jbawden

The TLX is the crossover point where Acura and Lexus trade roles: Acura builds "fine" front drive point A to B sedans and Lexus focuses more on luxury rear drive sports sedans that appeal to people that actually like to drive. Enthusiasts may be a small percentage of buyers but abandoning them like Acura has will have much broader implications when critics pan the driving dynamics and overall performance. People may drive at 4/10ths 95% of the time, but they like if nothing else the emotional satisfaction of knowing they "could" go confidently faster.

IssacIM

http://www.torquenews.com/1574/2015-acura-tlx-sets-new-benchmark-mid-level-sport-luxury-performance

Here's a First Drive review that presents a better case for the TLX

bdwpac81

Here is a test drive report from Autoweek, just posted today! Please forgive me if the link was provided elsewhere on the forum.

http://autoweek.com/article/car-revi...lx-first-drive

Stew4HD

I disagree that Acura has abondoned enthusiasts. If that was the case, they would be selling only I4's. The '12 TL I had went plenty fast, I got mine to 133 MPH (just had to see what it would do). It's far from the fastest or most powerful but the car never hesitated when I stepped out to pass.

I see on here all the time that many want the car to go 0-60 in under X seconds and also be utra quiet and smooth over every bump.

I think Acura did a fine job of trying to hit the middle of all those things for the $$! It will cost a lot to hit all those points and still, not everyone would be pleased because the front over hangs more than the rear, too much wheel gap, LED instead of Xenon, red lights instead of blue, wrong color fogs...... you catch my drift.

I may I appear to be a fan boy, let me assure, I am not. I traded my '12 TL off for a Lexus GS350 and found it was not a HUGE upgrade to the TL.. yes, there were upgrades like having DI for instant power and better seats.. but that is where it pretty much stopped being much better. I'm in Honda Accord Coupe now

bdwpac81

Their review is a little vague... I was hoping for more detail. I'm hoping for some thorough reports on Monday so I can feel more confident in placing a reservation.

CheeseyPoofs McNut

Hmm - Lukewarm at best - likely not the sort of review the people at Acura are hoping for.

"There was a definite sense of disconnect, or at least a formidable buffer, between what you ask the car to do and the way it goes about doing it. It does what you ask, and does it well enough, but some drivers might want to do that stuff for themselves. Or at least feel as if they were. For most buyers, all that electronic control at the limit will be a good thing, since the TLX knows more about car control than they are likely to. But for a canyon-carving boy racer, the slight numbness might put him to sleep."

This will not sit well with the enthusiast crowd

I'm just a regular joe so it may still fall squarely in my wheelhouse. The one thing they don't mention is the quality of the ride (beyond being best in class quiet - which I like) - I'm wondering if it's a firm Accord-like ride or a bit softer along the lines of a Lexus.

Thanks for posting Colin - looking forward to reading the rest of them as they trickle out.

a77

I think it said 7.2 for 0-60. Not a dog but not as fast as Acura has been hinting. Whatever, it is fast enough. Neither review sounds very authoritative - especially the torque news one which reads like someone from Acura wrote it. We need to wait another week :-(

jbawden

For the record it would be a strange day to find me putting money down on a Lexus, I just think it's interesting how the two brands are deviating from their traditional paths. As far as performance, top speed is totally irrelevant (to me) and the number of cylinders isn't a deal breaker though above average power is nice. I'd pick a balanced chassis with a turbo 4 over a less balanced V6 if the overall drive is better. Comparing 0-60 times is cliche bench racing for novices, but appreciating how curb weight, weight distribution and efficiency impact how the car drives is where I'm at, not peak power. OK so the styling isn't engaging, the driving experience had better be and so far the early reviews are not promising. We'll see.

vai777

A review by AutoWeek is now live.
http://autoweek.com/article/car-revi...lx-first-drive

In a straight line the TLX returned good – if not great – preliminary numbers to 60 mph. The quickest model we tried in impromptu launches on mostly flat country roads was the front wheel-drive V6, which used all of its 290 hp getting there in 6.1 seconds. The SH-AWD V6 got 6.5 seconds and the front wheel-drive 206-hp four-cylinder got to 60 mph in 7.2. While more thorough tests will surely lower those figures, in our runs we found all the cars were hampered by a pause at launch. This ate up as much as a second of time. Once the TLX decided to get going, it went, roaring ahead with only slight wheelspin with traction control off. - See more at: http://autoweek.com/article/car-revi....tI2akGJO.dpuf

iutodd

Very vague review in a lot of ways. Doesn't really talk about the difference between the PAWS and SHAWD, doesn't really talk about the difference between the I4 and V6. Doesn't really talk about the ride or the steering or anything like that.

Colin

I wonder if they're trying to tread some kind of line between breaking the embargo and stating what is "in bounds"?

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

I wouldn't use those acceleration numbers to compare with others in the class. Those aren't official test numbers like we regular see on Car and Driver, Motor Trend, and Edmunds. It's kinda unfair since with those official tests, they factor in 1-foot rollout, brake torquing, clutch dump, elevation, etc. It also didn't state what mode the car was in during the launch. I suspect the transmission may default to 2nd gear in normal mode when accelerating off the line. And once it detects full throttle, it shifts back to 1st for maximum thrust, and that could explain the pause.

I'd wait for other figures before drawing a conclusion.

iutodd

Since they seem very unspecific about a lot of things I'm wondering if starting in second gear is the case here.

I also remember a video review of the RLX that tested the RLX to 60 in over 7 seconds - I think they were at like 5000 ft too - but like the others I will wait for official numbers taken in a more controlled setting.

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

With 8 or 9 gears, it's not surprising in normal mode, the car starts in 2nd gear IMO.

winstrolvtec

^Good point, nothing specific but I've heard of a few of these 8 and 9 geared autos actually using only 6 or 7 gears for normal driving and the extra one or two gears only came into play when launching or engaged by sport mode or something to that affect.

Nedmundo

Some reviewers have said similar things about the current BMW 3 Series. Unfortunately, with numb electric steering and the intense drive for NVH reduction in the sport/luxury segment, a tactile, visceral driving experience is hard to come by, though apparently Lexus and Cadillac are doing better than the others. (That's beyond bizarre, but so it goes.) I was hoping Acura would provide a connected feel in the TLX, with more steering feedback than my TSX for example, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if it follows the 3 Series down the path toward numbness and isolation.

Also, I can't seem to get the AutoWeek review. Have they taken it down to honor the embargo?

Stew4HD

I guess I don't get this feel of steering that others complain is missing in cars.. I turn the steering wheel, the car turns. There is a mechanical and or/electromechanical connection between the tires and steering wheel. I know what disconnected feel is like, my old '72 Challenger with mopar power steering was bad with one finger steering but.. since then, rack and pinion steering seems to work very well.

Is this "feel of the road" more of a visceral thing, imagined or real? Just wondering

holografique

And it looks like someone at AutoWeek just got spanked, cause that link is now just a big ol fat 404.

doh!

dysonlu

As someone else said, it's more like a tactic so that later on when people search for TLX review, they find their page first. Lowly tactic.

In any case, someone posted the entire first-drive "review" in one of the threads.

MuGen7Modulo

^Yeah, our good fellow got it covered like always.

Here:
https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...&postcount=199

CaliAtenza

my dad just picked up a 2014 328i Sportline back in June...and he says the drive is great; and he's driven BMWs back in the day (from the 1980s, 1990s).

BEAR-AvHistory

I would sit AutoWeeks test out. C&D + R&T will try to beat the snot out of the car & post better numbers. Good news bad news about electric steering. BAD It has not been great at its introduction. GOOD its feel & responsiveness is software driven & a lot of improvement has been dialed in over the past 6 months. Fifth Gear wet their pants over the M234 & showed a long series of them in a drift contest. Top Gear also flogged it pretty well.

No matter what the TLX steering is like now it can be improved without hardware changes just like everybody elses.