The Acura MDX Sport Hybrid Brought NSX Supercar Tech To The School Run

Sometimes the most interesting footnotes in automotive history are cool ideas that don’t go particularly far. Case in point: The 2017 to 2020 Acura MDX Sport Hybrid was nothing like today’s CR-V Hybrid, or any hybrid Honda you can currently buy. In fact, it borrowed its hybrid tech from the NSX supercar. Yeah, an anonymous-looking crossover with actual supercar-derived tech under its sheetmetal. Nothing boring about that, right?

Like a normal model, the MDX Sport Hybrid features a V6 engine, but that’s where mechanical similarities largely end. Instead of the 3.5-liter direct-injected V6 in the regular MDX, the Sport Hybrid featured a smaller three-liter port-injected V6, and instead of a conventional automatic transmission, the MDX Sport Hybrid featured a seven-speed DCT. Oh, and that’s before we get into electric motors, because this crossover had three.

Fed by a 1.3 kWh lithium-ion battery pack, a 47-horsepower electric motor sat inside the seven-speed DCT, while each rear wheel got its own electric motor for real torque vectoring. Acura rated the combined output of both rear motors at 72 horsepower, and the MDX Sport Hybrid could creep off the line using the rear motors alone, given sufficient charge in the battery pack and gentle enough pedal application. Total combined output of everything together? A reasonable 321 horsepower and 289 lb.-ft. of torque.

Oh, but there’s more. Acura fitted every MDX Sport Hybrid with adaptive dampers and gave it a Sport+ mode to simply turn on everything for maximum thrust. When combined with the torque vectoring of the dual rear motors, it produced a rather intriguing result — Car And Driver instrumented testing saw 0.87 g on the skidpad, some 0.04 g more than a standard MDX despite nondefeatable stability control and all-season tires. Then there’s the handling, of which the magazine wrote:

the Acura hybrid’s body roll and understeer characteristics approach those of a sports sedan. The electronically controlled variable dampers manage wheel and body motion without spoiling ride quality.

Add in the fact that the hybrid powertrain boosted fuel economy by seven MPG city to 26 mpg and one MPG on the highway to 27 mpg, and the electrified MDX was a tempting proposition. Oh, and despite all the complexity of the hybrid powertrain, critics found it all rather smooth. As per Car And Driver:

Complementing this MDX’s admirable performance stats is its total lack of hybrid antics. The gasoline engine and the electric motors join forces so willingly that the only clue something special is afoot is when the tachometer needle is resting on its zero-rpm peg and you’re moving. With a light touch on the accelerator, you can creep up to about 40 mph on pure electric propulsion. As high as 55 mph, the engine winks off during deceleration to save gas, restarting seamlessly. And during braking, where blending friction and regenerative deceleration challenges many hybrids, there’s no clue that this Acura is anything other than a conventional SUV.

There’s more convention to the way the MDX Sport Hybrid works too. Because all the batteries are up in the central tunnel, cargo space is identical to the combustion-powered model, and the fuel tank on the hybrid was only 12.8 fluid ounces smaller than the one on the regular model. Oh, and the turning radius on the hybrid is actually tighter than the one on the regular MDX. The only real downside? It’s not rated for towing. Still, if you don’t plan on towing, that’s not the worst compromise to make.

Plus, the MDX Sport Hybrid was very much equipped like a luxury car. Every single one of these things got LED headlights, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated leather seats, adaptive cruise control, tri-zone climate control, and a power-adjustable steering column. Oh, and that’s not where toys stopped. You could get options like a 12-speaker ELS audio system, a 16.2-inch ultrawide rear seat entertainment screen, ventilated front seats, and a heated steering wheel. However, you won’t be paying full-on luxury car prices for these things, especially now that they’ve hit the meat of the secondhand market.

For example, this 2019 MDX Sport Hybrid is up for sale in North Carolina with 91,136 miles on the clock for a reasonable $24,370. It’s got a clean Carfax, it’s had one previous owner, that’s just the way these things depreciate.

Alright, let’s say you want something with less mileage on the clock, and perhaps even specced in an actual color too. Well, this 2018 model has 65,309 miles on the clock, and it’s listed for $27,998 at an Acura dealer in Florida. Again, clean Carfax, nothing obviously off with it, just a sensible six-year-old family hauler. How about that?

What we have here is a very compelling daily driver that slides entirely under the radar. It’s an upscale hybrid crossover with supercar tech at a bargain price, and it seems to be reliable. Aside from the slightly dated interior, it really does seem to offer a whole lot for the money, and it’s properly interesting from an engineering perspective. So, before you go out and buy a used Lexus RX450h, you might want to give the MDX Sport Hybrid a look. It’s an interesting, underrated family hauler that won’t leave you high and dry.

(Photo credits: Acura, Autotrader Sellers)

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