And on the subject of fancy technology, let's talk for a moment about Acura's Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) which is available as part of the Elite Package. As you may have gathered from the first part of this review, I am very much pregnant at the moment (entering my ninth month now). Safety is a big priority for me in any vehicle, but in the coming months it will take on a whole new level of importance. Self-braking systems like Acura's CMBS and Volvo's City Safety sound cool in principle, but there's a problem with them. Let me explain.
As I was driving the Acura MDX Elite one afternoon, minding my own business, the system decided to activate. There was no car in front of me. From what I can tell a leaf blew across the sensor or something malfunctioned. In a matter of seconds my seat belt had me in a choke hold (along with my belly, and therefore my baby), lights were flashing, alarms were beeping and the car was braking for itself while I tried to figure out what the hell was possessing the vehicle while trying not to birth my child at the same time.
Technology is a wonderful thing, when you can turn it off. I've seen the benefits of systems like Acura's CMBS firsthand, but I've also seen them fail on more than one occasion. In my opinion, it makes us lazy drivers, not better ones - but that's a topic for another article.
Let's move on to the space issue: top priority in any SUV. As mentioned above, the MDX is a seven-seater, which is great for any growing (or already grown) family. However, it's important to note that once that third row is up, the trunk space shrinks from 1,215 litres to a measly 435 litres (that quite literally fit one row of five grocery bags' worth of food only). So, if I had two young children, a large dog and a stroller that needed to fit in the MDX, it wouldn't happen.
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| The Acura's Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS) is available with the Elite Package. (Photo: Honda) |
As I was driving the Acura MDX Elite one afternoon, minding my own business, the system decided to activate. There was no car in front of me. From what I can tell a leaf blew across the sensor or something malfunctioned. In a matter of seconds my seat belt had me in a choke hold (along with my belly, and therefore my baby), lights were flashing, alarms were beeping and the car was braking for itself while I tried to figure out what the hell was possessing the vehicle while trying not to birth my child at the same time.
Technology is a wonderful thing, when you can turn it off. I've seen the benefits of systems like Acura's CMBS firsthand, but I've also seen them fail on more than one occasion. In my opinion, it makes us lazy drivers, not better ones - but that's a topic for another article.
Let's move on to the space issue: top priority in any SUV. As mentioned above, the MDX is a seven-seater, which is great for any growing (or already grown) family. However, it's important to note that once that third row is up, the trunk space shrinks from 1,215 litres to a measly 435 litres (that quite literally fit one row of five grocery bags' worth of food only). So, if I had two young children, a large dog and a stroller that needed to fit in the MDX, it wouldn't happen.
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| It's important to note that once that third row is up, the trunk space shrinks from 1,215 litres to a measly 435 litres. (Photo: Sébastien D'Amour/Auto123.com) |