What is it with Acura's new vehicle naming budget? They must not have any room for purchasing vowels. All of their offerings utilize consonants only: RL, TL, TSX, MDX, RDX. Their latest entry is something that they call "the first four-door coupe" - the ZDX. That sounds sort of like an athlete's foot remedy to me. 

The point is raised because one of these vehicles now crouches menacingly on my driveway. The grille on the thing is, well, scary. Back in the 50's the joke was that the front of the Edsel incorporated a pedestrian eater. Mad magazine even ran a caricature of an Edsel with a pair of legs sticking out of the grille. If the Edsel was that daunting, then the ZDX is The Car That Ate Cleveland. I park it rear end first in my garage so that it won't give me the heebie jeebies when I walk down the stairs in the mornings.

The rest of the car has very nice lines an d copious storage space - something that I have been lobbying for a long time. Behind the rear seats, which fold down nicely flat, there are storage bins on either side of the rear deck, which itself contains another nice storage area beneath a hinged lid. God only knows where the spare tire is, but that's AAA's problem.

Breaking and handling are very good and there are steering wheel mounted gear shift paddles that come in handy when descending a hill or when a bit more acceleration is needed. Normal acceleration is adequate albeit not exhilarating.

The technology is rather mind boggling, especially for someone who bemoans the labyrinthine submenus of digital SLR's. There are three manuals totalling about 1000 pages that go into great detail about voice commands, IPod hookup, navigation, etc, etc.. I figure that I will have it all digested by the time my 20 month old grandson graduates from college...but only if I eat the manuals.

All in all, it's a nice package for a single person who occasionally needs to carry a lot of stuff but wants to drive something a bit dressier and sportier than a pckup. The key is to avoid letting prospective passengers see the front end. They might bail on you.

April 2010