The Acura MDX Didn't Need a Type S Version, But It Works (2024)

The first thing you need to know about the 2022 Acura MDX Type S is that it isn't chasing any German rocketships. The Mercedes-AMG GLE 63, the BMW X5 M, and the Audi SQ7 aren't its target. Neither are the GLE 53 or the X5 M50i. The Type S, Acura claims, is aimed squarely at the six-cylinder Audi Q7 and BMW X5. In that company, it's a success.

Acura has never had an interest in chasing the fastest version of its German competitors. That game just doesn't make sense for what the company is. Despite its self-proclaimed focus on "precision-crafted performance," Acura is and always has been a company that prioritizes practicality and accessibility more than most premium automakers. It means they can undercut the competition with cars fit for everyday life, something that has allowed the MDX to become the best-selling three-row luxury vehicle ever. It's one of the top five best-selling luxury vehicles on sale, despite receiving about 1/10th the attention of other cars on that list.

But the very reasons it's a hit make it a tough platform on which to base a performance vehicle. To ensure maximum space, its big V-6 is mounted far forward and—in base condition—drives the front wheels only. There's a ton of leather, length, and weight. And the nameplate is known for comfort, which limits how much you can get back merely by stiffening things up.

Acura decided to try anyway. The company is serious about bringing back the Type S badge and so, it thinks, it needs to make a Type S version of its flagship and best-seller. I'd argue that a performance sub-brand can exist without a three-row SUV in its ranks, but I've seen enough GLE 53s on the road to know that performance-ish crossovers are a profitable and growing segment. Acura wants in.

To make it work, the company dropped in a turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 making 355 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque. Super-handling all-wheel drive (SH-AWD) is standard, allowing up to 70 percent of that torque to go to the rear wheels and all of the rear-axle torque to be vectored to either rear wheel. Acura's 10-speed automatic handles the shifting.

All of that ensures pretty quick straight-line performance, but the MDX suspension also had to be redone to cope with the pace. The Type S gets adjustable dampers and Acura's first air suspension, allowing for a noticeable change of character from comfort mode to sport+. Up front you get 14.3-inch four-piston Brembo brakes in red, but at the rear the calipers are no-name units merely painted red to match. Control for those brakes is handled through a brake-by-wire system similar to the one on the NSX.

Besides the red brakes, you'll also spot a Type S by the black exterior trim, unique 21-inch wheels in either black or gray, and the slightly revised front end that allows for 10 percent more airflow and the fitting of two sub-radiators for additional cooling. Inside you get a Type S steering wheel, contrast stitching, and metal pedals. A blue interior is available for Type S's with the Advance Package, which also includes massaging front seats and the ELS Studio 3D Signature Edition audio system. That's a notable edition, because the 25-speaker system is to my ear quite clearly the best sound system you can get in any car for under six figures. Even the regular Type S stereo outdoes a Mercedes S-Class, impressive considering it goes for $67,745 and the loaded Advance version tops out at $73,095.

It feels expensive on the road. Despite the stiffer struts and shocks, the Type S retains almost all of the MDX's signature ride comfort. It's particularly impressive at soaking up large bumps, but even over high-frequency small bumps the MDX retains it composure. Engine and wind noise are effectively eliminated, you just get a bit of road noise at speed. There's tons of space to stretch out and cubby holes to store everything you need for a family road trip, which is sort of the whole point of the MDX. A world-class stereo makes passing time even easier.

Frankly it's easy to forget you're even in the sporty version. Little is lost in the translation, with the more potent powertrain making the MDX even more effortless to drive down a rural highway. Precise if uncommunicative steering helps, too. I'd be perfectly happy to own this car and never drive it hard.

That's not what I'm here to do, though. The technical, winding backroads of the Napa Valley provide the excuse to see what the Type S really means. So I stab the throttle and, perhaps unsurprisingly, wait a bit. The 10-speed automatic is quick to execute shifts but, even in sport mode, slow to decide on them. A stab at the throttle leads to a brief hesitation as it decides where you need to be and the, snap, it drops down two gears. That hint of delay would be less noticeable if it weren't for the single dual-scroll turbocharger, which is easy to catch off guard.

Once I'm on it and clearly driving hard, the MDX catches up. It's plenty quick—no one needs 600 hp in an SUV this quick—and the engine has enough top-end that it's enjoyable to wind out. As a whole the powertrain is not as smooth or intelligent as that of an X5 40i, but it feels a bit more interesting. After all, that X5 is the base model. The Type S is the one with a sense of humor.

You need that to huck a 4770-lb three-row into a corner like you mean it. But the MDX complies. The brake pedal is firm and linear, the kind you'd never know was by-wire unless told. It loads up the front with even more weight than it normally carries and yet the MDX copes. Turn-in is responsive if not quite as eager as the proper rear-drivers in the class, with sharp enough steering to keep you confident. It takes a moment for the body to roll around and then settle, but once it does you can get back on that throttle early. SH-AWD will shuffle power to the outside rear and propel you out with charming intensity.

What it can't do is rewrite Newton's first law. Get the better part of 5000 lbs moving in any direction and it'll be hard to quickly reroute it somewhere else. The MDX can easily overwhelm its anti-roll bars, leading to body motions that overburden the outside wheels' Continental CrossContact all-season tires. At that point, all the all-wheel-drive cleverness in the world isn't going to make things feel graceful. Bumps can also easily upset the MDX, with the suspension in sport+ quickly soaking up large compressions but then rebounding with such force that it throws your head back. Again, that's what the laws of physics deem necessary to keep these wheels pressed into the ground.

Acura, then, has done an admirable job tuning this chassis to be as good as it can be on a backroad. Yet there's no escaping its size and the weight of the engine. To make it run with X5 M50is and GLE 53s, Acura would have had to make the MDX bone-chattering stiff and junkyard-dog aggressive. So it made the right choice in chasing the base X5.

In doing so, it has created exactly what it set out to do. A Japanese version of the formula that's been printing money over in Munich, Stuttgart, and Ingolstadt for over a decade. The MDX Type S is a plush, luxurious, competent family hauler that just so happens to be totally comfortable at triple-digit speeds or going a little too quickly down a back road. It won't light your senses on fire or change the pecking order of fast SUVs but, looking at the sales numbers, I guess it doesn't have to.