Car and Driver: Acura’s Tiny CDX: A Honda HR-V Dressed Up for Prom (in China)

If the Honda HR-V subcompact crossover is the dorky, lanky-limbed teenager in Honda’s tall-wagon lineup, where does it leave the Acura CDX, which certainly rides on the same platform? Based on the CDX’s somewhat awkwardly applied Acura styling cues—LED headlights, angular taillights, and the brand’s all-new pentagonal grille—the little luxo-crossover resembles an HR-V wearing an ill-fitting tuxedo. Perhaps it’s for the best that the CDX is so far confirmed only for the Chinese market.

Despite having made its full debut at the 2016 Beijing auto show, Acura isn’t saying much about the CDX. We assume it shares its basic platform with the HR-V, while its turbocharged 1.5-liter engine and eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission appear culled from Honda’s corporate parts bin. (The turbo engine would seem to be the same one in the new Honda Civic, while the dual-clutch transmission is an Acura unit also fitted to the ILX and TLX.)

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Beyond those tidbits, and what we assume will be appropriately luxurious interior appointments, we know only that the CDX will go on sale this summer in China. Through Honda’s local (to China) production partner, Guangqi Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., the CDX will be built in that market. Without this ultra-small offering, U.S. customers continue to get only the compact RDX and mid-size MDX crossovers at their Acura dealerships.

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