2014 Acura MDX offers host of new safety features we hope never to use

One of our top-scoring midsized SUVs, the Acura MDX, has been redesigned for 2014 with a lighter-weight body structure that offers more crash protection, fuel-saving technologies, a lower-priced front-wheel-drive model, a host of electronic driver safety aids, and new electronic connectivity systems

We spent $49,460 on an all-wheel-drive model with the Technology Package to see how it stacks up to competitors, as well as its impressive predecessor.

Perhaps the most notable improvement over the old MDX is our model's comprehensive suite of driver safety aids bundled into the $4,300 Technology Package. These high-tech features include a navigation system with real-time traffic and voice recognition, GPS-linked tri-zone automatic climate control, blind-spot monitoring, a six-gigabyte music hard drive, premium audio system, and AcuraLink, a telematics system that puts occupants in touch with emergency operators in time of need.

Order the Advanced and Entertainment package, and you also get a lane-keeping assist system, adaptive cruise control that can stop and restart in heavy traffic, Zagat restaurant ratings and reviews in the navigation system, automatic traffic rerouting, surround sound, and a rear entertainment system. We skipped both the Advanced package and its prerequisite rear entertainment system.

Our testers like the MDX, but miss the sporty feeling of the last version. Some also have found the dual-screen radio and infotainment system cumbersome. The new MDX uses fuel-saving electronic power steering in place of the livelier hydraulic system. And the new dual-screens replace an old dashboard that had more than 40 different control buttons.

Among the most impressive aspects of the new MDX is its 700-pound lighter body structure that incorporates new reinforcements to help it ace the new small-offset front crash test by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

The new MDX has been popular among our staff for summer weekend trips, so we had no trouble accumulating break in miles on it, enabling a quick turnaround from purchase until testing.

The MDX road test is in the October magazine, and the expanded road test is now online.