ssmcls03

After looking and messing around with the new TLX a bit, I have found that there are now 4 drive modes that can be selected.

Normal- Blend of comfort and sport.

Comfort- Quieter ride with less responsiveness to the gas pedal inputs in order keep rpms and speed steady.

Sport- More aggressive steering, handling, shift pattern and throttle response. Also more engine noise allowed into cabin by turning off noise cancellation. Also turns off auto idle stop!

Individual- Choose your own adventure! Shifting, suspension, idle stop, interior lighting all can be changed to match your preference.

There is no longer a “sport plus” drive mode but you can obviously paddle shift whenever you’d like anyway.

The only major issue I can find is that the only drive modes that can be saved for every startup are “normal” and “comfort”. No more being able to select and stay on “sport mode” permanently but I’m sure this is due to the idle stop being turned off in sport mode. Crazy that you will now have to select “sport mode” every time you drive!!

I do like the rest of the car aside from the wheels which are 🤮. 4cyl turbo has more than enough power for normal driving and has a good potential for future mode since its finally turbocharged!

leomio85

Can't you go into the Settings menu and turn off auto stop/start permanently? Or was that just false hope?

Tesla1856

The Owner's Manual explains how it and the Next-Car-Startup modes work.

Looks like you can just set all Individual Modes to Sport.
That way ... start-car and after everything boots-up just press the center A-logo button to restore all your desired Sport defaults (maybe, try it). George Jetson one-button style.

ssmcls03

You can only set auto idle stop off in individual mode but the vehicle cannot be saved in that mode for each start. So yes, false hope unfortunately...

ssmcls03

Yeah as I said earlier you can set the individual mode to whatever custom settings you wish but you do still have to put it in individual mode each time you start the car. It will not stay in individual or sport mode permanently. You will have to either turn the knob to select sport or press the A-logo button to select individual but you have to do this each time you drive 😩

Vicious Type S

LoL oh how far we've come... Oh man, you have to press a single button to change a bunch of the car's characteristics after you do the initial setup?! It's not 100% there yet but it's pretty good progress if you ask me!

Carnage719

Why did Acura take so many steps backwards with this model?

Honda430

I don’t know. They disengaged auto stop in sport mode. Maybe as a consequence they needed to have it reset to normal to satisfy the folks at the EPA.

SebringSilver

In fairness, having an Individual mode is already a big step forward....for Acura.

Edward'TLS

Let's all pray that this won't become the norm for the upcoming MDX and future Acura products.

Neoforever

A "sport sedan" that makes you select "sport" mode everytime you get in...

BEAR-AvHistory

Might be an EPA thing. Not positive but think the EPA tests are done in comfort. My cars also require you to hit the Sport button to get the individual sport settings which includes the engine stop "feature" to be gone.

Carnage719

1G TLX stays in the last selected mode the next time the car is started. If the auto stop setting is the issue, then they should've left it like the 1G where you have to disengage it every time you start the car.

MIKEYDRED

I know right, yet the RDX starts out in sport everytime#confused

Taz69

It depends on what mode they let the EPA test the car in. If Acura did not mind getting a little less MPG score and let the EPA test in sport or Sport+ then it is ok for the car to start in that mode. If the EPA was told test another car on comfort to get a better MPG score than it must start in comfort. Car has to always start in whatever mode it was tested in if better MPG mode was used.

Carnage719

In the Driving Impressions thread, we were discussing modes reverting back to a default. On the 1G, you can go into vehicle settings to set the mode you want the car to start in, including "last used". Has anyone checked if this setting exists in the 2G's vehicle settings?

ssmcls03

Here’s the way the last mode used is saved now:

mapleloaf

I marvel at the things people find to be major problems. It's almost as if they are desparately looking for something to criticize........must be fun at parties

ssmcls03

I marvel at people willing to take time out of their day to comment on a post that they have no intention of furthering the discussion about. At least post something about the thread......😉

I’m sure that some things bother you that others may think are crazy also. Just sayin

F23A4

First world problems.

mapleloaf

To be fair it was just a few seconds of my time I would say that just because a car is a sports sedan doesn't mean most people will always drive it in Sports Mode. In fact, just the opposite, especially in traffic. Similarly, lots of people will still use Auto Stop at times. That and Government fuel economy rules that apply to all vehicles. Its nice to have choices, even if there is one extra button to do so.

BEAR-AvHistory

Agree - have 3 buttons in a row on the consol. Start, Sport, Brake release. Even at 78 it no great hardship to hit them on start-up. Also starting in comfort keeps the neighbors happy without the muffler flaps open.

ssmcls03

I get the nitpicking complaint but as we know there are a whole lot of people who complained about having to turn off the idle stop on the gen 1 and that’s just one button as well. We can’t always have everything we want, right?!! I was just pointing out something a lot of people may be concerned with but I’m sure someone will create something to override the system similar to the idle stop disable device on the gen 1 and then everyone can be happy!

ELIN

I've currently updated the "Individual" drive mode to settings I like. When I start the car again, I will check to see if the drive mode selected stays at "Individual".

I was told by the dealer that the engine start/stop can be permanently defeated in "Individual" settings. Are folks confusing the "lack of engine start/stop" for the car warming up on ignition? You have to let the car warm-up to charge its battery first before the "stop" is even an option. The warm-up will be even faster if you don't have the A/C or heat running.

ELIN

As others have said, the car defaults to "Normal" every time you turn on the ignition.

The way I see it, if you don't mind pushing a button to go into "Drive" or "Park", then you should have no problem pushing a button to activate your Individual settings. If you want to be in "Sport" all the time, just set up the "Individual" to "Sport" for everything and simply push the drive mode button to activate "Sport" instead of turning the dial. It's a hassle but becomes second nature. It took me a good 2 weeks to get used to the push button transmission on the 2018 MDX but I got over it.

SebringSilver

It’s not a gigantic pain in the butt that the car always defaults to Normal, but the fact that other brands don’t do that is what makes people scratch their heads when evaluating the TLX.

ELIN

No, I get it. In this price range, there should be very few compromises. The truth was if I wasn't so hung up on getting rid of the MDX, I could very well still be in the market for a Kia K5 GT or Stinger GT1 that I could have easily financed instead of leased. The Korean manufacturers have made great strides against the Japanese, akin to their counterparts in electronics (ie. Samsung, LG, etc). I remember when Sony Trinitron was a big deal but now everyone wants a Samsung or LG OLED. My oldest will start driving by the time the TLX lease is up so I will most likely get a non-luxury car just to keep the costs down. I'll have to make the most of these next 3 years.