Acura Refines MDX for 2025 Model Year

by Matthew Guy

Published: May 28th, 2024

Despite a few styling tweaks and some tech upgrades for 2025, the three-row Acura MDX continues to hover around the $50,000 price point.

There are a few styling enhancements for this model year, including a reimagining of the MDX’s front fascia where eagle-eyed spotters will find redesigned grille mesh and a sharper overall appearance. The jaunty A-Spec trim gets a more aggro nose shared with the Type S, though only the latter gets the 355-horsepower turbocharged V6 engine. And, yes – you can still get the tremendous color combination of Apex Blue paint paired with a bright red leather interior.

Speaking of the cabin, the crew at Acura has decided to rethink the infotainment controls, ditching the oddball touchpad which was actually split into two sections in some iterations. The concept with that device was that haptic bumps would be felt when users encountered a selectable area of the screen, with some items in the corresponding corners eventually becoming part of no-look muscle memory. The bottom left might always have been the stereo, for example. But the concept never really took off, so every 2025 MDX will now be fitted with a 12.3-inch touchscreen interface featuring Google built-in and wireless smartphone mirroring. Eliminating the pad should also free up space in the center console and improve access to the wireless charger.

Acura is not alone in this change; witness Lexus walking away from their mouse-type controller in favor of touchscreens. Sometimes, customers just want what they want (as they should) which, in this case, are touchscreen controls for these types of things. That being said, there are also wide swaths of us who’d rather have no screens at all and see a return to jumbo dials for radio and ventilation. Think we can influence a return of those? No, nor do I.

Pricing sticks right around $50,000 for an entry-level trim with front-wheel drive, an acceptable hike of just $750 considering the improved infotainment technologies. The destination and handling charge is held at $1,350 as well, so it’s not like Acura is trying to sneak in a pricing jump on that end of the balance sheet.

The 2025 Acura MDX is being made available as you read this.

[Images: Acura]

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#Acura #MDX #2025 #AllWheelDrive

Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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2 of 7 comments

ToolGuy on May 28, 2024

The old 'pricing jump on the balance sheet' trick... 😉

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Joe65688619 on May 29, 2024

Looks like they at least have the same button controls for HVAC and radio as my RDX. Glad to see the've done away with the touchpad. But it's hard to see how the MDX will successfully compete with the Grand Highlander (or the ZDX vs. the Lyric, for that matter, even though they share the drivetrain.) The RDX/ZDX/MDX look too much alike - maybe Mazda can get away with the 50/70/90, but when I drive by an Acura dealership I see too many vehicles that look pretty much the same (and pretty much the same as they have for close to a decade now).

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