My 2016 MDX Tech Package w/ Sports Bumpers, Sports Steps, Fog Lights, Splash Guards by jchoi5

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My 2016 MDX Tech Package w/ Sports Bumpers, Sports Steps, Fog Lights, Splash Guards by jchoi5

By diyauto

( 1 )

7 minute(s) of a 8 minute read

4-18-2015

My 2016 MDX Tech Package w/ Sports Bumpers, Sports Steps, Fog Lights, Splash Guards

Compliments of jchoi5 @ https://acurazine.com

4-18-2015

I wrote out the name incase anybody is doing a google image search for it. I couldn't find any pictures so hopefully those keywords get picked up by google.

I got my first car wash today, and it was a beautiful day so figured I'd take some pics to share. The car wash attendant did not know wtf he was doing with the electronic gear shifters. He put it in neutral, opened the door, then the car went back into park. I told him he had to shut off the engine but he didn't understand me. He ended up putting it in neutral and staying inside the car through the whole wash.

Anywhos, I love this car, it is my second Acura. My first was a 2005 TSX which I traded in at 91k miles. That thing was reliable as hell and an honest work horse; I am hoping this will be no different. To be honest, I do have a little bit of concern with the reliability as many of the forum members are reporting problems on their new MDX's (Power steering issue, LWD/FWC, Emission/BSM issues.)

Here are my honest impressions with the car. I'm not trying to sell anything, and I tried to keep everything as unbiased as I can:

First, the looks. Man the new MDX is GORGEOUS! I LOVE the jewel headlights! They look great and to be perfectly honest, I don't NEED the fog lights, I just added them on for looks. The road gets maybe like 10% brighter adding the fog lights, very little difference in my honest opinion. The tech pack rims looks really nice and sporty too. I love how the whole thing comes together with the sports bumper trims and sport step running board. It looks sporty, without being over the top (Lexus NX is a bit too much for my tastes). It still maintains that "sports utility" feel. Honestly, I do a double take after parking my car sometimes, and whisper to myself "dang that car looks so good".

The 9 speed engine is really smooth and I like it so far. My only criticism is the 1st gear feels a bit watered down, but it's still a powerful engine nonetheless. On 2nd gear+ this car just launches. I only drive in regular Drive mode, I messed around a little bit with the "Sequential" mode, and it seems to hold the gears at a higher RPM before shifting. I didn't really care for it and the regular Drive is a more comfortable ride, so that's my default. The SHAWD really makes a huge difference on how the car handles. I feel like the car is hugging the road as the car turns, and so "in charge of the road" when accelerating. The suspensions eats up tiny bumps/potholes like nothing and the whole thing rides so smooth and quiet. It feels like riding on a mellow cloud, but you can definitely get the power when you need to.

My favorite IDS mode to drive in is Sports mode, I like having the stiffer handling and it just feels really responsive to me. I couldn't really tell much of a difference between "comfort" and "normal"--maybe a slight difference but not enough to categorize it into two distinct modes IMHO.

The sound ELS Studio Audio sound system is OK, but it isn't all that impressive to me. I play a few instruments and I am an audiojunkie when it comes to sound quality. As much as I tried, I couldn't really tweak the settings to makes me go "Yeahhhhh, *this* is euphoria for my ears". It is missing that oomph or "Hi Def" sound to my ears.

There is a ton of tech in the car, and I'm slowly familiarizing myself with them. Maybe I'll revisit this post when I'm a lot more apt, but for the most part they are all definitely nice to have. I still can't figure out a couple of settings like how to adjust beeping volume, manually saving songs into HDD, small things of that sort.

I live in North NJ, and this past winter has been pretty brutal. I love snowboarding and going to the mountains to ride, so I'll see how these OEM all seasons Continental Cross Contact LX Sports fare. I would love to ride some fresh powder this coming winter. The reviews for the tires in snow performance haven't been all that great, but I'm hoping maybe they were just really harsh reviewers. I really don't want to get a set of dedicated winter tiresif I don't have to. They will cost me about $1.5k-2k-ish with rims. Got my fingers cross these these tires will be pretty decent for winter!

I'm scheduled to get my front windows tinted and a UV screen on the windshield in 2 weeks (black cars get so hot in the summer time here). But I've added a ton of accessories already: