2011 Acura Mdx Base Sport Utility 4-door 3.7l on 2040-cars

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2019 Acura RDX crossover gets turbocharged power, A-Spec version

NEW YORK — Calling the RDX that Acura showed at this year's Detroit Auto Show a "concept" was stretching that term to the limits of credulity. The production version of the 2019 RDX is here, and this turbocharged crossover with available AWD looks darn near identical. While it offers all-wheel drive like its Lexus NX and Audi Q3 competitors, Acura's next-generation SH-AWD should be a serious selling point. Let's cover that "Super Handling All-Wheel Drive" system for a moment. It takes power from the 2.0-liter, 272 horsepower and 280 pound-feet of torque engine and routes it up to 70 percent rearward, and there's real torque vectoring (rather than brake-based faux vectoring) to shift 100 percent of that rear axle power to either wheel. The broad strokes are similar to the outgoing model's system, but there's much more available rear power bias — in the 2016 model, up to 40 percent could be sent to the rear. And that was up from 25 percent for pre-2016 models. The takeaway is that the RDX should handle a lot better on both dry and slippery pavement, and feel a bit sportier doing it. A new engine may help as well. The outgoing 3.5-liter V6 is replaced by a turbocharged four-cylinder, almost certainly related to the unit in the Accord and Civic Type R, and tuned somewhere in between those cars (252 and 306 horsepower, respectively). We expect the new engine to be lighter than the old V6, and less weight off the front end should improve steering feel and handling. For those keeping track, the new engine is down 7 horsepower but up 28 pound-feet in torque, and thanks to turbocharging the torque band starts down low and is relatively flat, so more oomph from a stop and on through the rev range. The six-speed automatic is gone, replaced by a 10-speed automatic. Most of its competitors use six- or eight-speed units, so that'll be a marketing focus. As you'd expect, the individual ratios are closer-spaced but the total ratio spread is, according to Acura, 62 percent wider than the outgoing automatic. There are steering-wheel-mounted paddles if you'd like to shift yourself. Since the styling is very much a lightly retouched Prototype RDX from the Detroit show, it's nice to be able to give a sense of the new car's proportions with hard numbers. First of all, it's riding on a 2.6-inch longer wheelbase. Overall length is 187 inches, up from 184.4, and width is unspecified.

Acura previews Daytona prototype racer

The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will get yet another competitor in the Daytona Prototype class. Acura and Team Penske will enter the series in January at the Rolex 24 at Daytona with its own car called the ARX-05. The name stands for Acura Racing Experimental, which we know means it should be called ARE, but let's be honest, "X" is a way cooler letter. The car's full reveal comes on Aug. 18, but the company released a teaser image, as well as a video, seen below, that talks about the car. The video actually reveals quite a bit of the car. It is covered in camouflage, but just the black-and-white vinyl wrap kind. It's also in bright daylight. Possibly the most distinctive part of the car's design is the wing shape that stretches across the top of the nose. It also has very aggressive-looking canards on the front corners. It doesn't look nearly as beautiful as the Mazda car, but if it's effective, who cares? The video also reveals that the engine in the ARX is based on the V6 from the TLX and MDX. When the car enters the IMSA series in January, it will be competing against Cadillac, Mazda, Nissan, and race car builders such as Oreca and Dallara. Acura will be the second company to use a V6 in the series after Nissan. Mazda uses a turbocharged four-cylinder, and Cadillac and the race car builders use V8s. Related Video: News Source: Acura, IMSA Acura Coupe Racing Vehicles

Junkyard Gem: 2001 Acura MDX

The point of the Junkyard Gems series is to share automotive history, and the period of the middle 1990s through early 2000s is a very interesting one for U.S.-market new vehicles. The SUV revolution went into high gear with the introduction of the 1991 Ford Explorer and 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and sales of sedans, hatchbacks, and minivans began their steady decline. The Detroit companies were in good shape to cash in on the commuter-truck craze, with plenty of additional models ready for a quick slathering of luxury features. Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Isuzu were ready as well … but Honda was completely unprepared for the Next Big Thing at that point. With American sales absolutely critical to Honda (which has never held much market share for four-wheeled vehicles in its home country), a deal was made to rebadge the Isuzu Trooper as the Acura SLX and the Isuzu Rodeo as the Honda Passport while an all-Honda big SUV could be developed. That SUV was the Acura MDX, which debuted for the 2001 model year. Here's one of those first-year MDXs, a huge turning point in Honda history, found in a Denver-area self-service boneyard recently. Oh, sure, Honda began selling the CR-V over here in 1997 and so wasn't completely out of the SUV game during the 1990s, but that little Civic-based machine was never going to lure away many Explorer or even Montero shoppers. The MDX was a proper three-row crossover SUV, despite being based on the same platform as the not-so-imposing Accord, and a Honda-badged version (the Pilot) followed two years later. Here's that third row, which looks quite cramped, but so what? MDX sales started out respectable and stayed that way. Every 2001-2013 MDX ever sold here came with a VTEC-equipped V6, automatic transmission, and all-wheel-drive (some later MDXs could be bought with front-wheel-drive). This engine is a 3.5-liter DOHC plant rated at 240 horsepower and 245 pound-feet, decent enough for a truck that tipped the scales at well beyond two tons. The MSRP on this truck was $34,370, which amounts to around $58,260 in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars. The base '01 Ford Explorer started at just $25,210, but the swankified Eddie Bauer Edition was better-suited to the Acura-shopper demographic and listed at $32,025. You could buy a new Montero XLS and do some serious off-roading for $31,397 that year, but it had warlord-grade ride to go with its warlord-grade abilities in the bundoks.