I Drove the 2025 Acura ADX A-Spec Advance, Here’s My Honest Review

The crossovers are taking over, whether you like it or not.

In today’s complicated automotive market, it would feel a little disingenuous not to point out that the bread and butter of legendary luxury car marques has shifted hard from four-door sedans over to the tall compact and mid-sized crossover SUVs that have become bestsellers by more pedestrian brands.

According to the sales numbers published by well-known German luxury marques like BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, crossover and SUV sales are overtaking those of their passenger cars. Figures released by the respective manufacturers in July 2025 show that crossovers and SUVs made up nearly 52% of the total vehicle sales at BMW, while they made up 76% of total vehicle sales at Audi.

With numbers like this, it only makes sense that Acura would take full advantage of the moment by introducing a small crossover that not only provides something for customers in the hottest part of the market, but also carries the potential to reshape what buyers expect. New for 2025, the ADX is Acura’s response to the growing popularity of the subcompact crossover SUV segment, especially among its luxury rivals like Lexus and BMW.

Though its looks could suggest otherwise, the Acura ADX isn’t just a Honda HR-V with nicer bodywork, interior, and a peppy Integra engine; it’s a statement piece that says Acura is ready to play with the big dogs. With a legacy of beloved enthusiast-driven models like the original Integra, TSX, and TL in its bloodline, the ADX is more than a run-of-the-mill crossover; it’s a sports sedan in sheep’s clothing.

View the 2 images of this gallery on the
original article

Acura’s newest ride is a stylish answer to its entry-level segment.

Acura itself says that the new ADX is positioned alongside its other entry-level offering, the Integra sedan, as another gateway model to the Acura brand and its cars, which it aims to attract much younger “premium buyers” to the brand. By targeting a more youthful demographic, Acura aims to expand its appeal and attract new customers who may not have previously considered the brand. 

One way it seems to do so is through its styling, which isn’t particularly unusual if you are a fan of the Acura school of design. Although it vaguely retains some elements of its mechanical sibling, the Honda HR-V (particularly in the rear), the ADX translates some design elements of Acura’s larger and more expensive SUVs, like the RDX and MDX, onto a footprint that is a bit smaller. The resemblance to other Acura SUVs is so uncanny that one friend I showed the car to described the ADX as “Honey, I shrunk the MDX.”

View the 5 images of this gallery on the
original article

From a different perspective, this compact SUV looks much more expensive than its $35,000 starting price tag, which puts it on edge with contemporaries like Lexus or even BMW on styling notes alone. The model I tested was the top-of-the-line A-Spec with the Advance Package, which starts at $42,000, and features blacked-out trim, a sleek grille, 19-inch wheels, and dual exhaust tips. 

All things considered, the design language that Acura designers incorporate creates a rather sharp and stylish appearance in a way that isn’t overly ostentatious; a mark that others seem to miss in the luxury space these days. Without a doubt, the way Acura designers blend the ADX’s large moustache-like “Diamond Pentagon” grille into the rest of its front fascia makes BMW’s oversized kidney grilles look particularly tacky. 

It ain’t no speed demon, but it is lively.

Compact crossover SUVs of this garden variety are notorious for their powertrains, or rather, what they couldn’t do. However, the ADX seems to deviate from this trend. All ADXs come standard with a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline-four cylinder VTEC engine that produces 190 horsepower and 179 lb-ft of torque, mated to a continuously variable automatic transmission with paddle shifters. Yes, there is no manual option. 

The engine is related to the four-pot in the Civic Si and Integra; however, it operates on a slightly different compression ratio and valve timing than its lower-slung, sedan-bodied siblings, which makes it seem a little bit muffled from behind the accelerator pedal. It is slightly peppy, enough for this crossover to make it feel like a living, breathing soul lies under the hood.

One upside of this “muffled” tune is that the powertrain doesn’t rob you when it comes to fuel economy. Front-wheel-drive ADXs are EPA-rated at 26 mpg city, 31 mpg highway, and 28 mpg combined, while all-wheel-drive models like the one I tested are rated at 25 city, 30 highway, and 27 combined.

Depending on the trim level and drive configuration, the ADX weighs between 3,369 pounds and 3,611 pounds, which is significantly heavier than the Integra sedan. That feeling can be felt from the driver’s seat. On my initial few drives, I found it to have the same sort of “slow” characteristics that plague compact crossover SUVs of this variety, but it was still agile enough to keep up with the fast-paced traffic of suburban North Jersey. 

One thing that this powertrain combination manages to do (and do very well) is provide a feeling of refinement that luxury buyers come to expect from Acura and its contemporaries. The turbo-four VTEC motor and CVT are smooth in everyday driving situations between stoplights to stoplights, and the car’s silence can feel deafening if you drive exceptionally smoothly.

View the 2 images of this gallery on the
original article

However, things learn harder on the side of sporty the moment you show the ADX some open road or even an empty left lane on a freeway or highway. I found that the ADX is most responsive when the gearshift is all the way down into S and the drive mode is set to Sport, which enhances the engine sound, makes the throttle more sensitive, and increases the feedback in the steering wheel.

The ADX is no canyon carver, but in this configuration, it feels like a much different car from behind the wheel. In the moment you hit the accelerator, the little Ack slightly leans back and sends a message to your brain that informs you that a rush of power is coursing through your hands, sending a rush of dopamine that hits your brain faster than you can say “VTEC just kicked in, yo!”

Throw it around into any corner, and the ADX goes where you want it to go without putting up any fight in the form of understeer or excessive body roll. It is safe to say that if you move up to the ADX from a Civic or an Integra, it wouldn’t feel like the end of the world in the handling department. 

“Capital L” kind of Luxury.

Inside, the ADX features an elevated interior with more than enough room to transport adults and children, along with all of their stuff. If one thing is sure, it is that Acura intended to transmit through its interior, it is that the ADX was not just an “entry-level” luxury vehicle, but a “Luxury vehicle,” with a capital L.

The test car I drove was finished in a beautiful red leatherette with black A-Spec exclusive microsuede accents. This combination equally emphasizes both the luxurious and sporty character traits of the ADX. The interior in this A-Spec Advance trim comes with a boatload of additional features that further emphasize the “Capital L” bit, including a massive, tilt and sliding panoramic moonroof that extends to the backseats, and some soft LED ambient mood lighting. 

The ADX in general comes standard with a whole host of valuable features, including the Acurawatch suite of active safety features, as well as an adaptive cruise control system with traffic jam assist and lane-keeping assist that I found especially useful on the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike. My top trim A-Spec Advance got rain-sensing wipers, a heated steering wheel, and a 12-way driver’s seat with two-position memory. The regular A-Spec trim has ventilated front seats, as well as the standard heated front seats, an eight-way power driver’s seat, and dual-zone climate control on the base ADX.

View the 4 images of this gallery on the
original article

As for technology, the equipment in the ADX will come as a relief to those familiar with Honda switchgear, as the Acura seems to share a similar layout found in the Integra and top-spec trims of the Civic and CR-V. All ADX trims come standard with a 9-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, a wireless phone charger, and a 10.2-inch digital instrument cluster in front of the steering wheel. On top of these features, 

Although the 9-inch screen is relatively small by today’s luxury standards, the unintrusive nature of the dashboard layout allows Acura to place physical controls for critical controls like the climate control and seat warmers to fall within easy, user-friendly reach of the drivers through simple knobs and not on a screen.

While some enthusiasts and luxury buyers may interpret my observed similarities to more “low-rent” Honda models like the Civic as lazy, uninspired, or even brazenly cheap, I feel as if Acura engineers were following the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” principle that many of its contemporaries seem to overlook these days. In an era of Apple CarPlay, software-defined cars, big screens, and automakers’ software departments trying to reinvent the wheel with their UIs, spending time inside something like the ADX feels like a sigh of relief, as if simplicity and practicality have become luxury features of their own.

Going back to the engine for a brief moment, the ADX’s powertrain allows for a quiet and comfortable ride that makes the car feel overall elevated. On top of its disciplined powertrain, every trim level of the ADX comes with Active Noise Cancellation, which keeps road and wind noise down to a pin-drop at normal speeds; a perfect canvas for the A-Spec Advance exclusive 15-speaker Bang & Olufsen premium sound system.

The most notable feature of the B&O system was the Beosonic Wheel, a simple-to-use menu that helps you adjust the EQs to your liking. You could spend hours determining whether a specific track sounds best as “Bright, Energetic, Warm or Relaxed,” but even as a person whose listening habits span across multiple conflicting genres of music and podcasts, I found the experience to be pretty impressive, given the price tag of the ADX A-Spec Advanced.

Cons:

Though the interior feels very refined, I found that some features that the ADX came with did not entirely live up to expectations. The worst culprit, in my opinion, was the ventilated front seats, and given that it was a particularly hot week, it could’ve been a relief to sit in if it was working.  

As for the powertrain, the recent news that Acura is introducing hybrids to its lineup makes me feel confident that a possible Civic Sport Touring Hybrid or CR-V-derived powertrain can make it under the hood of the ADX. It needs it, and not just for the power, but also for the fact that I only achieved a mere 26 miles per gallon during my dynamic test week with the car.

Final Thoughts:

The Acura ADX does have a price advantage over its competitors, as MSRP starts at $35,000 before fees, with my top-of-the-line A-Spec Advance test car rounding out at an as-tested price of $46,890. My car’s optional extras included a $2,000 AWD system, a $600 Urban Gray paint job, $750 front and rear underbody spoilers and $190 Logo Pattern Projector, which displayed the Acura logo on the floor at night when doors opened.

Overall, I feel that the ADX is a heck of a step-up from similarly sized crossovers like Honda’s HR-V, the Chevy Trax, and the Subaru Crosstrek. Its premium features and refinements are packaged in a familiar form that doesn’t feel too intimidating. 

Although the ADX has its flaws with the powertrain, I feel that it wouldn’t be a problem for a particular subset of its potential buyers: Honda enthusiasts and tuners. Some of them have families too, and in the end, the ADX can only prove to be a viable canvas for the next wild SEMA-level build.