As we’ve seen before here and here, Acura is planning a new luxury crossover coupe. This segment is, of course, the long lost holy grail of car design – it is everything to everyone and nothing to anyone. I could go on all day about the BMW X6 and the miserable trend it has started, but it would hurt too much to think about any further – after the jump.
Regardless of my personal thoughts, this is some of the more hotly contested and interesting news to come along in a couple of days, so it’s worth sharing.
This is the first camouflage-free spyshot of the oddly-dubbed ZDX courtesy of the aptly-named spies at Autospies. My take? The teasers were better. The teaser shots made this vehicle look so muscular and taught that I actually had some expectations. Clearly, this was a mistake on my part. I should have known that there was a good reason why those shots were taken in the dark.
About the only redeeming quality of the ZDX so far is the shield grille. It isn’t nearly as humungous as it is on, say, the TL. Other than that, the headlights look like they’re from the new Murano, the front bumper vents are ripped from a Pontiac, the profile just looks fat, and the whole think looks more like a car than an SUV. Kind of like the Venza then, if the Venza had never been in a microwave.
Until the New York Auto Show officially kicks off tomorrow, we don’t know powertrain details. Don’t expect the oft-rumoured V8, don’t expect a manual, and don’t expect RWD. Most likely it will have the same running gear as a the TL with SH-AWD and a V6.
And here I was thinking that the ZDX was supposed to “bring a new level of prestige to the Acura lineup”. I guess not. Yawn.