2002 Acura MDX consumer reviews

I shopped for a Toyota and ended up with the MDX. Although I loved the car for the biggest part up until now, I have to say that I am extremely disappointed to find that I need a new transmission at 100,000 miles. That would be expectable if this was a Ford, but I expected to see this car go at least 150,000 before I had to change the tranny. After reading up on the Acura "blogs", I now find out that Acura had increased the size of the engine, thereby cutting back on the size of the tranny. The '02 & '03 Acura's are apparently known for this problem. Unfortunately, Acura doesn't want to hear about the problem. I am now shopping for that Toyota I should have purchased 4 years ago.

My wife and I are not the mini-van types, but have two wonderful children, so we do need space. We quickly found out how difficult is was to find a luxury mid-size SUV with a third row. We really wanted a BMW X5, but of course no third row until 2007. The MDX is really nice, but an absolute gas hog. Just a little drive from the suburbs into the city and back again, you are looking at about 1/4 tank of gas. We are getting 14.9 city and 17.6 highway. With the price of gas these days, I recommend getting a luxury 4-door car, a smaller CRV-type, or gasp, a mini-van. It's not that this MDX isn't a beautiful car, but with the price of gas and the environmental concerns, I recommend buying something with a higher mpg.

This SUV drives like a dream. Some how Acura has managed to make an SUV that balances ruggedness, handling, and luxury. It is a lot roomier than it looks and I could swear it's just as wide as the QX56. The only complaint I have about the MDX it the wind noise. I recommend that all who are looking for a SUV with the perfect balance need to look no further.