doug_999

Well, we ended up picking up an Advance/Ent AWD model 5 hours away from home (Long story). Nothing like a 5 hour drive to learn about the car!

All I have to say is WOW (and this is from a BMW guy). First off, the Lane Keeping Assist Systme (LKAS) and Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) make long drives soooo easy. The miles melted away. I honestly can't believe how useful these two features are (oh also got to try the Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) once too - when a car merged right in front of us - across two lanes).

In short, If you take long highway trips, the Advance model is the way to go.

The wife also loves the new heated steering wheel. I personally HATE the fact that it is a dealer installed option as our steering wheel is now crooked (boy that sucked for a 5 hour drive).

Also love that the car detects as you walk near it and lights up the puddle lights and interior lights before you even touch the car. That feature is awesome (even though I thought I had left the interior lights on the first time).

And yes, we couldn't even get the remote start to work at the dealer, so the failure of that system continues.

The voice recognition works very well - thank GOD because the touch screen/knob interface is horrific. Can't believe a Japanese car company designed something so bad. Also really is sad that they have locked out so many features/settings from access when you are driving.

Still, an amazing car for $57K (plus heated steering wheel)

doug_999

Edit - can't figure out how to edit...
fuel economy is terrible - got 20.1 MPG on the drive home (average speed 70mph).

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

your MPGs lol...you're in the break in period and who knows what the dealer put in your tank.

congrats on the new ride. i honestly don't find the touchscreen that bad...granted i've only played with the one in two different RLXs as loaners over 7 days. i have the touchscreen navi in my TL and we have the same deal in our old Accord. i guess i'm just used to that type of interface.

the lock outs...blame the govt safety standards. we have enough distracted driving so everything is going the way of voice control.

you didn't get the dealer to fix the steering wheel before you left with it?

as far as the other safety nags...yeah they are neat. i don't think i've ever used cruise control in any car i've owned. collision mitigation and LKAS are useful...maybe it'll even make people better drivers or lazy depending on whether the driver becomes dependent on the car to nag them. so they can be a blessing or a curse.

enjoy the new ride i'm sure there will be many years of enjoyment!

doug_999

Based on what I'm reading, the mileage is a problem across the board with this car.

As for the touchscreen, it is just not intuitive - that's my biggest gripe (Ok, I personally hate them as well, but seriously, if it was easy to use...).

As for the lockouts - I don't think that is the government - that is Honda not wanting to be named in a lawsuit

My wife drove the car off the lot (interestingly enough the pictures I took of her getting trained on the car, showed the wheel crooked as well, but I just assumed that's the way we parked it). Did not notice until I drove it and that was at 8PM on a Friday night. Even so, dealers fixing something at 6PM on a Friday night are pretty rare

And as for the LKAS/ACC - yes, no matter what, they can save your butt (glance away from the road for one second to focus on the crazy touch screen interface.....). However, I agree if you are an inattentive driver they make you a MUCH better driver

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

my dealer service dept is open until midnight...so it would be fixed before i got a block down the road.

i'm more a physical button type of person. i think all the criticism the 2G took for "too many buttons" on the center stack pushed Acura into the opposite direction of too clean of a look and being dependent on the touchscreen. my gripe with the button issue is, if you go and sit in a MB or an Audi...there are a ton of buttons all over the dash and center stack, but yet the critics don't bash on them for it. and they aren't positioned in such a way that they are intuitive nor ergonomically placed.

it takes time to learn all the gadgets in the car. german layouts vs japanese layouts...certainly a little different.

have fun!

weather

Doug....COngrats on your MDX and as I stated in the other thread, your mpg will improve. I am very envious of your MDX as I think its a gorgeous vehicle....I love my RDX (2013) but I do prefer the MDX if given the choice

As you know, in Canada, our MDX have the heated steering wheel as an installed feature....not sure why they wouldn't do the same in the States.

Keep us apprised on how your MDX fairs out as you drive it more and more

terdonal

Congrats, enjoy.

Edward'TLS

The Canadian MSRP has already factored in extra standard features, such as "heated steering wheel", "headlight washer", etc., that the US MDX's don't have.

Thus the much higher price for the Canadian MDX's compared to the "almost" equivalent US ones.

jshaw

To be fair to the auto rags, though, Acura had a habit of sending fully loaded MDX models... the ones with two DVD slots up front (DVD-A/CD and DVD) and extra buttons for the DVD player upfront, too.

They could of sent models without that extra DVD player many auto rags don't seem to care for, or they could of did as the CR-V and stuffed it in a compartment somewhere. Another solution would be to do as everybody else does: put the DVD player in the rear seating area, so its buttoncount isn't added to the front panel.

doug_999

I personally agree -they went way too far with removing the buttons. The seat heater is a prime example - that needs a button - period. BMW does the seat heating/cooling with one button, Acura could have done the same.


I do however disagree that the Europeans have tons of buttons. When I think back to the A6 I recently drove as well as my X6 and 1M, I don't think we have very many buttons. I seem to remember somewhere that the 2G MDX might have set a record? I know the steering wheel certainly did

TLtrigirl

iTrader: (1)

the S6 i drove and the MB derivative of the SUV appeared to be cluttered with buttons. i wasn't really counting, but it just seemed that way. BMW is much cleaner in terms of buttons relative to their german counterparts.

odd the new MDX integrated the seat heater into the touchscreen. the RLX has a separate button for it. maybe Acura will give the button back in the MMC refresh come 2017. perhaps sooner.

doug_999

I think the worst part is the way it is integrated. I could deal with it mimicking a standard heated seat button (press to turn on, press to decrease temp) but this is press, then 2nd screen appears, now select temp and/or off. Once again, the big issue here is time your eyes are off the road.


I will say however, that the actual dash gauges are some of the best looking gauges out there (to me anyway). I'm looking at a BMW 6GC and the entire dash is now a video game and it just doesn't compare to the MDX.