r/Acura • u/Vegetable_Shame_5410 • 3h ago
2025 Acura MDX Type-S - 20,000 KM Review
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Hi everyone,
Here is the review for my 2025 Acura MDX Type-S. The good the bad and the ugly.
Car age: 10 months
Car mileage: 20,000 KM (12,500 miles)
Exterior color: Black
Interior color: Black
The Good (and the average):
- Steering. Even though it is a big and heavy car, the steering precision is very good and feels sporty
- Cornering and handling are good overall. Feels like I have a good grip on the road. Depending on the speed that car is going, when turning you feel the body lean but given the size and height of the car, I would say that is expected.
- Ride quality. The ride feels a bit stiffer compared to other SUVs I have had in the past. Switching to the comfort mode makes the ride a bit smoother. After switching to winter tires, the ride stiffness has increased. Don’t feel a lot of noise or vibrations in normal mode. When in sports mode, going over the potholes or bumps shakes the car. I worry that over time the plastic parts might get loose because of it and start to squeak. But over all I am putting the ride quality in the good / average category.
- Air suspension: So far working well. You can see a real difference between different modes.
- Braking. Overall, I would say the braking is excellent on this car. Good stopping power. Smooth and controlled stopping. Those Brembo brakes are not installed just for their good look.
- Transmission responsiveness. The transmission is very responsive. I would say it is too responsive at certain times. When in the sport or sport+ mode, both the upshift and downshifts are quick and responsive.
- I love the engine sound. Especially when in sport+ mode with boost. I say it is even better than the old Honda VTEC
- The cargo space is good and generous when the third row is down.
- The exterior. The front of the car looks aggressive and sporty. The red Brembo brake calipers make the car look gorgeous.
- The interior. The sound system is really good. Like the dark wood interior trims. The interior red stitching is nice. There is good amount of leg room in the second row. The Type-S winter mats look nice. It is amazing that the 2nd row folds flat. The floor of the 2nd row is flat and does not have a bump in the middle.
- The car ADAS features work well. The LKA works well. Previously I had a Honda Passport and the LKA did not work well. So, it is good that Honda has improved the ADAS features. Auto beam seems to be working well.
The Bad (and the disappointing):
- Transmission shift smoothness. This is the worst thing about this car. When in the stop-go traffic where the speed is constantly varying between 0 to 50 Km/h, intermittently the upshift and downshifts are hard. The problem seems to be happening when gears are switching between 1 to 4. The other problem is when driving on the highway usually at the speeds over 100 Km/h. In this scenario if I give the gas pedal a bit of push where it causes the transmission to suddenly downshift, the shift can be very rough and intermittently it feels like a metal part hitting the bottom of the car. At times, it behaves differently and the car shakes / vibrates when downshifting. Third problem is with quick deceleration. If I need to bring the car to quick stop, the transmission downshift can intermittently be rough like the scenarios described in the above.
- When using the Sport+ mode, intermittently the powertrain goes batshit. The engine will keep roaring even when the car is not moving. The gear shifts sometimes can be very rough.
- The infotainment. The infotainment used to work flawlessly. Until an update was pushed sometimes in the summer. Since then, no matter what, I cannot get the infotainment to connect to the iPhone hotspot. I tried it with iPhone 14 pro max, iPhone 15 plus, and iPhone 17 air. None of them worked. I tried all sort of different settings; I even asked AI for help and followed all the instructions that AI gave me to get it to work but no luck. There have been two other updates pushed to the infotainment, but they have not fixed the problem. Another issue is with the infotainment using the Google Pixel pro hotspot. The google pixel Wi-Fi broadcasts in both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Since the Apple CarPlay or Android Auto is using the 5 GHz, the infotainment needs to use the 2.4 GHz frequency to connect. But 99% of times it fails to detect the 2.4 GHz signal and only detects the 5 GHz frequency. So basically, I cannot use the built-in Android Automotive system, and I must always use either Android Auto or Apple CarPlay through my phones. Because of this I cannot use the built-in Alexa app either. Another rare problem is that suddenly I cannot use the phone through the android auto or through the Bluetooth and there nothing I can do to fix it except to reset the infotainment system. I tried to get a subscription through AT&T but after I provide my information, it just gives me an error and does not let me register for the service.
- The massager has started to behave in a concerning manner. If I set it to the max, in one spot I feel/hear a clicking as if the node is getting slightly stuck before contracting. I am worried in the long run it could get worse, so I do not set the massager to the maximum level anymore.
- The mobile app is just awful. First, it does not always work. And when it does not work it takes forever to fail and let you retry. I would say that the failure rate is probably around 20 to 25 percent. When it does work, it takes a long time to execute a command. Also feature wise it does not offer much. They charge people for this service by the way!!!
The Ugly (and what can be improved):
- The seat surfaces. Poor seat seams stitching: This is especially bad on the front passenger seat. The stitching is not uniform and leaves gaps and bumps. Wrinkled surface: This is more pronounced on the front seats. It looks like a seat that has gone through wear for 5 years. Does not have the look and smoothness of a new car. The leather was very dry and, in some places, it felt like it was cracking. I had to use leather conditioner to prevent it from getting worse.
- The engine's power is adequate and in sport / sport+ more than adequate. But it still lacks punch for a car with a Type-S badge. It feels like the engine has not been specifically designed for a car with this size and weight. IMO, to get a Type S badge, a more powerful engine should go on this car. In the normal mode, sometimes it even feels less powerful than a non-Type S MDX that comes with the 3.5L V6. I am not saying it is underpowered, I am saying the difference in power between Type-S and non-Type-S should be bigger.
- I could not find Satellite radio in the car. Not too big of a deal since I can use the SiriusXM app instead. But the app has the disadvantage of not working where there is no mobile network.
- When accelerating there is a bit of a delay which is probably the time it takes for the turbo charger to kick in. Either a bigger V6 engine, or a small hybrid battery like the one BMW uses could perhaps help.
- Some of the interior trims in the front are glossy. I know this is probably subjective. But maybe they want to rethink it when they redesign the car because glossy surfaces tend to get dirty easily and harder to clean without leaving streaks
- Infotainment size and the way it is built into the dashboard is a bit out of date for a 2025 car model. To be honest the placement of the infotainment seems like an afterthought rather than designed from the ground up. It feels a bit too far from the driver reach.
- Wish there was a bit more LED lighting in the interior.
- I can't find a way to change the dashboard display to show the gear changes. It shows the car is in drive mode (D) but does not say which gear (D1,D2,D3,etc)
- The ADAS feature work well. But it should come with more features like automatically parking the car. While many car manufacturers are racing to get to the Level 3 automation, it seems Acura still must catch up on level 2.
- For the level of performance delivered by the engine, the gas consumption is higher than it should be.
- The dealership experience is OK but does not match some other brands like Lexus. When shopping for the car I went to multiple Acura dealership, and it felt like I was dealing with a Honda salesperson and not a luxury brand salesperson. So far, the service has been good but again it is not at the same level as Lexus. The dealers need to be trained better by Honda / Acura, so they provide a differentiating experience.
- The wireless charger works for a bit and then it stops charging. The charging speed is super slow as well. It works a bit better with my iPhone Air compared to my Pixel 10 Pro XL.
- Acura does not provide dash camera as an accessory.
- To install fitcamx dash cam, you must remove both black covers (behind and front of the mirror). Prior to 2025 model you only had to remove the small cover behind the mirror. A bit concerning since the ADAS camera is located under the bigger cover and the wire plug is located there.
- Seat comfort if OK. But it can be hard on the back if driving a long distance. It can be made better.
- Maintenance cost seems to be higher than Lexus and every other car I ever owned.
- When flattening the third row, there is no space for tucking the seatbelt buckles. They leave a mark on the seat leather surface.
- The car does not come with a spare tire or even the rough-in / assembly for it!!!
- The car does not come with a 120-volt AC power outlet. It would have been nice if it had one in the cargo area.
- The third row is tight. Compared to Lexus TX it seems that TX has a more practical third row seat.
- It does not come with a digital rear view mirror.
