The Lemon Index$4,500 middle bill · most between $3,800 and $5,900
About the same as the $4,500 middle bill owners of all 175 models reported.
Owners who gave their mileage: a middle of 98,000 miles (18 reports).
Acura MDX owners reported paying a median of $4,500 for a transmission replacement, with the middle half of bills between $3,800 and $5,900. That's from 26 owner reports (26 complaints to NHTSA). Costs vary by shop and region.
What owners paid
- Under $5000%
- $500–$1,0000%
- $1,000–$2,5008%
- $2,500–$5,00054%
- $5,000 and up38%
Share of the 26 owner reports in each price band.
By model year
- 2001 Acura MDX7$3,800 middle bill
- 2002 Acura MDX9$4,500 middle bill
- 2003 Acura MDX2too few for a middle
- 2004 Acura MDX1too few for a middle
- 2005 Acura MDX2too few for a middle
- 2012 Acura MDX1too few for a middle
- 2016 Acura MDX2too few for a middle
- 2022 Acura MDX2too few for a middle
Reports per model year, with the middle bill where there are 3 or more. YouTube amounts count for the generation the video covers.
How often owners report the failure
- 2002 Acura MDX42 complaints name it20% of that year's complaints
- 2003 Acura MDX35 complaints name it17% of that year's complaints
- 2001 Acura MDX34 complaints name it15% of that year's complaints
- 2016 Acura MDX24 complaints name it6% of that year's complaints
- 2004 Acura MDX14 complaints name it8% of that year's complaints
- 2005 Acura MDX14 complaints name it8% of that year's complaints
Owner complaints to NHTSA whose own words name a transmission failure. Raw counts: popular years get more complaints. A complaint is a report, not proof of a defect.
Engines in these years
J30AC 3.0 turbo V6 · J35 3.5 V6
Engines with a page of their own that this model was sold with in the years above. Owners don't always say which engine they had.
Engine codes that can lead here: P0700 P0730 P0715 P0720 P0731 P0732 P0733 P0734. A code is where a shop starts, not proof the part failed.
Keep going
- Acura MDX reliability by year
- Transmission replacement cost on every car
- Car symptoms and what they can mean
Other repairs Acura MDX owners reported
Torque converter replacement (8) · Engine replacement (6) · Strut and shock replacement (5)
The details
How we count
Every number here is a repair bill an owner reported, never a shop's price list. Two sources: the bills owners wrote in their own complaints to the U.S. government (NHTSA), and the dollar amounts owners said out loud in YouTube repair and ownership videos. A figure counts for a repair when that repair is the part named nearest to it. Left out: purchase prices, payments, rentals, towing, warranties and deductibles, amounts under $50 or over $15,000, parts-only prices ("the part was $80 on Amazon"), bills for two different repairs named together, and money someone else paid. One number per complaint (or video) and repair: the biggest, so it's the bill, not the diagnosis fee.
The range is the middle half of the bills (the 25th to the 75th percentile), so one wild number can't swing it. Owners who complain to the government often had expensive repairs, so a typical bill can be lower. Costs vary by shop and region, by dealer vs independent shop, by parts and by miles. This is what owners reported, not a quote for your car.
Check the bills yourself
NHTSA complaint numbers (search them at nhtsa.gov): 11759193, 11737467, 11594213, 11527927, 11327454, 10914404, 10598986, 10584572, 10544535, 10544534, 10544533, 10462182 and more.
Quick answers
How much does transmission replacement cost on a Acura MDX?
Acura MDX owners reported a median of $4,500, and the middle half paid $3,800 to $5,900, from 26 owner reports. Costs vary by shop and region.
Is a Acura MDX transmission replacement more expensive than on other cars?
The Acura MDX middle bill of $4,500 is about the same as the $4,500 owners of all 175 models we have reports for paid.
Where do these Acura MDX repair costs come from?
From 26 complaints to NHTSA: what owners themselves said they paid. They aren't verified bills or a shop's quote.
Which Acura MDX years report this failure most?
In complaints to NHTSA, owners of the 2002 (42), 2003 (35), 2001 (34) Acura MDX named it most. Raw counts, not a failure rate.
Sources: NHTSA owner complaints and YouTube videos (amounts said out loud), sorted by The Lemon Index. Owner reports, not a price quote. Costs vary by shop and region.