Acura ZDX A-Spec E:AWD First Test: Meet in the Middle?
Acura’s new ZDX A-Spec AWD EV SUV is good, but is it better than or much different from the Honda Prologue? Or should you get the ZDX Type S?
Pros
- Quiet cabin
- Nearly as powerful as the Type S
- More rear headroom than a Prologue
Cons
- Annoying head toss
- Not much nicer than a Prologue
- Nearly as expensive as a Type S
Breaking and entering aside, the story of Goldilocks is generally held up as an example of a good compromise. Sometimes, though, the middle isn’t the best place to be, and that’s where we find the 2024 Acura ZDX A-Spec E:AWD.
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What It Is
The ZDX is no longer the swoopy crossover of yesteryear. Instead, it’s now a more traditional-looking SUV and Acura’s first ever electric vehicle. Part of a short-lived joint venture between parent company Honda and General Motors, it shares its platform with the Honda Prologue, Chevrolet Blazer EV, and Cadillac Lyriq. To stand out from the crowd, the ZDX A-Spec E:AWD we’re testing here has a somewhat unique powertrain, coaxing 490 hp and 437 lb-ft combined from its front and rear electric motors. All other ZDX trims—from the rear-drive base model ZDX A-Spec to the high-performance dual-motor ZDX Type S—have either the same or very similar power outputs to their Honda and GM counterparts, but this one is unique.
What It Does
With considerably more power and torque than the Prologue and Blazer EV and nearly as much horsepower as the Type S (but significantly less torque), the A-Spec E:AWD is quick when you drop the hammer. Find the rocker switch by your left knee and switch to Sport mode, and it’ll hit 60 mph in 5.4 seconds while running a 13.5-second quarter mile at 99.7 mph. That’s reasonably quick, but only if you floor it.
In normal around-town driving in its default Comfort mode, the ZDX doesn’t feel nearly as quick as it is unless you’re standing on it. On the one hand, it makes sense given this isn’t the Type S, but on the other, “precision crafted performance” is Acura’s slogan, and you don’t get the impression of aggressive straight-line EV performance unless you dig for it.
It's the same song going around corners. On the test track, the A-Spec E:AWD pulls a reasonable 0.78 average lateral g, and it’ll go around our figure-eight test track in 26.3 seconds at 0.71 g average. Here again, though, the numbers make it sound sportier than the average driving experience—especially when you consider its 60–0-mph braking is an unimpressive 131 feet.
Getting these numbers required turning off traction and stability control and driving the car in anger, at which point its easily overwhelmed tires will let you do lurid power slides if you force the issue. Otherwise, it’s all stability control intervention and understeer. In other words, for the typical owner, it’s a perfectly nice premium electric SUV that goes around a corner fine but doesn’t really give off any performance vibes. Again, it’s not a Type S.
What the Problem Is
That would be all well and good if Acura wasn’t pushing the performance angle so hard or if the A-Spec E:AWD drove like an S-Class. Instead, it’s stuck in an unhappy middle. Without the delightful air suspension exclusive to the Type S, the A-Spec E:AWD rides firmer than it needs to for what’s essentially an unsporty model. Worse, the sporty ride results in frustrating and needless head toss that we didn’t experience in the Type S or its Honda, Chevrolet, and Cadillac brethren. It’s fine that the A-Spec E:AWD isn’t a sports car, but it shouldn’t treat the occupants like they’re driving in one, then.
There’s also the issue of price. At $69,850 to start, it’s $10,000 more expensive than a loaded Prologue, which rides better and has most of the same features, and the A-Spec E-AWD is also $2,860 more to start than the most expensive Cadillac Lyriq trim, which has more power and a nicer interior. On the other end of the spectrum, the E:AWD is just $5,000 cheaper than its much quicker and sportier Type S sibling. Stuck in the middle.
The interior is the other sticking point for us. We can only make out three substantial differences between the ZDX and Prologue, and the only one that matters is the extra rear headroom. With its sloping roofline, the Prologue is tight for taller passengers, but the more squared-off ZDX solves the problem nicely. The other differences are a fancier brand of stereo system and a hood over the instrument cluster screen. It’s a perfectly nice interior, but if your dealer carries both Honda and Acura products, it's going to be hard not to notice they’re basically the same inside.
Worse, if you’re at all familiar with what the inside of a substantially cheaper Chevy Blazer EV looks like, you’re going to notice your Acura uses the same steering wheel, climate controls, shifter, turn signal stalk, center console, window controls, and more.
Trouble With Charging
We also experienced some hiccups charging the A-Spec at public fast chargers. The highest peak charging rate we saw was 177 kW, a bit short of its rated 190 kW, and in every test the charging speed quickly dropped below 50 kW before the battery even reached 30 percent. We thought it might be an isolated issue at first, but during multiple charging tests of both an A-Spec and a Type S, we encountered similar problems.
After examining the vehicles, Acura got back to us with a detailed report. All were pre-production vehicles, and one had a bad connection on a cooling pump, so its problem was easily dismissed. The rest of our charging issues came down to temperature. During one test, the Electrify America charger was running hot and restricted power. (EA confirmed this.) On others, the car’s battery cooling system was maxxed out, so it restricted power to keep from overheating.
Acura noted that turning the A/C off would have helped, but as is the case with many charging stations these days, there wasn’t anywhere else to go to stay cool. We also noted that while one of the tests took place at 102 degrees ambient, the others were done when it was in the low 90s outside. Hot, but not Death-Valley-in-August hot. We’ve experienced issues charging in extreme cold before, but slow charging in high temperatures is a new one for us and something EV owners should be aware of.
What to Do
Our recommendation is to pick a side rather than the middle ground the E:AWD offers. Either save up the few extra dollars you need to get a ZDX Type S and all its improvements and extra features, or opt for a loaded Prologue and save a bundle. The ZDX A-Spec E:AWD is a compromise that leaves most everybody wanting, Goldilocks included.
Were you one of those kids who taught themselves to identify cars at night by their headlights and taillights? I was. I was also one of those kids with a huge box of Hot Wheels and impressive collection of home-made Lego hot rods. I asked my parents for a Power Wheels Porsche 911 for Christmas for years, though the best I got was a pedal-powered tractor. I drove the wheels off it. I used to tell my friends I’d own a “slug bug” one day. When I was 15, my dad told me he would get me a car on the condition that I had to maintain it. He came back with a rough-around-the-edges 1967 Volkswagen Beetle he’d picked up for something like $600. I drove the wheels off that thing, too, even though it was only slightly faster than the tractor. When I got tired of chasing electrical gremlins (none of which were related to my bitchin’ self-installed stereo, thank you very much), I thought I’d move on to something more sensible. I bought a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT and got my first speeding ticket in that car during the test drive. Not my first-ever ticket, mind you. That came behind the wheel of a Geo Metro hatchback I delivered pizza in during high school. I never planned to have this job. I was actually an aerospace engineering major in college, but calculus and I had a bad breakup. Considering how much better my English grades were than my calculus grades, I decided to stick to my strengths and write instead. When I made the switch, people kept asking me what I wanted to do with my life. I told them I’d like to write for a car magazine someday, not expecting it to actually happen. I figured I’d be in newspapers, maybe a magazine if I was lucky. Then this happened, which was slightly awkward because I grew up reading Car & Driver, but convenient since I don’t live in Michigan. Now I just try to make it through the day without adding any more names to the list of people who want to kill me and take my job.
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