2001 Acura MDX Touring from North America - Comments

Transmission went completely out 70,000 miles.

I have an Acura 01 MDX Touring (my 3rd Acura) that I purchased new in Asheville. I have done all the service and then some at the dealership.

I have been complaining about the transmission o not changing correctly since about 35,000 miles. On each service visit it seemed to get worse. I have even had the transmission fluid changed before scheduled at about 50,000. Each time I complained the tech in Asheville said they test-drove it and everything was OK. Next Acura did a recall on my transmission and again I took it in and hoped it would be fixed. After picking it up this time the trans seemed to be slipping and making noise. I took it right back the next day. I was told that it had been check and an oil kit added and it would be fine and did not need repaired. I took it in again the last week of March this year to get an oil change and check the trans again. This time when I picked it up the tech said it had been thoroughly checked and I could need struts soon. I told them It dosen’t need struts!! The trans is changing gears unnecessarily.

On the 2nd of April on my way to Wilmington NC the transmission went out near Florence SC. There is no Acura dealer In Florence so I called the dealership in Asheville. They told me the transmission was not under warranty and it sounds like I may need to have it replaced. If I wanted to tow it back to Asheville of course they could do the work at my cost, but maybe I could call the 800 numbers on my window. I called that number and was told they only cover paint warranties. I finally got in touch with Acura corporate office and talked to a very helpful fellow! He had me have the truck towed to Acura in Columbia SC. I am so glad I took it there where I received nothing less than award winning service. The service tech was very helpful and professional and treated me as if my vehicle was new and I had just purchased from their dealership, when in fact I am from Asheville and my truck was out of warranty. Acura replaced the transmission with what they called a “good faith” repair realizing that I shouldn’t need a transmission at less than 80,000 miles on a high-end vehicle lake a MDX. I am so glad that when the transmission went out I was not in Asheville. I also wish the dealership would have admitted that they were having lots of problems with these transmissions.

I still love my MDX.

It just had a bad transmission and the dealership wouldn't admit it.

The transmission that is in my truck now seems to be starting to have the same kind of problems as the first one. I think it is a re-built, but can't be sure, they didn't tell me.

Trans out on my MDX at 90K. Dealer will replace it with all new gears for $800. Sounds reasonable as they know the trans are not holding up. I wish they would pay more, but legally I'm out of warranty. Great vehicle and dealership (Rosenthal) other than the trans.

Washington, DC.

2001 MDX Base.

Problems with eratic shifting at all speeds. Dealer agreed to a courtesy replacement at 60K miles even though warranty expired. New trans (not rebuilt) has less than 50K miles and has similar problem. I can no longer use 5th gear because it constantly shifts out.

Replaced struts at 80K miles (my first complaint was right out of the dealer). Plenty of front end noise. Dealer added spring 'stiffeners'. Guess what - recall on the springs, but I'm already out $600 to replace both struts.

This vehicle is a joke. I've been totally dissatisfied with it and the treatment from Acura and dealers has been horrible.

Spend your money somewhere else.

Mike (NJ)

First of all the MDX is not a high end vehicle. Acura may be Hondas luxury brand, but there are not many people who consider Acura a "Luxury" car. Lexus, Mercedes, and BMW are luxury cars.

Acura is doing the same thing Lexus has done with their first SUV. The RX300 has a faulty transmission, but unlike Acura Lexus has not recalled it. Lexus will not pay anything if the car is out of warranty. My mothers RX cost her close to five thousand dollars.

I drive a Mercedes, and yes they have little problems, but the motors are reliable. The problems are more electrical related like windows, seats, mirrors etc.

I just took delivery on my 07 S550. The car is not what I expected and I will be buying the new Lexus LS460 when its becomes available in October. I still think Lexus is the most reliable car on the road, but Mercedes has better styling. I'm going back to my roots of Lexus. My first car was a 1992 Lexus ES300. Runs like new to this day.

I had my transmission replaced at 45,000. The dealership gave me a hard time, but eventually did it at no cost as it was a "certified pre-owned" vehicle that I had put less than 10,000 miles on. One of the technicians (not the dealership) told me that they have had serious problems with all Acura's manufactured in 1999-2002 because they used a different bearing manufacturer and they were found to be defective. I was also told that this problem is rare (but not unheard of) in the MDX, it mostly affected CL, RSX, and TSX.

A friend of mine has a CL and he's replaced the transmission twice (at his own expense). I've had 3 Hondas and I thought upgrading to an Acura was a good idea... should have stuck with the Hondas. Now I'm looking at fighting with the dealership again over some damage to the radiator that caused my fan to seize up and melted the compressor on the AC unit. (They don't want to cover it, because they say the vehicle must have been in a collision). Well, I haven't been in any type of collision (and wouldn't it be just plain stupid to fix the exterior damage and leave the mechanical damage if I had??).

I wanted this car since they first started making it in 2001 and now I wish I still had my 1997 Accord with 200,000 miles instead of this junk heap at 65,000.

I purchase a 2001 Acura MDX August 9th 2007 from a Bank Branch Manager and his brother-in-law. I've been having trouble with this Acura MDX from the date I purchased it. I was told the vehicle is in top condition.

The third day after owning the vehicle, I noticed the vehicle did not drive it's best. I took it to a mechanic who said it needed struts. The guy offered to fix the struts. "That never happened" I found out the Acura CD was broke, I phoned the bother-in-law and he asked my husband and I to meet him at Best Buy in Cola., SC to get it fixed. "He never showed up"! As the days progressed, I only drove the vehicle 5 times since August 9th.

The fifth day, my husband and I went to Myrtle Beach SC on our way back something pop on the Acura. We both jumped out of the vehicle to see if he had hit anything, as we proceeded to get back into the Acura the doors locked while the key was in the ignition and the Acura was still running. Luckily I had my cell phone in my hand, we called 911 and paid $75 for a locksmith @ 1:00am in the morning. As we proceeded to drive off, it sounded like the front axle fell off. We had to call 911 again for a tow truck. We paid $250.00 to be towed from Myrtle Beach to Orangeburg, SC.

After another mechanic checked the vehicle out, they stated it was the transmission. My husband phoned an Acura dealership, and he gave the Service Dept. the Vin#. The service department clearly stated that the vehicle was covered under the recall and to get the vehicle towed to them. We paid $150 for the tow. After a day or two, I received a phone call that the transmission "went to the bad" and it was "NOT" covered under the recall. I was told the previous owner came in and had a "PART" put on the transmission in August 2005 and it would cost approx. $3,456+ to fix the transmission.

Also, I noticed another recall listed on the internet, which was the Coil/Springs and the Acura dealership stated they would not do anything regarding the recall.

My Acura that I have not had the pleasure of enjoying is parked with Ins. on it, tax and tags, and I have to come out of my pocket to pay for the transmission. I phoned the home office in California and they are saying the same thing regarding the previous owner and the transmission.

A co-worker of mine had the same trouble with a recent model Acura and they fixed hers "FREE" of charge. I'm just at the end of my rope with the Acura dealership. My hats off to the person that went to the Acura dealership and they fixed your Acura off of "GOOD FAITH". I will never own another Acura! Maybe I'm not the right person to receive a "Good Faith" fixer-upper. Your comments are very helpful.

I drove my Acura to 160K miles until the transmission went. I went to a transmission place, and they told me they will take it apart and see if it needs to be rebuilt. Little did I know at that time is that everyone else recommends at that kind of mileage to get a replacement. Shame on me for believing them. To say the least; they took it apart (700 dollars) wanted to charge me 4K for a replacement after they called me and said it could not be rebuilt. I told them NO and I will pick the car up and have the work done somewhere else. They charged me another 235 dollars in order to get the car in a towable condition. This is ridiculous as that should be part of the original charge. I have been had.

But just got a replacement transmission for 1600 and the car is running fine. I only need it for another 12 months or so, so hoping it will last that long. Not sure why everyone else is having them go at 70K. I think Acura is a good car and this year MDX had some problems, but I think that is not the norm.

BTW, if you are having issues with the transmission, go to the dealership, they will do it for 3500.00 and you will have piece of mind. They have much more at stake and value their reputation. If you have problems, call corporate, they will get on them. Just my two cents.

Our 2001 MDX ran fine until about 125,000 miles. While on a six hour road trip the transmission temperature light came on. We kept driving and eventually it went off. Our local mechanic flushed the transmission and said it's going to go.

Just keep driving it until it does. It began slipping at 151,000 miles and after a $2400 rebuild it seems to be fine.

It's a good thing we took out an extended warranty at 125,000 miles.

It cost us $1000 and they paid us back $2175.00 against the repair.

Does anybody else have a whistling noise when accelerating. It stops when you lift off the gas? It's been there since about 75000 miles.

I must say after reading all the bad stuff about the MDX, I was very cautious about buying mine.

However, I did enough research on the vehicle to know that the MDX I bought already went through the spring replacement and the trans fix. I am not sure if was replaced or had the second gear cooler installed.

So far I'm impressed with it, it's got enough bells and whistles on it to please me. I like the black leather interior and all the compartments to store things.

I have owned mine now for 10 months, and it has 123000 miles on it. The only thing I noticed was a little down shifting irregularities coming from highway speed to a stop sign. I have learned to live with that and it has not gotten worse, it just happens once in a while.

I too have that little whining sound during acceleration, I was told that was a characteristics of the vehicle and not to worry about it.

I was told my a friend who is a mechanic that Acura MDX is one of the best vehicles. He has seen very few come into the shop. I trust his opinion, he has been in the car biz for 10 years and knows cars pretty good. I am confident mine will go the distance, with normal maintenance.