The term "Moving Upmarket", in this case, is redundant, and makes little sense. Acura was born, in 1986, as an upmarket company, and has always been an upmarket company. To say they are moving upmarket is like saying that the sun will start rising tomorrow.

 

Their cars are growing in size, prices increase, better differentiation from Honda these days, material selection has improved. That's what moving up market means. Acura has always been a Premium brand, not a Luxury brand.

 

There's different levels of being upmarket. Acura is a premium brand, not a luxury one like Lexus. They are trying to change that perception with their newest offerings.

EDIT: Thanks Hoovey

 

the camo version looks like a tallish tlx wagon.

not really. acura is like buick, a 'premium' brand, but not full luxury. if buick were to become like cadillac, they would have gone up market. they won't because gm already has cadillac. but perhaps honda is tired of acura being considered kinda mediocre (for which they only have themselves to blame). i owned 2 acuras way back, loved them, and it's what i could afford then, because i couldn't afford lexus or mercedes, etc. acura then floundered for a decade and is trying to get some market traction and brand awareness, which is good, but it's not easy. the mdx has been successful for being probably the first smallish 3 row crossover and of course, honda bulletproof and easy to drive. the most recent rdx is a hit (i like exterior, but like the tlx, i hate the interior). i expect this mdx to fall in line with the mdx/tlx, that is, a bizarre interior to get 'noticed'.

if they basically just stylize the current vehicle i'd say they won't do well as the market has become so much more crowded.

 

that grille is still cartoonish but i'm happy to see the MDX finally getting a major power upgrade

my parents leased MDXs from 2003 to 2018, maybe they'll want to go back now

 

MDX Type-S perhaps

 

the 2013 model with the 'advance package' was the last time the MDX to me was a legit big boy competitor, that car had like everything... heated/ventilated memory seats (with heated rear seats), magneto rheological active dampers, radar cruise, BSM, full nav, a lovely 6-speed mated to that fantastic sounding vtec engine (which for the time was still considered powerful at 300hp), and no stupid touch screen that lags all over the place and becomes unusable if there's sunlight behind you

 

We had the 07 Sport, which had the Magnetic dampers and all the bells and whistles. Agree that was a marvelous machine. Drove and handled like a champ, although it had given up a bit of the cargo capacity and 3rd row space of the 1st gen. The 3rd gen (currently outgoing) definitely went softer and more vanilla in the search of more sales, which it definitely still achieved, but conceding some level of premium-ness as the brand regressed to Honda-plus.

 

Looks more like a refresh than a whole new generation?

 

There is nothing that suggests that this just a refresh. Sure, their design changes (on the exterior) are definitely more evolutionary. But all indications point to a pretty wholesale redesign.

 

Considering where SUVs were at the time, yeah the MDX was a strong competitor

I tried to get my parents to get a 2008 MDX (loved that front), but they settled on the 2008 RX350 (also a popular car). The SH-AWD had excellent grip.

The current Honda Pilot came out in 2015 as MY16, but not before the current MDX 2013 as MY14. So it's very likely the MDX is ready for a full redesign with the Pilot coming a year or two after (though I don't know for sure). Honda seems to be doing it right in the sense of debuting the MDX first then the Pilot vs Toyota which does the Highlander first then the RX.

 

i thought these MDXs were on a different platform than the pilot. earlier models shared but not these, no? i've stopped following hondas since they dropped the s2000 (still have my accord though)!

 

Like the 1st gen MDX/Pilot, the current MDX platform came first and then it was modified for use as the Pilot/Passport.

The next gen MDX will follow suit I assume however you can bet your bottom dollar that during the press launch, just like Acura has made very clear at every single press launch starting from the current RDX, they will mention that this is an "ACURA EXCLUSIVE" platform.

To be honest, with the whole modular platform transition with even the "purest" of brands like Porsche/audi/VW, platform sharing isnt as bad as some folks make it out to be anymore, as long as the final product itself is different and worth its cost to the customer.

 

The Pilot, MDX, Ridgeline, Odyssey, and the Passport are all related to each other, some more than others

I believe the new TLX has a new or special platform iirc