Sold MDX because of width, bought RX 300!!

I agree with you, but......

frostyra said:

..and I second Fireblade's notion. If you strongly dislike a certain attribute of a particular vehicle, then buy something else. That's more-or-less the reasoning behind horse races!

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.........if you've noticed Acura does not offer you a choice of SUVs. They have only one - THE MDX. By sharp contrast Lexus has (or will have shortly) 3 distinct SUVs to cater to everyone's needs. The RX for people wanting something small, GX for people who need a moderate amount of space and the LX for the bigger-is-better crowd. I do understand that Acura is new to the SUV market, and hopefully they will add a smaller SUV to their lineup in a year or two......would be foolish not to do it, cause the SUV market is growing tenfold by the minute!!!!

That said, I really like the MDX (for its features, content and overall performance) - BUT NOT IT'S SIZE!!!!!!!!! (more specifically, the width).......and when people tell me "if you don't like it then buy an X5 or an RX or an ML..........they just don't get it.......I DON'T WANT A BMW, I DON'T WANT A MERCEDES, DON'T WANT A LEXUS.........just a SMALLER ACURA SUV!!!!!!! (where else could you get that wonderful DVD Navigation system!!! ).......There are many people like me (previous owner of an Acura 3.2TL) who want to stay within the Acura family, but don't have a choice and are forced to look elsewhere

And I feel the pain of the guy who sold the MDX and bought the RX.........but I don't understand how the RX solved his problem, though.....Yes, it's nice and compact, but the TURNING CIRCLE is WIDE AS AN EXCURSION!! effectively defeating it's very purpose of being a small, nimble and manuverable SUV (I think the RX is a great vehicle, just can't understand how such a glaring design flaw - Yes, the turning circle - made it to production, especially for a company like Lexus with a tag line that reads "Passionate Pursuit of Perfection"

To summarize, I simply hate it when people just assume (without any regard for someone else's needs) that everyone has a large family or tons of cargo to carry and therefore wants and needs or must buy a HUGE SUV.......there are also people out there in this world who are single, maybe have small families (one kid or no kids) and women who may desire a smaller SUV and have no need for the size, but at the same time want a vehicle that's just as luxurious, feature-laden, high-performance and bad-weather/off-pavement capable as their LARGER counterparts!!.........another favorite of mine that I hear all the time is "if you want a small SUV buy a Toyota RAV4"......that's like saying to someone buying a Giorgio Armani suit.....if you want a smaller size, buy one from K-Mart, the "Giorgio Armani" comes only in size 40!!!!!!!! ......no offense intended to K-Mart, just an analogy.

Hopefully, in the future Acura will have a smaller scaled-down version of the MDX that's just as luxurious, capable and high-performance as the MDX for those without the need for something big!!!

Smaller Acura SUV -- Maybe and Maybe Not

vicpai ... I don't quite agree with you ....

Just because some buyers might want Acura to build another SUV that is smaller [narrower] doesn't mean that Acura will do so. I am not sure that I agree with you that Acura will be forced to go this route. With the intro of the Pilot, Honda Corp. will have a fairly well rounded family of SUVs:

Acura: Mid-Size MDX
Honda: Mid-Size Pilot
Honda: Small CRV

Honda Corp. has got to be loving the MDX because they are selling as fast as they can build. Acura dealers should be loving this too [we all know why]. I suspect that the Pilot will be the same. I understand that the new CRV is hot.

Honda Corp. took a long time introducing their own Mid-Size SUV. An option to expand the line "quickly" would be to "buy one" [ala Mazda/Ford twins]. After the Isuzu experience, I don't think Honda Corp will jump to that route [I suspect that they found it to be a REAL BAD MISTAKE, I know I did and I believe the Acura dealers did, Honda dealers are evidently more stubborn]. I don't think there will be more SLXs and Passports [IMHO].

If anything, I suspect that the trend would be towards bigger and/or more expensive!! Acura is at the low end of the high end now [did that make sense?]. Compete with the "small Lexus" and "small Mercedes". If they were to go for the gusto, why not an Expedition sized MDX!!

Re: Smaller Acura SUV -- Maybe and Maybe Not

srpbep said:

vicpai ... I don't quite agree with you ....

I am not sure that I agree with you that Acura will be forced to go this route.

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I did not say Acura will be forced to go this route....What I meant was that Acura would be foolish not to "cash in" and make even more profits from this untapped segment. I, myself, know of many people like me who would want something like this......and if this segment was really that unprofitable, manufacturers would not be coming out with new models in this "small SUV" segment........just to give you some examples.......BMW is coming out with the X3 (a smaller version of the X5 luxury SUV), Lexus already has it's RX 300 and from what I understand it will remain the same size when redesigned next year - in fact, the RX was a runaway success from it's inception and even though sales have dropped a bit, it still sells very well for a 4 year old model in it's final years!!!!!!!........And even Acura is actually "testing the waters" with something called the RD-X!!

Honda Corp. took a long time introducing their own Mid-Size SUV. An option to expand the line "quickly" would be to "buy one" [ala Mazda/Ford twins]. After the Isuzu experience, I don't think Honda Corp will jump to that route [I suspect that they found it to be a REAL BAD MISTAKE, I know I did and I believe the Acura dealers did, Honda dealers are evidently more stubborn]. I don't think there will be more SLXs and Passports [IMHO].

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For Acura to make a small (relatively speaking), luxurious, high-performance SUV, they don't have to buy something else in a hurry, rebadge it and sell it...... They have their own EXCELLENT "small" SUV and it's called the Honda CRV. All they have to do is take the CRV, throw in a slightly smaller capacity V6 - say 2.7 to 3.0 liter producing around 210-220bhp or so, lavish it with the expected luxuries (leather, climate control, heated seats, navigation system), endow it with the wonderful VTM-4 four wheel drive system from the MDX, change the styling a bit to make it look Acura-esque, price it around 30-35K.........and voila......you have a winner......they wouldn't even have to spend that much on developing the vehicle, because at it's core, it would be a CRV, which means they would'nt have to sell it in LARGE NUMBERS to justify bringing it to the market. Don't tell me there wouldn't be a good number of people wanting to buy something like this!!!.......In fact, I would be one of the first ones marching down to the Acura dealer to get one!!!

"smaller" MDX

I thought the RD-X was a two-door (or two doors, plus two fold-in door) concept...

There are/were several concepts vehicles that would fit into the "smaller than a MDX" category, some of which are aiming at high performance, with others are more sedan replacements.

The problem I see with most of these is to get the "sporty lines" and higher than average height you end up with something that looks like the Isuzu Vehi-Cross, and the market seems to reject that. The answer would seem to be to forget the sporty lines and go for function.

I think Vic might be onto something when he talks about "Acura-izing" the CRV. Actually size-wise I think the Tribute/Escape would be a better candidate, as the CRV is really compact. But the idea, for Acura or anybody else, to treat a smaller S(UorA)V as something OTHER than an entry-level vehicle WOULD make sense for: people who 'fear' big vehicles, people who don't want/need third seat/cargo area, urban dwellers, fuel savers -- in short LOTS of people. The pricing would be tricky, you would need to spread the difference between CRV & MDX, being careful to not steal sales from either. The other "trick" is production & dealers: Honda seems to LIKE to keep its vehicles in short supply, and the I would think the target of the smaller vehicle would be even MORE fickle than the MDX target, and would react badly to long waits and/or "forced options & up charges".

Finally, I could not help but recognize the Honda Model-X ( the "gen x" retro-style SAV) IS getting the green light and it SMALLER than the CRV.