CROSSOVER PERFECTION? Starting a year in Acura's midsize sport/utility vehicle, emphasis on sport.(News)(product information of American Honda Motor Company Inc. Acura)

Byline: WES RAYNAL

To replace our beloved and much-missed long-term Chevrolet Suburban (sniff), we figured on a nice all-rounder with seating for seven. The most up-to-date crossover to fit the bill is the Acura MDX.

We've always considered Acura's seven-passenger MDX a strong player in what could be called the medium premium market (Volkswagen Touareg, Volvo XC90, Lexus RX and the like), so we called Acura and furiously started checking off the options boxes.

Actually, one of the beauties of this, the second-generation MDX, is that you don't have to check too many boxes. MDXs come five ways, each pretty much loaded. The base car starts at $40,195, and when ordering, you upgrade by package. Acura offers a Technology package and a Sport package, and you can mix Technology and Entertainment or Sport and Entertainment. We went with Sport and Entertainment, which includes such things as an active damper system, auto-leveling xenon headlamps, DVD-based entertainment system, heated second-row seats and power tailgate. It all added up to a $48,710 sticker price (including $715 destination).

Our MDX is handsome, with an elegant dark cherry paint job. The sheetmetal looks crisper than the outgoing model's, and the new one is 2.2 inches longer and 2.4 inches wider.

Acura officials said they were going for a sportier-looking and -driving MDX, and it starts with a 3.7-liter, 300-hp, 275-lb-ft V6. That's 47 more hp and 25 more lb-ft compared with the MDX engine it replaces-good enough to propel the car from 0 to 60 mph in a tick more than eight seconds. Mated to a five-speed sequential gearbox, the engine pulls strongly, and, being a Honda powerplant, it's ultrasmooth. It can tow up to 5000 pounds, Acura says, adding that its customer surveys show that only 18 percent of SUV owners say they need to tow more.

The MDX was tuned on the famed Nurburgring racetrack, tested against the likes of the BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz ML350, Porsche Cayenne and XC90. The Nurburgring is also where the Super Handling All-Wheel Drive was dialed in. SH-AWD can shift the optimal amount of torque front to rear and side to side. It isn't for heavy-duty off-roading necessarily, but on the road or even on a track (part of our initial MDX test drive was in Pennsylvania at the BeaveRun raceway, not your usual SUV venue), the SH-AWD is impressive. Where the competition often plows its way around corners, the MDX tracks around on its intended path with better grip and little body roll.