briny319

Hi All, I had a 2nd gen (2012) MDX when it was new, sold it at 45k mi. I'm looking for a used car to rent on Turo (airbnb for cars). I've been looking at FB market place at a bunch of economy cars but I'm obviously partial to Acuras. I have a few 2012 and 2013 MDXs saved. Locally they appear to be $13-14k on FB. I just noticed my local acura dealer has a 2013 for $13k with 126k mi. 3 owners, always serviced by the same dealer that is selling it. I would be all over it but consumer reports specifically has the 2013 as the least reliable MDX ever. I don't understand why. It's the last model year of the generation. It should be the most reliable 2nd gen. I don't think the 2013 has any differences over 2010,2011,or 2012. What do you guys think?

DundukovEM

That report is correct. Actually, all MDX 2010-2013 are bad.
The company's engineers made too many compromises to meet certain requirements that made these cars too bad.
Stay away from them and look at MDX 2007-2009 or 2014+.

mrgold35

As far as I know, there were zero changes for the 10-13 MDXs other than TSB fixes applied during production and adding Graystone interior color after 2012.

Sold my 11 MDX Adv with +155,000 miles in Jan/23. My oil consumption was around 1.5 qts per 9000 mile per oil change interval (did not qualify for a fix under the Acura extended warranty), replaced front/rear magnetic struts/shocks, and replaced both front seat heaters. Lucky to have these and most of my other issues covered by the 4/50k basic, Acura 100k extended, or my 5yr/120k Acuracare warranties. I rolled the dice and came up lucky long enough and felt it was time to cut bait. Just too many "potential" issues with the 2nd Gen with Bluetooth module, P/S rack/pump, alternator, starter, oil consumption, suspension, sun roof water leaks in cabin, HID ballast/bulbs, navi HD failures, key fob range issues, driver's side door harness, door/hatch actuators, etc... Add in 91 Octane and 14-16 city mpgs isn't a plus now days for the 2nd Gen MDX.

The +14 MDX is way ahead of the 2nd Gen in overall reliability. There are a lot of issues of the 2nd Gen MDX that are not a problem with the +14 MDXs. I would test drive the +14 MDX back-to-back with a 2nd Gen to see/feel the differences.

briny319

Thanks guys. I'll stay away. 3rd Gen is a little too expensive for what I'm looking to do with it. I'm glad I checked CR and asked. I was going to rush to the dealer for that 2013.