Test drive Honda MDX 2003 - 2006 SUV

Comparison Honda MDX and Toyota Land Cruiser Prado

Honda MDX: A classic American SUV with the largest body among Japanese classmates
Well, we waited: Honda MDX can now be bought freely in Japan! Many must be aware that this car is assembled in North America, and in Japan was previously imported as an imported machine and spread through the Verno retail network.
Thanks to the extremely unpretentious shape of the decorative grate of the radiator and its small size, the MDX is very reminiscent of Honda CR-V. But this is nothing more than external resemblance. In fact, what kind of similarity can we talk about when MDX has completely different dimensions? Judge for yourself: its full length is 4790 mm, full width is 1955 mm. Please pay attention: the width of this Honda brand car is not just large. It is as much as 100 mm more than the width of the Toyota Land Cruiser body in the back of the 100th series! Thus, if you still consider the MDX as a Japanese machine, then it becomes the largest SUV of all the representatives of the Japanese auto industry existing in this class. Although, on the other hand, will Honda Japanese be called correctly? I think that it would be more correct to perceive it as a purely American car of increased cross -country ability for outdoor activities, or simply put, a car of the SUV category in the classical sense of the word.
MDX is equipped with a 6-cylinder engine with a V-shaped cylinder location. The working volume of cylinders is 3,500 cubic meters. See, maximum developed power of 260 horsepower, and the maximum torque is 35.2 kg/m. MDX is made on a passenger type platform, although this car can be called only with a big stretch. Judge for yourself: in addition to impressive it carries more than two tons of machine weight! Truly, possessing such a mass, the car must have the engine corresponding to the working volume. I have already noted that this model has dimensions atypical for the Japanese market. But such uniqueness under certain conditions may become the most important advantage that will help attract a Japanese buyer.
Honda, I think, feels quite confident in terms of the production and implementation of minivan class cars. On the other hand, the popularity of a particular model is a very unstable thing. And now Honda Fit, who always had such a deafening success, begins to sell worse and worse. And after this comes some stagnation and in the implementation of other fundamental importance of models for the company: STEPWGN and Stream. On the other hand, recently there has been a noticeable interest in imported SUVs equipped with high -power engines. I mean primarily Mercedes ML 320 or BMW X 5, or even Porsche Cayenne. Why not take this situation in such a situation and try to offer your version of such a car interested in the public? After all, she really looks just like an imported model! So in the actions of the Honda MDX company, there is a completely sound calculation. Moreover, there is also a stubborn struggle on the other flank, to achieve success in which Toyota either improves its Vitz model, then suddenly launches a new Wish model. So the appearance of the Americanized MDX in the Japanese automobile market is, in all likelihood, not at all random.
 


 
Toyota Land Cruiser Prado: High quality, good equipment and excellent cross -country ability
If you recall all the models of Japanese cars that are included in the so -called group of cars for outdoor activities, then the most the authoritative family here, no doubt, should recognize Toyota Land Cruiser. Recently, these cars have become intensely striving for greater comfort, trying to get closer to the usual passenger class cars as much as possible. But the fact is that this transformation does not affect the deterioration of their patency. Those of drivers who know well and love the Land Cruiser lines well, I think they will understand me better if I express myself a little differently: at present, the main task of the designers is to support in a modern car those running qualities that were inherent in the real all -terrain vehicle - Toyota Land Cruiser 70th series.
In fact, of course, initially Land Cruiser Prado was considered as a passenger version of the same 70th Land Cruiser series. When developing the next generation of Prado, it was decided to rearrange the car to another platform used in Toyota Hilux Surf. This, in particular, led to the fact that Prado began to be more like a city SUV. And what do we see in the modern version of Land Cruiser Prado? Firstly, it has improved significantly in qualitative. Secondly, a lot of additional equipment and devices began to enter its complete set. I quite admit that there will be drivers who only condescendingly wave their hand: what, they say, here they tell us which of Prado can be an SUV? I can advise such skeptics only one thing - get behind the wheel and find a section of the road worse. I assure you that many will immediately have a different idea of \u200b\u200bwhat the last model is! Still, because it has a suspension with good dynamics, and, as befits a high -class car, on a steep descent, where it is so easy to lose controllability, can automatically adjust the speed of movement. This was made possible thanks to the use of Active TRC in the machine. So, Prado is perceived as a high -quality and comfort machine, although at the same time he did not lose his off -road virtues at all.
If we consider the degree of its stability when driving on asphalt roads, then here it is still inferior to the last generation of Hilux Surf and requires further revision. In the meantime, we dwell on the fact that the truly Landcruster character of Prado is not at all on smooth and even roads.
Machines of this class, in addition to Toyota, are produced only by Mitsubishi (Pajero) and Nissan (Safari). From this we can conclude: such models are a very noticeable phenomenon on the automobile sky of Japan.
 

And on whose side are you?
Who can recommend Honda MDX?
I believe that MDX is ideal for those drivers who look for an SUV with a pronounced personality for themselves, the car, as they say, out of the ordinary. Still, if you look closely, then MDX is not a purely American car, it has a certain European charm. So, the result is a Japanese car with European features, intended for North America. And all this is proposed to operate on Japanese roads! Agree that such a cosmopolitan machine for those striving for the originality of drivers will clearly be a find!
Who can recommend Toyota Land Cruiser Prado?
What should the driver who will like the Land Cruiser Prado of the last model be? The answer, I think, is simple: he will never miss the case to ruin off -road. Such a driver seriously believes that the main thing is for which the car car is needed is overcoming heavy sections of the road with a poor coating. He is fully aware that compared to Toyota Harrier Prado will force him, his driver, to sweat pretty, but from his point of view, the pleasure that you can get by driving this machine is worth it.
Tobe Binji: I would still prefer Land Cruiser Prado!
Honda MDX is, as I understand it, the first experience of creating a full -fledged SUV undermined by Honda. It is made on the platform of the well -known minivan Odyssey. Of course, I am attracted by a large capacity and a very spacious interior of this car. At the same time, one cannot but take into account the obvious circumstance that this machine is made mainly for driving on normal, even roads, and not off -road. And what in this case to do it with his almost two -meter width on our Japanese roads? But the model of Toyota is designed in the exact opposite manner, that is, with a sight to move in Off-Road mode. At the same time, Prado behaves well when driving on asphalt, and it is much easier to maneuver on it. Yes, I agree that Prado has not such a spacious interior as MDX. But how comfortable and equipped it is! It is for these, from my point of view, the significant advantages I give him preference.
Kato Yukinaga: It seems to me more suitable Honda MDX!
Of course, the Land Cruiser Prado has many advantages that, together, form an extremely attractive image of this car. And yet, I choose Honda MDX! After all, if we compare cars of this class in terms of engine power and by the size of its torque, then they all turn out to be equivalent. There is no much difference between them in terms of adjusting and changing the position of the seats in the cabin. More precisely, it may be available, but only for this type of machines these small differences cannot significantly affect the overall assessment of the machine. What remains then? It is probably that it remains solely by the species and qualitative composition of those systems and devices that equip the chassis of the car. And here I, with full confidence, give my vote in support of MDX. I give, first of all, for the fact that it is equipped with a unique all -wheel drive system developed in Honda. This system provides for the connection of the advantages of two previously used transmission modes: partial all -wheel drive and regime regime permanent all -wheel drive. This combination allows the machine to confidently pass such sections of the road where another driver may not be easy. In particular, I mean the movement in snowy fields, which brings a lot of indelible impressions.
Specifications
Honda MDX
Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 3.4 TZ
 
Length / width / body height
4 790 /1955 /1820 mm
4715 /1875 /1855 mm
 
Wheelbase
2 700 mm
2790 mm
 
Ride width (front / back)
1 685 /1690 mm
1 575 /1 575 mm
 
Car weight
2030 kg
1970 kg
 
Engine
6-cylinder with V-shaped cylinders (SOHC)
6-cylinder with V-shaped cylinders (DOHC)
 
The working volume of cylinders
3741ss
3378ss
 
Maximum power
260 hp at 5800 vol./min
185 hp at 4800 vol./min
 
Maximum torque
35.2 kg/m at 3500 rpm/min
30.0 kg/m at 3600 rpm/min
 
Brakes (rear / front)
Disco ventilated / disk
Disco ventilated / disk ventilated
 
Classification by the number of harmful substances in the exhaust gases
Supernarial content of harmful substances
Moderately low content of harmful substances
 
March 2003

Source: Autogallerynet