ACURA ADDS SPORT-HYBRID TECHNOLOGY TO MDX

Acura showed a refreshed exterior for the 2017 MDX, which has been the brand’s top-selling three-row luxury SUV — both in the United States and Canada — for some time. The new grille reflects the “Precision Concept” car shown at this year’s Detroit show, which purported to be the harbinger of Acura’s design direction. Well, here you go. But the bigger news is the adoption of the SportHybrid SH-AWD technology — essentially “electric super-handling all-wheel drive” — previously used on the RLX sedan and similar to that in the NSX supercar. A 3.0-L V6 is mated to three electric motors: one is integrated with the transmission and helps propel the front wheels; the other two are in the rear axle and help spin the rears. (The NSX uses a 3.5 twin-turbo V6, and the electric motor array is essentially mirror-imaged front-torear.) The combined output of 325 horsepower in the MDX SH/SHAWD exceeds that of the standard 3.5-L non-electrified V6 engine by some 25 ponies, and city fuel consumption is some seven miles per U.S. gallon (we are in the States here), better than with the base engine. Pricing won’t be announced until the gasoline version debuts this summer; the current car ranges from $52,990 to $64,900. MDX is all-four-wheel drive in Canada; the U.S. offers a front-driver, too. The SuperHybrid model follows later this year. Acura also unveiled a GT3 race car based on the new NSX. The 3.5-L twin-turbo V6 engine uses most of the same components — e.g., block, heads, dry-sump lubrication system — as the road car, and is built in the same Honda engine factory in Anna, Ohio. Art St. Cyr, president of Honda America’s racing division, was notably coy about power output, but allowed it would be “competitive” with other GT3 cars. That means somewhere in the 600-horsepower range. The race car also uses largely the same multi-material (aluminum, steel, carbon fibre) body structure as the road car, and is built by the same staff at the Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio. GT3 rules don’t allow four-wheel drive or electrification, so Acura had to dumb the car down to go racing. Still, it’s always good to see another manufacturer involved in racing. It will pit Acura against such notables as Ferrari and McLaren, cars with which the NSX competes in the showroom. Plans call for a racing debut in 2017. Jim Kenzie