JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

Well, I had a chance to stop by my local Acura dealer to test drive a new TLX. The dealership was literally empty. Maybe it was just too hot today.

Anyway, overall it was just between meh and alright.

- Exterior

The exterior design MINUS the beak and wheels has certainly grown on me since the debut. The dealership didn't have a white one, but I have spotted a white one before in person. It looks very sleek from all angles. I liked it a lot. This black one was just alright.

But really.. Acura still left the god awful looking Beak in the forehead. I really don't get it. Does anyone really care for that Beak? Really boggles my mind that Acura designers, again, stuck with that terrifying front grille after all that negative reviews from 135073 car reviews. God I literally said YUK in front of the salesman when I first saw it. He said "yeah..... other customers notice that too." Yeah, you have to be blinded to not notice that thing in the front.

- Interior

It still is a typical Acura interior. Gave me a sort of 3G TL-ish feeling once I sat in the driver seat. It was really nice back in 2005 when I bought my 3G TL brand new off the lot, but nothing really special in 2014.

- Tech crap

I drove a loaded 2.4L version. It didn't really have much high tech toys to play with. It was just typical Acura package again.

Does the V6 trim have more techy stuff?

- Drivability (The car was on Sport+ mode)

The acceleration was between meh and alright. It definitely lacked a lot of juice for the size. Told the salesman that Acura should definitely add a small turbo on this model. He sounded clueless on the response. I just moved on and continued with my test-drive.

The 8-speed dual clutch transmission was great. It does smoothly move through the gears. The changes seem very effortless. Guess the adding the torque converter did its magic. It didn't feel jerky at all. Kudos to Honda for that technology. I was pretty impressed with the transmission.

The steering was very light. It was expected since it's a Japanese car. My BRZ with 9 inch wide wheel set up is pretty heavy in the steering. So is my wife's A4 Avant. The car did felt pretty light and had less body roll than I had expected. Felt pretty light footed. Just wish the steering was a little bit heavier. It just had that "cheap" feeling to it when you move through the corners.

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I think if Acura can keep the price as is and add a small turbo, it should be a MUCH better package. It definitely looks and feels much better than the previous Beakmobile, but not sure if it's enough to bring back the old Acura swag back. Certainly moving in the right direction though.

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civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Depending on how this goes down, I'll post my review as well.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for your honest review.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

No problem.

I really did try to be super honest and unbiased.

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Forgot to add that I HATE when cars have the small opening at the folded rear seat area.

The point of having the folding rear seat is to put oversized stuff through the rear seat section from the back of the trunk area.

That opening is REALLY small in person.

Stew4HD

IMO, you should have said that the review is of the 4cyl in the title.

You should drive the V6 to get the real feel. if you care to.

jeich182

I don't think it's worth calling a beak anymore or much less bitching about it. It has been revised three times over since it was introduced and looks quite good at this point and it's nicely tied into the styling of the car.
I will say that after reading all of the "professional" reviews I expected to be blown away by the 4cyl but was not. The K24W_ sounded more coarse due to the DI and was less eager to rev. than the K24Z3 in my TSX, thus felt like it was working harder even though it was moving the car along more quickly. Trans was great. No two ways about it.
In the end I couldn't justify $36k (Tech) for an engine that sounded and felt like it was working so hard. Since the V6 still managed to handle as good as my TSX despite the weight up front, I knew it was the right choice and left a deposit on one which I should be picking up next week.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

A 2.4L TLX is.. a TLX too.

Going into the dealership, I thought I should test drive both. But then, I read the initial reviews of TLX in the magazines saying that a 2.4L version was a better choice between the two.

So I test drove it and felt just meh. Didn't care to test drive the V6 after. Maybe I will in the future.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

I wanted to say that. I really did.

But this IS the Beak, no matter how hard people try to sugarcoat it.

And no, it does NOT look quite good in person. It is not nicely tied into the styling of the car at all. I'm sorry.

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scooterb84

iTrader: (1)

I fully embrace the beak. Its much better than previous versions and neither of them really bothered me to begin with. Just sayin..

maharajamd

iTrader: (1)

Body match it and bingo, 100% better.

That should be expected from Acura at this point...

smoooov

Better if it was black and maybe outlined in chrome.

jjsC5

Good review, but I don't get the turbo issue. They offer a more powerful version for those wanting more. Lots of buyers don't care about power, they just want economy and reliability.

CARLOS10

A honest review ??. You should update your review. If the dealer was empty is pointless.
The beak ?? its a six year tale. Cheap interior ?? its a 35k car. Move to a RLX, still not
luxury enough ? got a Sonata and put the interior at a museum.
the 2.4 Model ??. First drive test were really honest but its time to rectify.
TLX honeymoon wad short.

9SpeedTran

I think the personality of the TLX will probably pretty dramatically change when you move from the i4 to the V6, and again when you move to SH-AWD. I ordered the latter without even driving the car, because I was going to put the 19" wheels and my own selection of tires on it, and I am very confident that it will totally rock.

oonowindoo

I can see my pimples from the grill.

Nedmundo

I don't like this either, but it's never caused me any problems in practice. I assume it's to preserve structural rigidity, which should pay some dividends on the road.

I'm not crazy about the TLX's steering either, but unfortunately numb, light electrically-assisted steering is the norm these days. It's similar to the steering in my TSX, which is better than the completely numb setups in the 2012 BMW 3 Series cars I tested. (I understand BMW has improved it since then, but I haven't tried it yet.)

Power-wise, it seemed to have a little more punch than my TSX, probably thanks to the fatter torque curve and the DCT. Qualitatively, it's similar -- sufficient, but no more. My guess is that another 15 hp and tq would make a big difference. That would match what I predicted at the outset, about 220 hp and 200 lb.-ft.

Yumcha

Nicely written, Kimchi.

CLtotheTL32

iTrader: (3)

Nedmundo

I understand your point, but a turbo four preserves the light front end, and thus improves handling. The turbo hardware adds some weight, but a turbo four should still be lighter than a six, especially if it's smaller displacement and has a smaller block than the NA four.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

It's okay if you like it. But the general consensus of it has been extremely negative from the born of the Beak.

If anything, it should have been blacked out or used much darker color for the grille.

Probably yeah. I mean there are other ways to design a front grille, you know?

This is not a Camry. The buyers do reasonably care about the power.

Look at the 0-60 thread that we have in this wonderful section. They argue about 0-60 times for a 4cylinder TLX.

And they do offer a more powerful version for people who want more. Yes. That doesn't mean that the less version has to rock such a luck lusting set up.

A brand with high brand equity can get away with an approach like that though. Mercedes Benz CLA 250.



Yes, I agree that the personality of the TLX will be different with 2 more cylinders and an entirely different drivetrain set up.

But I was pretty disappointed with the 4 cylinder TLX. That was the point of my review.

Bling-Bling baby.

I was speaking from my personal experience. A folding rear seat with small gap between is pretty much useless for the instances when you need it the most.

The steering wasn't that numb. It was too light. It's a completely different feeling.

It's certainly sufficient for regular A-B trips, yes. Even 150hp is sufficient for those trips. But is that what we should expect from a +$35k sedan from Acura?

It's time for Acura to follow the competition and move to a F/I 4 cylinder engine platform. There's good reason why everyone is jumping on the turbo bandwagon.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Turbo 4??? Hell naw. This is Acura. They keep rocking the same trusty 2.4l na i4 for nearly ten years for a reason.

Because It's That Kind Of





Where was I?

jjsC5

The forum is made up of a minuscule group of Acura buyers, and by the fact we are here, we are the enthusiasts. I promise you that there is a very large group of buyers that don't care. Hell, look at how many people buy $55,000 BMW 528s with the base engine. Don't forget that they are counting on TSX buyers who have been living with the same performance - some of them here on the forum.

The one thing I'm disappointed in is that Acura is not going after the enthusiast crowd from a performance perspective. They are counting on todays generation of enthusiasts as caring about entertainment and electronic gismos over performance. That's why the car has no visible exhaust tips and the V6 had no floor shifter. And they are probably right even though they are going to lose potential customers by going that route.

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

haha tbf the camry v6 is a decently quick car, just slightly slower than an Accord V6.

I don't think power is much of an issue for the TLX 2.4 if it can compete well against ATS 2.5, IS250, and 320i. With that said, there's room to slow in a 2.0T trim which will probably come in the near future. Something with around 240hp/lbft would be enough to compete with 328i, ATS 2.0T, A4 2.0T.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

I've been on the online forum for more than 10 years now. I do fully understand the car enthusiast is the minority in the total demographic for car buyers.

But like I said, it's okay for brands like Audi/MB/BMW/Lexus to sell $55k cars with small engines because they will have the buyer group for it. Acura doesn't.

And TLX doesn't necessarily excel in techy side of the game either. It still is the typical value package which worked back in 2005. Acura needs to step up their game to be competitive in the sports sedan category. This isn't cutting it.

You better hope that the 2.0T engine is coming because the current 4 banger is extremely bland.

And 320i and IS250 will be FINE because it's BMW and Lexus. They sell tons. :wink:

slats

Agreed about BMW, but Lexus?? You've got to be kidding. The IS250's 6 cylinder is slower to 60 than the TLX's 4....and Lexus has ruined the sex appeal of this car. People can say what they want about the "Beak"- the IS front end is absolutely hideous.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

The actual sales number disagrees with you. Sorry.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

This right here is evidence of the problem. This forum was started by Acura enthusiasts that owned the CL, and it subsequently took off with the 3G TL. While its true that most of us on here don't own an Acura, we used to. Thats why we've moved on to manufacturers that do Acura better then...well...Acura.

We're thoroughly disappointed that the same brand that brought the Vigor, Legend, Integra and NSX to the North American market has sputtered in the past ten years. There's zero innovation. A company that was once the sport-luxury alternative to ze Germans is now compared to Buick. There's something seriously wrong with that.

And yes, I do not like the TLX. I have no problem saying that. Its a shame because I really wanted to like it. The interior feels cheap and busy, the exterior is bland, and the lack of a manual transmission is ridiculous for a supposedly sporty vehicle. At $40k, I'd much rather spend the money on an Accord Touring or even a Genesis. But hey - the 9AT in the TLX has more cogs then anything else in the segment, so there's that!

oonowindoo

Die, Acura die!

Bring back the Pinto!

jjsC5

The sales success or lack of will dictate which one of us is right.

JS + XES

iTrader: (1)

Don't care if I'm right or wrong since it's just my 2 cents.

But man, I hope you are right because I want Acura to actually become competitive as they were back in 2005 when I purchased my 2005 TL brand new. That car was sweet.

Aman

The K24 is in its 12th year of service at least. It was in my '03 Accord.

oonowindoo

J series is even older than K2X. Why fix something that is not broken, right?

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

THIS IS AN ACURA FORUM FOR ACURA ENTHUSIASTS GET OUT OF HERE YOU NON-ACURA OWNING JERK.



Ten years in Acura; the '04 TSX was the first with it.

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Refer to my comment regarding innovation. And that's coming from someone that absolutely adores the J series and knows what it's capable of (I built one five years ago).

oonowindoo

I loved my J series back in the days too.

I used to beat my friend's E36 M3 on a weekly basis fuking 5 speed sportshift baby.

I think i was the first one with quad exhaust on a CLS.

smoooov

I'm wondering what more techy stuff would the OP want? Launch control? Internet access on the screen? A video game in the gauge cluster?

hadokenuh

Damn you guys make me miss those days when the K series replaced the B series.

RSX-S FTW

JM2010 SH-AWD

Another classic case of severe Beakitis. Break out the antibiotics.

Costco

Lexus is already putting turbo 4-cylinder engines in their new CUV. Odds are it'll go in the IS too, eventually.

And their V6 is a relatively old lump too. Judging by their lack of updates, there's probably another 6-cylinder in the works for them too. Or they could go the Acura route and pair their V6 with a hybrid powertrain.

Costco

looks at avatar