Honda MDX vs. Mercedes M Class vs. Lexus RX 330 Road Test

Honda MDX, Mercedes M Class, and the Lexus RX 330 are all midsize luxury SUVs that offer all wheel drive and have prices that hover around AUD$70,000. So the case here is which of these upscale vehicles is the best value, best handler, and easiest to live with on a daily basis. Other competitors worth noting are the new BMW X3, the Volvo XC 90, Buick Rainier, and Volkswagen Touareg.

The Defendants

Although these three SUVs are similar in price, they are entirely different in execution and in daily living. The Mercedes is a very sophisticated vehicle well designed for serious off roading and less of a luxury vehicle. The MDX is the best handling of the group, spacious, has the least desirable interior, but the best GPS and is the fastest. The Lexus is very elegant inside, has a soft ride, very usable interior, and is not fond of acceleration.

The Jury's Opinion

Mom's view: Ladies, it wouldn't take long to fall in love with the interior of the Lexus. It is beautifully done, has ample storage room and good cupholders, and is very easy to drive. However, it is a bit of a softie when it comes to corners and it even shakes a bit sitting at a stoplight when traffic is whizzing by. So the comfortable ride compromises its ability to be enjoyable to drive. It is more of a luxury car than a SUV. The Honda is the handling champion, but again, at a price. The ride is the nosiest, the interior noise the loudest, and the overall effect is not luxurious at all. I think the Honda Pilot is better in this regard. The Mercedes just feels awkward to me. I like its ride, the way it answers the helm, but it seems too high and difficult to load. The interior is nice, but not that nice, and there is not a third row of seats available. In other words, the Mercedes is the burliest of the group, quite capable of whatever task asked of it. The Honda is the athlete, eager to spring into action, carries any load, and tries to be polite in the process. The Lexus is the lady of the group, stylish, and given to smoothing over imperfections.

Overall, I would buy the Lexus RX 330, forgo the many expensive options such as a huge sun and moon roof combination, and order the two-wheel drive model. The Honda is a sharp runner and has more grunt and a tad more room in the back seat, but it never shouts "You're a lucky lady" when you climb aboard. As for the Mercedes, no question if I lived where the sophisticated traction control was necessary it would be a first choice.

Dad's view: The Honda performs. It may not be quiet, but it does everything well except stop. The brakes were not up to the others. The Lexus is very car like to drive, and has road manners that almost make you forget you are perched fairly high in the air. The MDX is clearly faster reacting than the others. It is the athlete of the bunch. The suspension is firm, but does not overwhelm you when the road roughens. The Mercedes has a quality ride; it feels heavy, but never reaches the Honda's sporty level, but its stops a lot better.

Easily the most potent engine is in the Honda. It has 265 horsepower and is much quicker than the 230 horsepower Lexus and the M Class's 232. This comes at a price though as the Honda's overall gas mileage barely topped 17 mpg in mixed driving whereas the Lexus was frequently above 21. The Mercedes was the least fuel friendly, and it needed premium fuel, at 16 mpg, but it had the largest fuel tank and so they all had a highway range of about 400 miles. The weight of this vehicle obviously impacted gas mileage and performance. The Lexus was the lightest at just over two tons, while the Honda was about 500 pounds heavier and the robust Mercedes nearly 800 pounds more.

Off roading is was all Mercedes. The M Class has a transfer case, more sophisticated drive system, and an engine that produces more torque when needed. It also has decent control, tows more (5000 pounds), and has more ground clearance. It is obvious that Mercedes built this SUV with off roading in mind and perhaps, misjudged a buying public that was more interested in the idea of off roading rather than the actual journey. Thus sales have slowed considerable after an initial rush of orders. The Lexus has the least ground clearance, over an inch less than the M Class. The Honda, as usual in this case, finished in the middle with eight inches of height. As for a verdict, I would vote for the Lexus, especially considering the disappointing gas mileage for the Honda. You also should take into consideration that the Lexus has the newest design of these three and thus has a real advantage.

Young working woman's view: This isn't even a fair fight. The Lexus is my choice.

The Mercedes turning radius is much larger than the others, with the Lexus being the tidiest, but not that nimble, at 38 feet. Even inside it is all Lexus with more room and more comfort. The Honda has 82 cubic feet of storage with the backseat folded flat, the Lexus 85 and the Mercedes 81. The Honda and Lexus come with a third row option, but the MDX has more people room inside, albeit by just an inch or two because it is longer.

Driving-wise the MDX is easy to manage, while the higher Mercedes takes longer to adjust to, and to be honest, never seems to be luxurious. The Honda has more interior noise and the more complicated seat controls. All of the cars have excellent seating, but the dead pedal on the Honda is poorly placed and the parking brake release is way too difficult to manage if you are wearing a tight skirt. Speaking of which, the Lexus is easy to enter with a perfect slide in height. The Honda isn't that bad, but the Mercedes requires some serious effort. The Lexus and Honda rear seats fold flat, but the M Class has a slight incline. All of these luxury vehicles are masters at ease of operation. Everything is easy to open, slide, push, pull, tilt, and lift. Speaking of which, I did like the power rear hatch on the Lexus and would absolutely make it a must order on my option list.

As a businesswoman when you look at the features in each model you can quickly see the plan each manufacturer had for their SUV. The Lexus has a rear seat that offers 40-20-40 split bench verses the others 40-60 splits. This makes it much easier to take a family and still have room for skies or other long items and to separate fighting siblings. The Honda is the only one that does not have one-touch power windows on all the doors. Thus my verdict is that the Lexus and Honda were clearly designed with a full family in mind.

In all cases such as this the past has to come into play. Intelligent people do not rush to decisions without finding out about the character involved. Every survey has shown that the Lexus has the best quality as witnessed by previous owners. The Honda and Mercedes do not rate nearly as highly, but they are not poor citizens either. With this in mind I stand behind my verdict for Lexus.

Young working man's view: We have three essentially useless SUVs here that do not do anything better than a more efficient mini-van or station wagon could accomplish even when equipped with all wheel drive. These three weigh a lot, have four wheel drive capabilities that practically no one ever uses or needs, and devour petroleum. The point here is that for AUD$70,000 there must be something more appropriate for those willing to think for themselves. I have a relative who bought a Kia SUV and drives it six miles to work and back. That's it. She gets 14 mpg, pays high insurance premiums, and just wants to sit high and look trendy. Of course, there is always the safety crowd and all of these SUVs had above average scores in crash tests in most areas, but none of them can ignore physics and vehicles with a high center of gravity roll over easier. SUVs are only safer if they run into a smaller vehicle. Can you say lawsuit.

Anyway, back to the case. These three near luxury, if there is such a term, are not easy to love. They have large blind spots to the rear, have very large turning radius making parking difficult at best, and except for the Lexus, offer poor radio reception, inferior standard stereo play, and have overly complicated controls. Anyway, the point is that if you are going to buy one of these two toners you need to look to your needs. Nothing goes off-road better than the Mercedes. Of the three, the Lexus is the most civilized, bordering on boring. So my choice is the Honda with its responsive engine and great GPS. If I could abstain I would.

Verdict: The Lexus RX 330 remains the class of this market segment for those who enjoy cruising rather than driving. It is very well done. The Honda clearly is the driver's vehicle in this test with its more responsive cornering. The Mercedes is the technical champion and the one most worthy of heavy-duty use. Resale wise, the Lexus wins easily. We would prefer a combination of the Lexus interior, the Honda suspension, and the Mercedes all wheel drive unit. If you live in an area where all wheel drive is necessary, the Mercedes terrific.

Sidebar: If we tested the Honda Pilot it would have done better than the MDX, but it is not considered a near luxury SUV. However, it is the best SUV we have tested in its market segment as is Honda's CRX. Lexus is bringing out a hybrid RX this fall. It is a knockout.