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Corporations everywhere nowadays are trying to cut costs. That being the case, I have a suggestion for the automobile industry: End the pretense that station wagons are sport-utility vehicles and stop wasting marketing money.

This occurred to me during my time in the 2007 Acura MDX SH-AWD. Acura, the luxury division of Honda, calls the thing a “luxury SUV.” The folks at Edmunds.com, an online vehicle rating service, concur. They call it a “mid-size luxury crossover SUV.” They’re both wrong, both playing to the nonsense that calling a station wagon a station wagon somehow diminishes the appeal of the product.

The Acura MDX SH-AWD is a station wagon, albeit a pricey one with leather seats and every conceivable electronic device, including a “super-handling all-wheel-drive” (SH-AWD) system that improves turning precision by automatically varying power to the rear drive wheels in curves.

But is it a sport-utility vehicle? No. You won’t find this one trekking along the Continental Divide or traversing boulders on the Rubicon Trail in the California High Sierra. You are not likely to see it getting dirty or dented at a construction site, or serving as a cargo carrier on somebody’s farm. It’s a luxury station wagon built on Honda’s global mid-size car platform that also underpins the unitized bodies of Acura’s TL and TSX cars . . . and the Honda Odyssey minivan. (My assistant, Ria Manglapus, who owns an Odyssey minivan, concluded that the MDX “feels somewhat the same.”) It’s a station wagon that remains a station wagon although its 2007 platform has been changed — thus affording a wider track, the distance between the centers of the left and right tires; and a longer wheelbase, the centerline distance between the wheels up front and those in the back.

Those welcome changes were not made to improve the MDX’s off-road prowess. They were made to bolster its on-road chutzpah. Coupled with suspension and engine improvements, the platform alterations help the MDX run as fast and handle as well as many small sports cars. That’s all good. But none of it makes the MDX an SUV.

I am in a dither about this because I believe that names and words are important. They have power. I’d love any wagon that has all of the MDX’s many admirable features and components. But I’d never, ever want to embark on a true off-road junket — one that involves rock climbing, stream fording and mud crawling — in any vehicle as mild-mannered as the MDX.

On a real off-road trip, I’d want a real SUV — something with dedicated four-wheel drive, locking differentials and a strong four-wheel low gear. I’d look for something with hill-climbing assist, hill-descent assist, and skid plates to help protect the vehicle’s underside components. I wouldn’t look for the MDX, which has none of those things. In the rough, hardware talks and marketing, absent the hardware to back it up, walks. That means if you are silly enough to attempt driving an MDX off-road, you very well could wind up walking to a rescue site.

On the road, however, the MDX is a beautiful machine. There is comfortable seating for five in the front and middle rows. Assuming that you put smaller people in the foldable third-row seats, there is comfortable seating for them, too.

Ah, and about those third-row seats: I have long questioned the wisdom of sticking anyone, small or large, in the far rear of a wagon or minivan, close to the vehicle’s hatch or lift-gate. The reason is rear-end collisions, which can be fatal or seriously injurious to passengers closest to the impact.

But Honda has designed the Acura MDX’s rear quarters to withstand a crash of 50 mph, thus meeting the federal government’s new, tougher standard for rear-end crash protection. The old standard, which expired last year, required vehicles to withstand rear-end hits of 30 mph without causing serious injury to rear-seat occupants. The National Highway Safety Administration has taken note, awarding the MDX five stars for rear-end crash protection, the agency’s highest rating.

Consumers should check rival vehicles for rear-end crash protection ratings, especially when considering seven-passenger models. If a vehicle under consideration has fewer than four stars, consider buying something else — a seven-passenger model with four or five stars, or a five-passenger model in which there is more space between the rear seats and the lift-gate, or hatch.

On the matter of nomenclature, all car companies should be urged to properly categorize their vehicles for the buying public. Calling a station wagon a sport-utility vehicle is misleading. It bespeaks a vehicle capability that does not exist. I have lost count of the number of times I’ve seen people hopelessly stuck on off-road trails in damaged or ruined “SUVs” that never should have left the pavement.

Nuts & Bolts 2007 Acura MDX SH-AWD

Complaints: End the misleading silliness. Stop calling the Acura MDX and similar vehicles SUVs. They’re not. They’re wagons. The buying public has no problem accepting them as wagons. Automotive marketers need to grow up.

Ride, handling, acceleration: The MDX gets excellent marks in all three categories. It drives, feels, handles and accelerates in the manner of a much smaller, tighter vehicle — on paved roads.

Head-turning quotient: I love the MDX’s side panels — flowing, elegant lines. I love its interior — rich, ergonomically sensible, comfortable — the perfect passenger cabin for a long road trip. But I categorically hate the MDX’s front grille, the ugliest ever placed on a wagon, minivan, or SUV.

Body style/layout: The 2007 Acura MDX is a front-engine, all-wheel-drive, mid-size luxury wagon with a rear lift-gate. It is a work of unitized body construction on a mid-size car platform.

Engine/transmission: The Acura MDX SH-AWD comes with a 3.7-liter, 24-valve, V-6 engine that develops 300 horsepower at 6,000 revolutions per minute and 275 foot-pounds of torque at 5,000 rpm. The engine is mated to a five-speed automatic transmission that also can be shifted manually.

Capacities: There is seating for seven with the rearmost foldable seats suitable only for small people. Cargo capacity is 15 cubic feet with three rows of seats up and 84 cubic feet with second and third rows folded. The MDX can be equipped to tow a trailer weighing 5,000 pounds. Fuel capacity is 21 gallons of required premium unleaded gasoline.

Mileage: I averaged 20 miles per gallon in highway driving. Ria averaged 15 mpg in city-suburban commuting.

Safety: Impressive. Improved rear-end crash protection, side and head air bags, antilock brakes, and electronic stability and traction control make the MDX one of the safest wagons available in North America.

Price: Base price for the 2007 Acura MDX SH-AWD with the sport and entertainment package is $47,795. Dealer invoice price on the base model is $43,326. There are no options for this one at this writing. Add a $670 transportation charge. Price as tested is $48,465. Dealer’s price as tested is $43,996.

Purse-strings note: It’s an excellent, albeit expensive, wagon. Compare with BMW X-5, Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, Honda Pilot, Hyundai Veracruz, Lexus RX 350 and Mercedes-Benz M-Class.