Tony Pac

Acura invited journalists to test drive the new ZDX. A couple of the initial reviews have been published, but I expect the more detailed reviews to be available within a week or so. Let's keep this thread for Review only!

Alex: Kirk:

sonyfever

Had a first-look on ZDX/Prologue. I did not have time to do the test drive, so no driving impression.

[ Exterior ]

Good things first, and that is ZDX looks way better in person than in phone. Forget the complaints about hearse and dual-tone painting. In person, the exterior is cohesive. The car could have been a bland box, but Acura put in sharp creases on the hood/fender, the door, and the tail. Those creases connect the car from front to back, and are powerful design elements that give the car presence, as well as the flow of energy.

Unfortunately, that is where the good ends. The rest is a mixed bag. Where do I start?

[ Interior ]

- The interior definitely smells GM.
- The dash/console area is all right - not good but not bad. In person, the dash is not as bland as I thought, as the paint or coating on the main slab that crosses AC vents is of decent quality.
- The storage space is great, but the glove box is not damped and the inner is very cheap looking plastic.
- The leathers on the seats and doors are the highlight of the interior. They are thicker and softer than MDX Type-S. The leathers on the dashboard are obviously pleather, and about the same quality as the pleather on RDX console.
- The seats are comfortable and familiar to me as an Acura owner.

However, there are a few things that left me wanting to cancel my reservation.
1) The steering wheel sucks big time. The buttons are lifeless, and the grip is unnecessarily thick and does not have any contour. It is a significant downgrade from the awesome steering wheels on recent Acuras.
2) The doors are heavy, but don't sound heavy upon closing. The door panels are crazy thick - a lot of space wasted here. Seems to me GM were super concerned about protecting the battery pack so they left a good amount of margin on side-crash buffer zone.I estimate they are 1.5x~2x the depth of those on MDX/RDX. What is worse, the surface is not curved inwards (relative to the door) like that on RDX/ZDX. As a result, the interior feels narrower than it can be, especially the rear suffers in the shoulder and elbow room. The center console reaches closer to the rear seat than native Acuras, adding excellent center storage space but at the expense of spaciousness to the rear passengers. All of these details in the interior add up to take away visual and physical space from the big car, and the rear feels somewhat cramped compared to even RDX.
3) The HVAC is oversized, in both the space it occupies and the size of the buttons. I get a truck vibe from the infotainment and HAVC, and surely that is where they come from. In comparison, I feel the steering wheel is plucked from a smaller car. Small details like this ruin the interior of ZDX, and also make me appreciate the RDX/MDX interiors more than ever.
4) Look above the door handles, and the interior is reasonable on a ~$40k car....

[ Infotainment/Sound ]

- The infotainment is fine. In a familiar theme to Acura, it does not look fantastic but gets the job done. It is responsive enough and does not have any touch sensitivity issue seen in Prologue reviews or AoA's lastest ZDX video. It is running Android 12 so the SW backbone is on the same track as Lyriq.
- The B&O sound system.... I only listened to some HD radios and did not feel significant improvement from ELS 3D. Maybe it is the Beosound (i.e. quick EQ) setting that is too warm - I could not figure out how to completely turn it off during my seat time.
The system has good fidelity, but sounds sharper (in a not-pleasant way) in high-freq region. The sound stage seems improved over RDX, as it is less front heavy than RDX, and in the passenger seat the sound stage is less biased to the right. But I think the sound stage is still not consistent to the driver and passenger. ELS Signature on MDX-S still reigns supreme by several miles.

[ Comparison to Polestar 3 ]

Happened to sit in a Polestar 3 lately, so use it as a loose reference:

- I am surprised to say that Polestar 3 rear seat "feels" a little more spacious than ZDX. Probably not in reality, but the Polestar 3 cabin is way more welcoming than ZDX.
- Polestar 3 dashboard sits very high like a van. Thankfully, Acura/Honda intentionally pushed the dashboard low to keep ZDX/Prologue familiar to AH owners.
- I noticed that both cars have less than ideal cargo space thanks to high trunk floor and low roof, especially on Polestar 3. The roof drop is rather dramatic on the 3, but at least it has a decent-size underfloor storage as compensation. ZDX Type-S uncharacteristically loses the underfloor storage, leaving only a tiny amount of space between the trunk floor cover and the air suspension tank cover.

mvl

Were you part of the press drive, or are demos in dealers now?

Ken1997TL

I got to try it out briefly when I was at the Long Beach Grand Prix. It's nice but you can still tell its a GM product. Sonyfever's comments are similar to my thoughts.

Having said that, I still want to give it a fair attempt and drive it on roads I'm familiar with before having any 'final thoughts'.

silverTL6

iTrader: (2)

There's a driving event for the ZDX / Prologue happening across the US, I suspect this is what sonyfever attended (as did I) -

https://evolution-experience.com/?so...uraInviteEmail

Long story short, the ZDX interior is still a letdown in person (despite what the naysayers claimed when I made the same observations re: the debut pics). Kinda sucks considering the 1G was used to showcase what Acura was capable of at the time. Not even sure why they didn't let it borrow more from the Lyriq instead of the Blazer - as a result, it's only marginally different from the Prologue's interior (akin to the Civic / Integra's similarities on the inside).

This might be acceptable for the $48k+ Prologue, but for a $64k+ ZDX? As fun as it was mashing the Type-S' throttle and getting thrown back in the seat, I'm not sure if it's enough to convince shoppers to overlook the interior, especially with the Lyriq having essentially the same pricing / drivetrain options while being much more luxurious inside. Sadly, I see the 2G ZDX going the way of the dodo bird just like the 1G did, once Acura's own EV platform rolls out. Perhaps they're OK with that, as long as it allows them to get their foot in the door vs. having nothing in that space for the next few years (?).

DJ Iceman

This is why, if I had been in the Acura boardroom when they were bouncing model names around, I would have STRONGLY advocated to call this stop-gap, GM-produced thing the SLX, and saved the ZDX name for the in-house, hopefully far superior EV that's coming in a few years.

silverTL6

iTrader: (2)

The LX suffix would've strayed from their current naming convention, but then again we have the Integra

My guess is they needed a catchy name for their first EV, and figured resurrecting one that symbolized their treading into new territory would get people talking (it didn't hurt that the "Z" resembled a bolt of electricity too). Whereas ADX sounds a bit more generic and probably more fitting for a gateway product.

Whatever the case, the ZDX name certainly deserved better. Hopefully the 2G will have a short lifecycle too, and replaced by a 3G based on their own platform with a class-leading interior once again.

mvl

Acura corporate pretty much announced ZDX is just a stopgap. I believe it was planned as part of a long term partnership and planned as the 4th gen RDX, but Honda pivoted to inhouse EVs and dropped the GM collab a coupe years ago. So they launched an unprecedented second MMR for the 25 RDX and renamed the GM effort as the ZDX. I agree the SLX was what leadership is hoping reoccurs (learn a new matket with a rebadge then build inhouse as the best selling premium SUV for two decades). But I don't think the SLX works as well as the ZDX for a new generation of non Honda converts (Z = zero emissions), and any name would work for a Honda loyalist. Acura is targeting the post-Tesla 2nd car owners with the ZDX, they are even giving a conquest incentive for ZDX buyers who used to own a Tesla. The ZDX loses vs Tesla in techiness, pricing, and range/chargespeed. But it is a clear winner (even with GM assembly) in build quality, dealer service, ride comfort, ride sportiness, and real world (non-roadtrip) usability.

The Honda Ohio battery factory remains on track to launch in 2026, using the same LG chem batteries used in Ultium, so there should be some knowledge to be gained. Acura has the model lineup set with a next gen TLX due from the EV factory in 27, a next gen MDX due in 28, and marketing timing perfectly lined up for a low volume EV 40th anniversary Acura PMC Legend in 26. And they can slot in a 3rd gen EV NSX and 4th gen RDX in those years too.

I'm more intrigued with what Acura is dreaming up now that the whole industry realizes USA is a long way away from charging infrastructure being anywhere near sufficient to sustain Acura as a planned all-EV brand. The Honda ECVT Hybrid is intriguing as it is basically the old Chevy Volt (gas-rechargeable electric motors) in disguise as a single transmission. If you combined a 1L VTEC engine and tuned the exhaust for the noise, put in in the Honda ECVT and the SHAWD rear-TMU from a Hybrid MDX, plus 50 mile range batteries from the Ohio plant, you would have a perfect Acura PHEV for the next ten years.

silverTL6

iTrader: (2)

The theory re: ZDX originally being the 4G RDX is an interesting one, since 2024 would've been the FMC year if the 3G RDX had stuck to their usual 5-year lifecycle (2019-2021, 2022-2023 MMC).

Makes me wonder though - if the GM partnership had remained long term, would it have kept the RDX name, and if so would the design have stayed the same? Almost none of its design elements harken back to the 1G ZDX, but the upright greenhouse, rear 3/4 view, and taillights do remind me of the 1G RDX.

That said, second MMC's have occurred for other models (e.g. ILX and 2G RL), and they were presumably all stopgaps due to the next gen's getting big but delayed changes (Integra, Sport Hybrid).

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

This is such a good post. +1!

Looking forward to their in-house EV options in the coming years.

carefulwish

Just nabbed mine on Sunday. It’s stunning to drive, albeit heavy… after testing so many EV’s, grateful I waited and looking forward to new in-house versions outside of GM production to trade up to 😂

kosulin

What really bothers me is that it is as long as MDX, but cargo space is equal to RDX.

sonyfever

The way I look at it is that except for Teslas, all the other two-row alternatives have smaller or less ideally shaped trunk. Some have frunks to compensate, but the frunks tend to be small. So the space inefficiency isn't as bad as it is in the non-Tesla world.

Of course, we know when the in-house EV drops, it will get much closer to Tesla in terms of packaging and weight efficiency. That is why if you care so much about engineering excellence, you either get a Tesla/Lucid, or lease anything else.

kosulin

LOL, tell Cybertruck owners about Tesla engineering excellence :-)
And let me repeat - a 2-row ZDX is as long as 3-row MDX but has the same cargo space as a 2-row RDX.
It may look "sporty", but definitely does not care about "utility".
Model X is even worse, of course, but this is why I am still waiting for electric Acura.

sonyfever

I can understand that you don't like Tesla. Maybe I should say clever engineering in the first place. I mean the superbeam and supermanifold are both innovative and extremely integrated.

But I don't understand why you say Model X is worse in utility. It has a big frunk as well as a huge trunk. The trunk is not MDX big, but definitely bigger than RDX. That is better than all EVs other than Kia EV9.

sonyfever

Ended up getting into a ZDX Type-S. There are so many things to cover, even though I am not Kyle, because this is such a different car compared to all Acuras before it.

Interior

Let's get the elephant out of the room - GM build and material quality.

I had to roll up my sleeves to fix a few noise issues, soon after leaving the dealership.

The driver-side A pillar was making a huge whistle noise. Thankfully the fix was trivial. I found that both the A pillar interior trim and the exterior black molding on the side of the windshield did not sit snugly. The whistle came from the latter. So much for proudly built by UAW. I should call UAW, and ask for a pay check for my two minutes of work doing their job.

Then, there was a clicking noise from the height adjuster of the driver-side seat belt. The source was obvious - the button moved around on loose pavement and resulted in plastic-to-plastic contact. A tape easily eliminated the noise.

Material-wise, there are definitely some lows:

• The interior plastic cladding surrounding the lower part of the windshield is incredibly cheap and flimsy.
• Pressing on the USB-port panel dents it.
• The ambient lighting inside the door handles does not shine pure white, but leaks out RGB color.
• And the instrument panel brightness adjusting wheel is unbelievably cheap. Feels like something out of a dollar-store toy.

The good news is that the list ends here, at least from the driver's perspective. Everything else is solid, even the keyfob. I thought it looked cheap, but seeing it and holding it in person, it is a quality one. However, the Acura logo cheap-looking, like something you would find on an inexpensive model car.

Some traditional Acura interior bits that I wish ZDX had are:

• Overhead sunglasses holder.
• Rubber mat or felt lining throughout storage.
• Deeper cup holder, as thin-and-tall water bottles tend to tilt.
• Textures on certain buttons, like HVAC fan speed and drive mode, would be really helpful in differentiating them from the sea of look-alike buttons nearby.
• A dedicated button for surround-view camera.
• Front-seat grab handles.

sonyfever

Charging

Ultium battery is known for slower charging speed, and for reasons unknown outside of GM, there tends to be variations across cars. So I was a bit unsure what chocolate I would get. So far it looks like a sweet one. My car charges smoothly, and can stay above 100kW well into the mid-high 70%. In general, the car can get to 80% in less than 30 mins, when starting from 25%-35%. Or put it in another way, the car can reliably add 50kW in 20-ish minutes when starting from 10-30% range. For me, if a car cannot have fast charging, then it must have consistent charging curve. My ZDX seems to check the box.

Speaking of charging, I cannot help comparing EVgo and Electrify America. I like EVgo more, because the experience is smoother. The autocharge+ on EVgo makes charging literally plug-n-charge, and Signet-branded charger initiate a session quickly. In contrast, EVgo Delta-branded charger and EA charger both takes a long time to set up a session, but once started, the charging performance is pretty much the same across the board. The problem with EVgo is that each site tends to have at most two 350kW stations in my area, and the stations are not always working even if the app says they are. So rolling into a EVgo station can be like rolling a dice.

I have tried 100kW charger on EVgo. On the Delta-branded charger, the max charge rate is only 70kW. So I skip 100kW whenever I can.

sonyfever

Infotainment/Tech

The infotainment is fine - I can tell GM put a lot of thoughts into it. I like the well laid out setting menu. It is easy to find/locate/understand all the settings, unlike iDrive. However, there are a few serious limitations. First of all, the built-in Google Map is trash when there is no internet connection. Android Auto is available, but somehow AA does not read EV info like battery status, and therefore cannot plan around the battery level. Then, the app availability on Play Store is disappointing. No video streaming apps, and rest of the catalog is simply lacking. Play Store also requires logging in to install apps. On the other hand, stability is good. The only hiccup I have experienced so far is on the surround view camera, where once or twice when I reversed quickly after powering on the car, it lost the surround view and only showed the rear camera view.

Speaking of camera, have I mentioned the view from the rear/surround camera is not only small, but the quality is not good in low-light conditions? Maybe not 19-21 RDX bad, but close enough. What's worse, the system only works below 8mph. Even a 10mph limit would make it so much more useable.

The rearview mirror camera takes some getting used to, as my eyes need to adjust the focus point quickly from far to near. But it can be quite useful not only when the rearview is blocked, but also at night because ZDX tailgate window seems darker than RDX/MDX.

Auto-park does a good job parallel parking when there are reference objects in both the front and rear. In fact, during the first couple days, I had to reference the auto-park to see how to maneuver the car into parking space quickly. The long wheelbase definitely makes parking ZDX like steering a boat. The auto-park system obviously has limitations, for example, I find the system does a significantly worse job when parking into a space with only a car in the front and no car behind the space.

Pens Fan

Congrats-what kind of discount did you negotiate with the dealer?(before the $7,500 Federal tax credit).

sonyfever

Thanks. I will let you do the math. The available discounts from Acura for qualifed states in July is $15165 including the EV credit. My lease is 12k/36m, standard AFS MF and residual at 0.0015/48%, upfront fees with several hundreds down to round up the number. Dealership took another thousand or two off the price. Effective monthly payment is around $780 pre-tax. Another dealership was ready to beat the price, but I chose not to wait.

mvl

Congrats on the zdx purchase. Adressing some of your points:
- google builtin has a background map dowload mode, maybe set that to autodownload so maps are less trash with no signal.
- acura dreamshops sells the cargo mats for the trunk if you want the rubberized storage.

With my wife requiring me to give up the MDX hybrid if I buy a ZDX, I dropped my ZDX ambiitions and am now researching into how hard unsupported comma.ai will be to get handsfree driving into the mdx.

And my new car ambitions have switched to the upcoming Integra coupe. Ikeda said he would have launched a coupe if the civic had a coupe platform. Now that Honda announced a civic coupe platform (EU Prelude), chances of an Integra coupe are high. Thats a car I'll give up my MDX for.

sonyfever

Indeed Google Map downloads offline map, at least after I logged in my account. Maybe the issue is on Google Assistant or other part of the OS, as the voice input becomes very bad when the infotainment is offline.

sonyfever

NVH

ZDX Type-S is clearly not the quietest EV. The car is quiet, but as speed ramps up, tire noise wanders into the background when there are no rattles, until wind noise from the A pillar/side mirror area takes over at highway speed. The tire noise does resonate a little towards the roof if I listen for it, so I can see why Kyle said the car was noisy at the upper cabin area.

The car also makes a few strange noises when it is off. For example, the braking system makes clicking noise every now and then, as if someone is pumping the brake pedal. The air suspension hisses from the rear-left trunk to release pressure when auto-leveling. Occasionally, there is a winding noise behind the center part of the firewall. The car loses a few refinement points due to these noises.

I feel GM/Acura went too cheap on the interior noise isolation, as there are too many places that can have plastic-to-plastic contact. For example, the latest rattle on my car comes from the infotainment housing rubbing against the bracket enclosure connecting to the dash. The noise only appears when the car sits under direct sunlight for prolonged period of time on a hot day, though.

On my car, I sometimes feel a slight vibration from the AC compressor. I was surprised at the first encounter, thinking there was an engine idling under the hood. The compressor supposedly sits on a hydraulic mount. There is a TSB for Lyriq on the compressor vibration, so hopefully a remedy is readily available.

Interior

The interior received a lot of criticisms, including from me. Living with the interior daily, I find the most disappointing piece is the trim piece that sits below windshield. It is made of hard plastic, creates a visual disconnection from the door panel, the alignment with the door panel is off, and lastly, the edge of the trim is uneven especially on the passenger side. Unfortunately, this trim sits in plain sight, so once I see the rough edge, I cannot unsee it. I hope production refinement addresses the uneven edge in the future.

On the other hand, the good thing about the utilitarian interior is that what you see is what you get. There is no BS like on Lyriq where everything looks good if you don't touch it. I am biased as an owner, so I feel ZDX interior is clean and refreshingly easy to use. The car really is a nice-looking interior away from being better appreciated.

mvl

On Android Auto, google assistant disables itself without signal. Seeing availability in offline mode (even with reduced functionality) on google builtin is a pleasant surprise.

You can probably print the tsb and go to the acura dealer with the AC vibration. Vibrations should be warranty covered even without a tsb, and the tsb can at least tell them what to do.

Also with misaligned trim pieces, my dealer has replaced/repaired them in the past under factory warranty. Trim/rattles are excluded in Acuracare extended warranty, so make sure you get them dealt with before factory warranty runs out.

sonyfever

Dynamics - Ride & Handling

ZDX Type-S rides extremely well for its price, MSRP or not, and drives pretty well if you know what you are getting into and don't have unrealistic expectations.

ZDX-S, and only the Type-S, has to be the Acura with the best ride quality ever. The ride quality is the key reason that I did not jump ship. In normal mode, the suspension is silky smooth (most of the time) and very comfortable, practically like a softer X7. The damping tuning is spot-on, and most movements are contained into one clean stroke. In sport mode, the suspension firms up just enough to tiptoe the comfort-sport boundary. The suspension tuning feels natural and slick, very well suited to the car. Compared to MDX Type-S, I feel MDX maybe tried a little too hard in making each mode distinctive, therefore comfort is too soft, normal can be a little rough, and sport is a bit harsh. MDX air suspension also does not feel as silky smooth as ZDX.

The adaptive damping control on ZDX-S seems more proactive or sophisticated than MDX. At very low speed, say <5mph, the damping is clearly soften. Anything above, the damping response is too consistent across a wide range of road conditions, that I feel the consistency has to come from dynamically adjusted damping.

Driving ZDX can be a blast. I assure you the elephant can dance, but there are a few caveats. First of all, at pedestrian speed, the car does feel big and boaty. Once speed picks up to above 30mph, the car shrinks. The front end of ZDX does not necessarily have a sharp bite, maybe partially because the Michelin Primacy tires are too civil, but with the regen-assisted weight shift, the front end can dive into a corner with confidence. It obviously does not have SH-AWD, but the stronger rear motor and the long wheelbase work together to create good yaw movement. Coupled with the 50:50 weight balance, the car behaves similar to X5 from mid corner onwards, with a more stable rear end. The reviewers are right - the driving dynamic is unlike any Acuras. It drives more like a heavier and more stable X5, or maybe a X7 with lower center of gravity.

Reviewers branded this similarity as… boring, or lack of personality. Steering feedback was also criticized. While I don't disagree with them on the steering feedback, I find with traction control turned off, ZDX-S becomes more lively. Disabling TC seems to reduce the damping on various controls, including the steering, instantly transferring more feedback. I really like driving ZDX-S in sport mode with TC off. In this configuration, the car somehow feels old-schooled in a good way. It gives me the feeling of freedom, a magic-carpet type of flow. I can tell the car is tuned by a small group of people who know and love driving.

Tony Pac

Congrats on your new purchase. Thanks for the detailed review!

sonyfever

Dynamics - Brakes

But beyond the suspension, the car has a smaller sweet spot than Tesla, mainly the powertrain and brakes are not as smooth.

Let's start with the brakes. It is blended by computer, and I feel the transition from regen to mechanical is not always smooth like on Tesla. This is especially noticeable when braking lightly initially. As the speed goes down slowly, regen starts reducing, and if suddenly I need to apply more braking, there is a tiny bit of delay for the mechanical brakes to kick in. Obviously, that is not a pleasant feeling.

When braking harder to a stop, but not emergency-type of braking, there can also be a faint clunking noise from the front axle at around 2mph.

I do not use one-pedal driving, but I do use regen-on-demand (the left pedal on the steering wheel). It was confusing at first, I thought the pedal would be pressure-sensitive like on Lyriq, but turned out on ZDX, it was an on/off switch. With the regen-on-demand pedal pulled, the car goes into one-pedal driving mode, and the braking is all of sudden modulated by the throttle. Honestly, I am not sure this is the best or safest implementation. Besides, the car always applies regen for the brake pedal, so I don't think the regen-on-demand really captures more energy than using the brake pedal.

Dynamics - Powertrain

The powertrain follows a similar story. It is reasonablt smooth, but far from Tesla's all-round smooth. The difference is mainly during the transition between releasing throttle and re-acceleration. If it is a quick transition, there can be a lugging sensation from the powertrain. Some Lyriq owners said it felt like a downshift. To me it feels like there is a clutch in the powertrain, and the clutch engages too slow while the motor is already making power.

sonyfever

Super Cruise

SC is undoubtedly good and the star of the show. It not only does highway cruising well, but also handle traffic jam with relative ease. I really enjoy outsourcing the boring stuffs to SC, and feel like I am cheating when SC is smooth sailing or following.

However, it is not as good as the reviews made me to believe. For example, it still does not react to a car changing into the current lane, and often responds by applying heavier braking when the car is halfway into the lane change. The self-initiated auto lane change is cool at first, but it does not take into account of approaching an exit ramp in the navigation route. Therefore, very often when driving in the exit lane, SC would execute auto lane change leaving the exit lane when the car in front slows down. This defeats the purpose of having auto lane change, so I only use on-demand auto lane change. On the other hand, SC sticks to the exit lane well without wavering towards ramps. It only asks for a takeover when it sees the upcoming ramp is the exit in the navigation route.

Also, be aware that the corning capability of SC can drop quickly when there is sunlight shining into the front view camera. But maybe that is unavoidable until lidar is widely available.

Rumor says navigation-aware SC is on its way, but judging by GM's terrible SW delivery, I think it will be a long wait.

More interior, charging, and thermal management

A friend who is loyal to BMW sat in my car, and quickly drew an analogy to
the interior of Ghibli. I have to say, he was right on the money.

For DC fast charging, I do notice the best ambient temperature is around 70F, and the upper limit for a smooth DCFC session is in the low 90F. Above 100F, even with preconditioning, the charging speed can drop significantly 15-20 minutes into the session. This type of drop is well documented on Lyriq forum, as well as noted in the MotorTrend first test. Let's hope GM can improve the temperature modeling and management in the future to improve the charging performance, similar to what Ford did to Mach-E.

I am a bit concerned about the cooling capacity of the car. The other day I drove a highway with a few climbs at ~95F going 70-80 mph, and at one point the car diverted a majority of cooling capacity to the powertrain, with the AC blowing warm air. This was not a deal breaker, as AC came back when I dialed down the temperature. But I feel this and DCFC on a hot day are good indications that the cooling system can be stressed on this platform, at this with the current thermal management.

sonyfever

Audio - the switch to B&O

After spending more time with the system, I can say the B&O probably has better measurements everywhere compared to ELS 3D. However, I am not sure I like the sound more. B&O is precise, clean, agile, without sounding analytical. But it somehow does not have the emotion/passion of ELS. The mid-to-low tone also sounds more hollow than ELS. I tried playing with the EQ, but could not find a good setting that balanced the mid-low and low tones.

By default, with BeoSonic EQ in neutral setting, the bass can be surprisingly strong for some pop music, while staying civil for others. This indicates to me that the bass can reach far lower frequencies than ELS 3D. The B&O is remarkably responsive - in particular, the bass speakers respond quickly to dynamic changes with little lag and distortion. The system shines more than ELS, the higher the source quality is. That tells me the system has wider frequency response and dynamic range than ELS, but maybe the DAC is not as good.

One major improvement over ELS is that front passenger now enjoys more balanced sound left-and-right. The driver-side still sounds a notch more cohesive than the passenger-side, though.

I feel ZDX interior is perhaps too big for the 18 speakers to fill and create a good sound stage. The sound comes only from the front, similar to ELS 3D.

As an illustration on what types of music the B&O plays well and not, Billie Eilish sounds really good and is a standout. Ed Sheeran is not as good but still decent, lacking the imaging of his vocals that is presented in ELS. Taylor Swift again sounds less in person than ELS.

Tony Pac

Wow! thank you for this amazing summary. I was waiting to hear it from someone who appreciate and knows music. If you can answer one last question: if you have ELS and B&O, both options available in ZDX. Which one would you pick if they were the same exact price? Thanks

sonyfever

It is a tough call, probably I would go ELS 3D because it sounds more musical to me.

Best yet, make ELS Signature or the B&O equivalent available in ZDX. I would happily pay up to $2k for it.

sonyfever

Efficiency & Range

I have zero expectation about its efficiency because of the weight. I checked all exterior panels, and all of them are steel. The body components in the engine bay are also mostly steel. One thing I don't understand is that many bolts throughout the car are oversized in length. I see a lot of wasted material/weight, but what do I know, there must be a reason for such arrangement.

On the other hand, GM claimed the front/rear drive units have efficiency up to 96%/97%, even though both use IGBT inverters instead of the fancier SiC ones. The numbers are competitive, so how does the real-world efficiency stack up?

Like most EVs, hwy efficiency is the focus. In 70-80mph range, I see around 2.5-2 miles/kW on flat ground. Getting behind a car, the numbers jump to 2.8-2.3. Slowing down to 65mph, the number can be close to 3 even without casual slipstreaming. City is fine, 3+ with flowing traffic is not difficult to achieve.

The computer regularly shows estimated range between 240-250 miles at 80%. But I do keep hwy speed in low-70 whenever I can.This is with hwy speed mostly in the low-70, or casual slipstreaming whenever I can. In that sense, I feel I have become Marc Marquez.

sonyfever

Sales

ZDX A-spec trims simply do not sell. Type-S buyers predominantly choose red or white interior, so there are quite a few Type-S with ebony interior on the market. However, A-spec situation should improve this month, as AWD lease is now down to < $600, with more discounts to come.

Using my number as a reference, BMW iX is easily within reach. I think the choice between the two follows the same story as MDX Type-S v.s. X5, that iX would be the better car for most buyers. However, ZDX Type-S once again gives Acura loyalists a choice to stay. From my conversation with salespeople, the first-wave Type-S buyers were indeed Acura loyalists.

Worth mentioning is that if you look from lease-to-buy perspective, ZDX Type-S may be a decent value proposition. With a $58k buyout price, I find the car pretty much sits in the RDX Type-S space. The hypothetical RDX Type-S probably handles better and with more feedback, but the power, ride quality, and refinement on ZDX Type-S easily blow RDX Type-S, even MDX Type-S, out of the water.

Pens Fan

Thank you for your comprehensive review of all aspects of the ZDX. It has been interesting to read all of your thoughts and experiences.

Both the ZDX and Prologue appear to be very slow out of the gate. Sales have been meager and as of July 1 the days supply of ZDX is 383 days and Prologue 284 days. Honda is notorious for maintaining higher interest rates in their lease offerings across their lineup until they sometimes have to face reality. With the declining demand currently for EV's in general and these two models, they have no choice but to put more money on the hood to move them, and/or cut production relatively soon. They may have locked themselves into a minimum level of production with GM and accordingly cannot dial that back. Time will tell.

If anyone is interested in obtaining one, I would wait awhile to see what they do. The deals can only get better or else the inventory will continue to build-not a situation any manufacturer can ignore for long.

mvl

The day supply is a bad number when it follows a launch month. "Inventory divided by daily sales" has a low denominator as it includes launch ramp-up.

I agree ZDX sales are low amid an environment of EV's are getting less and less demand overall. Prologue/ZDX manufacturing is targeting 3300 units per month steady state and sales are ramping at 100/700/1200 units so far in the first 3 months, so the question will be whether the ramp plateaus or not.

ESHBG

Acura undercuts Cadillac Lyriq, Chevy Blazer EV after slashing ZDX rates

https://electrek.co/2024/07/25/acura-undercuts-cadillac-lyriq-slashing-zdx-rates/

ELIN

Doesn't really help cash buyers or folks w/a trade-in that significantly reduces the amount financed!

Tony Pac

Acura and Lexus are not competitive when it comes to EV. They are pretty much in the same zone as Germans (at least in Canada). A friend got a Lexus RZ and pays over $1K per month. Since the car doesn't qualify for grants, dealers match that. I am sure ZDX will face the same. $100K is too much and Acura will have no choice but honor the grants from their pocket just like Lexus to convince buyers. Tesla is the way to go for Canadians. Model 3 and Y LR qualifies for grants and monthly payments are reasonable.

sonyfever

Rare favorable review
https://www.greencars.com/expert-ins...-zdx-road-test

billjay

That is why we leased our A-Spec RWD. Leasing-then-buying for us results in roughly an $11k savings over paying cash. (note we are not eligible for the $7,500 tax credit, but we also got other incentives for leasing). We intend to pay the residual in 3 years, unless we just no longer want it or the new stuff on the market is noticeably better at that time. Our residual is 50% of MSRP.