As more manufacturers are producing small SUVs based on car platforms, like the Ford Escape, Honda CRV and Toyota RAV4, they’re starting to tune them for performance just like they would a small car. Pioneers like the Porsche Cayenne and BMW’s X5 and X3 first brought sportiness to luxury SUVs a few years back, while the Mazda CX-7, Toyota RAV4 Sport and Pontiac Torrent GXP are low-priced newcomers to this game.
Now Acura is joining the mix, too.
As usual for Acura’s products, the RDX slots neatly between the cheap and the exclusive.
You could say affordable SUVs from Honda, Toyota, Ford and Chevy are at the Wal-Mart level—cheap, practical and not the least bit snobby; BMW, Lexus and Mercedes occupy the Neiman-Marcus stratus—sinfully luxurious and very pricey; while Acura is perfectly happy to be Sears or J. C. Penney—a nice step up from Wal-Mart but not to the point of feeling guilty.
When you sit in an RDX, you don’t get the impression that it’s a run-of-the-mill SUV. It has soft, neatly trimmed leather seats, a big multi-function display in the center of the dash and buttons all over the place for operating its luxury gizmos. It’s a technological feast, sure enough, but it also doesn’t inspire the awe and serenity of an expensive luxury car. It’s just nice enough.
| 
|