Photos: 2007 Acura MDX

Acura's SUV is smaller in stature than some, yet still have three rows of seating. But with the rear seats in use, cargo room disappears.

Acura's design language borrows too heavily from boats for our taste, with the front of the car looking like a speedboat bow.

Getting into the third-row seats isn't easy, as you have to climb over the middle row.

Rear visibility isn't too bad out of the MDX, but a rear-view camera helps a lot when backing into a parking space.

Cargo area is spacious with the third-row seats down, but put them up and you can barely fit groceries.

The interior of the MDX is refined, but not nearly as luxurious as competitors from Lexus and Infiniti.

The triangular hub in the steering wheel makes a good platform for mounting buttons.

The joystick/knob for using the navigation and music systems isn't very intuitive, but it doesn't take too long to get used to it.

The navigation system for the MDX works very well and supplies a database of points of interest that includes retails stores.

The six-disc changer plays MP3 CDs. From the folder level, you can navigate down to view individual tracks.

The LCD gives some helpful feedback when using the Bluetooth cell phone system, but the picture it shows is from the RDX. Acura used a different steering wheel in the MDX, but obviously didn't update the software.

The 9-inch DVD screen works well for viewing movies in the rear seats. With a pair of wireless headphones and jacks for three wired headphones, five people can watch.

We're surprised the MDX still only has a five-speed automatic when most of the world is going over to six speeds.

The 3.7-liter V-6 is adequate to move the MDX around, but it's not particularly powerful.