The Acura MDX may be the darling of the young affluent set of Junior Leaguers and future CEOs, but for all its good looks, it has a practical side, too.

	Honda
	2003 Acura MDX. The Bottom Line -- Base Price: $36,200. Fuel Economy: 17 mpg city, 23 highway. Annual estimated fuel cost: $1,302. Powertrain: 3.5-liter, 260-horsepower V-6, with a five-speed automatic.

One morning when I had it, the MDX was caked with inch-thick ice from the tires to the roof rack, and 4 inches of snow had fallen on my cobblestone street.

Not to worry. I hit the defrost buttons and discovered that the Acura MDX had the most efficient system I've ever seen. In less than a minute, that inch-thick ice was reduced to water on the windows I hit another button on the driver's door, and the ice disappeared from the outside mirrors in no time. And when I hit the seat warmer button, my hind quarters got toasty in seconds.

Finally, it navigated the snow-covered hill with nary a slip. Despite streets caked with black ice, salt and other stuff, it took only five minutes more than normal to get to work.

The MDX's sterling performance can be attributed to its Variable Torque Management four-wheel drive system. Under ordinary circumstances, the system operates on front wheel drive. But if the going gets rough and slippery, the system can detect that, and transfer pushing power to the rear wheels. It's aided by a Vehicle Stability Assist system that applies the brakes automatically and/or reduces throttle if necessary to stabilize the car.

It doesn't hurt that the MDX is like a living room on wheels. It certainly feels less cramped than its main competitors, the Mercedes Benz ML series SUVs and the BMW X5.

The MDX, though it is no sports car, performs well and has enough power to get out of its own way.

Problems? Mostly minor stuff. You have to use the navigation system to adjust the climate control system, because they are combined. I also didn't care much for the shift gate on the MDX. It's designed to be shifted manually as well as automatically, but you have to do a fair amount of pushing to get into gear.

Another caution: My MDX was equipped with a rear view camera and monitor. When you shift into reverse, the scene behind the car appears on the navigation system screen -- but objects behind the car are a lot closer than they appear. Fortunately, I didn't find that out the hard way.

I'll never snicker when I think the MDX is too pretty or classy to get itself all messed up. I know better now.