Acura combines comfort, roominess, power, and style in the Acura MDX 2022
If you are looking for vehicle that accommodates your whole crew in style, or need that extra cargo space, but don’t want to give up power, the Acura MDX is fully loaded and ready to be your ride. We tested this three-row, luxury vehicle out on a trip out to White Rock and around the city this spring and were impressed with the updates on this quality SUV.
The new Acura MDX now has a ten-speed transmission with paddle shifters, as opposed to the previous nine-speed, with a 290 horsepower 3.5-liter V-6 engine, and front-wheel and optional all-wheel drive. This is a perky accelerator, despite its size, and comes with all the safety features we’ve become accustomed to, and a few more. The anti-locking brakes, collision mitigation braking and pedestrian detection, forward collision and lane departure warning, hill start assist and road departure mitigation, take some of the stress of road tripping away. There’s also driver’s and passenger’s side knee airbags, dual-stage front airbags, side curtain airbags and blind spot and lane keeping assist and a rear cross traffic monitor.
This is a handsome automobile, with jewel eye headlights, daytime running lights, and conveniences such as the panoramic moonroof, power tailgate and rain sensing windshield shippers. The interior is slick with 12-way power adjustable driver’s and front passenger’s seats and both heated and ventilated front and second row seats. It feels like you’re piloting a spaceship! There are front and rear parking sensors, surround view camera, walk away door locks and wireless smartphone charging just in case you forget your USB cable. The MDX also reminds you if you’ve left something in the rear seats, and the 12.3 HD colour centre display is large enough to glance at safely when using the navigation or the stellar audio system that includes a subwoofer and sixteen speakers. Turn up the Lady Gaga and have a dance party while you travel.
As we were still in lockdown, we couldn’t go far, but we did manage to stop at Country Vines Winery in Richmond and spend the night in White Rock with some dreamy beach walks, dinner at FIVE and tacos the following day at Zapoteca.
First stop was the charming Country Vines Winery, where we visited with some friendly creatures and sampled a selection of the wines. We recently had their Reserve Chardonnay at a friend’s birthday dinner, it has bright citrus notes, with some ripe pineapple, apple, vanilla, and butter, great with a BBQ’d chicken.
Their grapes are sourced from the Okanagan and grown locally in Richmond, this rose, made by Zoey Jones who you might find in the tasting room on the weekends if you are lucky, as she’s a delight. This wine was a fresh and fruity number with strawberry aromas and flavours and an off-dry palate, making it a nice sipper on a hot day.
Take some time to wander the yard and say hello to their farm animals, who were rushing in for a feed when I came upon them.
Country Vines Winery has pizza and charcuterie and cheese plates on their deck this summer, so we’ll have to revisit!
Onto White Rock for the night to catch up with my good friend Barb, to talk wine (she’s the Good Wine Gal after all) and wander the shores, of course we grabbed a couple of meals out as well.
Dinner was at Five on the boardwalk, the calamari was particularly good, and we couldn’t resist the scallops bathed in a silky, creamy sauce with a nice selection of roasted vegetables. The next day for brunch we grabbed some prawn and fish tacos and we caught some of the kites surfing along the oceans edge. Too cold for a swim, but perhaps we’ll jump in this summer. Hoping the Acura MDX will be available for another drive.
