2007 Acura RDX

Acura RDX: Pocket rocket could use some dog room

Fri, Oct 27th 2006

My esteemed co-author, Dr. Marty Becker, was coming to my home town for a daylong series of events. So I asked for something special to test: The new Acura RDX.

It did not disappoint.

In fact, I'm thinking that a new way of evaluating Dogmobiles would be by how much I hate driving my own aging minivan when I have to give the new cars back. By these standards, no car made me loathe my own more than having to give up the Acura RDX. (Although quite honestly, it beat out the Volvo only by a whisker).

The RDX is the answer to the question: What do you get when you cross a sportscar with an SUV with a Blackberry with an iPod? The answer, in longer form, is a splendid cute “Ute” that zips around town like it owns the place, with enough high-tech gadgetry to keep the most sophisticated geek in heaven. That's with the tech package, of course, which adds a few Ks to the sticker price, but still gives you everything, including heated seats - yeah, I admit it: I have a thing for heated seats. - for a pretty darn reasonable $37,000. (By reasonable, I mean as compared to other luxury-equipped SUVs, most of which jump into the $40,000 range and climb from there.)

But is it a Dogmobile? Tricky, tricky question.

The seats fold down flat in the back, and the cargo space is ample. But like many of the cute-utes, my side-by-side crates don't fit as they're intended - that is, side by side. That was the case here, where I figured with the help of a measuring tape that I could get them in an "L" formation one facing the back door, and one facing the rear side. That would work, and the tie-downs are accessible in that position. It's not ideal, but... well, OK, one must make compromises for a driver seat that caress your back like a massage therapist, and a voice-activated control system that will do everything but wipe your nose for you.

Yes, I'm back to the land of compromise. I admit it: I love the comfort, the handling, the acceleration and the gee-whiz gadgetry in this car. I love the fuel economy of the smaller all-wheel-drive vehicles (even though this isn't a Prius by any means, the fuel economy is more than respectable at 19/23.) The looks aren't as much head-turning as reassuringly clean and tidy, although this is the first car that had people stop me in parking lots to ask if it was really the new Acura.

The larger SUVs - like the Volvo XC90, or the Ford Explorer- fit everything in, with room to spare. Side by side crates? No problem! But the RDX is perhaps the first of the SUVs I've driven that doesn't handle like a land yacht in any way. The other cute utes are fun and lively to drive, but the RDX is hot.

I can't imagine any SUV short of the Porshe Cayenne that's going to offer sports-car handling with room for dogs, and at a price, it must be noted, that's thousands less. Toss in the RDX's astonishingly fun and helpful technology - the voice-activated climate control and a navigation package with all the bells and whistles (including real-time traffic and accident reporting) - and it's really not that much of a compromise.

The RDX is a winner, and the crates can fit where they may.

-- Gina Spadafori

Carguy Comments:The Acura RDX is the smaller of Acura’s two sport utility vehicles -- its larger cousin being the MDX. The RDX features a 2.3-liter, 240 horsepower four-cylinder VETEC engine that is emissions rated as LEV II. Cargo capacity for the RDX is 60.6 cubic feet and the maximum towing capacity is 1,500 pounds.

-- Keith Turner, The Family Car

Acura RDX provides perfect Rx for luxury and utility

Barking Lot Banter: For true techno-loving dog families, the Acura RDX provides a perfect compromise between a large, “brute ute” and a mid-size “cute ute” while offering comfort, space for two large crates (when placed in L shape) and tons of tech wizardry to satisfy your geek genes.