical buttons/knobs for climate control
- Higher resolution center stack screens
- Higher resolution back-up camera
- 360 degree camera for parking
- More seat travel backwards for front seats
- Ability to pause/play bluetooth audio devices from steering wheel
- Delete 3rd-row ability to save on weight and cost
- More downward travel for steering wheel
- Available real wood wheel
- Ability to open rear hatch window
- Hybrid model
- Thigh extender for front seats
- Move ventilated seats into the Tech package

There are other features I've seen mentioned but not of interest to me:
- Pano roof
- Electric parking brake
- Height adjustable suspension (adds too much complexity, reliability issues and cost)
- Dampening adjustable suspension (adds too much complexity, reliability issues and cost)
 
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#3 ·
real wood accent ,360 degree view not only during parking but also on slowing down like 5k/h are already in the canadian elite model .
i only wish was the folding side mirror should be automatic like the mercedes were you have the button to fold it anytime and automatically fold down when engine is turned off
 
#5 ·
Well, Acura has apparently added exactly ZERO new features (or even new colors) to the 2015 model year. We'll see what their adoption rate of new features will be going forward from here.

It makes sense to start with what they already have - i.e. some of the features the Canadians, Russians, and maybe others are already getting that are already being assembled on the line in Alabama. Since they're already making these there's no engineering required to offer them more widely, i.e. in the USA.
- Surround view camera
- Folding side mirrors
- Real wood
- Fog lights as basic equipment - I don't think they're of much value on this vehicle because of the way the LED headlights light up the road and I don't think they even add much aesthetically but some people do and realistically, why wouldn't a vehicle this expensive simply include them as part of the base? The cost is minimal if built-in from scratch.
- etc.

Given that, I don't care about the 'real wood' and am fine with the fake stuff as it is in this model. I'd also not want to have to pay much for folding mirrors since I don't really need that function although I realize some people do - i.e. people who live in a very urban environment and park in tight quarters regularly. The surround view would be nice, not necessary, but nice. It's also something that's appearing in some vehicle models positioned at a lower level than the MDX.

More -
- Improved driver's seat - better knee bolster. Perhaps have a couple of different seat types as options since not all people want the same type of seat yet the seat is more important than many of the other conveniences since it can make or break the true comfort of a vehicle.

- Improved Nav/Infotainment by permitting Apple CarPlay and Google's CarPlay equivalent for Android they just announced and/or whatever Microsoft will have that'll compete in this space. Ideally the vehicle's display screen, touch screen, steering wheel controls, microphone/speakers simply become input/output devices for these software systems which will give us choice on what solution we want, give competition to allow for competitive improvements, and shift the burden of software development from the auto manufacturer (and their suppliers) to the actual software companies. It'd also give us the choice of using Google Maps/Nav/voice recognition, Apple Maps/Nav/voice recognition, and whatever Microsoft might come out with as well as others.
Honda is already participating in Apple CarPlay and the Google offering so this feature isn't a leap and I expect we'll see if fairly soon.

- More color choices - would be nice. Not everyone wants black/white/graytone. I realize they have blue (which is what I bought) and the same 'Deep Cherry Red' they've had for eons but they should mix it up a bit more and not insist on using only the basics with perhaps a muted other color. It's surprising they didn't intro a color variation on the 2015. They usually at least swap out one gray for another gray even though they usually look almost identical.

- Transmission with more speeds - 8/9 speed - IMO this isn't really necessary on the MDX since the current 6 speed is quite smooth and the vehicle achieves great mileage but it'll likely be necessary to 'keep up with the Jones's' since their competition is offering it and some people buy based on specs/numbers more than actual true performance.

- More powerful engine - Same as above - not really necessary on this vehicle but I'd expect within a few years the power will increase. They may already have this in their plan and are holding back so they can introduce it later.

- LED brake lights - IMO this adds almost no value and I don't care about it in the least even if they theoretically reduce the lighting time by some fraction of a second. However - see the 'Jones's' point above.

- Rear entertainment system - they need to decouple this from the offerings of the other functions on the Advance. A 'lot' of people have no use at all for a RES and plenty of others have it already superseded by people (kids) using tablets for their vehicular entertainment. It's just too costly to have as required baggage.

- Make the safety feature of forward collision braking standard in the basic. This will add some to the cost but this feature is appearing in non-luxury models from various manufacturers already. Someday I think it'll likely be mandated. I still think the Tech probably has all the hardware in place to do this (since it has forward collision warning detection and the ability to apply brakes via the software) and it'd be a simple software switch to enable it but I could be wrong on that.

All of us need to realize that virtually every added feature will add cost to the vehicle (except maybe some of the Nav/Infotainment changes mentioned above and the decoupling of required features) and at the end of the day it'll boil down to what the marketeers think the targeted market segment will bear in cost. There are lots of things I wouldn't mind having but if I was asked to pay $1000 or $500 for it would say 'never mind'.
 
#6 ·
- LED brake lights - IMO this adds almost no value and I don't care about it in the least even if they theoretically reduce the lighting time by some fraction of a second. However - see the 'Jones's' point above.
LED brake lights are much more visible during bright daylight situations. It is a safety feature especially in sunny states or even in colder climates where driver's eyes have been bombarded by reflection off the snow. IMO, LED brake lights should be DOT mandated.
 
#7 ·
I think it would be a good start if Acura would simply just get what they have right. QC is not a strong point for them at the moment, and its really embarresing to be driving around in a car / SUV that has a price point of well over $50K with so many cheap oversights, it makes most of the cars that cost half as much look pretty good.

I mean, as a current owner of a '14 Tech, I would love to see:

- Doors that don't creak every time I make a tight turn.

- A Nav system that will actually respond to the button presses vs. waiting several seconds for delayed menus.

- Maybe they can throw in some inside door panels that don't have a cheap like "give' to them when you open the door, making you feel like the panel is going to come un-clipped.

- It would be so great if they could actually make the body lines the same on both sides of the car, vs. having a larger gap on one side, and a much smaller one on the other. ;-)

- best yet.. it would be incredible to have an electric steering system that won't give out every few hundred miles for no reason at all.. leaving you wondering if and when this will happen at a life changing situation.

all of this before my first oil change. I have never wanted to get rid of a car so fast in my life.
 
#8 ·
I think it would be a good start if Acura would simply just get what they have right. QC is not a strong point for them at the moment, and its really embarresing to be driving around in a car / SUV that has a price point of well over $50K with so many cheap oversights, it makes most of the cars that cost half as much look pretty good.

I mean, as a current owner of a '14 Tech, I would love to see:

- Doors that don't creak every time I make a tight turn.

- A Nav system that will actually respond to the button presses vs. waiting several seconds for delayed menus.

- Maybe they can throw in some inside door panels that don't have a cheap like "give' to them when you open the door, making you feel like the panel is going to come un-clipped.

- It would be so great if they could actually make the body lines the same on both sides of the car, vs. having a larger gap on one side, and a much smaller one on the other. ;-)

- best yet.. it would be incredible to have an electric steering system that won't give out every few hundred miles for no reason at all.. leaving you wondering if and when this will happen at a life changing situation.

all of this before my first oil change. I have never wanted to get rid of a car so fast in my life.

ACURA short changed the folks that live in the USA.
 
#14 ·
what's a thigh extender? I've never heard of that.

i would also like, as with many of you...

- 360 camera
- faster software(more responsive)
- folding side mirrors
- fog lights as standard issue (still can't believe they didn't come standard on my Adv)
- higher res camera ( the one on my wife's CRV is crystal clear.. )

Other than that, I love the car and fortunately don't have, or haven't run into, a lot of the issues people have mentioned in these boards. I just got it back this morning, as I had to get a deep 9" long scratch repaired on my drivers door, given to me by my 9 yr old's bike handlebar. Was killing me not to have the car for 2.5 days.
 
#15 ·
Surprise no one listed "Rear Cross Traffic Alert". I have this on my Lexus and this is probably single most appreciated safety feature on my Lexus. It came bundled with my blind side monitoring and works by giving you a warning as you backup and if it senses car is coming from cross traffic.
 
#16 ·
what's a thigh extender? I've never heard of that.
It's an adjustable section of the front of the bottom of the seat that can extend a few inches to provide better thigh support since we don't all have the same size legs. I had it in my old 1991 Ford Exploder (I think). It really can add to the comfort and doesn't add a lot of cost. I actually mentioned this one in a previous wish list.

driver - I agree on the rear cross traffic warning. I've never used one but it seems that it should be included with the current other warnings. It's surprising it wasn't.
 
#17 ·
Here is my few.

1. the ability to load songs to the hard drive from a flash drive-- and a better subwoofer. The bose in my murano has better base.
2. A power operating sunshade for the moonroof
3. dual sunroof / larger sunroof
4. get rid of that little sliding door under the armrest. Just make the armest cover the whole thing and have it open accordingly. Other wise the little wooden door should be part of the whole armrest so when you open the armrest it opens with it.
5. adjustible height lift gate. It almost hits my garage door when I open it and I have no way to stop it. The ability to turn off the power lift gate would be nice.
6. A bigger, higher resolution display in between the speedo and tach.
7. remote start should be standard.
8. Acuralink connect should be standard
9. A spare tire on the base model should be standard.
10 led lights should be standard. probably not because the jewel lights are so bright..

for a car at this price point it really should have these things.. I hope at this price point it is extremly reliable and will last me for many years.


most importantly, lower the price of the TECH package by $1500.00. for $4000.00 it doesn't seem worth it.
 
#22 ·
5. adjustible height lift gate. It almost hits my garage door when I open it and I have no way to stop it. The ability to turn off the power lift gate would be nice.
You can disable the power tailgate in the Vehicle Settings menu... Power Tailgate Setup > Power open by outer handle > Manual...

An adjustable height would be nice.

Among most of these great suggestions, I would like a more sound resistant sunroof cover panel. The current one is awfully flimsy and when I have stuff on the roof, a significant amount of noise travels into the cabin. Or maybe better sound glass in the moon roof.

I do however disagree with the suggestion of removing the third row seating. It is the single biggest reason why we had our previous MDX and our current '14. No other third row SUV comes close to the MDX in terms of Luxury, Price, Performance, Utility. Without the usable third row, it doesn't compete as well. We would have looked more closely at a number of other options if we didn't need the third row. And you can always buy an RDX.
 
#18 ·
^^
- A power sunshade seems a little over the top to me (pun intended). I can't see any need at all to power something like this that is very easily slid open/closed in one second by hand since it's right there and lightweight and I'd rather have the simplicity and greater reliability of it being non-powered.

- Although I have no use for a remote start, I don't see why it's not included in the base or at least the tech since I can't imagine it has any real incremental cost to Acura - i.e. all the components to actually do a remote start are already there. The only difference is to have a remote start button on the remote which is trivial.

- Spare tire - yes, it s/b included, however, it'll have an incremental cost on the vehicle although percentage-wise it's not much. Some people would argue they almost never get a flat, others will argue they'd just call AAA and have them fix the flat or tow them and wouldn't want to spend the extra couple hundred dollars for the spare. I'm not one of those though - I always want a spare (I've had flats with sidewall damage that would have stuck me in inconvenient places, including places with no cell reception).

- Acuralink - I don't use it at all and seem to be getting along fine. Acura has some cost for this service due to the operators on the other end. It'd be nice if any of the automated features were included though. I'd rather not pay for something I won't use. This is the dilemma on all of these features people want - almost all wouldn't mind having the feature but some won't mind paying for it and others don't want to pay for it.

- The adjustable liftgate height seems like a good feature.

- I don't see an issue with the display on the dash, i.e. the MID. It seems fine to me.

Another item I don't think I've seen here but would go far to satisfy some posters - an adjustable suspension - i.e. a suspension that can be adjusted between 'Comfort', 'Normal', and 'Sport' modes. I'm quite happy with the current suspension setup and personally wouldn't want a change but I think some posters are looking for a softer ride versus a better handling (but harsher ride). I always go for better handling.
 
#20 ·
^^
On the roof rack - raised rails as you stated or at least rails with some kind of tie down points. Also, ideally it would have sliding adjustable crossbars rather than the fixed point crossbars it has now (due to the non-parallel rails). The crossbars should have some tied down points built into them as well. This is a very easy thing to do that costs nothing extra yet they didn't do it for the 14 MDX cross bars.

On the roof rack kit - include precut plastic hinge covers and precut short gutter strips so the existing covers and gutter strips don't need to be permanently cut for the rails - i.e. make it possible for the rails to be removed and the vehicle put back to the way it was if someone wants. This would add little relative cost to the kit. fyi - the existing install requires cutting the existing plastic hinge covers and gutter strips to install the rails.

Although I much prefer the look of the 14 MDX with rails versus without (makes it more SUV looking and less van looking) and don't plan to ever remove the rails now that I installed them, I'm sure there must be some people out there who prefer it without the rails.
 
#21 ·
I would like to see:
- adjustable pedals; wife is 4'11" and she sits so close to the steering wheel. Afraid the airbag will knock her out if deployed.

- we can open rear glass; I have to open the garage door if I need to get something out the back

- 2nd/3rd row headrest that can be lowered level with the seat tops for better rear visibility.

- ability to get any exterior color with any interior color

- auto folding side mirrors

- more seat travel front/back for both driver passenger

- Sport/types-S model; larger stabilizer bars, sport+ option on IDS, sporty front/rear lip, increase in HP like 310hp, higher performance tires, upgraded suspension, 7DCT, racing pedals, sporty interior trim (brushed or satin aluminum), etc...
 
#23 ·
Good to know that there is a manual setting on the liftgate. What a pain however to switch in between the settings.

As for third row. Yes, the MDX's appeal to many is the third row. But to many others it isn't. It wouldn't hurt if it is an option. No one is advocating to make the third row unavailable. And if third row is very important, the MDX is not your best choice because it is a relatively small vehicle and 3rd row is a dangerous place to be when getting rear ended. I'd never put my kids in there for any extended period and absolutely never on the freeway.
 
#24 ·
Good to know that there is a manual setting on the liftgate. What a pain however to switch in between the settings.
Why do you have to switch? Rather than turning it off in the settings, press and hold the exterior lift gate button and you hear three beeps, then lift manually. You can always pull it down manually. If you want the power lift gate, operate as before (press exterior button once quickly, hear one beep, and it goes up).
 
#26 ·
I've been waiting for the Tesla X model to start production, could be it will happen by the end of the year. It is an AWD SUV 7 passenger, and will be faster 0-60 than the S model at under 5 seconds. It would use the same nav as the S model and is very user friendly, even while driving for a passenger. No loss of power at altitude. After you drive an S and then driving the MDX, the MDX feels like a slow dog.

I know, you can buy two mdx's for the price of the X minus fed/state tax credits.

Acura, look, KIA has folding mirrors, and other amenities that mdx owners want.
 
#27 ·
-Electronic Parking Brake (as found in RLX hybrid and TLX)
-Heads up display (as found in RLX hybrid)
-Lane watch camera (As found in Honda... this is actually quite useful. Sure, blind spot indicators are nice but to actually SEE your right blind spot is quite useful)
-Surround view camera (as found in Canadian MDX)
-Power folding mirrors (as found in Canadian MDX)
-LED brake lights... not a huge deal but I expect to see this in the mid-cycle refresh
 
#30 ·
Navigation Change to Honda Standard

I would like to see the Navigation System work like the one on my wife's new 2014 Honda Civic EX-L with Navigation. You can move the map to any direction and zoom just like a computer or tablet touch screen and program it much easier than the Acura MDX Navigation System.

I would also like to see the clarity of the back up camera and the blind spot camera as good as it is on the 2014 Honda Civic EX-L with Navigation.
 
#31 ·
I drive a 14 Accord Sport for work, with no nav, and the backup camera is so much clearer than the MDX. Not to mention the car was delivered flawless. I just don't get it. I guess Honda is the new Acura.
 
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