Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/22 for details.
Options
Acura MDX (pre-2007)
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
I can understand the sentiment for an affordable nav system.
But what possible motivation would there be for a company to develop a nav upgrade for a specific 3 to 5 year old vehicle, of which there are relatively few, and to price it at half of the current price, while needing to provide custom screens/fittings/adapters?
I just can't see it ever getting done.
I think the best we can hope for is a drop in the alpine price over time.
Gurza:
just to be contrary-why would you want the mapping where you live? I'd want it where I'm visiting. Hopefully I'll visit one of the 100 cities across the US which Acura deems worthwhile (averages to 2 per state)
To all the leasers: the aftermarket nav can be removed and the Bose thingy put back in if you turn it back in 2-3 years. (Depending on how careful the installer was.) The $2k Acura Nav you pay for entirely during the lease period, then give it to them free.
Ard
Also,
zooma - Great salesperson you have. I hope you're happy with your MDX when it arrives. 2 +/- inches on each side - WOW that's tight. I drove my father's Sienna (86" width) into my garage today to try it. I pulled it off so the MDX would work as well.
Thanks again for your help.
I can understand the sentiment for an affordable nav system.
But what possible motivation would there be for a company to develop a nav upgrade for a specific 3 to 5 year old vehicle, of which there are relatively few, and to price it at half of the current price, while needing to provide custom screens/fittings/adapters?
I just can't see it ever getting done.
I think the best we can hope for is a drop in the alpine price over time.
Gurza:
just to be contrary-why would you want the mapping where you live? I'd want it where I'm visiting. Hopefully I'll visit one of the 100 cities across the US which Acura deems worthwhile (averages to 2 per state)
To all the leasers: the aftermarket nav can be removed and the Bose thingy put back in if you turn it back in 2-3 years. (Depending on how careful the installer was.) The $2k Acura Nav you pay for entirely during the lease period, then give it to them free.
Ard
1) Find the handicapped spot (don't park in it!), and see if there's a non-handicapped spot next to it, and park there. If there's another non-handicapped spot on the other side of the first non-handicapped spot, edge over closer to the handicapped spot to give yourself more room.
It's less likely that a vehicle will park on one side of you in the handicapped spot, and those spots are extremely wide so if your tires are on the stripe you're not causing a problem for them, and they'll likely be far from you.
2) Look for parking spots that are protected on one side by a curb, and park as close to that curb as possible. That'll protect one side and give you more room on the other side.
3) In an angled parking situation, realize that the angles affect how likely doors are to hit you. It's probably better to park closer to the passenger side of the vehicle to your left, because their rear passenger door can really ding your right rear quarter panels. (This has happened to us.)
4) If you have to squeeze in between two vehicles, protect your passenger side more. A lot of vehicles (especially if it's a business area, and business hours) have just one driver so the odds are higher that just the driver's door is the dinging tool.
5) Don't park next to coupes. They have long doors and thus more dinging reach.
6) Don't park next to a beater, and do park next to that fancy car. No, I'm not saying they're more worthy people (far from it), but they may be as interested in protecting baby than you are.
7) Minivans are tough. Positives of parking next to them: they're likely to be in that spot for longer (especially in malls because it might be a long operation with the kids there); they have sliding doors and thus less swinging doors to ding you with. However, they're usually wider, and if loaded with kids, those kids who climb in and out may scratch your vehicle. Your call here.
8) In an "open" parking situation (lots of empty spots), remember that people are more likely to park on your right than your left (the driver sees their left side better than their right, so is more comfortable judging side clearance on the left, and will more likely park to the left of you and not the right of you).
9) For places you go to frequently, make a mental note of where the prime spots are. My wife knows exactly what the best parking spots are in the places she goes to frequently.
Many folks have emailed me for the results of the experiment, but I have been battling a nasty cold and today was the first chance I got to try to this out.
The original poster, Mark, was very helpful and gave me three addresses that were giving him problems in the MDX Nav:
1) A house in a new subdivision in MASS.
2) An established address in MASS.
3) An established address in Bangor, Maine
The whole idea was for me to plug the same addresses into my MY2001 RX300 Nav. I'm not positive yet of the exact OEM model that the RX Nav is, but I do know that the map database is based on maps from both Navigation Technologies AND Geographic Data Technology. The end result is that it literally has every address in the U.S. and had no problems identifying the addresses that Mark supplied. Also, be aware that I was sitting in my driveway in Long Island, New York and routes were indeed generated for these locations from my house. The limitation of the RX Nav system as stated in the manual is that *detailed* turn instructions (won't know whether there is one way traffic, no right turns, etc.) might not be possible for a particular area, but it will always display the streets and end point no matter what.
So it seems that Acura is indeed not compiling/supplying a complete U.S. address database on its DVD, which is surprising. Even without having complete driving details for the entire country (like many Navs), it should still provide a complete address/road database.
I'm more than willing to run any other examples if folks would like.
TC
Here's the question:
Can the Alpine DVD work in an Acura Nav system?? Wouldn't that be sweet?
Given that I don't have the Nav, I'm not dying to find out. Since the proof of the pudding is in the eating, it would take someone to visit an Alpine dealer with their Nav and test it out. (I'd still be leary of a verbal response from Alpine, and wouldn't even waste the time to ask Acura.)
Food for thought.
Ard
If you live in Northern CA (roughly between Tahoe and San Jose) and are interested, let me know. (I'm between both areas generally every week or two.)
I'm guessing the green tint would look best on either the GG, EG, BLK or even Silver.
Ard
I saw last years Alpine unit and was not impressed with its' features especially the fact that you needed a remote control to operate it. That's the last thing I need while going down the road is trying to fish the remote our from under the seat.
Chris
Also, even more kudos to our saleperson. Since the paperwork took longer than expected at the dealership, and we had bored and hungry little kids in tow, our salesman came to our house (where kids would be more comfortable) with us to "deliver" the car (spending 1.5 hours going over the car in great detail with both of us). Very thoughtful and much appreciated.
While on the subject, we also appreciate all the helpful information and advice that you all have supplied on this (and other) boards. Thanks much.
And I may a well ask a question: are buyers generally getting the paint protection and leather care add-ons? If so, for what prices?
WHERE WAS IT MOUNTED?
ARE YOU SATISFIED?
I HAVE A NOKIA 6160.
THANKS
Thank YOu
Some folks have gotten side steps or running boards, but they only provided limited side ding protection.
why is the side step only give limited protection. I would have thought that any car door opening would hit the side step which would be higher than the bottom of a regular car door.
So if you get hit by a relatively short door, the running board _might_ help. If the "meaty" part of the door (keeping in mind that they're usually curved toward the middle) makes contact with the running board first, then it'll help. However, the MDX doesn't have 10" of ground clearance so the running boards aren't _that_ high. There's a chance a swinging door can still have its meaty part contact the MDX door.
Finally, with rear sedan doors, which have the projection toward the top of the door, that projection will be higher than the running board.
So the running boards provide some protection against dings, but it is limited.
I don't know if the sidesteps make much difference here.
Two Michelin tires have been replaced (no cost to
me) due to defects; I think a third will be replaced due to out-of-round.
Vehicle is totally free of squeaks or rattles, does reasonably well on gas mileage, rides very
well for a SUV. Acceleration certainly exceeds
ML320 and RX300 and the BMW X-5 six cylinder.
I will probably sell or trade this vehicle within
a year--SUV's are just not to my liking. Will
get a new BMW 540.
I only had to wait 4 days for the MDX. The dealer I dealt with (David McDavid Acura - Dallas), doesn't keep a waiting list, they go month by month. I just told the fleet manager (Lance Simpkins) that I was interested and he called me once they got their list and that's when I put down my deposit. He didn't charge my card for the deposit until I came in that evening to finalize the deal. The other Dallas dealers had a 4-6 week waiting list and I had to put down the deposit immediately. I was able to negiotiate on the accessories and got a few things thrown in. I'll be getting the rest of my accessories through Tim.
Overall, I had a good experience with the dealer, and I will rate my dealer on acuramdx.org.
By the way, looks like you did your research. Tim has been a great source for accessories, and he could be a good source for extended warranties, as well. Good luck!
If you don't need the extra cargo space, passenger seating, or AWD SUV capability, then I tend to agree that the MDX is not the best choice. In fact, if none of those items are important, then why buy it in the first place? I'm sure the BMW 540i will be much more enjoyable to drive. So would the Acura TL, for that matter.
If you are going to make a change, I would recommend doing it soon. You could probably sell your MDX for a very good price right now; maybe at MSRP, depending where you live. If you wait until next year, there might not be waiting lists at most Acura dealerships, and some of them may be offering $1k discounts. If something like ESP or HID headlights are offered on next year's MDX, then the value of your MDX may be reduced further. Just my $.02!
Who knows what the final winning bid will be on that tape? It's funny that people are willing to pay money for a brief sales video tape, when they SHOULD be able to get that same information from any knowledgeable Lexus salesman for free.
Wouldn't it be funny if a representative of Acura corporate wins that auction? Gee, this eBay auction could be the makings for the next James Bond movie! I could see it now. While the villains are chasing Bond in their RX300 around some hairpin turns, and finally they fly off the cliff because the road has a tighter turning radius than their RX300, Bond would probably quip, "I hope they remember to use their Brake Assist."
I think the RX300 would be more likely to slide off the cliff w/ Goodyear tires a' squealin' ;-)
The VSC should slow it down enough to stay on the curves though.
Any dealers selling MDX under msrp?
email rkoenig@voicenet.com
Philadelphia driving area.
tia.
Thank you
Do me a favor, beaching, warn me next time you're going to post a question like that so I can set my coffee cup down. After I hit the exclamation point at the end of this sentence and push the "Post My Message" button, I'm going to have to go find a towel so I can wipe all the coffee off my computer screen!
8-)
Ard
Is this the same air deflector you decided you didn't like?
Was there much mileage on your vehicle when you picked it up? It's strange that so many tires would be bad all around the same time.
It is hard to get used to any SUV, no matter how car-like they may claim to be. Still not the same as driving a sedan. I think quite a number of MDX buyers, especially those who are used to Hondas, Acuras, and even other Japanese sedans/coupes, can have some trouble.
Depreciation should be pretty good on the MDX, with general perceptions of reliability (which may slightly exceed reality, as maybe it'll only be "average" its first year), and the general popularity of SUV's. Probably maybe a few hundred behind an RX300, which is maybe a few/several hundred behind an ML. Certainly better than a QX4 and many American-built SUV's.
But that'll be countered by the increasing amount of competition in this segment, which besides new American SUV's and the VW model, will include the new RX300 within a couple of years. The next M-class won't be out until calendar-year 2004, unfortunately, though MB will continue to make incremental updates to the current model (the 2002 looks like it might better satisfy what I had originally been looking for). Throw in Honda's version of the MDX, and the slowing economy ...
If Acura does add a V8, VSA, xenons, etc. that'll also hurt the first-year models even more.
Look at the RX300, and how aggressive discounting has, in all likelihood, damaged the 2000 models somewhat. The 2001 added some very significant features/options (VSC, Brake Assist, slightly stiffer suspension, more colors, and available xenons), at actual purchase prices similar to 2000 levels. The 1999's don't do as bad, I think, because Lexus had jacked up the price so quickly on the model, so the 1999's had less initial value to lose. Toss massive overproduction into the mix (over 90k vehicles sold in 2000 calendar year), and that can't help matters. Though the vehicle has a very good perception of reliability and has been pretty solid, so that'll help values.
So the curves of the first-year MDX might take a noticeable dip with the second model year, but with a more precipitous one with the 2003's (which is when some of the fancier MDX upgrades are rumored for).
Maybe we'll end up with ML320's after all ;-)
There have been reports of paying MSRP but getting a fair amount of accessories thrown in, however. But no, under MSRP is not a normal thing, especially in a larger, colder city (Philadelphia counts in that).
If you hate the idea of paying MSRP, the RX300 is currently available at significant discounts (the spread between invoice and MSRP is very high with that vehicle, and it's been around a few years now and a replacement is due in a couple of years).
Since I'm scheduled to take our MDX for its 7500-mile service Wednesday morning, I am now planning on having the dealer also take a look at this ticking noise during that service visit. Has anybody who has observed this ticking noise taken their MDX to the dealer to have it repaired? If so, please post any findings, as they might provide additional clues to help resolve this issue in our MDX. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! :-)
From what I can tell, this ticking sound seems to be coming from the glove box door. It does not seem to go away when the door is left open. However, I can cause the ticking to stop completely by pressing on the upper left corner of the glovebox door while it is closed. Hopefully, that will provide enough of a clue to my dealer...
When Drew listens to the White Album, the 2nd-to-last song on that album starts out, "Number 4, number 4,..." (I'm probably showing my age with that joke!)
Drew
Host
Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket and Accessories message boards
As I point out, the greenish tint would probably look best on one of the greens, or a black or silver.
The mounting business I didn't like- that's a personal preference.
I can return it, but figured if someone wanted it I'd save the shipping hassle.
Ard
ROADSIDE CAFE post at 8:27
4WD vs AWD post at 4 pm yesterday
.
.
.
Acura MDX post at 8:26 today
What's up?
Drew
Host
Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket and Accessories message boards
Ard: In other words, the "4WD vs AWD" topic, and more importantly, the M-Class topic are both given priority over other topics such as this one. And that's the way it might stay until we get William elected as a Town Hall host!
Thanks,
M3
A lot of MDX buyers seem to be first-time SUV buyers.
My wife has some experience driving her father's Odyssey, which the MDX is based on, so the transition was easy.