2025 Acura ADX First Drive: Affordable Crossover Is No Integra (But That's The Point)

The all-new 2025 Acura ADX reminds me of my grandfather's obsession with Oldsmobile Delta 88s. It's hard to see the connection at first, but I'll happily explain. At one time, Gramps bought his-and-hers Delta 88s for himself and my grandmother: one blue and one white. I drove a terrible brown Delta 88 in high school that was a third-level hand-me-down my grandfather purchased before I was born. 

Those were just a few of the Oldsmobiles he had in his driveway throughout his life and if someone ever mentioned buying another brand of vehicle, I imagine he'd have ignored any of their future advice. If the Acura ADX inspires even a fraction of this kind of brand loyalty, the designers would likely be pretty excited about it.

An all-new model to the lineup, the ADX is a compact luxury SUV that Acura is calling a "gateway" model. It's being launched with the explicit intention of attracting young buyers to the brand. Acura already has a few SUVs in its lineup: the RDX, the three-row MDX, and the all-electric ZDX (with the new RSX on its way too). The new ADX is slightly smaller than the RDX, but it is much cheaper: nearly $10k less on base trim levels. With a starting price of $36,350, the ADX represents a chance for Acura to introduce the brand to a new audience, showing them a fresh face and potentially building badge affinity that could last a lifetime.

Acura invited me, along with a cadre of other automotive writers, to test out the ADX by driving it around San Diego for the day. Our drive route went through the local hills, over some of California's biggest highways, and through rural towns. It provided a decent mix of surfaces, road conditions, and scenarios for getting acquainted with the ADX's driving dynamics. All the test vehicles were the ADX's top trim — the A-Spec with Advance package — but that didn't change what engine was providing the power.

Under the hood, every ADX has a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine that produces 190 horsepower and 179 lb-ft of torque. It's paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and power is sent to either the front wheels or all four wheels. The 1.5-liter engine is the same powertrain that the Integra uses, although in the Integra's case, there's a bit more power: 200 hp and 192 lb-ft.

Burying the throttle with the ADX meant adequate forward movement, but nothing that would set your hair on fire. The continuously variable transmission (CVT) simulates gear changes as you move up in the rev range, and you can use paddle shifters to hold those artificial gears if you'd like. It's a nice inclusion, but I didn't find much added engagement from blipping fake gears in the mountains.

When it came time to exit the highway and take the scenic route, the ADX felt stable, capable, and relatively fun to drive on curvy back roads. The ADX's steering wheel is excellent and it's one of my favorite parts of the interior. It's small enough to feel sporty, with a large enough rim to feel substantial in my hands — a great balance. Steering feedback is minimal, but it's properly weighted in each of the four driving modes. 

Sport mode is, predictably, the setting with the strongest steering feedback, but A-Spec Advanced trims of the ADX have an Individual driving mode where you can separate steering feedback from engine responsiveness, simulated engine noises, and gauge colors. 

In tight corners, the ADX transitioned back-and-forth with relative ease, and in long high-speed sweepers there wasn't much body roll to speak of. At least, not when I was traveling at a responsible pace. If you want a sportier vibe, or something a bit more engaging, the Integra sedan is always an option, but the ADX should be plenty entertaining for the average buyer.

Overall, the ADX's ride quality is what you'd expect from a luxury compact SUV. It's smooth over most surfaces, and there isn't much jostling when you come across a big bump in the road. On uneven sections of Southern California freeways, I could feel some of the imperfections make their way into the cabin, but not many. 

Standard wheels for the ADX measure 18 inches in diameter, but the test vehicle I was driving came with 19-inch alloys. Normally, I'd say opt for the smaller wheel to improve ride quality, but with the ADX, there's no need. The 19's come with plenty of tire sidewall to soak up sharp impacts.

Like the Integra, the ADX gets an 8-way power adjustable heated driver's seat on base trims, and a 12-way power adjustable heated-and-ventilated driver's seat on the A-Spec Advance trim. The 12-way seat includes adjustable lumbar support, which helped me stay comfortable throughout my day. The seat's side bolstering held me in place through the corners, and it seemed well-padded enough for long journeys. The heating and ventilation elements were a bit underpowered for my liking, though. Even at its highest level, the heated seat didn't warm up as much as I would've liked, and the converse was true with the cooling capabilities of the ventilation function.

The seats and the steering wheel in the ADX are part of an appealing interior package that deserves some praise. All the materials used on the dashboard, the seats, the door panels, and the center console look and feel relatively premium. The contrasting stitching on the door panels and the suede inserts on the seats all help with the overall look and feel of the cabin. 

There are a few plastic surfaces that would feel out of place on a $100k luxury SUV, but with the ADX's entry-level prices, there's nothing to complain about here. Road noise and wind noise make their way into the cabin, but they certainly aren't overwhelming or distracting; just turn on the stereo and you can easily drown out the low hum of the tires. The tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel has lots of adjustability and the driving position is high enough for a good view of the road.

At 185.5 inches long, the ADX is exactly the same length as a standard 2025 Integra. The wheelbase of the ADX is slightly shorter though, at 104.5 inches, compared to the Integra's 107.7 inches. According to the folks at Acura, the ADX is based on the same platform as Integra, not the Honda HR-V, but the HR-V has the same wheelbase as the ADX – 104.5 inches – and the same track width (62.6 inches in the front, 63.2 inches in the rear). 

The ADX also shares its base roof panel with the HR-V so it's clear there's some parts and platform sharing, even if Acura would prefer buyers to focus on the Integra connection. Thankfully, the exterior dimensions lead to some pretty generous interior space, no matter what's in the ADX's family tree.

On base and A-Spec models, behind the rear seats, there's 24.4 cubic feet of cargo space. If you fold the seats down, that number increases to 55.1 cubic feet of cargo space. In both the front and the rear, there's plenty of headroom for adults. The A-Spec's panoramic sunroof means there's a small overhead incursion in the back seat, but most adults should still have enough headroom to be comfortable. Legroom is more than adequate too. At 5-foot-9 I'm easily able to stretch out in the back seat, with the driver and front passenger seats both set for my position. It may be compact, but the ADX is plenty spacious.

Every ADX comes standard with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, along with a 9-inch center touchscreen and a 10.2-inch digital gauge cluster. SiriusXM Satellite radio is missing but, the way Acura figures, if you have an XM subscription and the app on your phone, you can listen to your satellite radio via your phone connection. Bluetooth, Google built-in, a wireless smartphone charger, and a few USB-C ports up front are all part of the standard package.

Driver aids like adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, and a collision mitigation braking system are all standard too. The ADX's lane-keep assist system was a bit underwhelming on the drive, bouncing the ADX back and forth between the lines, rather than properly centering it in its lane. The forward collision warning was a bit over-sensitive too.

You get an 8-speaker stereo on the base and A-Spec trims, but my A-Spec Advance tester came with the big 15-speaker Bang & Olufsen stereo. Despite the high speaker count, the Bang & Olufsen stereo didn't get quite loud enough for my liking. Maybe I went to too many loud concerts in college, but even the maximum volume was a bit low for me. Audio quality, however, was top notch. Adjusting audio levels via Bang & Olufsen's Beosonic feature is a nice touch, as are the etched aluminum speaker covers which help add to the overall premium feel of the cabin.

The ADX is an impressive compact SUV. The base model is priced just below $37,000 and it comes with a long list of standard features, including plenty of modern tech, the latest driver aids, and lots of creature comforts. Move your way up the trim-level ladder and the luxury experience gets even better with premium materials and options. 

A spacious interior, generous cargo space, and strong build quality are all strengths worth mentioning too. Even the 1.5-liter engine is powerful enough to make the ADX enticing for first-time buyers, though it's unlikely to excite enthusiasts. There are some drawbacks, like the sensitive driver aids, but none of my complaints while driving the ADX rose above the level of a minor inconvenience.

The vehicle Acura provided for my first drive had an MSRP of $45,350 and a sticker price of $46,890 when you count up the options like premium paint and underbody spoilers. That's a price tag which might have shoppers taking a closer look at well-equipped versions of the Audi Q3 or the BMW X1, but it's reasonable considering the competition. I'm not sure if the ADX will inspire Oldsmobile levels of brand loyalty, but it's certainly a strong choice in the growing class of entry-level luxury SUVs. If Acura is lucky, those buyers will stick around for a long time.