I thought someone might be interested in my experiences in driving my ZDX in the mountains. We bought our Type S in late September, and a couple of weeks later had my first chance to just go for a fun drive. We went from Sacramento to Truckee, at the crest of the Sierra Nevada. Along I-80 this is about 100 miles, but I took a more scenic route through the Gold Country. Highway 49 is a mostly 2-lane road that runs roughly north-south for several hundred miles through the foothills, and bisects I-80 at Auburn, which is at 1200 feet. From there it goes to Grass Valley and Nevada City, close to 3000 feet. Then it dives down into the canyon of the South Fork of the Yuba river and up the other side, crosses a ridge, and does the same for the Middle Fork. It then follow the North fork eastward through Downieville and Sierra City, each much smaller than the last, finally crossing the Sierras at Yuba Pass, about 6600 feet. It then descends into the Sierra Valley, an elevated former lake bed, then makes a gentle return to Truckee from the North. This route is about 150 miles.

Since I had only had the car for a couple of weeks at this point, I wasn’t nearly as comfortable driving it as I am now, but still had a fine time on the road, enough so that while I was driving along the canyons my daughter asked me to slow down a bit. I won’t begin to claim that its handling is anything like our MDX, because of course it’s not, but the power and acceleration were miles better, to the point where I was rarely conscious of having to accelerate to go uphill. Just press down on the pedal another couple of millimeters, and the car just went. However, as I discovered, it did have a significant effect on my driving range.

Because I was still doing level 1 charging at that point, I was NOT fully charged. My best recollection is that I was about 80%, so about 240 miles of range. On this trip I didn’t get nearly that. I only really noticed a problem when I was east of Sierra City, heading towards the pass. My available range was just plummeting, dropping far faster than miles traveled. In a near panic, I turned off all HVAC, radio, etc, although whether that made a significant difference it was hard to tell. When we made it to the pass, there were fewer miles remaining than the distance to Truckee.

Let me just say that regenerative braking really works. As we went down the east side of the pass, my available range actually started climbing, as the car recovered energy. From the Sierra Valley to Truckee is mostly somewhat downhill, and during that stretch we were getting something like 5 miles of actual distance for every mile of estimated range. We finally made it to Truckee with about 15 miles of range showing, and recharged at an EA station there (my first time of using a public charger).

I take several lessons here. First, if you’re going to be driving uphill a lot, definitely charge to 100% first. Second, climbing almost 7000 feet in an area without any charging stations may not be the smartest idea. Third, if you’re going downhill after going uphill, you’ll regain a lot of the energy you lost.

 

I have driven 680, 80 to Reno many times with our Honda Pilot. We have family there and we like to ski. We haven't taken our Type S up there yet. I am a bit worried about it. And we have the performance tires which won't work well in snow. So your input is much appreciated.

 

Mind you, I deliberately chose to take a scenic drive off the beaten path, where no chargers were available after Grass Valley. I-80 has some type of charger available all the way to Truckee, and is 50 miles shorter from Sacramento. Of course, in ski season any chargers up there might be crowded.

 

Yes, really need to charge up into 90%+ there before the climb in winter. Also, dynamically adjust Super Cruise speed around your target speed. +5 downhill and -5 uphill helps significantly.

I wish Google map is more precise and takes slope into consideration. On one trip, the app said I would be -10% after the downhill stretch, and I arrived at an EA around the foot of the mountains with low 20% SOC.

I-80 has many DC chargers, almost every main joints have redundant options, mulunu you don't need to worry about charging at all. Just need to bring a NACS DC adapter to cover the EA/EVgo voids. You will love driving your Type-S on I-80, snow or shine!

 

Everyone thinks I am going fast over the hill with our former Honda Pilot. Watch me coming with that ZDX... Despite the charging, I am actually looking forward to drive it up to Reno and Lake Tahoe.

 

I've done a similar drive around Lake Tahoe, Reno, Truckee, and Susanville area several times (lived there +4 years). I have a 19 MDX Sport Hybrid with a Power Distribution Monitor display. It shows tq vectoring, regen braking, v-6 power, and battery charge all working together sending/capturing power depending on steering angle, throttle position, mph, and braking. Does the ZDX have something similar showing tq and regen braking power distribution? Can the ZDX drive in 1wd, 2wd, 3wd, and/or 4wd modes with tq vectoring+regen braking at the same time like the Sport Hybrid? Thinking about replacing the spouses 18 RLX Sport Hybrid in a few years with a ZDX or 5th Gen MDX.

Sample of MDX Sport Hybrid Power Distribution Monitor sharing the upper Navi screen. In 1wd rear drive in electric mode entering a hwy on ramp:

 

To the best of my knowledge, torque vectoring and putting power into less than all 4 wheels are intimately tied to SH-AWD, which the ZDX does not have. I certainly have not found any equivalent ZDX screen. One of the default instrument panel screens shows the current battery percentage, whether you’re charging or discharging (and how rapidly), and what your current kWh rate is, but those all relate to the car as a whole, and nothing is ever expresses on a per wheel basis.

The differences between a ZDX and MDX (mine is a 2013 Advance) are stark. The MDX can’t begin to match the ZDX’s power, and the ZDX can’t begin to match the MDX’s handling. I would really love it if one of the first “native” BEV Acuras out of the gate was an MDX, combining the best of both worlds.

 

Seems like I'm gonna have to wait for the next Gen ZDX to see if Acura adds more capabilities like sh-awd. I was really hoping this Gen ZDX could do tq vectoring sh-awd like the mechanical and Sport Hybrid electric versions.

 

I haven't driven an MDX much and I haven't driven the ZDX in snow or even on wet roads. However, the ZDX Type S (and I think Type A AWD) has two motors so it can control the front and back axle independently. It's my understanding that it also can control power to each wheel similar to SH-AWD. I could be wrong about this. In any case, the ZDS drives rather well for an SUV. I can get our Infinity G37S rear-wheel (not AWD) drive to easily spin out even on dry roads despite "just" having 330HP and not having the torque of the ZDX. The ZDX behaves a lot better. For an SUV, it actually also feels quite "planted" (unlike our past Pilot and even the MDX). I expect it to do just as good when cornering on wet roads. But I would like to hear from people who have both an MDX and ZDX.

 

I am not the person to talk about what’s happening in the drivetrain of the ZDX, because I am ignorant. However, I do have both an MDX and a ZDX (Type S). I am also a past owner of an ‘97 Integra GS-R, not to mention (way back in the day) and MG B.

When we first got the MDX, and took it on road trips, my capsule description was that it drove like a 2-ton sports car. Which is to say that its steering was (and is) incredibly light and responsive, and seemed to anticipate turns, always putting the car right where I expected it to go. In many respects, it handled like the old MG, although it was far heavier, so you can only take the comparison so far. It also had what, at the time, seemed like a lot of power.

The ZDX is … different. Driving on surface streets, its handling is very nice, light and responsive, although still not excellent. After turning a corner I frequently find myself having to correct from a bit of over- or understeer. This is nothing serious, and is quickly and easily done, but it is unquestionably there. As speed increases, though, steering gets stiffer and heavier. How much of that reflects its 3-ton weight, and how much the steering design, I can’t say. However, when taking curves at freeway speeds I have to use considerably more force to turn the wheel than I expect. Again, this is not difficult, but it is not what I (or many other people) expect from an Acura.

The flip side of this, though, is the acceleration, which is insanely powerful. While I have no interest in ever testing its 0-60 performance or its top speed, the ease of accelerating to freeway speeds, passing, or zipping into that hole in traffic, cannot be overstated. This car is bloody marvelous. They’ve engineered the power curve so that it doesn’t encourage jackrabbit starts, but frankly, that agrees with how I prefer to drive. Once you are in motion, this car MOVES.

I also truly love the 1-pedal driving. I had never experienced this before my test drive, and found myself liking it almost immediately. This has only grown over time. Although I no longer do a daily commute, every time I drive my ZDX in that kind of traffic, I find it vastly easier than switching back between the accelerator and brake. The Acura engineers have balanced the transition between accelerating and braking perfectly, at least at the “normal” setting. (TBH I have not tried the higher amount of braking yet, because the normal setting just feels right.)

Let me contrast this with my old Integra, a very different type of car. Perhaps the best day of driving I ever had was a side trip from I-5 in Washington up to the observation station at Mount St. Helens. This was on a week day, so there was almost no traffic, and with its easy shifting and high-revving VTECH engine the Integra just ate up the curves. But a few years later I was ready to sell it, because the vast majority of driving I was doing was stop-and-go commuting, and my calves constantly ached from holding down the clutch and switching back and forth between the other pedals. With 1-pedal driving there is none of that; you just press down or let up slightly on the accelerator, and the car speeds up or slows down immediately. Unlike the steering, this is perfectly balanced and intuitive.

Let me also mention in passing my 2005 Accord Hybrid, which I traded in to get the ZDX. This was not a popular car, and did not sell well, but when it came out Consumer Reports considered it the best car American Honda had released up to that point, and it was definitely one of the best cars I ever owned. It had a V6 engine with a small electric motor slapped on the end, which certainly could not move the car by itself, but did give a modest boost when accelerating. As a result it did not get the 40+ MPG that people were expecting from a hybrid, and after just a few years Honda pulled the plug, coming back with a very different design a few years later. For me, though, it was a V6 Accord with the gas mileage of a 4-cylinder model, which seemed like a great trade-off to me.

In many ways, I think the new ZDX is like that Accord Hybrid: an excellent car in many ways, but not what people expected. The steering is just fine; it’s just not Acura steering. The acceleration, I gather, is not up to a Tesla’s “ludicrous mode”, but frankly it’s infinitely more power than anybody actually needs. It’s amazingly quiet (particularly for a Honda/Acura product), the sound system is wonderful, the seats are amazingly comfortable, the Hands-Free Cruise is wonderful under the right circumstances (and totally useless in others). Because I spend most of my time doing city driving, and occasionally long freeway driving, the ZDX works really well for me. If I spent most of my time driving twisting mountain roads, I might have a different opinion. YMMV.

 

@gordonblu is your name a hint at gordon bleu? Me and my son LOVE gordon bleu.

Thank you very much for the detailed report. It actually makes a lot of sense.

I get your point. I can't speak much for the MDX but I still love the G37S. It's very different to drive than the ZDX. After all the G37S is a sedan rather than an SUV. And I like the G37S despite the slipping, lag, etc.

Now with the ZDX you hit the pedal at 30mph or any speed and it takes off as you revved it. The ZDX doesn't feel quite as good as the G37S but it is still darn good. I drove a bunch of SUVs and a Tesla. I would choose the ZDX anytime... Only disadvantage is that it hasn't 3 rows but a lot of room in the back and now I have an excuse to not take more than 5 people on a 5 to 7 hour trip...