It appears that a few more Sports Hybrids are coming so I hope you are able to find what want. I would love to have you join the club. I think you would find it to your liking.

 

My dealer thinks he is getting another one in about a month or so. If true I am happy to connect you here in NOVA.

 

Initial impressions after about 150 miles:

The whole process of starting the car is fun because of push buttons. Very techy and not really anything to do with driving and "driveability" but fun anyway (and it will be true for the TLXs as well). Approach the car and the lights in the door handles go on. Enter the car and after steering wheel and seats adjust you push the parking brake button and then the drive button. The car starts and you can driver off in EV mode or engine or both.

The car is ultra quick on start. The acceleration and torque is almost instantaneous; almost because there is a fraction of second when the engine kicks in but this does not bother me.

Once it starts going it keeps going without hiccup, transmission shifts are almost non-existent, and the engine growls in quite satisfying. For a large car I am almost inclined to believe some write-ups that it drives smaller than its size. On the HUD it is fun to watch the speed and the individual wheel interaction with the central battery/processor as it shifts power from one wheel to the other and from one axle to the other. Is it a 5 sec or sub-5 sec car? Have not tried it yet but I am know it is freakin' fast.

All of the security and safety systems work as advertised and one of the reasons I got the car. The others are Hybrid, SH-AWD, and combination of past reliability with Acura/interior size/price. Not many cars offer these combinations in one package (mostly SUVs have this combo).

As you drive around town the car is almost silent and the initial quality would lead me to believe it will be quiet as it ages. We will see.

I am getting about 26 in mostly city driving. The shift between EV, ICE, VCM, and combination of any three is almost unobtrusive and for me I would not want it to be completely sterile. So I am happy with it.

The suspension setup is at the same time harder than the luxury car moniker (you can feel the road and this is good) and at the same time a little soft if you want to push hard. However, this is where the SH-AWD really shows up and makes up for the suspension. Around curves and in turns the car is ON RAILS. Having driven everything from super cars to race cars this design has real applications and the Honda has potentially a true differentiator. Now let us see what they do with their new exterior design.

The electronic interface DOES NOT have a steep learning curve but there is a lot to go through. (WHY NOT HAVE SIRI ACURA?). I like the dual screen setup. On the HUD you can have your most important visual, on the dash you can have another important sensor displaying, on the top screen you can have one more, and the lower is audio/climate. It works because you can configure for 4 different elements of the car as it suits you and minimize the "fidgeting". The interface reaction is fast and the lower screen haptic touch is really well done.

The seats are comfortable but I would have like the lower cushion to be adjustable in length and possibly with an adjustable air bladder. The configuration allows for any number of positions so no complaints there.

The cabin is very well designed-not quite Audi like-but right up there in terms of quality and ergonomics. The cabin is very large. The rear seating is very spacious. The 6'2" in the family is very happy.

The KRELL system if unbelievable. Priced in retail it is supposed to be about $14,000k (go figure). The sound quality, controls, configuration, and the rest is very simple. The whole back shelf is one giant stereo system from edge to edge-woofer, 2 midrange, 2 tweeters...very cool.

So is it wolf in sheep's clothing=this is not a track car but you could have fun with it.

Will play with Acuralink, AHA, etc...and see what else is useful about the tech in the car. After all it is just 4 wheels and an engine to get you from place A to place B. But it is a nice package to be in and to drive.

So far=enjoying it. Hope it stays that way!

 

The 20 highest volume dealers in the USA will get a second Sports Hybrid, even though some Acura dealers will never get one at all.

So I'm thinking that we're lucky in NOVA that both Radley Acura in Falls Church and Pohanka Acura in Chantilly will give people a chance at two more Sports Hybrids in just a few weeks.

 

I don't think we're going to know for a while because testers only had access to the preproduction vehicles, and they went back to the drawing board to fix some things after that.

Now...I have seen credible people refer to altered valve timing in the production cars, but I don't know if that's just computer work or different camshafts. Nobody has part numbers yet!

It's in the generation after the 5G Legend, like the 2015 TLX which has SIRI Hands Free.

Isn't it, though? :-)

Thanks very much for taking the time to write us. For the most part, it sounds like we're all thrilled with the car.

So far, I've had one single incidence of what I think is Malibu's "grabby brakes" problem.

 

So....I thought more about the "grabby brakes" and here is what I think might be going on. Today as I was braking the car went from engine to EV mode and back to engine mode. The brake feel changed as the engine came on and while not grabby the brakes did get grippy. I am thinking difference in brake fluid pressure maybe as the engine kicks in.

 

Today I did my commute in Sports mode and I think I figured out what I thought was grabby brakes. Instead of the brakes I believe it was the transmission downshifting while I was braking hard. I had the HUD showing the tachometer. When the slowed unexpectedly and somewhat abruptly, I noticed that the car had down shifted into 3rd gear. In hindsight it feels like driving a manual transmission and downshifting to slow the car down. So I think the Sports mode changes the downshifting pattern and uses it to help slow the car down while braking.

 

Will have to check this out next time I am out.

 

Further observation on the sound system=it is fabulous. I listened to 3 different stations consistently so to be able to compare bass, treble, voice, and quality of the sound. After one week of playing at different volumes and different type of sounds it sounds like the speakers are starting to sound better. The highs are crisper and lows are tight and this is with the sub at center position. I suspect that just as in the home speakers they have to get a work out before they sound their best. Was noticeable enough for me to comment.

 

Oh noes! Not the infamous audiophile break-in argument!

 

Well...the reverse could be true and I am willing to entertain that idea: the car is breaking me in ;-)

 

It's certainly the best sound system I've ever heard in an automobile.