2025 Acura ADX Won Me Over With Affordable, Honest, And User-Friendly Luxury

I feel like I start a lot of my blogs and reviews by saying that new cars are too expensive, but it bears repeating: new cars are too freakin’ expensive. The average transaction price of a new car is nearly $50,000, which I believe is utterly unacceptable. So, when I got invited to drive Acura’s handsome new subcompact ADX crossover that starts at $36,350 (including $1,350 destination) and saw that my loaded test car topped out at $46,890, I was stoked. I had high hopes for this little SUV, and though it isn’t quite what I expected it to be, it impressed in different, arguably more compelling ways.

Acura’s marketing made me hopeful the ADX would be a sporty, playful crossover with some of the tossable driving characteristics of the Integra, but sadly it just doesn’t goad you to push it harder, brake later, or carry more speed on twisty roads. Instead of being a spicy little sportster like I was hoping for, the ADX won me over by being a spacious, handsome, easy-to-use, and honest entry-level luxury crossover from a company with a great reliability record. It’s less of an Integra SUV and more of an elevated HR-V, but that’s far from a bad thing.

Full Disclosure: The wonderful folks at Acura invited me out to stay at a dreamy beachfront resort in Encinitas so I could sample the company’s first subcompact crossover that I previewed a few months earlier. They fed us lovely food, and even let us pick out a fresh pie from the locally famous Julian Pie Company (I got strawberry rhubarb because I’m secretly a grandma). I am very grateful for the experience, but the princess treatment won’t make me any nicer about your car. Lucky for you it’s a good one.

The ADX comes standard with a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-4 with VTEC that produces 190 horsepower and 179 pound-feet of torque, and it’s mated to a continuously variable transmission with paddle shifters. The engine is similar to the Civic Si and Integra mill, but it’s less powerful due to a different compression ratio and valve timing, instead matching the Honda CR-V in output. It’s no powerhouse, but front-wheel-drive ADXs are EPA rated at 26 mpg city, 31 mpg highway, and 28 combined, so it offers reasonable economy (all-wheel-drive models lose one mpg on each rating).

The ADX weighs between 3,369 pounds and 3,611 pounds depending on drive wheels and trim level, so it’s around 300 pounds heavier than the Integra and 200-400 pounds heavier than an equivalent HR-V. When I floor the accelerator, at least in my ADX A-Spec Advanced AWD test car, it’s really slow from a stop and it’s impossible to chirp the wheels even when I brake-torque it. Unfortunately the optional all-wheel drive system isn’t Acura’s Super Handling All-Wheel-Drive, and at $2,000 I really don’t think it’s necessary in the ADX. Like any good VTEC engine, the ADX’s turbo four produces its max horsepower at 6,000 rpm, but redline is just 500 rpm beyond that, so the slight shove that VTEC provides is short-lived in the ADX. The steering wheel–mounted paddle shifters are a nice touch, but I found the ADX to be most responsive with the gear selector in S mode.

Official 0-to-60-mph times aren’t yet published, but I’d guess it’s solidly in the 8-second range, so it’s not going to win you any drag races. Chuck the ADX into a turn and it goes where I point it, though without any particular sense of joy or playfulness. It’s totally capable, and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to understeer off the road or flip over, so it’s agreeable enough. Yes, it also has brakes. They do a good job slowing the ADX, and the squishy break pedal further promotes a smooth driving character.

The 1.5-liter turbo and CVT combo is an exceptionally smooth powertrain when you’re not wringing it out. In normal day-to-day commuter use, keep engine speeds below 4,000 rpm and the ADX is quiet and comfortable. Its great visibility and high seating position make it feel like a much larger vehicle in a manner that inspires confidence, and every trim level of the ADX comes standard with Active Noise Cancellation, which keeps road and wind noise nicely hushed at freeway speeds, but doesn’t help much with the engine noise above 4,000 rpm. Overall, the ADX is a convincing luxury crossover as long as you aren’t expecting S-Class levels of refinement.

The ADX’s interior does a good job of conveying its entry-level luxury intentions, too, especially in top A-Spec Advance trim. My test car sports Acura’s Orchid interior, which means most of the front cabin is upholstered in very soft white leather with even softer bright blue Ultrasuede accents. Base ADXs have leatherette seats, and the A-Spec trim adds microsuede accents to those leatherette seats. The interior is brightened up by a lovely panoramic moonroof with a quick and quiet power retractable cover that’s standard on all but the base trim, and of course there’s obligatory ambient lighting. The ADX comes standard with tons of features including Acurawatch active safety features and great adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist and lane-keeping assist, heated front seats, an eight-way power driver’s seat, and dual-zone climate control. Ventilated front seats are standard on all but the base trim, and the top A-Spec Advance gets rain-sensing wipers, a heated steering wheel, and a 12-way driver’s seat with two-position memory.

I was really disappointed by the hard plastic door panels in the rear of the ADX, however. The entire door card save for the leather-covered armrest is hard black plastic, and those outboard armrests have less elbow-coddling padding than the ones up front do. Beyond the cheap door panels, the rear seat has great legroom and good headroom even with the pano roof, and standard air vents. You do have to upgrade to the top trim to get rear USB ports, though, which is pretty lame.

If you’re looking at an entry-level luxury crossover, odds are you care a lot about the technology inside. You’ll be happy to know that ADX comes standard with a 9-inch touchscreen infotainment system with standard wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a wireless phone charger, and a 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster. The touchscreen is small-ish and not at the forefront of in-car technology, but its simple menu structure, high-on-the-dash placement, and array of physical controls make it incredibly user-friendly. It’s a very straightforward, no-nonsense, no-frills infotainment system that does everything you need it to do with ease.

The A-Spec Advance trim brings Google built-in with three-years of unlimited data for in-vehicle apps, Amazon Alexa functionality, and one of my favorite features, a 15-speaker Bang & Olufsen premium sound system. The standard audio system is an eight-speaker Acura Premium Sound System that I’m sure sounds fine, but the Bang & Olufsen setup is great and has a very convenient tuning menu that simplifies the process of finding the right balance of bass and treble. It’s called the Beosonic Wheel, and it comprehensively adjusts the different audio channels all together to make tailoring the sound quality to your specific taste very easy. I usually like a brighter sound with clearer treble and mid frequencies, and the Beosonic Wheel made it easy to find the perfect settings that maximized my aural pleasure. It’s not the world’s most impressive stereo, but it is a great system for the $43,350 price of the A-Spec Advanced trim. 

You do have to upgrade to the top trim in order to get the multiview camera system, which I learned the hard way doesn’t automatically activate when you approach obstacles head-on. I went to pull into a tight parking spot that was next to a curb, and assumed I was clear because the cameras didn’t come on, but I wasn’t clear and curbed the 19-inch gloss black wheel a teensy bit. I told my PR rep immediately and I’m still very sorry about that, but it’s a great example of why automakers should make the multiview camera feed appear when you approach obstacles from the front!

Acura’s little crossover endeared itself to me by being exceptionally easy to acclimate to, which means it should be very easy for buyers to live with. Despite only spending a total of three hours behind the wheel, I feel like I used every feature without cussing it out or having to resort to scouring the owner’s manual. The ADX is roomy, quiet, comfortable, and comes with tons of safety and luxury features, all backed by Acura’s respected reliability reputation and an affordable price tag. It’s a shame that it’s not more powerful or playful to drive, but it’s really hard to fault aside from that.

The new Acura ADX is a brilliant little subcompact luxury SUV that shines especially bright when you consider how affordable it is. Unless you really actually need it, I say skip the all-wheel-drive option, keep the price down and you’ll feel like you got a lot of car for the money.