2024 Acura ZDX Type S First Drive Review: A Good Car With First-EV Jitters

I reviewed the new Honda Prologue EV back in February. Overall, I found it to be a perfectly fine electric CUV for the mass market, even if it did have a couple of issues. The 2024 Acura ZDX Type S, which is also built on GM’s Ultium platform, not only addresses the few issues with the Prologue but adds the luxury and performance buyers expect from the Acura brand. Hopefully, they’re expecting the $23,000 price bump too.

For 75 grand, the new ZDX is a good start to Acura's electric car journey. It's practical, drives well enough, and feels fancy enough, acting as an interesting in-between option for those looking for something more affordable than the Mercedes EQs and BMW i's of the world but something a bit more luxe than, say, a Kia EV6.

The original Acura ZDX, produced from 2009 to 2013, was based on the MDX but topped with four-door coupe styling favoring form over function. The interior featured a number of firsts for Acura including complex concave interior surfacing which required new construction methods. Leather was painstakingly selected and mostly hand-stitched. The car received mixed reviews from the press while dealers who struggled to understand it weren’t particularly successful at selling it. 

This new ZDX is far more clear-cut. This is a mid-size crossover with traditional styling that asks very little in terms of transitioning from a gas-powered vehicle. The designers did take a few chances; some more striking than others. The slim headlights and DRL treatment look great and I can even get behind the lit grille surround. Details around the front valence, rocker panels, and rear diffuser add some aggression without trying too hard. Large wheels and short overhangs hide some of its size. The longer I looked at it, the more I liked it. But the chrome line over the side windows that stops well short of the shoulder line is in my opinion, a visual annoyance. I have dubbed it the Hoffmissedit Kink, but as every owner of a first-gen Porsche Panamera likes to say, “You can’t see it from behind the wheel.”

Inside is another mixed bag. The interior of the original ZDX was referred to by one of my old coworkers as a “button orgy” after counting 83