boe_d

This is the concept of what Acura think it might offer in the future (not sure how many years from now - hopefully AFTER I buy my next car) - Acura has some really good stuff but I don't think they have any design flow. I think they should take what the engineers can offer and just get a new chief design person to help put it together in a way that doesn't look like it was slapped together like a drunk frat boy's room.


This is what audi offers today - not some distant future. To me it looks intuitive, informative, well laid out and gorgeous - - While I don't need all the stuff in the back, I LOVE the front. Everything looks like it is in its place - everything was DESIGNED to be there from the beginning. Acura seems to frequently be throwing things in after the fact both interior and exterior.

dezymond

As cool as touchscreens are in cars, they're a distraction, plain and simple. Driving my TLX for almost two years, I'm still looking at the screen to change settings. I got to drive an older vehicle yesterday and knobs are just far more intuitive and less distracting. As nice as that Audi interior is, the driver will have to take their eyes off the road to adjust a simple thing like the fan speed, much like our TLX.

Funny how the more safety features that cars get, the more it takes our eyes off the road ahead of us to just change the temperature in our vehicles.

boe_d

So you don't have a GPS? As far as not wanting to touch things - most cars also have voice activation and I agree with you as much that can also be controlled by voice should be. I'd rather have a touch screen than a single knob that I have to do 50 motions to finally get it to where I want to be than a couple of presses. Even if you are using the knob you are looking at the screen to find out if you selected what you wanted to in the first place.

dezymond

I do have GPS, but that's not the point. The point is with all this touchscreen technology, I have to take my eyes off the road just to change the temperature. I am aware the TLX has voice commands, but I'm not going to remember specific keywords for it to do what I say. And yes even with navigating through the knob my eyes are still off the road.

What I'm getting at is that our cars are now "smart cars" and that it's distracting from what we should be looking at, the road. Everyone still talks of just texting and driving, but one could easily have the same sort of accident because they're navigating the car's UI to change a simple setting. After all, as advanced as cars have become it all comes down to the driver. Braking mitigation, lane departure, etc. are all great, but it comes down to the driver paying attention in the end.

Remembering the days when I first started driving, I had an 05 Civic and it was 3 knobs that were very easy to differentiate, just by muscle memory. Touchscreen input to change a/c settings, you have to be precise and therefore take your eyes off the road.

AcuraGuy2016

Acura would be fine if they just offered the same system as the current gen Accord Touring with the better Acura ELS system. The fact that they don't do this through all their Acura models is beside me, as the technology is clearly available through the Honda parent company, although 2018 TLX is a small step in the right direction.

boe_d

Remembering the right phrase is actually a good point. I work with computers and occasionally program. It should be easy to modify one voice command to many. E.g. Say the correct phrase for altering the temperature to 73 degrees is Set Temperature 73 Degrees after clicking the voice command on the steering wheel (no need to take your eyes off the road). It could be programmed to accept Temperature 73, Set Temperature 73, Heat 73, Heater 73 degrees, AC 73 or even 73 degrees. Likewise multiple phrases could be programmed for radio station, destination, etc. If Honda/Acura made it use programmable and you could let it accept whatever you wanted all from a software package like dragon speak - they could pull an iTunes and get you to keep buying their products so you'd get to use that profile with multiple vehicles including future vehicles.

BC01191980

The Audi virtual cockpit is really nice

boe_d

Here is another nice looking cockpit. It doesn't look like the GPS was an afterthought that was an old ipad they glued onto the dash the day it was assembled. It has a large lip/cowl to help protect it from direct sunlight washout. Acura's has some great components but in my opinion they have no design, no flow. All there stuff look like they grabbed some parts from a car parts warehouse and slapped them together to make a vehicle without any concept of what it might look like in advance - like a kid's go-cart. Just grab any tires and boards you can. Perhaps the Little Rascals are the design team at Acura - some clever ideas but ugly as sin.

kurtatx

I don't have it but I kind of wish I did...when this lease is up, I won't make that mistake again.

pyrodan007

Acura's Precision Cockpit looks very prototype-ish. If the new TLX 2.0 comes looking like that inside, it would be enough for me to walk away. Tech is cool but design is hideous.
On the flip side, I recently got a ride with my friend's 2017 A4 non virtual cockpit. Still clean looking and crisp graphics. That engine combo is awesome! Pulls like my V6 never could, even in Sport+ lol

BC01191980

I may end with Audi also.

It's either q5 or a5 sportback

TLX is up early 2018 so need to take time to make good decision

kurtatx

I might try to convince my wife to go S4 and just have that be it and keep it longer term.