As I plied the Type S through Capitol Hill and took my partner home, the rest of the AcuraWatch driver-assist system functioned flawlessly as it watched for pedestrians and cross-traffic. This is a rare feat for the chaotic streets of Seattle, which exposes flaws in monitoring systems better than virtually any other metro area in America.
The sole complaint I had with the MDX Type S on this mundane section of my drive was with the infotainment system. It uses a touchpad to control inputs to the 12.3-inch infotainment screen, rather than having a more-traditional touchscreen. The touchpad functions quite well in native Acura menu screens but it was much harder to correctly use it with Apple CarPlay (which is offered standard with wireless connectivity on all MDXs). I assumed that I would get more used to using it as the week wore on, but at no point during my testing was I able to swap from one app to another quickly with CarPlay.
Victoria Scott
The rest of the infotainment system was pleasant, however, and there were plentiful physical controls for stereo, driving mode selection, and climate controls. The steering wheel mirrored these physical controls, and offered actual buttons for cruise control. The infotainment screen was also able to show both phone mirroring display and the native software at the same time with a split-screen system, which was useful for navigation. As a result, I found the MDX’s infotainment overall less frustrating than many competitors that depend on touch-capacitive functions (or touchscreen-only) controls, despite the mildly clunky center touchpad.
2024 Acura MDX Type S Review: Sports SUV Has Surprises Behind The Price
