I knew something had changed when I got into the cockpit of the 2022 Acura MDX. Sci-fi Drive Mode dial and “trigger” shifter like an NSX supercar. Dash-mounted, driver-centric touchscreen like a Mazda3. Digital dash display like an Audi S6.
This is a performance car in SUV drag.
Sure enough, the three-row SUV wanted to boogie. Acura had brought me to Hell, Michigan — home of the state’s most challenging roads — to drive the MDX for a reason. I dialed the fat Mode knob to Sport and floored the MDX onto Hadley Road’s twisties, the torque-vectoring all-wheel drive rotating the behemoth into corner apexes. The ute sped ahead with little body roll, its V-6 engine roaring with pleasure as I fed it more gas.