I was never an Acura fan and after the SLX debacle, I never thought I would consider an Acura SUV but in November of 2000 a friend showed me his new MDX and boy was I impressed. With the arrival of my third child a year earlier I knew this was the vehicle that I wanted in my future. I went shopping in June of 2001 and found it to be a very humbling experience. No MDXs and dealers firmly entrenched in the $4K over invoice MSRP. Well, I figured I could wait awhile. I went shopping again last month and to my surprise, things haven’t changed much at the Acura dealer MDX wise. My need for a third row SUV was growing so I decided to recheck the competition and there things had changed, 3rd row seating could be had on 0% financing Explorers and I even checked out the Buick Rendezvous (yeah, I know, an Aztek in disguise). The biggest surprise was the 2002 MB ML320. Now in its fifth year, the ML320 had a number of changes and improvements which resulted in a really nice vehicle. On top of that was a dealer willing to aggressively negotiate and the ability to order a car tailored to my needs. Last night I placed an order for the ML320. I got almost $3K off of the $39K MSRP so the ML320 was only $1500 more then the MDX at MSRP. I thought it was a much better value and I like the ML even better then the MDX, to me, it has a “sports car” feel to it. So, if there are Acura executives perusing this site keep in mind that the low volume production approach is costing you sales. The competition continues to introduce new and improved vehicles. I could have been one of your customers. For you current MDX owners, I wish you the best of luck with your SUVs and for those of you still waiting I have good news, there’s one less guy in line. Thanks for the use of the board.