2024 Acura MDX Drops Laptop-Like Touchpad For Standard Touch Screen

As the new year approaches, Acura’s parent company Honda has high hopes for 2024. The company plans to announce several new models and update existing vehicles. The Acura MDX is one of those cars. The facelift coming this year won’t just bring new body panels to the crossover, but Acura’s pad-based infotainment system is on the way out, too.

The system works similar to a laptop. A click on a certain area on the pad corresponds to clicking the same area on the infotainment screen. Once you get used to it, it’s not a bad system, but using your finger directly on the screen is ultimately a better compromise, especially when the car uses third-party apps like Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. Acura likely realized this, and now the MDX is losing pads.

Some Acura models have already abandoned the system. The new Integra has a touchscreen, for example, as does the upcoming electric ZDX. In its product overview, Honda also said that there is a new entry way for the Acura crossover. That will of course have a touch screen, too.

In conversation with Engine1, an Acura spokesperson declined to comment on whether all future vehicles from the company will do away with the touchpad, but the writing is on the wall. All of the automaker’s latest models don’t, which makes it fair to assume that given the opportunity—a facelift in the MDX’s case—Acura will nail it.

Other changes to the 2024 MDX include a new premium audio system from Bang and Olufsen, new driver assistance features, and built-in Google software that lets the driver use features like Maps, Assistant, and the Google Play Store without having to connect their phones. The automaker didn’t give an exact release date for the new facelifted MDX, though we suspect it will be available at dealerships by spring.