"New Car Smell" Less Toxic, But The Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder Smells Funny For A Reason

A group that keeps tabs on toxic car chemicals has released a study showing that new cars are improving in terms of the amount of interior toxins they off-gas: What we euphemistically call "new car smell." General Motors, Mazda and Nissan showed the greatest improvements over the inaugural year of the survey, according to HealthyCar.com. The best performing vehicle this year was the Acura RDX, which scored a 0.6 on their incomprehensible 10-point scale. It wasn't all coming up roses, as there are still many vehicles emitting that oh-so-pleasing and apparently oh-so-toxic smell. More »

Acura Didn't Want To Let Us Touch It, But We Did Anyway: First-Hand Look At The New 2007 RDX

Although our invitation to the big Honda / Acura shindig this week never did arrive (what's up with the lack of love for the Jalopnik, baby? ) — fear not, we were still able to get you a first-hand look at Acura's new hotness, the 2007 RDX — via the folks over at Acura of Troy. They held an owner ride-test event and gave us a sneak peek before the curtains opened. We've got the photo gallery below to let you feast your eyes upon all of its turbocharged SUV goodness — and we've also got a few folks on the inside of the event to give us the skinny on what we'll be missing. Although we're not entirely sure why this all is news, seeing as a bunch of folks with the long leads (hey guys, it's not the length of your lead, it's what ya do with it!) have already dropped the reviews on it — but what do we know? Y'all asked for it, so here ya go. More »

Rejoice, Young Urbanites: Acura RDX Pricing Announced

Acura's new small, turbocharged SUV for the young and on-the-go, the 2007 RDX, will be priced in the the low $30,000 range — the sweet spot for aspiring ad lions and the ladies who do their taxes. The MSRP will be $32,995, with an optional technology package pushing it to $36,495, not including $615 shipping and handling (sorry, Tennessee!). Press release after the jump. More »

Dan Neil Likes the Acura RDX, He Really Likes It

Dan Neil's back. Right, he never left physically, but if we're being honest (and we pretty much are), we'd been detecting a slight leak from his characteristic wit of late. If his Muse had left the building, she was only out for lattes (or a Double-Double with extra avocado). Neil's prosiness is back, and it's trained on the Acura MDX SUV, which he says, is "perfectly constructed, elegantly engineered and shamelessly underpriced." Acura's marketing speak-speak, on the other hand, is far less elegantly rendered.

In fact, so smitten am I by this vehicle that I can only conclude I'm exactly the sort of person it was designed for. According to Acura's psychographic buyer's profile, I'm apparently what you call an "urban achiever." I'm edgy, competitive, and I work hard and play hard. During the weekdays I'm entertaining clients and impressing the boss. Weekends I enjoy an active lifestyle of dating, night life and mountain biking.

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Pre-Release Video of Acura RDX SUV

The early adopters over at AcuraRDX.net (yeah, these guys move quickly) procured what looks like a montage of B-roll shots (with live audio) from an upcoming commercial or presentation for Acura's new RDX mini-ute. If you listen closely, you can almost hear the new turbo spooling up; either that or the low whine of RDX's target audience of urban professionals ordering Thai food over the phone. We're sending it to the lab for analysis. [Thanks to Rob for the tip.] More »

Uteful Digressions: Acura's New RDX Prototype

Acura introduced its new small luxo-ute prototype, the RDX, this afternoon. The lil' X3 fighter is built on Acura's new global light-truck platform and powered by an all-aluminum turbocharged 2.3-liter i-VTEC mill producing 240 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque. It's also got paddle shifters to work the five-speed SportShift tranny. Whether the company will build his swankness — or some reasonable facsimile thereof — is all but assured. Maybe in 2008. More »