Test Drive with Nik Miles – 2022 Acura MDX Type S

Join Nik Miles as he goes over the ins and outs of the new 2022 Acura MDX Type S. Nik takes us on a test drive and tells us about all the newest upgrades, how the car feels while driving, and gives us an honest review of the vehicle.

After the video make sure to check out our amazing selection of Acura MDX Type S’ at our dealership in Portland.

https://www.acuraofportland.com/new-vehicles/mdx/

Hi, I’m Nik Miles and today we are at Dick Hannah’s Acura of Portland to look at the most powerful, the best performing, and the most luxurious Acura SUV ever built. This is the 2022 MDX Type S and it completes the trio of Type S Acuras. There is the NSX Type S, there is the TLX Type S, and now finally the MDX Type S. This is absolutely stunning.

We’re going to put it on the road, we’re going to test drive it, we’re going to take a look at the beautiful exterior design, and we’re actually going to look at some of the most beautiful interior designs that Acura ever put together including massaging seats. So, let’s get going.

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So, first of all, this has air suspension. Its ride and handling are super comfortable. At the same time, it’s highly precision driving. So, you get the best of both worlds. So, you don’t think that you can have a comfortable ride but then at the same time you get precision and really accurate driving at high speeds. And that is the beauty of this vehicle period. One thing that I absolutely love about the MDX Type S, you can do canyon carving, at the same time as really comfortable freeway driving. It has great acceleration, it has 355 horsepower out of that V6 twin-turbo engine, and the ability for it to raise and lower itself is second to none.

This is an absolutely beautiful drive and I’ll give you a little demo. That’s like 20 to 50 in just a matter of maybe 70 feet. It is brilliant. Probably the best Acura I have ever driven hands down. That’s the first thing, the second thing is technology, packed with technology. I have it in Sport Plus mode right now. I have a g-meter so I can see the g-force when I’m cornering. I have a 12.3-inch gauge cluster behind the steering wheel. I have a 12.3-inch infotainment screen.

I have my Acura NSX style drive mode so I can switch those with the button right here in the middle. I have my 10-speed transmission. I have high engineered chassis suspension. It’s race car engineering in an SUV. When I first drove this vehicle, it was in Napa, and I got to really drive it on windy roads around the vineyards and really could just let rip. It’s just, it’s like a crazy horse waiting to go wild and I’m just so impressed. At the same time, you have three rows of family SUV that you can use for your everyday errands, taking people to school, and going to work. It’s just an absolutely perfect SUV.

There are two things I should mention about safety features. Number one is that this has Honda’s ace body structure. And of course, Acura is part of Honda and that means that this is one of the safest vehicles on the road. Number two is they have a new front airbag here in this vehicle, and it’s a new design and it’s a three-piece airbag at the front. And they designed it like a catcher’s mitt and that’s pretty incredible because when it goes off it nestles you like a catcher. So, it makes it more comfortable for you if you have to be received by the airbag. And that’s something that the Acura and Honda team worked on intensively to make sure that everybody in this vehicle was safe.

And then let’s talk about the luxury aspect of this. Amazing colors on the interior, double stitching, leather everywhere, and soft-touch materials. The first Acura ever to have this beautiful massaging seat set up. My favorite? The shiatsu massage on the driver’s seat. That is perfectly relaxing.

And that doesn’t even touch things like the sound. The optional ESL 25-speaker sound system designed and tuned by Elliot Scheiner is flawless. Now let me tell you a little bit about Elliott. Elliott produced bands like Steely Dan and the Smashing Pumpkins. Elliot was in the studio to produce those bands and he heard them so he knows what the original sound sounded like, and he could reproduce that in the audio in this vehicle. So, the sound you hear inside this Acura MDX Type S is the exact same sound that Elliot recorded for those bands. The 25 speakers are just that invigorating, that absolutely amazing, inside this vehicle. It is stunning. The sound and the luxury inside this vehicle are stunning. You could read for hours about what Acura went through with this vehicle, what they did to make it sound good, what they did to make it highly comfortable, and what they did to make this the most luxurious, best performing, most powerful, and yet the most amazing Acura SUV ever. I have not found another Acura that I would put in my driveway than this, impressed. Can you tell?

Now, what sets the front of this Acura MDX Type S apart from any regular Acura MDX is definitely the fascia. Now it does have this very large black grille that is unique to the MDX Type S. It has MDX Type S badging and a large Acura symbol at the front. If you didn’t already know the Acura symbol is actually calipers which means precision in engineering. Now there is a lower front fascia here and that allows extra air into the engine. This V6 engine with its turbos needs lots of air for cooling. It’s the most powerful engine that Acura has ever made and that 355 horsepower needs to get air in there to keep it cool because you and I both know that you’re going to be driving this thing very fast if it has that much power.

Now nicely shaped and nicely molded the tiger eye is here at the front. This is a signature Acura lighting that they came up with. The LEDs run underneath that as well. Interestingly enough this is the launch color and it’s also called tiger eye from Acura, and it happens to be my favorite color in this vehicle. Around at the sides here, these are 21s, they are unique to the Type S in the MDX, and nice gloss black wheels.

The tires are very significant on this vehicle because they are a new kind of tire. If you get a puncture in this tire, it is self-sealing, a different kind of self-sealing that we have known to be on things like BMWs where they self-seal for around 50 miles and you have to keep your speed fairly low and then go and get them replaced immediately. These can actually self-seal and you can drive them normally up until your next service when they have to be replaced. So, they are true self-sealing tires once you get a puncture. And these are an absolute godsend if you should get a puncture perhaps on a road trip when you’re a long way from somewhere where you can get a repair.

Now there are some really nice high black gloss moldings around the wheel wells, and they are reflected here in the door seals at the bottom of the doors and the side of the doors. The beautiful body shape and the mirrors again in this high gloss black color really set the body shape off. Around the roof rack they have the same high gloss and of course around the mirrors and the doors as well. Now same body color on the door handles both front and back, and then this nice piece of shoulder work runs all the way back in the car past the back wheel wells to these lights which wrap all the way around until you get to the trunk.

Nicely shaped back end, true quad tailpipes, which are absolutely huge, nice black trim across the back. Now there are three ways to open the real tailgate, you can either use the button which is just underneath the Acura symbol, you can use the key fob, or you can use the kick. And that opens up the trunk to show you nice 16-cubic feet here in the back. If you will put the third row of seats down this will give you an extra space to open the back up to 39 cubic feet of space.

Now, this is the world’s best-selling three-row luxury SUV of all time. They have sold a ton of these vehicles; the Type S just adds an extra level to that. But MDX on its own is the world’s best-selling three-row SUV.

Now, let’s try that second row. Now it’s always a challenge for any child to get into the third row but Acura has this amazing tip and fold system, a single button on the side of the second-row seats, give it a push and there you go. Easy in for any kid to get into the third row.

So, this is a full luxury SUV, full panoramic sunroof with about 29 inches of legroom in the back here and the center seat folds down in this three-row seat at the back to give you two cup holders and some storage space. In front of me here is a power outlet with a 12-volt, an AC, a 115, plus two USB ports, and my own heating and air vent controls, plus heated seats here at the back. These are nice, quilted seats. That is comfort and style.

Now, if you want to put this MDX Type S in your driveway there are three ways to get hold of Dick Hannah’s Acura of Portland. You can pick up the phone, you can come visit them here in Portland, or you can search them on the web, and they’d be happy to let you test drive an MDX Type S.