I had an ILX loaner for 10 days recently, and it reminded me how most 4-cyl cars have an aggressive throttle tip-in. Push on the gas pedal a little and you shoot off from a stop.

I came away wishing my TLX had a little more aggressive tip-in. It would make the car feel a lot peppier and more nimble. Unfortunately, I'm told the tip-in can't be adjusted.

Anyone know if that's true?

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Changing the IDS effects the throttle response among other things. Econ you need to push it more to get going, and sport is more sensitive so that is what you are looking for. Fun way to test it out is on a steady acceleration change your IDS while moving form Econ>Normal>Sport and you can see the RPM needle jump that much quicker. Or go to Sport + for some real fun shift mapping and to hold at hire RPMS

 

I know about Econ, but I've been running Sport for some time now and there's virtually no difference between it and Normal mode.

I've had other cars with "Sport"modes, and all of them made a noticeable difference in throttle tip-in, but not my TLX. It's still a little lazy, and btw, the gas mileage is the same as I get in Normal mode.

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2016 TLX SH-AWD Elite owner here, I find the throttle mapping of the 2016s more aggressive than the 2015. I have driven a couple of 2015s before I bought my 2016 and I thought the 2015s' throttle mapping needed to be more aggressive. The only complain I have on mine is that I cannot turn off the engine idle stop permanently.

 

Yeah its BARELY noticeable, but it does change it. I wish there was more of a difference but oh well.

And if your say on the highway at 65mph no matter what mode econ or sport (not sport +) youll be in 9th gear getting the same mpg. All sport does is change throttle response (barely as we covered), reduce power steering for more road feel, and make the engine slightly louder (again barely noticeable).

 

I certainly feel a noticeable difference in Normal and Sport. Mine's a late 2015 build. That might be the difference.

 

I have the 4cyl and would agree that the mpg difference between normal and sport isn't that big, a little better in normal. I will say I do feel a difference in sport mode, it feels more responsive, quicker off the line, steering tightens up and the exhaust note is a bit louder.

 

Maybe KTuner will provide the ability to tune the TLX in the future. They don't have products for any of the current gen Acura vehicles, however they did for previous Acura models. They have a product for the '13-'16 Acccord V6 which allows the user to customize throttle maps among many other things. They also give the ability to disable VCM as well. You might inquire with KTuner to see if they are currently working on the TLX.
13-16 Accord V6 | KTuner, LLC

 

Thanks for the mention. We've had TLX V6 in testing and will be releasing in the coming weeks.

 

Fast Tip In is generally used by the manufacturers to give lower power to weight ratio cars a "peppy" feeling. I personally prefer a slower Tip In for more throttle control.

Noticed on the 435 that Tip In is slowest in the highest performance setting which also allows the most wheel spin. Something I used to do myself with the 335is using the JB4 tuner.

Be interesting to see the results if someone were to test how the TLX V6 is setup.

 

Does the TLX throttle mapping adapt to the driver's style as the 4G TL's does? My TL came with a pretty aggressive tip in. My driving style is not that of a stoplight racer, so over time it became less aggressive. Once or twice it's been in for service and I assume they d/c'd the battery cable; it came back significantly more responsive at tip-in. I liked it, but my driving style caused it revert back to a more leisurely tip in over time.

 

Maybe try a Pedalbox or Sprint Booster? Not sure if one is made for the TLX but I have seen a few reviews for the TL. They seem to be fairly universal; I'd guess it would be easy to modify it to work if it isn't already plug and play.

I had one on my old 09' E92 335i and it made a night and day difference. I moved it to my 12' E92 M3 and it didn't do much, so I moved it to our 13' E93 328i and it is a noticeable improvement there as well.

 

I think you're onto something here... Since my 2015 TLX SH-AWD seems to live at the dealer's service department, I've been able to drive a lot of their loaner cars. I'm currently driving a 2016 MDX. I instantly noticed how much more aggressive the throttle response is compared to the 2015 MDX and my 2015 TLX. And the funny thing is, when I checked the IDS, it was only in "Normal" mode! You barely have to press the gas and you get an instant response. The throttle tip-in in "Comfort" mode is equivalent to the "Sport" setting in my TLX. Not the shift points, just the throttle tip-in.

Food for thought... I'm almost certain I had a 2016 MDX loaner about 2 months ago and it was NOT like this, it was more like my TLX. Is this an anomaly? Was there a software update? I really wish my TLX drove like this...

 

So this may sound kind of dumb, but I have observed that you really have to watch your foot placement with the TLX (my 3G TL Type S was the same way). It is easy to end up pressing in the lower half of the gas peddle if you have taken your foot off the brake, and when that happens you have to press harder to get any results, which results in rougher shifts. If you conscientiously get your heel at the base of the gas pedal and press near or at the top of the pedal, the car is much more responsive and smoother shifting.

 

IF the pedal is hinged at the bottom putting your whole foot on the pedal & pressing with an ankle motion will give you a smoother application of power.

BTW IMHO those throttle boost aids are worthless. The car is no faster you have just shorthand the effective range of the pedal front loading it.

Generally the more powerful a car is the slower you want the Tip In so you can better manage wheels spin. If a car does not have enough torque to skin a grape then they are strictly a "feel good" exercise

 

I just brought my 16 TLX in my local dealer to get my illuminated door sills installed. They gave me a 15 TLX SH-AWD Elite as a loaner. Needless to say, I cannot wait to get my 16 back.

I find it ridiculous how the 15 is a different breed. I was one of the people who anticipated the new TLX since I really loved my 3G TL. Releasing the TLX in 2014 as a 2015 model was too soon.

 

I thought they were the same car with just a new date number on the title. What did you notice that was different?

 

For starters, the 2016 has a much better Navigation System "Voice Command" interface. You only need to press the button once and you can proceed through all of the search prompts quickly. In the 2015 you must press the talk button for each step in the process.

 

Acura never said anything official if the 16s are different than the 15s (mechanical wise). As for my experience, the 15 that I am driving right now experiences a lot of hesitation. It is almost as if the car is confused if it wants to shift or not. You almost have to drive it like you stole it so that the transmission will not hesitate. My loaner sucked at stop and go traffic, it has the rubber-band or jerky feeling when it shifts. I find my 2016 to be more responsive even if the IDS is set to normal. I even thought about never using the sport and sport + mode because the normal is good enough for me. It is running smooth, probably the smoothest car I've driven so far. That being said, I've only had my 2016 for a couple of weeks. Hopefully it stays like this.

 

Its normal for car companied to make running changes during a cars life cycle. From what is posted here most seem to be programming.

If that's correct as the 2015's go in for service they should get reprogrammed.