They are Identical and there will probably be no major changes until 2028 given the mid cycle refresh was 2025. in 2026 Acura only added and removed a few color combinations. For example, they removed brown leather in certain trims with certain colors. For the type S, they added

• Double Apex Blue Pearl: This is a deeper, more dashing shade of blue that replaces the previous Apex Blue Pearl.
• Solar Silver Metallic: A new "definitive gray" color added for the 2026 model year.

You can easily make a call while driving with all carplay through the touch screen or Siri voice. No need to stop it to make a call. However, please don’t drive and txt like many I see, it’s so so dangerous,

 

You can easily make a call while driving with all carplay through the touch screen or Siri voice. No need to stop it to make a call. However, please don’t drive and txt like many I see, it’s so so dangerous,

+1, Hey Siri, call __

And I'll add, please use bluetooth/hands free to call. The number of people I see yapping into a cell phone in modern cars that I know have CP/AA is astonishing.

 

+1, Hey Siri, call __

And I'll add, please use bluetooth/hands free to call. The number of people I see yapping into a cell phone in modern cars that I know have CP/AA is astonishing.
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Sorry if you don’t have data to back up your claims. However, you don’t need to be rude and condescending if you can’t inform a good debate. Please share some empirical data on the J35Y5

+1, Hey Siri, call __

And I'll add, please use bluetooth/hands free to call. The number of people I see yapping into a cell phone in modern cars that I know have CP/AA is astonishing.

Yeap, I see cars weaving on highway and roads every day. It’s amazing to see the drivers looking down at their cell phones as you approach the cars. I’ve seen some even watching movies. It’s gotten so bad that I’m actually now in favor of all cell phones being disabled while in motion unless hands free. I guess they would have to figure something out for those not driving.

 

It’s amazing to see the drivers looking down at their cell phones as you approach the cars. I’ve seen some even watching movies.

Movies are excessive, for sure. However, modern active safety features like LKAS, adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, cross traffic alert and braking has made the distracted driving threat virtually obsolete. While I do not condone texting and driving (or generally being on your phone while driving), it's not like it's 2005 when distracted driving was a serious contribution to accidents. In most modern vehicles all of the features I mentioned eliminate this issue almost altogether. Specifically Honda and Acura implement these features even in base trims, which is great.

Again, just to clarify: I'm not saying you should be on your phone while driving. I'm saying this is no longer a cause for a huge concern for me.

 

I walk a lot, a number of miles per day, and it's crazy how many drivers have their phones in their hands and are looking at the phones distractedly. It's a significant number.

As you said yourself, this relates to pedestrians as well, only in a bigger way. Every time I make a turn on an moderately busy intersection, I have to be extra careful, because almost all the pedestrians are usually on their phones and sometimes not even looking if they have right of way.

A lot of people aren't leveraging the tech for the phones for some reason.

It's a TikTok/reels/shorts generation. You can't leverage any technology for it other than your own eyes to consume that content.

 

Every time I make a turn on an moderately busy intersection, I have to be extra careful, because almost all the pedestrians are usually on their phones and sometimes not even looking if they have right of way.

What you say is true but from a walker's perspective a car turning at any intersection is dangerous for the walker. The worst are the 'right turn on red' drivers. They (sometimes) stop, or at least slow down, and then turn their heads to the left to look for oncoming traffic and when they see the traffic is fairly clear they hit the gas to make their right turn ... but ... the walker, who has a green light and a walk signal and often a marked crosswalk, will get hit if they just proceed because the driver of the car never bothered to look to make sure there wasn't a pedestrian using the crosswalk, i.e. the driver never bothered to even look straight ahead before hitting the gas and certainly never looked right. I've slapped the fenders of a number of cars that've done this and the scenario happens so frequently that fortunately I'm ready for it or else I would've certainly been hit by now. It actually happens to me at least several times per week.

It doesn't help that drivers use the stoplight as an opportunity to grab their cell phone and stare at it or send a text or whatever else they deem so utterly important to do with the thing. I generally don't even bother to look at any incoming texts in the 1.5 - 2 hour walk/hike until I get home - there just isn't anything that urgent. And the texts are all still waiting for me to see when I get home.

Okay - I think this thread has devolved enough by now thanks to me on this rant - we should get back to the 2025/2026 differences topic although it's a short subject because hardly anything changed and I don't count replacing one generic gray color for a slightly different tint of a generic gray color as a meaningful change. But 2025/2026 is a good topic created by poster 'steameng8' a lot of people are interested in ... wait - how about steam powered cars? Oh no, I'm devolving the thread again.

 

Movies are excessive, for sure. However, modern active safety features like LKAS, adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, cross traffic alert and braking has made the distracted driving threat virtually obsolete.

I see your point—features like AEB, lane keeping, and adaptive cruise control definitely help, and your Acura has excellent tech.

But most cars on the road don’t have those systems, and even when they do, they’re mainly focused on the vehicle in front—not the one next to you, the one that swerves into your lane, or someone who rear-ends you because they’re on their phone. These systems also don’t reliably detect or protect pedestrians.

Even with advanced safety features, drivers still need to stay fully engaged—these systems aren’t designed for hands-off driving.

And the risk is real: According to NHTSA, cellphone use was involved in 12% of distraction-related fatal crashes in 2022, contributing to 402 deaths. Distracted driving overall accounted for 8% of all fatal crashes and 11% of all police-reported crashes.

 

And the risk is real: According to NHTSA, cellphone use was involved in 12% of distraction-related fatal crashes in 2022, contributing to 402 deaths. Distracted driving overall accounted for 8% of all fatal crashes and 11% of all police-reported crashes.

10% is a pretty small share, but it will go down as more and more new cars are on the road and old ones are off the road. Tech is also not stagnating. Look at Tesla - it has an absolutely amazing "self driving", which, as per my experience, is about 70% there. The amount of times when I simply set the destination and has not touched the steering wheel or pedals until it arrives there is insane, some of them include traveling to a completely different city! And it accounts for pedestrian, cyclists, motorcyclists and any other obstacles. When the rest of the manufacturers catch up inevitably, distracted driving will become fully obsolete.

 

I know this may upset some people, but I have a strong personal distaste for Teslas.

That'll definitely upset Musk's followers and adepts I personally don't care about someone's distaste for anything. I prefer to rely on my own observations.

While Tesla’s self-driving systems have received a lot of attention, they’ve been involved in several accidents, and personally, I wouldn’t trust one.

Yep, heard of some too and I thought I wouldn't trust one either. But then I tried it myself for a week and all those worries went away. This doesn't mean you can trust it 100% and not be ready to take control over at any moment, but it just works.

These features tend to work best in cities designed for them, but we’re still far from reliable full autonomy across all U.S. roads.

Perhaps you are right, I wouldn't know. My experience was in Greater Toronto Area and a 200 miles radius around it, including country side roads.

As for me, I’ll never own a Tesla—or an EV in general. To me, they’re overly complex, unreliable black boxes that depreciate quickly.

Don't care about EV VS ICE. Also, don't know about reliability - I drove a 2018 Model 3 with 80K miles on it with no issues. Depreciation wise - definitely, and it's a good thing. You can buy a 5-6 year old Tesla Model 3 long range for USD $20K, which is nothing short of spectacular. The battery on the 2018 Model 3 I drove had 89% health, pretty impressive for a 7 year old vehicle.

I chose the MDX over an X5 because it has tactile buttons instead of relying heavily on touchscreens, and it avoids the added complexity of high-voltage batteries, torque converters, and turbos.

I'm with you on physical controls - that's definitely something that I missed. And the trend is not good - more and more manufacturers are going touch screen. Recently drove a brand new BMW X 1 - all climate controls are touch screen too... I'm really happy Honda/Acura resist this trend and keep installing physical buttons and knobs.

I also don’t think EVs are a viable long-term solution for many reasons, including that they aren’t actually much better for the environment when you factor in mining, production, and disposal. That said, I do believe the electric drivetrain will live on—but powered by a better fuel source, like hydrogen or something similar.

There's definitely validity in what you're saying. I'd add that it's currently simply mathematically not viable to replace all of the billion plus passenger vehicles in the world with BEVs - I don't think we even theoretically have the necessary amount of rare materials to build batteries for those. Hydrogen sounds like it has potential, but I think it's not going to be a fuel cell, like Mirai. Rather HICE, clean burning.

In the interim, while we wait for an alternative fuel that truly works and is sustainable, my preference would actually be to bring back diesels for their bulletproof reliability and impressive fuel economy—getting 40–50 mpg in a large SUV is hard to beat.

I don't think that's happening. ICE hybrids, though? Yes. It looks like more manufacturers finally see what people want and need.

Maybe I’ll consider a hybrid for my next car down the road, but right now, it feels like the industry is still using consumers as test subjects.