[chrisny]

Nope. The Japanese brands just seem to be getting further and further away from nice lines, instead moving to these unnecessarily curvy weird designs. Haven't been a fan of any Acura, Lexus, or Infiniti product for a while now. Which is a shame. I loved the first G35, now it's huge and ugly. I had an '04 FX45, drove like a sports car, but was already an acquired taste to begin with, style-wise. Then they went over the top with all this seemingly shark inspired design.

The new MDX, still not impressed. Not as horrid looking as some others, but just bland, IMO. I think the newer RDX actually looks better, although they're pretty similar.

It's like you said, the value isn't really there (at least not in a lease, just not as big a difference as you want/expect a Honda to be compared to a BMW) and that's what they need to win customers from BMW, Audi, and Mercedes. Hell, throw Volvo and VW in there too (I'd take a Touareg over the MDX in a heartbeat). You don't save all that much, so why bother…..