[onefastdoc]

Since there isn't forum for the Fourth gen MDX, I guess I'll post it here.

I was asked to eval a next gen Acura SUV, presumably the next MDX. This was still in the concept car stage with a non functional full sized mock up of the exterior and a separate mock up of the interior. Aside from the Acura grill, the rest of the styling was completely different than the current MDX in all aspects. Hood line, roof line, windows, tailgate, all way different. Slightly larger than the current MDX, and aside from a really ugly front end, overall it looked much better than the current MDX which looks like an egg shape to me. This one was much nicer. Interior was more similar in styling to Audi and BMW with respect to the Nav screen. Interior was more upscale than my Advance Entertainment is.

On hand for comparison were the Audi Q7, BMW X5, Lexus RX350, Volvo XC90, and current MDX. Of those cars, I thought the Volvo had by far the nicest interior with the Q7 in second, the Lexus 3rd, MDX 4th, and X5 last (but this didn't have the nicest optional leather). If you throw in the Acura concept car in the mix, I think it would have slotted into second place.

This car is still a ways from being ready for production, but it was a nice teaser for things to come!

 

[MTD]

And who are you to Acura to get such an offer?

 

[neoshi]

Since there isn't forum for the Fourth gen MDX, I guess I'll post it here.

I was asked to eval a next gen Acura SUV, presumably the next MDX. This was still in the concept car stage with a non functional full sized mock up of the exterior and a separate mock up of the interior. Aside from the Acura grill, the rest of the styling was completely different than the current MDX in all aspects. Hood line, roof line, windows, tailgate, all way different. Slightly larger than the current MDX, and aside from a really ugly front end, overall it looked much better than the current MDX which looks like an egg shape to me. This one was much nicer. Interior was more similar in styling to Audi and BMW with respect to the Nav screen. Interior was more upscale than my Advance Entertainment is.

On hand for comparison were the Audi Q7, BMW X5, Lexus RX350, Volvo XC90, and current MDX. Of those cars, I thought the Volvo had by far the nicest interior with the Q7 in second, the Lexus 3rd, MDX 4th, and X5 last (but this didn't have the nicest optional leather). If you throw in the Acura concept car in the mix, I think it would have slotted into second place.

This car is still a ways from being ready for production, but it was a nice teaser for things to come!

How about a sketch? :wink:

 

[onefastdoc]

And who are you to Acura to get such an offer?

Lol. Actually I'm a physician that happens to be a car nut. I've had a lot of cars including SUVs, sedans, sports cars from Mercedes, Lexus, BMW, Nissan, Toyota etc. At some point years ago I was asked to attend a focus group on some new car and I went and since then I have done a bunch of evals of concept cars in all types of scenarios including focus groups, one on one questioning with Acura engineers sitting behind a two way mirror (that was for the NSX), driving pre-production cars on the road (next gen 911), in-home interviews, taking Porsche engineers for a ride in my modified Nissan GT-R (which I also did for Infiniti for their proposed Infiniti version of the GT-R). Audi gave me a new A8 for a week to test it out before it went on sale. The Bang & Olufsen stereo in that car is ridiculous. I also did an eval for the soon to be released BMW X7, which is a full sized SUV. That sucker was nice.

I think the second interview I did for the NSX was the most entertaining. It was at a huge warehouse and we spent hours sitting in and looking at the Audi R8, McLaren MP4-12C, Ferrari 458 Italia. Spent 2 days playing with those cars and telling them what we liked and didn't like.

The early NSX prototype had a 3 liter V6 with 300hp and a 100hp electric motor. There were about six of us people who told the engineers, actually we laughed, and told them that was pathetic. All of us had 500+hp cars and all of us agreed we would never buy the NSX with the proposed power plant. The other people in the group with me had cars like the 458, Audi R8 V10, 911 Turbo S, and me with my 700hp GT-R. Glad they decided to rethink the NSX and give it a twin turbo engine.

Back to the Acura concept SUV. The overall shape was great, though not distinctive, just a generic shape. It looked a hell of a lot better than the current MDX egg shape which I dislike (and I have a 2014 MDX). This had a longer sleeker look. Longer hood. Literally nothing was similar to the current MDX with the exception of the grill, steering wheel, and electronic buttons for the shifter. It had a huge widescreen nav display sitting on the dash like BMW. The interior, despite being a crude mock up, had the potential to be great. They just have to sort out the front end which looked hideous, something like a Hyundai Veloster with the new black mesh Acura grill. The third row was roomier, and there was definitely more space for luggage behind the third row. Proposed price as configured was $59K.

A sketch? I can't draw to save my life. My 9 year old kid draws better than I do. Lol

 

[wasjr]

Curious if the grill on the Acura concept you saw was like the 2017 MDX or prior years?

I am getting the itch and have said I would not get a fourth MDX, but I like the looks of the 17 much better than previous years (and it is about 20k less than other vehicles being considered).

 

[Illustro]

Didn't you sign a non disclosure agreement?

 

[onefastdoc]

Curious if the grill on the Acura concept you saw was like the 2017 MDX or prior years?

I am getting the itch and have said I would not get a fourth MDX, but I like the looks of the 17 much better than previous years (and it is about 20k less than other vehicles being considered).

Grill was similar to the 2017 MDX, but the rest of the front end was a mess. Crazy vents, slits, angles. Totally fugly. Headlights were very thin. Nothing like the jewel LED headlights on the current MDX. They were probably half the height of the current headlights.

 

[neoshi]

Grill was similar to the 2017 MDX, but the rest of the front end was a mess. Crazy vents, slits, angles. Totally fugly. Headlights were very thin. Nothing like the jewel LED headlights on the current MDX. They were probably half the height of the current headlights.

Were they trying to put a hybrid of the current NSX front end with the new grille?

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[onefastdoc]

Were they trying to put a hybrid of the current NSX front end with the new grille?

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No, it looked much worse than that. An NSX-ish front end would have been ok. This was an Acura / Hyundai Veloster hybrid looking front end. Horrible. However, the rest of the car was great so I think they are still trying to figure out the front end styling.


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[neoshi]

The story of Acura's life... Lol

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