Acura MDX - 2003 Review

When we bought our first car, the BMW X5 (which we love), we thought "No problem if it only fits two kids, that's all we're planning on having." If only someone had clued us in to carpooling! Yes, we now carpool with two other families to and from school everyday and needed a third row of seats, something the old X5's don't have (the BMW X5 2007 does have 3 rows now).

As we thought about which second car we'd have to take on, we looked at three types: Minivans (not my style), Big SUVs (not very garage friendly) and car-based SUVs with a third row (basically the Acura, Volvo and Honda Pilot). We decided right off the bat that we'd prefer the third choice and went to do some test drives. Before we test drove a single vehicle, we assumed the Honda Pilot was the best choice since it was the least expensive and got very good reviews from Consumer Reports. But after driving the Acura MDX, we thought it was a much better choice for a couple of reasons:

1. It is a little bit smaller than the others.

2. It had a much nicer ride than either of the other two, although there is more cabin noise than our X5.

3. It was pretty reasonably priced for a "luxury" car.

We've now had it for about six months and absolutely love it. It rides nicely, has a good interior feel and is pretty fuel efficient for an SUV. My only gripe is that the third row of seats is not easily accessible if you have car seats in the second row. That means the kids either have to climb over the second row or crawl in through the trunk. Not ideal for grownups trying to put little ones into car seats - but the kids love that part!

Overall, I would highly recommend this car for anyone with more than two kids or who has to do daily carpooling.