Here’s everything you need to know about Acura’s ADX. Despite being based on Honda’s lowly HR-V, boasting but 1,498 cubic centimetres of displacement and being saddled by one of those damnable continuously-variable transmissions, the 2025 Acura ADX will assuredly be the best-selling Acura in Canada this year.
Now, some of that — heck, maybe most considering how tight the Canadian economy is going to become — is because, despite its expensive-looking exterior, the ADX is priced aggressively. Base models — with all-wheel-drive and 18-inch alloys, doncha know — ring in at $44,980, the A-spec with its remote engine starter, heated steering wheel and ventilated front seats costs just two grand more and the ADX Platinum Elite A-Spec — with a pretty incredible 15-speak Bang & Olufsen sound system and a bunch of other doo-dads — is still a very competitive $51,480.
What stands out in the Acura ADX?
But the real reason it’s going to top charts is because it represents what the Honda Motor Company seems to do best; engineer silk purses out of sow’s ears. For instance, it doesn’t drive anything like an HR-V. In fact, when I first got behind the wheel, I likened it to a CR-V — which, if you check Honda’s lineup costs suspiciously similar money — that had been given the premium treatment.
The interior was, in a word, elegant. Admittedly, I was driving the Elite A-Spec thingie, but the leather bits were first class, the interior material equal to an entry-level Audi and that aforementioned Bang & Olufsen sound system the best I’ve ever heard at this price-point. Indeed, not knowing it was a B&O — I hadn’t read that deep into the spec sheet yet — I kept turning it up, waiting for the inevitable distortion to kick in. By the time I was finished I was impressed … and partially deaf (I was listening to Bruno Mars belt out “Uptown Funk”). Now, to be sure, both the instrument gauges and the smallish 9-inch infotainment screen look decidedly Honda-ish, but the rest of the cabin is, dare I say it, sophisticated. Note to Acura showroom personnel looking to make a quick sale: you may not need a test drive; just put ‘em in in the driver’s seat of an Elite and crank up the volume.
What powers the 2025 Acura ADX?
- 1.5L turbo four making 190 hp and 179 lb-ft of torque
The road test isn’t going to go half-bad either. For one thing, rather than trying to massage the HR-V’s 158 horserpower, naturally-aspirated 2.0-litre, Acura just dropped in the company’s best engine, the little 1.5L turbo four. Blessed with 190 horses and almost as many torques — 179 pound-feet, in fact — there’s more than enough urge for the ADX’s intended purpose and clientele. Probably best described as fruity rather than actually fast, Acura is not releasing an actual acceleration figure, but if they just channelled a certain famous English automaker and described it as “adequate,” they would not be off the mark.
Even more impressive, however, was the tuning. And, by tuning, I mean the sound coming out of the engine bay. Normally, small turbocharged fours are either weedy or flatulent. The ADX’s 1.5L is neither. In fact, it’s as sonorous as anything European with just four cylinders — save some of the incredible engines Alfa Romeo has produced over the years. The ADX may not actually be sporty, but it sure sounds the part and, symbolism being so much more important than actual performance these days, I suspect that the engine will more than enthrall the audience. That allusion is helped in no small measure by the very best continuously variable transmission I’ve tested. Normally, CVTs are death to anything even remotely sporty. Designed to maximize fuel economy by keeping the engine at, or near, its torque peak, the drone of constant rpm is the antithesis of the romance that internal combustion claims to engender. Not the ADX. A combination of that sophisticated exhaust note and some fancy finagling of the CVT gear ratios, the ADX sounds, well, almost Italian. Even in Sport Mode, when the revs are crept higher and the throttle response heightened, it sounds the part. All told, this is the first CVT/inline four combination I wholeheartedly recommend. That goes double since the ADX averaged a decent 9.0 litres per 100 kilometres despite me averaging 75 miles per hour on California’s fast-moving I5 when I wasn’t beating on it racing up the mountains surrounding Encinitas. Well done I say: a true silk purse out of a sow’s ear.
All of this melodiousness is helped by the tremendous work Acura has done filtering out unwanted noise. I’m not sure if this involved copious amounts of sound deadener — the A-Spec and Elite get extra insulation — or some judicious re-engineering of the HR-V platform’s natural frequencies, but the effect is that, when you don’t want to hear the engine, it’s damn near dead-silent, a mere burble barely heard. This is another arena where the ADX takes on the Europeans and doesn’t suffer for the comparison
If you’re looking for reasons to not like the ADX, understand that the sleek look and sporty exhaust note bely a fairly ordinary chassis. Oh, the suspension isn’t exactly soft and the chassis more than up to snuff, but the steering is as tone-deaf as a Donald Trump trying to tell us that it’s Zelensky who’s the autocratic dictator. You probably will have driven off into the ditch before the steering wheel tells you the front tires have lost traction. But that, again, barely matters to the intended clientele. Much more important will be that the all-wheel-drive system — standard in Canada; optional in the United States — is lifted directly from the latest CR-V, and not only can it transfer up to 50% of the engine’s torque rearward but also remains engaged at highway speeds for faster response and greater stability.
What competes with the Acura ADX?
As for how it compares to its competition, I hate to tell its German competition —BMW’s X1 and Mercedes’ GLA, for instance — that the engine is both more melodious and less harsh than their little fours, the interior more accommodating and, frankly, its silhouette a little more stylish. It is also noticeably cheaper and remarkably well equipped for the price. At least to buy.
On the other hand, Acura Canada wants nearly $1,000 to lease an Elite Spec ADX. Either the company can’t get access to cheap financing or else they don’t think the ADX will hold its residual value. Either way, if you’re shopping an ADX — and, if you’re looking at the premium subcompact segment, you should be — buying would seem to make much more sense than financing. Wonky financing notwithstanding, the ADX is going to be a big hit. It’s pretty, it’s perky and, most importantly to a Canadian consumer looking at a tariff-induced slide of the loonie, it’s cheap.
The 2025 Acura ADX will be available at dealers in Ontario and Quebec the week of March 17 while British Columbians and Albertans will need to wait an additional week.
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