2024 Acura MDX Type S: Will It Dog?

I looked forward to every drive in the 2024 Acura MDX Type S—not something I often say when it comes to mass-appeal cars. The Type S treatment doesn’t turn the MDX into a road-eating monster, but it hits a great note between comfortable and characterful, making it an outstanding daily driver. It’s a decent dog taxi, and given the Type S upgrades don’t alter its physical interior dimensions, a base MDX will be just as animal-compatible.

Welcome to “Will It Dog?” The Drive’s monthly car review for canine owners. In this series, we look at how a vehicle performs as a dog taxi. You can expect some high-level notes about driving dynamics, but mostly what we’re looking at are things like how well the interior might hold up against claws, how much usable room you really get inside, and what life might be like with a certain car if you have a dog or two (or three or more).

Featured Dogs

This review of the MDX Type S features two Australian Shepherd/Retriever mixes, Bramble and her brother Silas. Their goofy dad Cal the Golden Retriever also stopped by.

Interior Materials and Layout

This is a premium three-row on-road SUV. It has two spectacular seats and a broad center console up front, a second-row bench with a wide flip-down center armrest, and a fold-away way back when you need to haul six or seven people. There’s a bit of luggage space behind the third row, but when you put those seats down, you get a really generous cargo hold.

Materials generally feel high-end, and accent lighting looks great though the look is more “elite ergonomic” rather than “nightclub” like a Mercedes. The leather is pretty taut and seemed robust—it was tough to watch a muddy paw hit that white material, but it was pretty easy to clean. The hard plastic surfaces don’t look quite as upscale as what I’ve seen in some other luxury cars but they’re solid.

The MDX feels like a nice car, but it’s not so anxiety-inducingly nice that you’d be pained to let your pooch climb around in it. Well, maybe a little if you get that gorgeous Orchid leather. But seat covers aren’t expensive.

Climbing In and Out

Self-seating requires some spryness from your dog. The trip from the ground to the seat took our animals a little forethought; the young ones vaulted themselves up without issue but big ol’ Cal needed a boost every time he was asked to board. The back seats are deep, though, so dogs have a nice big landing pad.

The cargo bay is a little tougher. The lip of the bumper protrudes a bit, so a dog needs to clear quite a few inches of metal and plastic to make it from the ground to inside the SUV. A lot of pet owners might want to tote a little ramp.

Reasonably athletic animals will be able to hop in and out, but bigger and clumsier ones will need help. Small ones will probably have to get picked up and plopped in, too.

Driving With the Dog

The distance between the back seat and the center console up front is pretty significant, which made our dogs much less inclined to try and climb into the front. A seat belt helps with this even more and is recommended.

You’ve got a lot of options for where you put your pooch depending on how the seats are configured. But even a decent-sized dog would fit behind the third row if you had to haul a sizeable family and a pet. You’d need a cargo box if anyone was carrying more than a purse, though.

Driving in General

The front seats of this thing are among the best I’ve been in recently. So well sculpted and just the right level of firmness. Acceleration isn’t quite enough to blast you back into them when you step into the throttle, but the 3.0-liter turbo engine has some excitement to it at full noise and the paddle-shift experience is reasonably satisfying. Braking feels extremely effective.