By JOHN PEARLEY HUFFMAN

THE most interesting thing about the 2007 Acura RDX compact crossover was that, unlike most of its luxury competitors, it didn’t have a 6-cylinder engine. Instead, it used a turbocharged 2.3-liter 4-cylinder engine. The most interesting thing about its successor, the new 2013 RDX, is that the turbo 4 has been dropped in favor of a V-6.

The 240-horsepower turbo engine made the first RDX quick but not all that fuel-efficient. Inside Line, the online enthusiasts magazine of Edmunds.com, clocked an ’07 RDX ripping from 0 to 60 in 6.8 seconds. But calculated with today’s methodology, the E.P.A. rating of that all-wheel-drive RDX was just 17 miles per gallon in town and 22 on the highway. (A front-drive version was added for 2010.) Owners who regularly revved the engine hard enough to keep the turbocharger spooled up could experience considerably worse fuel economy.

The old RDX had the dumpy body of a grocery cart and the frantic heart of a sports car. In contrast, the new RDX and its 273-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6 are perfectly matched. It’s a more handsome and tightly tailored machine than the departed model, but not so handsome or tailored that anyone would notice it in a sea of crossovers. And it’s now a better, easier-going instrument of family utility.

The V-6 is a version of a silken, effortlessly athletic, single-overhead-cam engine found in several Honda products, including the Odyssey minivan and the Acura TL and TSX sedans. It is mated to a new 6-speed automatic transmission (an upgrade from the old RDX’s 5-speed) and includes a cylinder-management system that lets two or three cylinders loaf when engine loads are light during, say, highway cruising. The new all-wheel-drive model is rated at 19 m.p.g. in town and 27 on the highway and the front-drive RDX at 20/28.