2016 Acura MDX SH-AWD 9-Speed Automatic Test: All Teched-Up and Geared to the Nines

The 2016 version of Acura’s bestselling model may look the same as last year’s, but there’s a lot going on behind that chiseled visage. For starters, the MDX crossover gets a new ZF nine-speed automatic transmission. Adding three more cogs creates a wider ratio spread than in the previous model’s six-speed, ostensibly helping to keep the MDX’s 290-hp 3.5-liter V-6 in the more efficient parts of its power and torque bands. Not that last year’s 290-hp/six-speed combo was a laggard, but Acura, like all automakers, is looking to improve the EPA estimates of its vehicles however it can. And apparently, Honda’s luxury arm is more comfortable offering a nine-speed than a continuously variable automatic.

First is a superlow creeper gear. The MDX storms out of the hole from rest using a 20.4:1 overall ratio (first-gear ratio times final-drive ratio, not counting help from the torque converter) and sprints to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds, half a second quicker than the 2014 model we tested with the six-speed automatic. It then continues on to a 95-mph quarter-mile trap speed in 14.6 seconds, three-tenths more rapid than the 2014. You’re into second gear before you can finish saying “Acura.” Wide-open-throttle shifts are torque-clipped and quick. Of course, having more gears doesn’t necessarily mean the transmission quickly finds the right gear—as sometimes when tipping in with part throttle at 20 to 35 mph it will lug in a too-tall gear for a while. But mostly, there’s a whole lot of shiftin’ going on.

Buttons and Bumps

About that shifting: driver inputs are via buttons instead of a lever, as is the case on nine-speed versions of the new TLX sedan. Although off-putting at first, like learning to play the clarinet, we eventually got the hang of it. There are some instances, perhaps when trying to do a quick three-point U-turn in front of an approaching semi, where you might yearn for the Neanderthal familiarity of a PRNDL shift lever. With the push-button setup, you need to take your eyes off the road, look down, find the desired button and push it (or pull a switch back in the case of reverse). Eliminating the console shifter does free up access to the bottom of the center stack, but the button farm takes up about the same amount of real estate on the console as did the old shifter.

Another new-for-2016 feature is “idle stop.” Like other automatic stop-start systems, Acura’s shuts down the engine at stoplights to save fuel. That’s partially responsible for a 1-mpg bump in the EPA city fuel-economy rating. There is also a bump felt as the engine abruptly restarts after an idle stop; it’s not as harsh as we’ve experienced in some BMWs and Porsches, but it’s not the silky awakening of a similarly equipped Mercedes-Benz, either. Overall, we saw an average of 21 mpg with the 2016 MDX while in our lead-footed care, a 2-mpg improvement over the six-speed MDX we tested in 2014.

Semiautonomously Yours

As with other luxury-brand crossovers, Acura lards the MDX with technology features. For 2016, we see the expansion of AcuraWatch to all versions of the MDX. Our $58,000 test vehicle, equipped with the Advance and Entertainment packages, also featured rear cross-traffic monitoring (a nice feature for all large crossovers and vehicles with wide C- or D-pillars), Road Departure Mitigation, and Collision Mitigation Braking. A monocular camera needs to be able to “see” the road or another car or object for the latter two systems to function. Thanks to poor road maintenance, we couldn’t depend on the “active steering force” of the road-departure system. Sometimes it worked and other times we might have gone sailing off into the weeds. However, when we tested the collision-mitigation system on a similar Honda/Acura product at a test track, it never failed to do a full-ABS stop short of the parked “balloon car” stand-in vehicle at 20, 30, and 40 mph with no driver intervention. Very cathartic. Having said that, our test MDX suffered brake fade after just a few ABS stops were executed to record its 185-foot, 70-mph-to-zero stopping distance.

But at its core, the Acura MDX remains one of our favorite seven-passenger crossovers. The 2016 transmission and technology updates help keep it competitive in its class and take nothing away from its spirited handling and fun-to-drive character.

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2015 Volkswagen GTI DSG Test: There’s No Shame in this Automatic

What can we say about the Volkswagen GTI that we haven’t said before? After subjecting the perennial 10Best winner to innumerable reviews, it’s hard to come up with any praise or criticism that hasn’t already been heard. But just as the new seventh-generation Golf exists in many forms, there are many flavors of GTI, too, all of which are worth knowing from a raw-numbers standpoint. So this time, we’ve strapped our equipment to the GTI Autobahn model with the six-speed DSG dual-clutch automatic, the Performance pack, and Dynamic Chassis Control.

We already tested the 2015 GTI with its standard six-speed manual when the car launched last year—and liked it so much that we ordered our sassy white long-termer so equipped. When it arrived, we tested it again. Yet as technical editor K.C. Colwell said in the long-term GTI intro, “no one should feel shame for going with the automatic.” Our latest numbers fully back up his statement.

Launch Control to Major Tom

Loaded up as it was with all the bells and whistles (save for the $995 Lighting package and the $695 Driver Assistance package), our test car weighed about 110 pounds more than our newly arrived long-termer. Still, the DSG proved to be a half-second quicker to 60 mph, at 5.6 seconds. The DSG also beat the GTI we tested last year, which hit 60 in 5.8 seconds. Credit the transmission’s lightning-quick shifts and its launch-control program. To enable the latter, first turn off traction control, move the gearshift to S, select the Sport driving mode, then brake torque until revs peak at 3000 rpm or so. Then jump off the brake and hold on. After very little wheelspin, you’re off to a sub-six-second zero-to-60 run, which you can repeat all day long. Around town, though, turbo lag hampers one’s efforts to some effect, evidenced by a 6.5-second 5-to-60-mph time that’s nearly a second longer than the standing-start result. On the other hand, the brakes did not disappoint in any way, producing stops from 70 mph in the 159-foot range with truly delightful, firm pedal feel.

The GTI has been a sweet handler throughout much of its four-decade history. And particularly now that the hatch is built around MQB bones, we always marvel at how VW has utterly neutralized the car’s 61/39-percent weight distribution and allowed so much feel into the steering while simultaneously quelling torque steer. We had particularly high expectations of this model, as it’s equipped with the $800 Dynamic Chassis Control option. While its 0.91-g skidpad figure is more than respectable, it is no better than either of the non-DCC-equipped 2015 GTIs we’ve tested—our long-termer even managed 0.93 g of lateral grip. Hence, the benefits of the DCC shocks are more subjective than objective, allowing a splendid sense of connectedness for charging down a back road in their Dynamic setting, yet yielding a truly plush ride in Comfort mode on a long trip.

Fuel-Range Alarmist

Speaking of longer trips, this test involved more than just a quick jaunt to the track and back. Instead, it covered 1400 miles, including a stint from Los Angeles to San Francisco and back, during which we grew even more appreciative of the comfortable leather-upholstered seats, interior room, and, yes, the DSG itself on the congested streets of both cities. Alas, we also grew to loathe the utterly terrible navigation system—don’t even try to use the voice prompts—and the lack of a USB port anywhere unless you buy an accessory adapter cable to fit VW’s proprietary plug (the latter will be fixed for 2016, we’ve been told).

Also, we found ourselves stopping often for gas, not due to poor fuel economy (at 27 mpg observed in our hands, it was actually pretty good) but because the overly cautious range calculator starts ringing alarm bells even when only 11 gallons have been drained from the 13.2-gallon tank.

Still, none of the above, nor the fact that the base halogen headlamps look rather cheap on a $34,260-as-tested hatchback, is enough to dim our ardor for the GTI. And with its superior acceleration, launch control, and intuitive, rev-matching downshifts, the quick-shifting DSG transmission remains the best possible alternative to a three-pedal manual in virtually all of autodom. As we said five years ago in a review of a 2010 GTI equipped with the DSG: “Ultimately, we wouldn’t fault anyone for choosing the DSG over the manual, or vice versa. After all, no matter which transmission you choose, it’ll still be bolted into a GTI.”

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