2025 Acura MDX Type S Interior Review: Now With Less Touchpad!
Now that a major weakness has been eliminated, how much better is the 2025 Acura MDX Type S interior? Here's our take.
The Acura MDX received a refresh for the 2025 model year. A few tweaks were made to the exterior styling, but even bigger changes happened inside. We spent a day sitting inside the new 2025 Acura MDX Type S to see if its interior upgrades make up for what was lacking in the previous model. Are the seats comfortable? Is navigating the infotainment UI any better? Will the audio system blow our minds? We’re going to comb through all those details and more in this interior review.
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Bye Bye, Touchpad
Easily the biggest change for MDX’s 2025 refresh is the elimination of Acura’s True Touchpad. It was a valiant effort to simplify navigating the UI, but it just wasn’t intuitive to use and was frustrating at times. Replacing the touchpad is a new 12.3-inch touchscreen display mounted 4 inches closer to the driver than the screen on the previous model. So, not only are users not left guessing about what functions they chose, it’s all within easier reach.
Along with the new touchscreen comes the addition of Google Built-In. Whereas Android Auto requires a constant connection to your smartphone, Google Built-In is independent. You can sign into your Google account and access apps like Maps, Google Assistant, and more without ever having to connect to your phone. (Using Google Assistant during the drive totally gave us Tony Stark vibes!) Jokes aside, we can see Assistant being helpful in various situations—looking for a meal or parking spot, or even info on your destination, especially with Google Maps already baked in. Wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are still there, but Google Built-In could streamline things, especially if you’re used to Google’s ecosystem.
De-Cluttered Center Console
One unfortunate side effect of the old True Touchpad is that Acura placed an ergonomics-enhancing palm rest above the pad. The problem was, the rest obstructed the wireless charging pad, making it cumbersome to place or pick up a smartphone. With the touchpad gone, so is the palm rest, nicely de-cluttering the center console. It’s much easier to place your phone on the charging pad and the accessory pocket is wider now to better fit a set of glasses, keys, or other objects.
The hideaway USB ports are still present, and the Type S offers up to eight ports, so it should be easy for passengers to charge their smartphones and other devices.
So Many Speakers
To appeal to the audiophile in all of us, the 2025 Acura MDX Type S comes with a new Bang & Olufsen audio system comprised of a whopping 31 speakers. That includes dual headliner speakers over each passenger in the three-row SUV and 170mm subwoofers in each door. To make fine-tuning all those speakers easier, Acura and Bang & Olufsen created the “Beosonic wheel” interface. The circular interface allows users to drag a finger to one of four sound “moods” including Bright, Warm, Energetic, and Relaxed. The cursor can also be placed between any of the four moods for a mixture of two or left in the middle for a balance of all four.
The most bass-forward is the Energetic mood, though you can boost the low-end even further by placing the cursor between Energetic and Warm. Bright favors high tones, but we had a little trouble discerning precisely how Relaxed changed the EQ. Thanks to a dual amplifier, the system pumps out 1,757 watts, so it gets plenty loud without distortion. The system has a 3D surround function, but its effect isn’t very noticeable on tracks not recorded with such a setup in mind. On such tracks, however, it’s amazing.
We like the idea of the Beosonic wheel as a quick way to dial in the EQ for the track you’re listening to on the fly. However, we did experience a major glitch that locked up the interface, and the only way to fix the issue was to pull over and restart the car completely. It only happened one time, but we let Acura know about it.
What About the Seats?
Let’s face it, the thing you’re going to be doing the most in the 2025 Acura MDX Type S besides driving it is sitting in it, so the seats better be good, right? So, it’s good the excellent seats are carried over from the previous model—no one can say that Acura cut corners when it comes to the seating appointments in the MDX.
The seats’ “curvilinear” quilted design is attractive and adds a nice, plush feel. For 2025, Alcantara inserts were added to the inner part of the side bolsters on MDX Type S; this was likely done mostly for aesthetic reasons, but the grippy material does help reduce torso movement during spirited driving. For a bit of extra flash, the “Type S” logo is now embroidered and color-matched on the headrests, as well.
Previously, only the Type S trim had the option of front massaging seats but now any MDX with the Advance package gets the feature. Having the seats massaging the kink out of your lower back while the AcuraWatch 360 driver-assist system takes the edge off traffic just might be worth the price of the Advance upgrade alone.
Dimensionally, the 2025 Acura MDX is the same as the previous model, so you still get a very roomy middle row of seats and a third row big enough to not be exclusively for small children. The rear passengers don’t have all the bells and whistles of the two front seats, but riders in the back still get to enjoy the plush leather and the amazing Bang & Olufsen 3D surround audio system.
Room for Activities
If you have an SUV, you’re likely always hauling people, things, or both, so having adequate cargo space is key. With a total of 71.4 cubic feet of room (with the third and second rows of seats folded down) the MDX has a respectable amount of space to ferry stuff from one place to another. Folding down the second row of seats is a manual process, but it’s done easily with a pull of a strap and a light push.
There’s also a hidden bin covered by a reversible panel in the cargo area. The panel has a rubberized side for use as an easily cleaned, slip-resistant surface. There are no stands to hold the panel up, but the latch can be hooked on the back of the third-row seats, leaving both hands free when loading or unloading the space. It’s a neat and simple feature we wouldn’t mind seeing in more SUVs.
The Total Package
At a base price of $76,300, our expectations for the 2025 Acura MDX Type S interior are high. If Acura’s going to ask nearly $80K for an SUV, then we need to feel every penny in its cabin. It doesn’t offer Mercedes levels of luxury, but the technology on offer, high-quality materials, and fit and finish have it within striking distance. Indeed, it offers up almost everything we could ask for: comfort, style, comfortable seats, an amazing sound system, intuitive infotainment UI, USB ports up the wazoo, and plenty of space.
Although the driving experience could still stand to be improved, when it comes to interior appointments, the 2025 Acura MDX Type S is right on the money.
Andrew Beckford’s passion for cars started as a middle schooler when his friend Richie explained how an internal combustion engine works. He was bitten by the bug and the rest, as they say, is history. He dug deep into the tuner scene and eventually wrote for Turbo Magazine, Import Tuner, Super Street. He covered car shows, feature builds, and reviewed racing games for those magazines in addition to covering motorsports including Formula Drift, Indy Car, and F1 for his personal blog. Eventually Beckford joined MotorTrend to cover the daily automotive news beat. Besides being a gearhead, Beckford has been a gamer since the ’80s and is a huge fan of the arcade racing games of the ’90s like Daytona USA, SEGA Rally, and Ridge Racer. Beckford’s a movie buff as well, especially comic book films from DC and Marvel. When car culture crosses over with gaming and entertainment, rest assured Beckford is aware of it. In addition to serving as a consultant on a “triple A” racing titles, he’s reviewed major racing games such as Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, F1, and more. He’s also interviewed blockbuster directors including Steven Caple Jr. (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Neill Blomkamp (Gran Turismo). His biggest profile to date was with Robert Downey Jr. on his love affair with cars and his show Downey’s Dream Cars on MAX. Beckford’s profile of Downey Jr. was the first print cover story written by an African American in MotorTrend’s history. Along with KJ Jones, Andrew Beckford also heads up MotorTrend’s celebration of Black History Month by spotlighting diverse voices in the automotive industry and motorsports. Beckford’s first car was a 1982 Nissan Stanza affectionately named “Stanley” by his late mother.
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