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Well, not yet anyway. But you do have to become a “fan” before you’re even allowed to see the official ZDX page. Does this mean crossover weirdness is acceptable from a luxury brand? Or is there something we’re missing that makes the ZDX appealing but the Accord Crosstour a sin against nature?
15 Comments on “Positive Post of the Day: Facebook Doesn’t Hate the Acura ZDX Edition...”
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I saw a picture of it in Car and Driver (I got a subscription for Christmas) and I immediately thought two things:
1. Its fugly
2. Its going to bomb BIG TIME.
it’s even uglier, but c’mon, how many people are actually lined up waiting for a new Acura? Honda’s price range and history drew in the types of fans that would care about the lack of an actual wagon, and also care to speak up about it.
That, or we’re all well accustomed to the utter failure of modern Acura design, and have really low expectations from the get-go.
Kenneth Hall is clearly being fecitious, and maybe Dennis Chu is expressing a lifestyle choice. There’s no way anybody actually likes that pug-fugly thing!
I kind of like the side profile, but that’s about all that’s visually appealing.
Actually I think the Acura’s blocky exterior details work on this car.But it still is a CUV, without any utility.
Or is there something we’re missing that makes the ZDX appealing but the Accord Crosstour a sin against nature?
Detailing. The ZDX is a little cleaner and lacks the Accord sedan’s godwaful-busy truck nose. Plus, a discretionary toy is a little bit more acceptable from a luxury brand that from a mainstreamer.
That said, Acura needs an RSX replacement yesterday.
Did anyone at Honda bother to think (I know, rhetorical question) that the Crosstour and the ZDX might cannibalize one another?
I know, the demographic is a small one: people with no taste who seek out a football-shaped CUV that doesn’t really have storage capacity. Astonishingly, the ZDX makes the BMW X6 look OK.
The RDX is a good vehicle – just missing some key elements that would have pushed it over the top.
It handles very, very well for a small SUV. It has good power most of the time. It almost looks ok (before it took the buck tooth Acura changes). However it really needs someone with talent at designing cars to pull the looks together, a manual transmission, a tweak to the ECU to get rid of the immediate hesitation when you give it gas.
I think the “it’s going to bomb” panners on the enthusiast sites are usually wrong. Case in point, I think the same was said about the new Accord, the new Pilot, the RDX and new MDX, and the Civic with its funky electronic gauges. They may be right about the Crossturd and ZDX, though.
Styling aside (please), Acura has so lost its identity that one wonders if GM is its parent.
Since most vehicles of this type are bought by non-enthusist types I figured I’d ask one. I loaded up pictures of both the Acura and the Honda and showed them to my wife. Without telling her anything about the cars, she looked at the pictures for 5-10 seconds as I cycled through them a few times. Her impressions were as follows.
She liked the front of the Honda better than the Acura. She liked the rear of the Acura better. Overall she liked the Honda better. When I asked her why, she said because it’s a 4 door. When I pointed out that the Acura was also a 4 door she was a bit surprised. They did a good job of making it look like a coupe. She also didn’t really get the whole “these are crossovers” thing. She said when she looked at them she just thought of them as sedans. She thought the Honda might be the next generation Accord (she drives a 2003 Accord, her second Accord) since she saw the Honda badge. She said if made to pick, she’d pick the Honda but she didn’t really care for either of them.
For me, I agree – I don’t really care for either of them. However the post asks why “no hate” for the ZDX versus the loads of hate heaped on the Crosstour. I think it’s because the ZDX just looks better. It has an awful grill, but it’s the same awful grill the entire Acura line has been damned with. It doesn’t sit all jacked up like the Crosstour and the rear of the car seems more taught and less bulbous. The ZDX is just less, well, offending.
I’m surprised I’m in the minority, but I think the ZDX is much uglier than the Crosstour. The Honda is just a bad mash of a blocky truck front end mixed with the rear of a Panamera. The ZDX on the other hand is hideous from all angles. It’s atrocious. It looks like it should transform into some kind of fighting robot.
Perhaps Honda is just using operatives to plant positives (having learned from crosstour) with hope that the power of the crowd prevails favorably.
@Atomicblue
I agree with your wife. These things aren’t “crossovers”. A crossover is something that looks from the side and back like a Nissan Murano. These are fastback sedans. They have been around since long before the marketing people came up with this stupid designation crossover. Hello Citroen DS, anybody? Chevy Citation?
@Psarhjinian
Agreed with the need for RSX replacement yesterday–well sort of. I think what really needs replacing is the Integra. The day before yesterday.
The front end ruins the entire thing. I’d rather be seen in an Accord Crosstour.