KeithL

Sit back, relax and here we go.....

First let me say I am glad to be back to the Acura family. I had a string of 6 TLs from 2004-2010 and the spouse has had 4 in the same time frame. I left in 2010 because I hated the Palladium Metallic color and beak on my 4G 09 TL AWD. I did love the ride and quality of that car. Since then I had an Infiniti 2011 M37S from 2010 until 2013 and then an Audi 2014 A6 the last 2 years. I did stop here from time to time and was at the dealership when the RLX arrived to test drive it hoping to come back then. That is an entire different story and I wish Acura would get its flagship story straightened out. Recently I decided that I was tired of making the high payment on my A6 for what essentially became a commuter car. I went from 17K miles a year of driving back in 2012 to putting less than 10K on the A6 each year. I decided to get practical and pocket a few $$$. I was all over the place trying to figure out what I wanted to accomplish, I like the TLX styling, but was put off but Acura once again screwing with basic silver colors. I decided to look at a few options.

First was the 16 Accord. I wanted to check out the 16 Accord Touring. I was skeptical that I would be happy with moving down scale so much. Then I looked at the Cadillac ATS, Infiniti Q50 and Hyundai Genesis Sedan. All optioned up near or at max options. I won’t spend much time talking about the other cars, but will make a few comments. The Accord Touring is an excellent car, and if Honda would dump Lane Watch for real BSI and offered a better sound system I might have been swayed (hell even the 16 Civic has a 400+ watt sound system). The Genesis Sedan Ultimate is also a very nice ride, but it is too heavy and rides like it is, plowing into turns and just not great in handling, but does have a noce planted ride if you drive straight lines. The Ultimate trim has about everything you can want shy of all around cameras and LED DRLs. The Hyundai tech is really very competitive and I like that Infotainment system. The Q50 (non-Sport) rode well is a nice evolution to the G37 and has a very good infotainment system and some very good tech. It handled well, but the 3.7 is old and even with updates still lacks the refinement of a modern engine. The surprise for me was the Cadillac ATS. Maybe because I had no expectation from the car, but it was a very good car. Plenty of space, rode well, except for the crappy run-flats, and lack of spare. It has decent tech and the overall quality of the car was good, but not as good as the competition. If it were a few thousand less and offered a spare it would be an interesting choice. The Caddy V6 felt better than the Q50, but that could have been better sound cabin isolation, but it did feel to have better low end torque.

I had been watching local Acura inventory for a while waiting to see if a Silver Slate AWD Advance would hit that might be entice me. Finally I emailed the sales person that almost sold me my 09, but did sell us our 14 RDX and told him to let me know when a 16 TLX AWD Advance in silver/ebony was inbound and we could talk. Well he waste no time telling me he could get me a 15 at a good price. They looked at my trade and offered me what CarMax was offering and then took $6300 off the TLX. Add to that there is .38% leasing rate right now with first payment on the dealer and it was hard to refuse. All done via email (except 10 minutes to look over my trade) and they trucked the car in with 15 miles on the odometer and a 9/15 build date! This must have been one of the last 15’s to roll off the line. 2 days later I am in my TLX. As a side story we wound up trading the spouse’s 14 RDX AWD Tech for a 16 RDX AWD Advance for at invoice the next day (all done via email without even seeing her trade). I will comment on that in the RDX thread, short anser on that is a very nice ride and good improvements over the pre-MMC 2G RDX.

Now onto my impressions. I will make comparisons to my A6 and a few to the faint memory of my 09 AWD TL and Infiniti, and I do understand the TLX and A6 are over $20K apart in price, but I think you’ll see that the Acura has a lot to brag about here. For reference my A6 was a 2014 Prestige with a few options, (LEDs, BSI, LKAS, ACC, etc) and had a 3.0 Super Charged V6.

Powertrain:

Engine - No shock here the Audi takes this one mostly. There is no comparison to the off the line torque of the A6 that with little pedal the car just pulled effortlessly. The TLX is good for its class, but the future will be boosted smaller displacement engines. At one point in my commute I make a right turn that goes up a steep hill, the A6 was not breaking a sweat, the TLX needs to really get the RPMs way up there to get up that hill without a strain. Clearly the TLX 3.5 out classes the 3.7 in the Infiniti because it is far more refined and smooth. Honda is first and foremost an engine company and it shows, the engine is great for a non-boosted engine.

Tranny – The 8 speed in the A6 was a well-crafted and engineered machine. I never knew it was an 8 speed from the way it drove as it nailed shifts and never once hunted in 21K miles. So far the 9 speed in the TLX has been fine. I am trying the IDS in normal, but do find it stays in the taller gears more than I would like and will try Sport and Sport + once car is more broken in. I know many say it hunts, but so far I am seeing decent results. The 7 speed in the Infiniti would on rare occasion hunt for what gear it wanted, so at this point the TLX is very good and so far I find it more refined than Infiniti’s 7 speed AT.

AWD – I won’t get into the Quattro vs. SH-AWD debate, but will say this. I like Quattro as I liked the full time 40/60 split, the car always pulled evenly. I do realize that standard Quattro is not as good as SH-AWD, but I prefer the full time split, it has disadvantages as it is finicky about tires being within a few mm of the other tire on same axle, etc. It performed great in Snowmagedden here in ATL last year. SH-AWD is awesome, it is there when you need it and gone when you don’t. The TLX still feels like a FWD in some regards. After driving a RWD then a true AWD the TLX SH-AWD while it never has any torque steer, it still rides like a FWD. Clearly Acura has tuned it very well as it is engaged more often, but does not incur a huge penalty in powertrain loss or MPG. The Acura advantage is clearly the fact that SH-AWD come into play only when it will derive benefits, thus it has virtually no parasitic loss to the drivetrain and shows in the phenomenal MPGs I am seeing and how much I can feel the car coasting with no drivetrain drag.

MPG – The TLX so far is crushing the A6 in the MPG department. Again only a short time and mostly commuting, but my A6 over the life averaged 20.8 over 21K mile on Premium. On a typical commute to work the A6 might see 22MPG (actual), the TLX so far is seeing 24-28MPG (based on MID) on same drive. The first tank was 23.6MPG (actual). Some of this is Honda’s awesome engineering and tuning on the V6, the low loss of SH-AWD, and the A6 weighed about 500lbs more.

Suspension:
Suspension is a little tougher to compare. On its own the TLX is very well set up. It is fairly maneuverable and nimble for its size. It soaks up road irregularities very well. I can throw it into turns fairly well, but PLEASE Acura get back to Michelin tires, these Goodyear’s are awful! How is it possible to break a tire free on dry pavement with a decent tire and SH-AWD, only Goodyear knows. hese tires loose grip if you look at them funny! While the TLX suspension is excellent I think Audi has a very well-engineered and refined suspension. I did not have the Sport suspension in the A6 so the car tended to plow into turns due to the weight, but considering I had low profile UHP 20’s on the car and kept them 4-5 PSI over inflated the suspension handled like a dream. It truly was an excellent ride and never did the suspension have an issue dealing with any irregularity it dealt with, truly an amazing suspension. The A6 had a an extremely planted solid feel that never felt too heavy or big, just a secure ride regardless of the pavement. The 09 TL AWD was truly like a magnet on rails and while every road irregularity was felt I just loved driving that car. The M37S also handled very well for its length and height. The TLX suspension holds its own very well with the competition and has nothing to be ashamed of. It does get a little jittery on some rough pavement, but considering the cost cutting done to the 5G suspension it holds up very well. I do think if I live with very rough roads the A6 or even Infiniti would be more noticeable advantage. On the decent roads of metro Atlanta the TLX actually drives very well with a great balance of comfort and handling mix that is balanced just right. Of course a Type-S with improved suspension and 19-20 inch lower profile wider tires would be ideal, but I suspect it would show more of the compromises made in the 5G suspension.

Features:
Overall the TLX takes this category very well. My M37S did not have any real tech and the 09 TL AWD Tech did not have all the features that the TLX or my A6 had. Let me break this into a few sub-categaories:

Audio – Slam dunk Acura all the way. ELS is just that good compared to the competition. Lexus ML, Genesis Lexicon, RLX Krell and the high end Audi ($6K option) B&O are the only things that play in this category. The Bose in the M37S and the A6 were just above junk. The one advantage the A6 has is the way you can consume music, it has 2 SD slots you can fill with music and even copy that to the internal HDD. Acura needs to ditch the disc media and be more flexible with removable media. Support for multi-channel files and ability to have say SD Slot and copy to internal drive would be huge win. I do feel the low end bass on the TLX ELS is not what I recall from my 09, but it could be just my aging memory. Even the bass in the 16 RDX Advance sounds deeper than the TLX, although the TLX is a tad cleaner.

Navigation – WOW Acura, get with the 2010s, the 16 Accord at least now has updated modern maps now. Audi takes this one by a mile, very nice navi with online google lookup and google maps. Even the klunky AcuraLink app is weak, just bite the bullet and get google online searches and send to car from google maps. Even the Infiniti M37S navi was a little easier to interact with. It is still an improvement over the 4G TL, but Acura is still lagging here. I will write a separate AcuraLink review later on. Acura is acceptable here, but nothing to pull ahead of the competition. I have read that Toyota/Lexus Enform system is also very good and my little interaction with Hyundai’s Navi also looks impressive. Let me explain how simple Audi’s is; I hit the voice button and say “online destination McDonalds” it goes out to google and pulls back a list of all the McDonalds in in the area, I just select the one I want it and it sets the destination, just that easy! AcuraLink is horrible slow, then it voice reads you ever address until you recognize what you want. Hell half the time I don’t know what street it is on, pop them all on the map with a list I can scroll that highlights each one and let me pick. AcuraLink so far is a huge miss for me.

Infotainment – I covered most of this, but will highlight the interaction. The new dual screen layout is a bit confusing and does show redundant info at times, but it seems you get used to it. I have played with the new layout in the 16 Accord and it is better, so hopefully MMS improves even further. The voice interaction in Acura is by far the best I have dealt with. Infiniti was limited to a few function, and the Audi had some functions, but always had problems deciphering my commands. The Acura gets the commands right almost every time and has an extensive list of things that can be voice controlled. I love the Siri feature and have only played casually with the text feature. I know some have complained about Acura’s voice recognition, but I still find it better than anything I have owned.

HVAC – OK this is an easily over looked category, but I feel it deserves a mention. Acura has always nailed this for me. The Infinit and Audi I was always fiddling with temp HVAC, and Audi always reset the recirculation when you start the car. Acura I set a temp, set Auto and set recirculation and never touch it again. A nice feature in the Advance model is the Auto setting for the vented seats that adjusts temp and setting of seats based on overall HVAC. Speaking of vented seats Acura gets a good nod here. While my Infiniti wins this one as it had genuine cooled seats, the venting on the Acura is very good. The Audi vented seats on high were never noticeable and you could easily hear the fans.

Safety Tech – My A6 has BSI, LKAS, ACC CMBS so it is comparable to the TLX. The TLX is a bit more aggressive at LKAS in keeping you in the lane, where the A6 would kick in as you hit the line the TLX seems to prevent you from actually touching the lines. This is more preference, but the A6 would do a smaller rapid steering vibration when you cross the line, while the TLX is slower wider swings of the wheel to jolt your attention. The TLX requires you to engage LKAS every time you start the car, the A6 remembered last setting. Again minor difference. I like the LKAS in the Acura and it takes this one, but I wish they would remember the last setting when you turn the car on. The one area I feel Audi kicks everyone’s ass is with their blind spot system. It is nicely integrated into the side mirror and as a car approaches it changes in intensity blinking rapidly if the car is in the spot that would cause a crash. Where the Acura BLIS is a bit better is in accuracy, the A6 BLIS warns far too early that makes it less useful, it begins lighting up long before there is any danger of you hitting a car or cutting someone off. The TLX BLIS seems to come on at just the right point that you would not want to take the lane, but not too early to have you second guessing what to do. Also the way Audi has them in the side mirrors they are aimed at the driver so no one else gets distracted by them. No clear winner for BLIS.

Lighting – Audi is famous for it’s LEDs, but if I look at how many LEDs my A6 had in the headlights vs. Acura I am amazed how much better the Jewel Eyed LEDs light the road with fewer elements than the Audi. Big win here for Acura. Hopefully MMC will bring the RDX (Audi like) style LED DRL/turn signal. I do wish Acura would go LED for the rear turn signals and ever light in the car, kill incandescent bulbs! Also I wish the side mirror LED signal wrapped more around the side so I could see it on the edge of the mirror.

Comfort:
This is very subjective, if I had to rank seating comfort in the 4 cars mentioned; the M37S takes it by a mile, then the 09 TL AWD then A6 ties the TLX. Now let me qualify this. The M37S was designed for comfortable long drives, so great side bolsters, but plenty of 4 way lumbar and lower seat long leg thigh support. The 09 AWD was a different beast, it has deep side bolsters and very good overall comfort. Seeing as it is 5 years later I wonder if I would still feel the same about the 09 as my body has aged ;-). The A6 seats were a bit firm and would never work on a long drive, but at least I found a great seating position. The TLX has very comfortable seats with a good mix of side bolstering, but could use 4 way lumbar, longer seat bottom and more height adjustment. I go through this with every car according to the spouse, I struggle for first 2-3 weeks to find perfect seat settings then get comfortable and stop complaining. For long drives the M37S is king, for whip it in a turn the 09 TL AWD would win, the TLS is a great compromise of both.

Style:
Here is where the debate will rage and again is very subjective. It is no secret I had a love hate with my 4G 09 AWD TL. I hated the design, but loved the interior and ride and overall car. I also loved BOTH my 08 Type-S TLs. The TLX is clearly the evolution of the 3G TL and what the 4G should have been. Looking at the front of the TLX you clearly see 3G TL roots and heritage, even the back has some hints to 3G days. I think the TLX at MMC will be a super sexy and beautiful car. I assume they will give it the 16 RDX/Accord treatment which will be separate LED DRLs that double as turn signals. I would hope they add full LED rear turn signals as well and the RDX revised beak. I know the Infiniti styling is a love it or hate it, but I love the new Q70 styling. The A6 is just sheer simple elegance and has understated beauty in its simplistic lines. I am biased, but with the wheels I put on my A6 it transformed it into a beautiful car that only my Type-S TLs rivaled in me wanting to turn around a look at it as I walked away every day. The TLX is a beautiful car and I suspect the SSM and lack of future MMC refinements are what is stopping me short of feeling the same way. The TLX is a beautiful car and is very appealing and holds its own exceptionally well.

Overall:
The TLX is a great car. It is very obvious even after 5 years that Honda had to cut somewhere to keep the price point it did and yet offer all the new features. I think my 09 TL AWD overall had better build quality and feel to it, more bank vault solid feel. The TLX is far ahead in build quality than my M37S was and probably tied with my A6. There are things with the A6 that seem to have excellent build quality and other areas that are no so much. The M37S had decent build quality, but never felt as tightly put together as the TL, A6 or TLX. The quality of the leather in the 09 TL AWD I recall being of a higher grade, while the TLX seems like what was in her 14 RDX and similar to the A6, while the 09 TL AWD and my M37S had extremely excellent quality buttery smooth leather and interior components.

I really enjoy the TLX, it is really a huge redemption for Acura after the 4G (no offense to 4G lovers). The 3G was the right style and features at the right time that left the competition lacking and that is why the 3G was selling 70K cars a year. The 4G was Acura’s attempt to step up and stand out. While they stepped up, they stood out for the wrong reasons. Many were turned off by the size and styling of the 4G, I was fine with the size, just not the styling.

In 2015 with all the competition in this class as well as the mainstream plates nibbling from below it is tough to stay on point. The TLX in some regards feels like a slight step back in the “luxury/quality” feel of the 4G, but they upped the content and features while not making the cost cutting overwhelmingly obvious. I really like the TLX and hope a Type-S comes at MMC. That said the $40K market segment is now crowed with Korean wanna-bes and low end German entries and the average consumer has some appeal to the German makers because of years of it representing “status, prestige” and “you have arrived”. I believe Acura has done a wonderful job here and sales seems to say they are exceeding targets. I thinks it will take time for Acura to shake the image of “glorified Honda’s” and for people to realize the styling mistakes are in the past. Acura is finally headed in a great direction and IMO only needs a few tweaks to the direction and I feel the days of people thinking Honda may ditch Acura are in the past and now have competitive vehicles in each class they aggressively compete within (excluding the RLX, I don’t think they really try to compete here).

You can go to any car forum for any make car and find lovers and haters, if there were a single perfect car it would have 100% market share. We are lucky to live in a time that the convergence of technology, style and competition offers us some amazing selections compared to just 15 years ago. Acura is not perfect and no car maker is. We can all guess what the real Honda strategy is for Acura, but only Honda knows that. Clearly they are targeting smart luxury if you read any of the survey’s they send us. They are not targeting the “status” buyer, they want someone that understands the value proposition they offer. I don’t ever expect them to be a direct threat to Lexus, MB, BMW or Audi. Infiniti seems to be targeting the true Sport Luxury crowd that makes more emotional purchases, but has not been very successful, although I like many of their products.

Acura seems to be targeting people that are more practical and calculating in their purchases and I believe with their current products they have done that very well. I do feel that for a car that replaced the TSX and TL it clearly is based on a TL platform, but has a lot of TSX like hints, many which I do not care for (back seat leg room, and too light on its feet), but overall they have been very successful. I see more on the road all the time and sales have been good. I suspect as time goes one the sales will be stable or improve as once people see the car it will appeal to many.

I know some of you will say; “Keith this is supposed to be a review of the TLX, but you seem to be showing where the TLX compares to your Audi.” True it comes across like that, but if you read carefully you will see Acura is ahead in some areas and easily holds its own against a car with a sticker almost $20K more. That is a very impressive accomplishment. Even the Genesis to compete with the A6 is around $54K and it does not handle as well as the TLX and gets substantially less fuel economy. The real statement here is that for the money the TLX is pretty much in a class of its own. Sure you can get a Kia or Sonata or even Accord with many of the same features on paper for far less, but they are clearly not in the same league as the TLX. The only car that may compete is the 2017 A4 when it is released in January, but the A4 has been a notoriously unreliable car.

So in summary for the cliff notes readers: the TLX is an awesome car for the money that cannot be touched at the price points it is at!

TacoBello

Your last sentence is all I was looking for. Thanks!

advan031

Nice comprehensive review and comparison to the other cars you've owned.

SirYarquest

Yeah, we just bought a 2015 TLX, wife's car, I have an MDX. Son has a RSX Type S.

She opted for the 4 Cyl, I tried talking her out of it. I think the SHAWD V6 is the only way to go. But the price difference was huge.

Great review my brother!

KeithL

Hell my SH-AWD Advance was only $3300 more than a 16 Accord Touring, they were taking $6300+ off TLX and Honda dealers are not willing to budge on new Accord Tourings.

MisterZDX

Very well written and detailed review Sir.

carenthusiast

the long review, found it informative and with great information.
couple of thoughts that came up in your right up.

The a6 in my opinion is a different class of vehicle and in cold weather climates, quattro is best in class vs all the manufactures

fwd awd debate, in my opinion like you said the tlx awd is fwd biased and personally i will never buy a fwd car again, went from a bmw 5 to two lexus ls and back to a 14 accord and 15 camry xle now back to a 13 cpo 528.. i like rwd

bult in japan vs ohio... i was disappointed with my accord in quality control too lengthy of a conversation for here but i test drove 3 tlx;s and found qc issues with each one of them... your 09 tlx made in japan and your tlx made in ohio i have 1,000,000 or should say don't have 1,000,000 to bet that your 09 will last, ride, be more reliable than the american made acuras, my dad bought a 12 mdx, i found five issues with fit and finish within 2 years and 20k of driving doubt the japanese made accords running around with 100k on them have the issues the american made accord/acura has

safe driving and best of luck with the new ride its a great value for a new car value but the used market is offering better vehicles in the low 30 k range that are better cars and 100k warrantied,
as an example the bmw 5 series, used 328 for 28k and the lexus Gs350 for mid 30's is a great car that offers a lot of performance and comfort
cheers

carenthusiast

quick question you said standard quattro,
correct me if i am wrong the A6
is a fwd cvt, non quattro
and quattro is quattro with all the benefits of the all wheel drive system there is no standard vs advanced version
correct me if I'm wrong

youngTL

Keith, regarding the SH-AWD and tires, have you tried upping the front tire pressure to 38-39 PSI? If you haven't, you MUST! It makes a rather large difference in handling. Also, isn't the new SH-AWD used in the TLX a minimum of 90F/10R? I don't think it can go 100% front.

carenthusiast

and forgot to add, the screen resolution on the tlx i took out in my opinion is not worthy to be in the car the tlx is its dpi is that of cars from 2010 utterly ridiculous.. i know you all probably hate the german cars i am a jap fan in lexus and acura primarily lexus but the germans have gotten really great with idrive and the nav screen in my opinion is years ahead of the Japs in look, feel, software development, noises meaning the german engineers that spend 4 years of there life to determine chimes etc... they sweat the details more than the japs and yes acura, lexus are more reliable night and day vs germans and i think the 6 cylinder with vcm is brilliant i had an issue test driving a 15 going around a turn punched it and literally took two seconds to do what it should have done unacceptable at 35k price point.
the 8 speed automatic in the lexus Gs and the bmw 5 and 3 series is an unbelievable transmission, efficient and performance is amazing when in sport mode and mpg driven when in economy

KeithL

The base A6 with 2.0 is a FWD car, but the upper models with V6 are Quattro. When I refer to "standard Quattro" I mean that the base Quattro implementation is a full time AWD that that only varies power front to rear and only can adjust for wheel slip by implementing the ABS to account for a one wheel on a given axle slipping. On Audi Sports differential is like SH-AWD in that it is torque vectoring, which means power can be shifted independently front to rear and left to right thus sending power exactly to the wheels that need it. It also allows for power to be sent to individual wheels to help with how the car handles even in dry conditions. There are some good videos that show how that works.

KeithL

I have not tried 39psi, may go to 37, not sure I want to be 7psi over. If the AWD is 90/10 then the MID does not show that as under most conditions it is not showing anything going to rear. 10% is not much, and not enough to hide the FWD bias, but it is enough to prevent torque steer.

youngTL

Try 37. It'll make a difference. You shouldn't get torque steer on hard launches (not that you said you did), since it goes 30%F/70%R on a hard launch (I mean pedal to the floor launch). The thing takes off like crazy. The TLX has a more responsive SH-AWD system than the outgoing TL, because it starts doing things based on your inputs before it happens. If you turn the wheel or step on the gas, the system starts its thing so it's more pro-active than reactive.

Definitely replacing the tires makes a massive difference. I don't like Acura's choice of tire.

KeithL

I don't get any torque steer, I am just saying the car rides like a FWD car, I feel like I am being pulled. What I did get was tire spin once on hard acceleration, which I attribute to those crappy Goodyears. I won't get into the FWD/RWD, as I drove FWD most of my life, but when I got into the M37S, I could clearly feel the difference of RWD and prefer real AWD like Quattro or RWD over FWD. Acura does an amazing job with SH-AWD of removing any hint of torque steer, but in the end it is still a FWD like ride.

Stew4HD

Well written Keith!

KeithL

Thanks! Started writing it up a few days ago and tweaking it a few times.

KeithL

I think the screen resolution in the TLX is fine for that they are displaying. It is not a scrips or clean as the A6 was, agreed, but it is not harsh or pixelated either.

And being more that 505 German I understand German obsession with details, but from my own experience I know it is not always a plus, obsessing over insignificant details sometimes is a waste of resources. Yes I saw the interviews with BMW chief designers showing how they obsess with ever audible tone in every model and brand they own, but how many people notice, care or appreciate that?

I am not sure VCM would cause any of the issues you mention, VCM is instantaneous, what you are likely feeling is just the different engine/tranny setup and how it is impacting acceleration.

Also while you complement iDrive, think back to when it first came out, the ;loyal BMWs fans were ragging on it horribly. It takes every make a few cycles to work the kinks out. I think the difference here is the Germans will tend to "go big" up front and let the consumer work through the kinks with them, vs the Japanese where they may tend to take a more conservative approach rolling it out more slowly. I do think the Germans have the lead in how you interact with the tech, iDrive and Audi MMI are just a bit ahead right now.

Rocket_man

Nice write up! I have to say that was the longest single post I have ever read. I agree that as a package, you just can't beat this car, and at the end of year blow out prices even more so. I paid only a few thousand more for my FWD Advance and worth every penny. I'm still learning my car and it may still be learning me. My only complaint is the 9-speed behavior at slow speeds around turns when getting back on the gas. But in the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal. It is a great all around package and on the highway I've already gotten over 35 mpg. This car can only get better at the MMC. I just couldn't wait that long. Glad I bought this car.

carenthusiast

keith, not sure if you read my post, i said vcm is brilliant and the car for the performance and getting the mpg on the highway again brilliant, another brilliance the accord v6 running on regular unleaded. ill express again the japanese lexus and acura are far ahead of the germans in certain areas, but your post doing a compare and contrast should not be with rose color glasses because everyone on this board wants to hear that acura has created a bmw or is or GS killer they came up with a compelling value, great performance, and a good car. I hope my crystal ball with down the road ohio built doesn't come to fruition its interesting its similar to a democrat vs conservative discussion one of those two parties never say you know what "that makes sense i agree"
ill agree the acura motor engineering is more reliable
ill agree the realibiltiy even built in america is better than german cars built in german
but until you feel the stability and the infrastructure of a vault solid german car its hard to go back to the ridigty and the lateral movements the japanese car have in suspension over the germans.
also to each his own rwd vs fwd is just a different animal and if it wasn't for the cost structure of rwd manufacturing vs fwd acura would have created most of their cars in the acura division as fwd.....case in point to all non super handling awd tlx customers the car with crappy tires will hydroplane in the wet, with new tires, doesn't happen on all rwd cars that were balanced with a 50/50 weight balance, go figure
the displays are 5 year old technology and honda again cost cutting with one of the main interfaces of driver to car not attractive.
thanks for the info on the quattro with active diff i didnt know what you shared
enjoy your car you seem like your enjoying it thats all that matters, but when you opened up and expressed yourself as you did and sensing your a enthusiast that sweats the details ill bet the 1,000,000 i don't have that you will be back to a rwd german car down the road,
cheers

carenthusiast

forgot to add, i drive is great an i have a 13 not the update in14
the nav is great
the sounds are less annoying than other manufacturers including lexus.
who desires this? you and me and millions of others who are driving the german sales higher than ever with the 3 and 4, and 5 series sales
and until the new ls is released teased in tokyo i think the new 7 is cutting edge and for the enthusiast and sporty driver has taken lead of the s class.
yes i know the 7 is problematic i would never buy one but the new 7 with carbon fiber integration,
gesture control and updated tech again that will filter down is years ahead of the antiquated system in the tlx.
when i test drove them I'm like really blue screen everywhere, really dpi from 2010, as a good not for the tech package car the els offers a nice bang of sound for the buck
just being realistic one lengthy car writer review to another, apples for apples

carenthusiast

and further this is the first car ever owned that the voice activate enter address actually works time after time no nonsense...
i work in sales on the road and it is a pleasure every day, even having two microphones for bluetooth in car,
my 14 accord nobody can hear me so you think this is by accident that the engineers didnt know this, no its because they sweat certain details not others, and thats why i walked away from buying a tlx v6 tech for 379 month with 18,000 miles a year on a lease with 1400 down.
details that the a6 did sweat, i like the motor on the audi but mpg for me are done at 21mpg combined thats why went to the n20 motor 528 gets 32 mpg all day long at 78-80 highway and I'm getting 26 combined, my view brilliant

JT4

WOW, great review.. Thanks for taking the time to post this.. Now go and enjoy the car..

carenthusiast

The well wishes I will take a 100 mile cruise today

gokhanturk

great review!

CheeseyPoofs McNut

Re seats: Nissan/Infinity does it right it would seem.

I've got a 15 Altima as a rental for a few days in LA and the best thing about this car is the seats! They are a perfect fit for me anyways and feel superb.

jswift2000

We owned a Volvo for a very brief time (very brief) and looked at the S60 before buying the TLX. Volvo makes some of the most comfortable seats i have ever sat in.

KeithL

Nissan brags about the zero gravity NASA seats and I have to agree, I test drove a 16 Maxima and the seats were very comfortable.

KeithL

Ironically I went to lunch with my team and I rode with one of my guys and he has a 12 TL AWD Tech and I will say this, that car is built tight and like a tank. I know Acura says the 4G and 5G share dimensions inside, but the 4G TL felt a little roomier, the seats felts nicer and the build quality just felt a bit better. He has 26K on it and not a squeak. I told him to hold onto that car as long as he can as it is a great well built car.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Honda V6's make the most power up top. this is a characteristic of the car and engine.
it makes most of its power and torque at 5-6k, close to redline.

I had a little trouble reading the up the hill part, as the car is meant to scream in those higher RPM ranges.

but understood as you were comparing it to the supercharged audi, which makes most of its power at 2k RPM.

KeithL

Correct, I have to get into the pedal hard to get up the hill, basically have to get the RPMs up there. Audi I just did a slight tip into the pedal.

carenthusiast

keith just to clarify you feel the 4g especially the later builds of the tl are better made, better quality. agreed
explain to me how you find that interior comfortable and get a good driving position
i am 6 foot 188 pounds and every time i test drove a 4g particuallary a 12 and 13 very low to the ground, the seat is an awkward mix of side boostering and on the firmer side.
and also the new gen ride is dramatically improved over the the 4g it rode extremely sporty / firm fine for those that want that but light years behind the new gen in ride quality / handling balance which in my opinion for a fwd car is best in industry
i am totally perplexed how you find the driving position optimal and ride quality not sub par

KeithL

I agree the 4G was firmer, but I liked that ride, I loved the high bolstered seats. From a pure comfort the M37S was best, very comfortable seat, I could drive without the seat all the way back as I am also 6 foot tall. The TLX while better overall ride quality still is a little jittery at times, the 4G was always planted. And I may be wrong, but I thought the 4G was Double Wish Bone and TLX went to a more traditional strut layout.

I will say my Infiniti had. DWB and very good suspension as the wheel base was I believe 4 inches longer than the TL/TLX and the front wheels were pushed far front.

nore03

After reading most of the review(I must admit, I skimmed through a lot but for the most part very informative!) I feel as if the Audi isn't worth the 20k difference. For the few things it is better at it doesn't seem much of an upgrade. Before I bought the TLX a used A6 was at the top of my list, along with a year or 2 year old E class and 5 or 7 series. I have been a Acura fan since I was in high school so when the TLX came out I was excited for it but still wanted something that had a little more "prestige". After having the TLX for about 7 months I love it. There are a few things that need improvements but it is definitely a great and FUN car.

ffiallo

Well written. It is funny I'm looking at coming back to Acura after 4 TL's and then getting a 2014 Toyota FJ Cruiser, and I remembered about your ordeals between cars, and there you are here again.
Might pull the trigger by next week.
Any reason to lease a '16 over a '15?
Thanks!

KeithL

Basically the Audi is only worth $20K more if you put high value on the things it excels at. I really enjoyed the car, but the TLX is a blast to drive and while the Audi was a like a rocket off the line and had a more planted secure road feel with more refined suspension, the TLX is a fantastic car. I still think if they put SH-AWD in the RLX tweak the styling, pump up the HP a bit and tune up the suspension it would be a worthy competitor to those that respect the value and reliability of Acura

I am one who likes the latest and greatest and never take the outgoing model, but the 16 is identical tot he 15 and the incentives on the 15 are insane. They took $6300 off the 15 TLX AWD Advance. The car was fresh as in it had 15 miles on it, still in plastic and a 9/15 build date so it had to be one of the last 15's built. Also the lease incentice on the 15s was also too good to pass up, the money factor came to .38% that is like free money. I paid more to lease my 09 TL AWD Tech than I am for this one.

Mike_TX

Two comments on the Acura navigation:

- I hear people say the Acura maps are old and outdated-looking. What would you want them to look like? They already look like paper maps to me, and I'm not sure what could be done to make them look more "modern".

I drive all sorts of cars in my part-time job, and see all sorts of map displays, and I can't find anything to fault Acura with. If anything, i applaud them for displaying more street names than just about anyone!

- In your McDonald's example, all you need to do with your Acura is say, "Nearest McDonald's" and you will get a list of them in order of distance from your location. To see another page of them, just say, "Next".

Seems like that's just as easy as your Audi command, and doesn't require a subscription to maintain an internet connection.

.
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KeithL

The Acura navi maps look dated and too pale, the contrast is weak and unless zoomed all the way in seeing the traffic info is not easy. The 16 Acord, Hyundai, Audi, just about anyone has more modern looking navi and interaction is better.

As for you McDonalds example that using the internal navi maps and that databse is out of date the minute you take the car home. Google is about as up to dat as anyone can expect so being able to get a list in real time of current data is far betetr than the built in navi. If you try the AcuraLink you have to wait 10-20 seconds while it makes the cellular call, then you get voice promoted asking you to select form the menu what you want, then you get to the online lookup and rather than return a list on a map/display it stars reading them to you one by one stating the address. Really do I know what street a give McDonalds is or whatever I am looking for?

The Audi you literally hit the button say "Online destinations McDonalds" and within 30-45 seconds there is a list on the screen and as you scroll through it they are highlighted on the map, extremely intuitive and simple. The online lookup of AcuraLink is useless, at least from the you can pull up the AcuraLink app use it to find places and then send that to the car. Still rather primitive, but it works.

carenthusiast

the germans are years ahead of the japanese manufacturers in tech, pretty amazing if you look back at their technology leading capabilities... a lot of it has to do with details, again motor wise i think honda is ahead of the germans and toyota/lexus, but suspensions, comfort and design far behind and the person running honda and particualary acura should be ashamed that in the last 8 years the tlx is the only car the has exceeded expectations, people forget they started the segment years ago with the original tl, they should be ashamed, as an example the front end of the 4g that was out for four years with average at most sales and public outrage about the beek what do they do double down in 12 with the refresh and moderate it, brilliant management

james21_h

Great review Keith! I had a i4 tech as a loaner for a day and drove for about 160 miles. I felt the same as you do regarding the quality and the interior space. I felt 4G is a better built and roomier car. Don't get me wrong, TLX is a great car for the price but I am not trading my 4G for it!!! After 3 and half years, not a squeak in my TL!!

mapleloaf

Very thorough review with a lot of excellent and well informed points and opinions. There are a few things I would disagree with, but car opinions are usually based on one's personal experience and visceral responses.

I particularly appreciated your comments about Acura's target market. Many folks seem to want Acura to be Lexus, BMW, Audi, Infiniti, etc. However, as you allude to, they are making vehicles that provide excellent features, comfort, drivability, and a superior value proposition for the more practical buyers who want to balance luxury with price.

Thanks for taking the time.