2011 Acura ZDX - A Passionate Getaway Concept Redefining Sporting SUV Elegance

The ZDX is based on Acura's popular RDX sports utility platform, and developed to be an effective high performance road car on Germany's famous Nürburgring racing and testing circuit. A 3.7-liter VTEC V6 delivers 300 horsepower. The interior is sharply focused on luxurious appointments for two and occasional seating for two additional passengers. There is 26.3 cubic feet of useful space in the rear or, by folding the 60/40-split rear seat 55.8 cubic feet are available for sports equipment or luggage for very well dressed travel.

Because the ZDX was introduced in 2010, very little has changed for the 2011 model year.

While the ZDX is not an economy car, efficiencies are everywhere, remarkable in its small, prestigious category. The obvious competitors are BMW's X6 and the INFINITI FX35. The ZDX is priced directly between at $50,000 well equipped, with interior technologies at the top of its specialized segment and luxury appoints well above the competition. Acura's long-respected quality should keep the 40,000-mile resale depreciation between 15 and 20% with equipment packages well above the norm for the competitors.

Acura says, "Let's not call this new. Let's simply call this next." We'll call it a high-performance, leather-lined grand touring coupe with two extra doors, masquerading as a deluxe sports utility vehicle. It is what Acura calls a "Passionate Getaway" concept, designed primarily to provide escape for two adults and their weekend luggage--or gear for a week and room to bring home discoveries, with folded center seat.

Luxurious interior; high tech entertainment in a sound-controlled space; impressive all wheel drive performance

The 2011 ZDX's interior is a 21st Century interpretation of sporting luxury, with deeply bolstered front seats and dramatically formed arches surrounding a double-cockpit design. The interior looks more like a one-off concept vehicle than something available at your local Acura dealer. Acura calls it "2+Freedom" and, in order of priority, it means front seat passengers, rear cargo area, and second-row seating. While luxurious and well designed, the back seat is a family requirement or to accommodate a second couple occasionally.

A Technology Package includes hand-stitched leather covering virtually all pieces that come in contact with the front seat passengers. Entertainment technology is everywhere; active noise canceling is the baseline, then an 8-speaker audio system is fed by a voice-activated 435-watt digital sound processor with USB conductivity iPod, iPhone, or USB mass storage devices. A Bluetooth HandsFreeLink for your mobile phone is standard, as is a rearview mirror with an integrated rear view camera display.

There is also an 8-inch full VGA high-resolution display for Acura Navigation System with Voice Recognition from an on-board hard disc-drive. The AcuraLink satellite communications system includes weather and real-time traffic including rerouting as it sees fit, and also allows information messaging from Acrua.

2011 Acura ZDX Prices

TRIM

Starting MSRP

2011 Acura ZDX All Wheel Drive

$46,020

2011 Acura ZDX All Wheel Drive with Technology Package

$50,520

2011 Acura ZDX All Wheel Drive with Advance Package

$56,570

A black panoramic roof illuminates the interior and reaches from windshield to rear hatch to accentuate the Acura design team's "pulled" tension aerodynamic silhouette; a counter point to the sharply flared, muscular fenders that required a unique manufacturing system. The final provocative form is slightly longer, lower and features a considerably wider track than its primary competitors. What Acura calls the Advance Package includes the Technology Package plus Collision Mitigating Braking System, Adaptive Cruise Control, Active Damper System, and blind spot information system

Underscoring the ZDX sports coupe driving performance, is a 300-hp SOHC V-6, with Acura's VTEC variable valve timing for delivering most of its 270 lb-feet of torque through a broad range of engine speeds. A sporting 6-speed automatic transmission with Sequential SportShift and a multi-clutch lock-up torque converter puts all that selective power on the pavement with all four wheels. Acura calls the advanced torque-vectoring traction control, Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD). It can operate through an available Integrated Dynamics System with settings for Comfort or Sport, and includes variable steering assist