 2010 Acura ZDX. Click image to enlarge |
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By Grant Yoxon; photos by Grant Yoxon and Chris Chase
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2010 Acura ZDX
For the past eight months, Autos.ca has been conducting an extended test of the 2010 Acura ZDX. We’ve checked out everything – from summer to winter driving, its unique, provocative styling, its functionality and, yes, dis-functionality – to form a conclusion about what it is like to live every day with the Acura ZDX.
The Acura ZDX is unlike any other vehicle on the market today, although comparisons could be made to the BMW X6. With its sensuous curves, sharply raked roofline, bold fender flares and large 19-inch, 7-spoke aluminum alloy wheels, the ZDX blurs the distinction between coupe, sedan and sport utility vehicle.
It treads warily into uncharted market territory – one that is designed to meet the needs of a growing market segment. They may be childless couples or people whose children have left home, but they are financially well off, with more time and money to enjoy personal pursuits, vacations, second homes and luxury products. We may call them empty nesters or baby boomers, but they are an important market for luxury car makers.
  2010 Acura ZDX. Click image to enlarge |
Market research shows these people want the versatility and all weather capability of an SUV, but no longer need the passenger or cargo space that an SUV provides. At the same time they want the driving pleasure of a sports car and the well-appointed accommodations usually found in a luxury sedan.
However you see it – sports coupe, hatchback or SUV – reactions have been anything but ho-hum. This is a vehicle that grabs attention and elicits opinions like sushi served in a hockey arena. Love it or hate it, people don’t hold back their thoughts.
This was apparent even amongst our small team of writers. While we were impressed with how the ZDX drove and handled, most were less than fond of the compromises that came with the package – difficulty getting in and out, particularly for rear seat passengers, limited side and rear visibility and limited cargo space. In his review, Chris Chase summarized it well: “There’s nothing new about combining sportiness with practicality, nor is it that novel to build a sporty crossover or SUV, but one that tries to look like a sports car is a new development, and not one that works all that well, in my opinion… The first problem has to do with getting in.”
Personally, I don’t think my colleagues gave it a chance. It takes more than a week to appreciate the Acura ZDX.
Get behind the wheel for the first time and the ZDX can be intimidating. Despite its high SUV proportions, the seating position is very low, very sedan like. One looks out over a long, wide hood that disappears from view below a high dash top. To the rear, the view is obscured by narrow rear side windows, long wide C-pillars, high rear seat headrests and by the dramatic slope of the roof line that narrows rearward visibility. This is different, I thought. It will take a bit of getting used to.
   2010 Acura ZDX. Click image to enlarge |
You quickly learn to use the side mirrors – positioned properly they eliminate blind spots. You also learn to check twice before making lane changes. A quick shoulder check reveals, well, very little. In the Acura ZDX you learn to think before you act.
After her first day behind the wheel, my spouse was a bit blunter than I. “I hate it,” she said. “You drive it.”
But today, I have to ask permission to get some wheel time. In a household that has three personal cars, plus on most weeks a test vehicle to drive, the ZDX has become my spouse’s preferred vehicle, the favourite car in the garage. So what happened?
Once we became comfortable with the ZDX, in particular using the side mirrors for lane changes, the whole driving experience changed.
Things that my spouse and I particularly like: the driving position and seat comfort; access to essential controls like heating and ventilation, the audio system and the central controller that is used to adjust many of the vehicles functions; the readily available power from the ZDX’s 300 horsepower, 3.7-litre V6 engine; excellent handling without sacrificing ride comfort and; the incredible back-up camera system.
The ZDX has a high and wide step in to the front seats, but once inside it feels and drives more like a car than an SUV – and more car-like than any car-based SUV I’ve ever driven.
With a low seating position, the ZDX inspires confidence on the road. The car corners extremely flat and despite its 2016 kg (4,444 lb.) weight, there is very little body roll. Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) and torque sensing, variable assist steering both help to give the ZDX solid, reliable handling. Steering is rock solid, with not a hint of nervousness or twitchiness. You can accelerate quickly out of a corner and the car remains firmly planted.
Stability control is standard and, during the summer months, we never experienced its intervention. However, on snow covered and slick roads, you can expect stability control to intervene and, depending on the weight of your right foot, quite aggressively. Our tester was equipped with all-season tires, despite our firm belief in the value of winter rubber. When the snow gets deep and the streets fill with slush, the lack of good snow tires is noticeable.
But piloting their ZDX down bumpy city streets, pounding over freeway frost heaves and avoiding the potholes of spring, the ZDX shines supreme. The car’s suspension insulates passengers from all the unwanted bumps and bruises of the street without being cushy or soft and without isolating the driver from the road. The suspension feels firm but not abrasive.
Power from the 3.7-litre V6 is plentiful with 300 hp and 270 ft-lb of torque under foot. But it is controlled power. Press down hard and the ZDX is very fast, but modulate the right foot and it is easy going.
   2010 Acura ZDX. Click image to enlarge |
Around parking lots, the ZDX also shines. Unlike many SUVs, the ZDX is nimble and easy to navigate in tight corners thanks again to torque-sensing variable assist steering. Complementing its ability in tight quarters is one of the best rear-view back up cameras I have seen, integrated in the ZDX’s navigation screen. There are three different views of the camera – normal, enlarged and view from above. One switches between views by pressing the central controller. When viewed from above, it is possible to reverse to within inches of another object or vehicle with complete confidence. So well does the system operate that we’ve taken to routinely reversing into parking spots, despite the limited rearward visibility in the ZDX.
As a luxury vehicle, the ZDX includes the kind of appointments and features you would expect from a vehicle with a starting price of $55,900. Acura’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive is standard, as is Xenon High-Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights, headlight washers, variable intermittent windshield wipers, fog lights, power tailgate and a panoramic power sun roof.
Inside, full leather seating is standard as well as a leather trimmed instrument panel and centre console. Both front and back seats are heated. The driver’s seat is 10-way power adjustable with two-way power lumbar support, while the passenger seat is 8-way power adjustable. Dual zone climate control, Bluetooth wireless mobile phone interface, power tilt and telescoping steering wheel, rear-view mirror camera, two-position memory system linked from the key fob to the driver’s seat, steering column, side mirrors and climate control, and automatic day/night rear-view mirror are all standard equipment.
Our tester was equipped with a technology package that upgrades the audio system to Acura’s ELS Surround premium 10-speaker audio system with DVD audio, CD, AM/FM radio, XM Satellite Radio, 15-GB hard disk drive (HDD) media storage system, Song By Voice (SBV), Dolby Pro Logic II and a 435-watt Digital Signal Processing (DSP) amplifier. Other features of this package include keyless access and pushbutton ignition, perforated full-grain Milano leather seating surfaces, navigation system with voice recognition, and 8-inch full VGA high resolution colour display with LED backlighting and the multi-view rear view camera. Cost is $3,600.
As well, our ZDX was equipped with a number of optional accessories: running boards with LED lights that run the full length of the boards ($1,149.88); a deck lid spoiler ($651.88), all-weather floor mats ($224.88); cargo tray ($187.94), and; cargo net ($119.88). The running boards and deck lid spoiler can also be purchased as part of a sport package that includes upgraded 19-inch, five dual-spoke chrome finished wheels ($4,761.28), but we opted for the standard 19-inch painted aluminum alloys.
The total price for the ZDX, excluding freight and PDI ($1,895) came to $63,729.46.
The 2010 Acura ZDX provides the right blend of sportiness, functionality and style that we look for in a vehicle, but then our family – a family on the verge of becoming an empty nest – is right in the market target for this vehicle. At first we had misgivings about it, but after a month of daily use the Acura ZDX became the vehicle of choice in our family and largely because it was a real pleasure to drive.
The ZDX is not without its faults. Rearward visibility is a significant issue while rear seat access is difficult. But, in my opinion, the positive far outweighs the negative.
