2011 Acura ZDX Coupe Test Drive

By Bob Plunkett

Acura describes its 2011 ZDX as a "four-door coupe" because the silhouette resembles a rakish two-door GT coupe with hatchback styling but a four-door package with cleverly concealed rear door handles.

It looks like the car stylists at Acura worked a sleek and edgy hatchback treatment on Acura's boxy five-door crossover utility vehicle (CUV), the MDX.

And so they did, as the front-wheel-drive (FWD) platform of MDX supports the slick aerodynamic structure of the ZDX which has four flank doors like a sedan and flexible seating in a plush leather-lined cabin plus 56 cubic feet of cargo space in the aft bay with access through a tail-side liftgate.

ZDX's body measures almost an inch longer but more than five inches lower at the roofline than MDX, although it shares the CUV's 108-inch wheelbase length.

Standing several inches higher off the pavement than the typical coupe or sedan for better clearance of bumpy-road obstacles, the ZDX lists as standard equipment the spry wheel control of Acura's SH-AWD (Super-Handling All-Wheel-Drive) equipment.

The computer-managed SH-AWD system can disburse the powertrain's torque not only to wheels fore and aft but the left or right ones too. It's always engaged and enables the vehicle to maneuver on wet or dry pavement with uncanny agility. [Full Story]