ferio252

I don't own a TLX but was wondering what y'all think of their latest review. My thoughts are that Alanis possibly didn't shift into sport+ nor did she push the car hard enough to appreciate it's chassis.

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"The A-Spec had paddle shifters, but they weren’t fun or engaging. Each shift had an incredibly slow response time from the engine, which led to an awkward number of seconds of waiting for the car to actually upshift and the RPMs to go down after you’d already hit the paddle. It wasn’t even worth it to try. "

My Q is, is the 9-speed AT really that bad???

fiatlux

I don't know if it's "that" bad, but it's bad. It's slow, it can't make up its mind, and it feels like a slushbox. It can't hold a candle to the famed 8-speed ZF transmission (which is odd considering the 9-speed is a ZF design as well).

quantum7

and for Jalopnik to write anything anti-Acura tells you all you need to know. Most everything else they print is pretty much heavily pro-Acura. Really got to believe(hope) that Acura is getting out of the ZF9 ASAP

BEAR-AvHistory

Its always compared to what. Compared to the ZF8 its slow shifting in any program. Think Honda was sort of trapped. They wanted a multi speed transmission but have a transverse engine. Not any real performance choices available. That was compounded with the dog clutch type gearing to save space. With these types of gears exact positing of the two segments has to take place before they can shift.

To get the required alignment the process needed to be slowed down in the middle gears. The requirement for the dog clutch was to get 9 gears to fit into a case that could be packaged with the transverse engine.

A perfect storm.

fiatlux

It's a shame their own 8 speed DCT that's in the 2.4L can't handle the torque of the 3.5L (or be set up for AWD). It's an absolute peach and would address 90% of my complaints about the V6 models.

Honda430

I'm surprised anyone other than the haters would accept the ludicracy of that reviewer's comments regarding the paddle shifters. I'd be the first to say that in the 30 to 40 MPH range the transmission can be slow to downshift; however, seconds , which in my mind is 2-3, is an absolute falsehood. I think the reviewer, who was obviously unfamiliar with the car before her review, believed the car was Acura's high performance variant similar to an M or Redsport and based her review on that misassumption. Mind you her comments regarding the transmission were centered on the paddle shifters. Reasonably how many people are going to buy an Aspec to drive via the paddle shifters. The delay with the paddle shifters while not immeadiate is more in the range of .5 seconds. My take is that your average driver wouldn't even notice it. The funny thing about that review was in her asking what type of person would buy the car, I suppose purely from a performance aspect, then rates the car an "A" as a daily driver in her final analysis.youd think that alone would be enough for more than a few folks to buy the car.

kurtatx

The review is fine, but I'm not sure what was expected from an MMC.

fiatlux

Well, this is quite literally the first serious car review she's ever written (one has to wonder how many cars she's ever driven), so I'd take everything with a huge grain of salt.

BEAR-AvHistory

Being one of the designated haters would make a few comments.

Agree 100% maybe even an A+ as a daily driver. Most of us haters (way overused word that has lost its meaning) are from the bad old days when our TL's matched the current advertising & was actually an A+ performance car compared to its peers especially with the 6MT that came with a good suspension, summer tires, Brembo brakes & an LSD all standard except for the tires which were an option.

In most regimens except for pure handling my TL 6MT matched my BMW 330CI ZHP 6MT & was thousands cheaper.

Again agree. She is way overstating the issue.

That said its always compared to what. Compared to a ZF8 the ZF9 is slow enough to easily notice the difference. Since neither transmissions paddles, push buttons or shift handles are directly attached to the box how you use the interface does not matter.

This one I don't agree with. There is no high performance variant of the TLX to confuse her. I think she just got in the car drove it & made here report. She might actually be closer to an everyman daily driver than the typical car tester who would generally be more performance oriented.

kurtatx

Honestly, I take this review as a positive. It's an MMC

"Hey Acura, it looks great! Now upgrade the internals"

That's completely reasonable. I like the A-Spec look (they shouldn't even have the regular models) and so do a lot of reviewers. Now if Acura can do something special under the hood.

RDX10

I feel the review is accurate. There is no way around the ZF9 being laggy. IMHO it was only ever intended for normal passenger cars and should have never been put in a sport sedan.

fiatlux

Well, the new 2018 Accord is getting a 10-speed auto, so hopefully that "trickles up" to Acura by the time the next generation TLX comes around. I can't imagine that it would be worse than the ZF9...

AZuser

Geez. I wonder where she would get an idea like that from?

2015 TLX Prototype - Acura's "Red Carpet Athlete" - Unveiled at 2014 North American International Auto Show - Honda News


2018 Acura TLX Reveal NYIAS ? April 11, 2017 Remarks for Jon Ikeda - TLX - Acura News


2018 Acura TLX Makes World Debut with Aggressive, Sporty Design, and New Technology Features - TLX - Acura News


All the people who saw Acura's marketing and wanted to experience the "sport-tuning" and "performance" the A-Spec offers?

MTD

College girls should stick to reviewing shoes. Her bad points are kinda valid but she makes no mention at all of anything else. Has she even driven a 15-17 for comparison? What is she babbling on about the brakes and the IDS modes? They have nothing in common.

She sounds like the most of the usual 5-6 anti Acura goofs on this forum lol.

pyrodan007

At least she wouldn't pay full price on this thing, unlike some 'diehards' (not targeting anyone here).
Say whatever you wish, the amount of 'us' goofs are growing lol. Not anti-Acura, more like anti-procrastination.

TacoBello

There's no doubt the 18 is better than the 15-17... so what? The first car didn't exactly set the bar very high. The MMC improves mildly in various categories, but it wasn't anything revolutionary and still has major flaws. Just calling a spade a spade. And then of course there are those goofs who are still oblivious to the short comings of their car and join acurazine to discuss fuel economy and engine sounds, first and foremost. A place that originally became infamous for the amount of modding and maintenance and repair and racing and anything you can think of information, that built a community from the ground up. Just an interesting observation, really.

RDX10

You're just a hater Taco, you Acura basher :wink:

RDX10

I personally don't have high hopes for the 10 speed auto. I feel that 10 gears is entirely too much. I bet it will only have torque in gears 1-3 and then nothing in the top gears meaning every jab on the accelerator pedal will be met with a 9-10 gear drop to 5-6 gear and then another drop to 2-3 gear when trying to accelerate. Call me crazy but that 10 speed should stick with Honda and instead Acuras should use nothing but DCT's. They should beef up that 8 speed DCT and drop that in everything. It gets nothing but rave reviews on here even from people who don't like the ILX (myself included). Incorporating the torque converter into a DCT was a brilliant way to balance the harshness with speedy gear changes.

neuronbob

OK, how about a comment from another actual user of the car? The manual upshifts ARE slow in any IDS mode other than Sport+. In Sport+, you have to plan about 100-200 rpm before your planned shift. It's really not that bad at all in that mode. With the others, it's more like 500-700 rpm, but in the other modes, there is no desire for manual shifting. I drive in Sport mode most of the time and the only time I notice slow automatic shifting is if I'm accelerating, then have to let off the gas halfway through the gear. The transmission takes a couple seconds to realize my foot's off the gas, then it upshifts. That is slow. Overall, I'm actually reasonably satisfied with the performance of the transmission and I think the car's gotten used to my (very) heavy throttle foot. I think Acura has probably gotten all they are going to get out of the ZF9.

Terdbath

I have zero complaints with the transmission in this A-Spec. Not once have I thought to myself it was too slow to find a gear. I did find that when I test drove a 2015 FWD V6. That transmission was so slow to react it turned me off of the Acura brand for a few years.

According to the link below they "retuned the transmission for 2018 for a more refined feel".

Does anyone know if the A-Spec ZF9 has a different tune compared to the non A-Spec's with the ZF9?

https://www.netcarshow.com/acura/2018-tlx/

Mr Hyde

This A/T does shift slow, so while overstated, her review was correct in that regard, but she completely blew other parts of it.

Her comments about the brakes being tied into the transmission shifting algorithm was mind boggling. If she can't tell the difference between a car surging from a downshift, and the brakes, how serious is anyone supposed to take her future reviews?

BEAR-AvHistory

Those days ended long ago. Along with segment leading sales. Wonder if there just might be a connection?

Think we were some of the last to actually validate the magazine performance numbers by tracking the cars when it was still a sports sedan. Its not like HONDA can't build some killer engines.

HONDA designed & built transmissions have not been something to write home about but the 8DCT does seem to be very satisfactory to most users.

Why as long as they were developing a box from the ground up did they not give it the guts to handle whatever torque their car lines could develop?

Now there are 'modding' posts about floor mats & bug screens with no upward progression for existing customers.

Honda430

Based on her apparent skittishness to drive the car in Sport or Sport + it's quite possible her drive review is based almost entirely on driving the car in Econ or Normal mode in pooled water. To say the least that would negatively impact her impressions.

I've complained about the review not necessarily because it was negative, but because to her admission she never really drove the car hard, the conditions she drove the car in were far from ideal (you really think she would have submitted a review on a RWD sedan where she primarily drove the car through pooled water), didn't provide essential details (like the drive mode she was in when she complained about the paddle shifters), and she never offered any comparos to justify her conclusions or support her perspective. Taken in total the review was a hatchet job that should have never been posted on that site. I blame the editors that should have recognized this. The review should have been shelved until conditions permitted her to properly evaluate the car. In my opinion Acura should ask for a retraction.

BEAR-AvHistory

Just something to think about. Based on her words she is probably closer in outlook & car knowledge to a vast majority of car buyers than the people who post here.

What she is feeling is happening even if she does not know why. Anyone getting into the car for a test ride can have the same feedback sensations as she wrote about. They might not know its the transmission & not the brakes causing the sensation just that its something they don'y like.

Most people want to get into a car turn it on the forget completely about how it goes about its functions. Lexus made its early reputation on it being a completely transparent car. Basically a living room couch that would take you to the store while you listened to your favorite music in complete isolation.

The automobile definition of Pure Luxury.

TAG18

First off, I'm going to admit that I'm a Honda/Acura fanboy but I completely agree that Acura needs to step up their performance game if they want to advertise the TLX as a sports sedan. I've been waiting and hoping they would eventually get back to their glory days and bring back the Type-S, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon (aside from the NSX). The A-spec is definitely a step in the right direction, but I do agree with the review in that it's more show than go. I would have probably opted for the SH-AWD A-spec had it had more power and more of a performance upgrade. But for what the TLX is... a daily driver with some sportiness, I opted for a non-A-spec. I would have probably gotten the Accord, but I think the TLX is more fun to drive (in Sport+ with the SH-AWD) and at the same time a quieter, more comfortable daily ride. The transmission in the 2018 has drastically improved compared to the 2015. It is by no means a quick shifting transmission since it does take some time to decide to downshift, but at least the shifts aren't as jerky as the 2015- which is sad to say because Acura should have had a smooth shifting transmission from the beginning. However, again the TLX isn't a true sports sedan so I don't think the general owner will be racing it or taking it to the track anytime soon. I also kind of like the fact that the TLX is uncommon, both because I don't want to be surrounded by all the same cars and I secretly hope it's a wake up call to Acura to up their game. I probably shouldn't have supported Acura's mediocrity but I needed a new car and I think the TLX is a good bang for your buck (other cars with the same options were ~10k more) and a good sized family car. But in conclusion, I think the overall tone from everyone's post and reviews is that the TLX is a decent car but needs to be improved performance wise.

2012wagon

I think the 2018 accord Sport with the 6 speed manual and 2.0 Turbo will be a hoot to drive ....

TAG18

Definitely agree, it probably will be! But I needed a car now and I prefer a naturally aspirated V6 over a turbo. Also, needed a family car, so no manual.. paddle shifters will have to do.

Saintor

Yes it is really that bad (I used the term infuriating) - unless you know how to drive it, a.k.a. putting it most of the time in Sport+/M-mode,

And not looking back.

jhb31

Sport + mode is a mode you can use for a few minutes. While nice nobody wants to level off in speed and run 3500+ rpms driving down the road. Everyday driving it's not reasonable to drive in that mode. Sport mode is the best compromise and unless I am mistaken the car if left in Sport + will default back to sport mode the next time you start it up. The car has a lot of pluses but my wifes RDX with no modes has instant response at all times with no lag at anytime and doesn't need to hold revs so high as it will downshift without hesitation at anytime. The trans is a down point on an otherwise well handling and styled car. The other negs are the sound system and button shift (and paddle shift behavior outside of sport+ mode which is useless for any downshifting unless you want to go down 4 or mores gears and put up with the forward surge). Outside of those issues the handling, looks and other features are all a plus on the A-spec AWD.

Mr Hyde

Sorry, disagree completely.

This was a supposed car review from an automotive website, not a car review in teen vogue.

It doesn't take much more than common sense to differentiate between engine braking from a downshift, and actual braking .

kurtatx

Wow. So...that happened. There's casual sexism and then there's that garbage.

BEAR-AvHistory

But she did have enough sense to know something was wrong with the car. Another point more women are buying cars then ever before & most are not technically astute.

They do know when something is not right though. The car could fail the typical try & buy ride.

Chalk up another lady buying a Lexus ES instead.

Alanis King - Autoweek

July 2015 – Present (2 years 3 months)Contribution:
- Weekly written 'Racing Roundup' piece for online publication, recapping events from major motorsports series such as NASCAR K&N Pro Series, ARCA, NHRA, Red Bull Global Rallycross, Moto GP, World Rally Championship, and the like
- Written articles for publication in select print editions of Autoweek Magazine

Young writer just starting out. Wonder if the more experienced editors let the why slip by?

Saintor

Again I use it most the time, in combination of the paddles. Almost never in Eco/Normal/Sport(regular).

TacoBello

so you finally admit that it is bad (unless in sport+)....

something tells me those fuel economy numbers you like to spit off all off all the time, are not done in sport+ mode, meaning your argument is kind of invalid on that point, also. Either the car is "fast" but burns way more fuel, or it's "infuriating" driving it normally. Soooo... lose-lose, all around.

Also, why would you be looking back, if every other car would've passed you already? Shouldn't you be looking straight ahead at them? Or is it too soul crushing to watch, so you look back? Just trying to understand...

Saintor

I always said that throttle mapping stock was horrible but you apparently were too busy preparing your reply instead trying to understand it.

kurtatx

Most good cars drive better in Comfort, Moderate, Road mode. If you put it in M and never look back, it's a bad car. Sorry.

txl2017

My experience is that the car does learn your driving habit with time. And I think it can get as good as a by wire throttle can get. It still feels different than a turbo charged car, which it should. Not a bad car at all, but it might not be a car you prefer.

alpha2beta

Alanis King is a fucking joke, read her other reviews, she is clearly biased and was trying to get attention by joining the Acura hate wagon.

BEAR-AvHistory

Have you seen the throttle mapping to compare the modes? I know cars that run the same map (sensitive) in Sport & Sport+ They only go to an alternate map "normal" if you switch the DCS off in either Sport or Sport+.

FWIW the higher performance the car is the less sensitive I like the throttle map to be. The map I built for the COBRA would lay somewhere between normal & sensitive on the BMW scale.

Also used the JB4 system to take some sensitivity out of the BMW Sport & Sport + maps. Less of a hair trigger map is a lot easier on you traction management if you have enough power to have a traction management issue.

kurtatx

Are you surprised Acura's current lineup doesn't inspire confidence in non-owners and reviewers? Acura doesn't leave a lot to love for a site like Jalopnik. Remember this commercial?