With my confidence brimming over, I decided to abandon the barely passable main streets and hit the less-traveled side roads that lay somewhere beneath a layer of solid ice, covered with an 8-inch insulating blanket of snow. At this point I put the shifter into the gated 1st gear position and activated Acura's 4-wheel drive, Variable Torque

The MDX, together with its capable 235/65 R17 all-season tires, made trekking through snow and ice seem like a walk in the park. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press)

Management System by pressing the VTM-4 button located on the dash. This setting ensured that all four wheels would be receiving a share of the 265 horsepower the 3.5-liter SOHC, 24-valve V-6 VTEC engine silently generates with premium fuel. Hills, very steep hills, were now in my view and about to fall prey to the MDX. The sheer volume of lesser cars strewn around the city's side streets were testament that for all but the best in all-wheel drive or 4-wheel drive technology, the ice and shin-high snow would be insurmountable and impassable. For the MDX, together with its capable 235/65 R17 all-season tires, such conditions were a piece of cake. "Bring it on," I heard the MDX whisper as I sleuthed out the steepest grades.

The MDX is capable of climbing an extremely steep 31-degree grade (60-percent slope) with two-passengers on board. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press)

Acura doesn't tout the MDX as a heavy-duty off-roader, but rather term it a mid-level off-road vehicle. That being said, Acura's SUV does have bragging rights when it comes to hill climbing abilities. It is capable of climbing an extremely steep 31-degree grade (60-percent slope) with two-passengers on board. The MDX will also move from rest up a 28-degree (53-percent slope) dirt grade. On a split grade (different amounts of traction at each wheel), Acura declares that the VTM-4 automatically provides sufficient rear-wheel torque to help the vehicle climb a steep, slippery driveway to enter a garage. According to Acura the motion is smooth and secure-feeling and free of the jerkiness that's common with brake-based traction- and stability-control systems.