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All I can say is shawdy got a big ole ass (It's the Camo) and they seem to have taken some ques form my edits for the front mumper. It's very 2013+ Accord and 2015 Chrysler 200 like.

 

 

Top end looking identical is a good sign we will be able to swap body parts. Question may come down to if the conversion would need just a new bumper, or lights and maybe even new hood or possibly fenders if it was as far as the Integras went with usdm to jdm front end conversions.

 

Also note the new 'swoop' line above the front wheels on the fender. It's hard to tell but from the look of it there are no Jewel Eye headlights or LED tube- taillights, as I see the halogen glow through the cover. Very unfortunate. I hope I get proven wrong when more pictures surface. Also no turn signals in the mirrors.

 

Oh and... my oh my what cute brakes it has!

I guess those are 18" Accord Sport wheels just making the Civic brakes look extra small.

 

Hopefully they'll phase out the meager 150HP engine for 2016

 

Anyone else notice the front grille? The current ILX doesn't have anything like that. It could just all be fake but that is definitely a different look than the current car. Why would they put/need a big lower center grille opening on the front since it completely goes against the current design and the TLX design?

1.5 Turbo.

Also notice how there is a front license plate holder. Why the hell would they have that on a tester car with no license plate on it? Might they need it there to make sure the turbo can still get enough air with it in place?

 

I don't see side markers on the mirrors, maybe they're taped off? I find it interesting that with all taped off like that, it looks like a 4G TL,

 

Some of yall are cray.

 

Very 4th gen TL-ish with the camo on.

 

Timmy....are you sure the turn signal aren't on the mirrors? I can almost see some....

The front bumper seems radically different and will be interesting what they'll offer. I still find the ILX one of best designed Acura sedan. Had that car had the 2.4L with 6speed, it would have sold like hot cake! I still like the ILX a lot....The size is just right and despite being underpowered, its still a blast to drive when in the right revv range

 

Hmm.

I have uploaded two shots of a potential ILX-looking car.

The one i saw was back in the middle of May 2014 -- and it was coincidentally roaming around Torrence, CA (the Honda/Acura hub).

However, i am still not sure if it is an ILX let alone Honda/Acura.

 

^^ I agree that it's hard to tell....I am not convinced it is either. I know it is not the NSX as there is no fire in the back *lol*

 

here are a couple TLX Spy photos for comparison sake:

 

I expect bumper caps only. Well, new rims could be part of the plan as well. I don't expect changes to sheetmetal or glass. If it didn't get Jewel Eyes, I'd be extremely disappointed but would 'trade' that for improved powertrains (if forced to choose). Hopefully new dashboards with a dual screen setup are in the cards as well. Especially since, Civic and Fit have them now.

 

Thanks for sharing these, Dillon!

 

Does anyone else think that the rear door cut out is different or is it just me? It looks like it's a leaner, more straight line, like the TLX's.

Could this ILX be based of the TLX's platform but stunt a shorter wheel base while keeping the dimensions about the same as the previous ILX? I mean it is built along side the TLX now.

Just a thought.

 

Otherwise they have the rear quarter panel camo tucked into the rear door jam??

 

No. Just to the left of your red line you can see a piece of metal poking out of the car. That is the rear door. If you follow that piece you'll notice the door flows the same.

 

Yeah that's why I mentioned the camo being tucked into the door jams.

 

There is NO WAY, NO HOW they've changed anything on sheetmetal. Changing the rear door cutline would require at the least an entire new rear 3/4 body panel and door. Also, likely would be new glass. For what? 2 more years of sales? There is ZERO return on investment. Cheaper to keep putting dealer cash on the 20K (x2 years) they'll sell than to institute that level of change.

 

Agreed. Probably a bad idea even to change the front end aside from the jewel eyes. Unless they made plug and play headlights and front bumper I'd say itsomething a huge waste of their time money andown resources on a car not many enthusiasts like.

Colin... what is a bumper cap? Not sure what you mentioned in your post before this last one.

 

Sorry, I refer to the urethane portion of the bumper as 'caps' since they're just a cosmetic skin over the actual structure of the bumper itself. I suppose its confusing since most consider these as the bumpers. I guess I assume that most won't know that this is urethane and the fenders/hood/trunk are made of metal... LOL.

 

I knew what you meant by bumper caps, lol. I've seen so many people complain about how we call the plastic style pieces cover the actual bumpers, "bumpers" on jalopnik and how it's not a bumper unless it's metal..

The style changes is not a waste of their time, Jon, Acura usual does something different with front and rear bumpers on their models during MMC. Every automaker does. A better style could yield better sales but of course style isn't the ILX's full problem, it's packaging of power tains and technology. Those two are the determining factor in major sales boost or not.

 

Aaaah. Makes sense now.

I do think the fenders would be easy to replace if they come off similar to an integra.

But I don't think the ilx is selling enough for them to spend more money on the design.

I'd love a new "front bumper cap" to sport off and on with the gen1 version.

 

I know this is silly for me to speculate but any chance that the ILX could be the first model they introduce a Type S with a turbo engine? Given the front fascia having that mesh in the middle, could it be? The auto with keep the same engine and cvt for the non enthusiasts, the 2.4 with stick and a type s with a turbo engine. This could then allow the TLX to be a year or two before they would then bring the Type S to the model itself.

Am I crazy to think like this? Probably am....I know

 

Yeah, it's not the ease of installing, it's the cost of body panels. To do a new fender they would need to create two new dies (one each for left and right) to stamp the sheetmetal. It was shared with me that there is a "break even" point to recoup this huge investment but I can't go into here. Suffice to say, the ILX will never hit that number in 5 years much less the 2 remaining on this body style. Injection molded bumper caps are far less expensive to make the tooling for and this is why most MMCs are limited to plastic parts vs metal.

 

Okay, clearly you misunderstood what I was saying. You don't need to educate me on minor model changes though, thank you. Coming from an integra as well as being all over h-t and nwp, I am well versed in honda/acura MMCs.

I was saying producing metal components, i.e. a new hood or fenders, or creating a new bumper that was not plug n play, i.e. needing an upgraded rad support like the integra, would be a waste of their time and money.

Many at Acura already think the ILX is shit so why polish it.
As colin said, a plastic bumper is far easier and more worthy of their time and money than new metal pieces.

 

And did you not notice where I said front and rear bumpers ? I know earlier I said the fenders looked different but I never said anything about a new hood or rad support.

I don't see why new fender sets and bumpers on a MMC wouldn't be plug and play unless the front ACE structure is altered like it was on the Civic Coupe to aid in crash safety ratings. I can definitely understand the rear quarter panel and door alterations being a long shot but fenders and bumpers are not as long as the mount and alighn the same way to older ILX's.

 

Of course if they did it, they would engineer the new panels to be plug and play. IOW, you don't change the crash structure, you make the new panels match up to the existing frame. However, the reason they are unlikely to do this is for reasons cited above.

 

I'm sorry Im not sure what you are referring to here when you mentioned saying front and rear bumper.
I didn't saying you said anything about the rad support.

I was stating that people often swap the usdm integra front for the jdm front.
This of course is not an MMC, but the JDM 95 spec integra had bug eyes where as the jdm 96 spec had the long headlights. To do the front end conversion it required the cutting and welding of a new rad support, as well as new headlights, bumper cover, fenders, and hood.

So I was comparing the ILX and integra. Saying that a bumper cover that required any kind of metal work, like the integra, would be a waste of money.

All just matters when they go to build it. I cant tell you why the JDM 96 spec front needs a tweaked rad support where as the 95 didn't.

As Colin stated, the sheet metal parts are a more costly process than the plastic bumper cover.

I for one would love altered fenders but only if they actually did something with it. Altering to fit a new headlight will be lame.

 

Colin, are you staying with the ILX/(waiting for MMC), or going over to an automatic TLX?

 

Colin, what do you think?

Any idea approximately when 2016 will launch?

 

Doesnt look like it either. What a disappointment if the production version also doesn't have LED side mirror signals in this day and age on a premium car. I had that on my 2005 TSX.

 

lol yeah no led would kill it /red text

I prefer no blinking mirrors. He'll I'd prefer no blinking headlights but that's unsafe. I hope they don't bring signal mirrors to the I'll ever. Less can be more.

 

I don't know when it'll launch, but I do know that 2015 will be a short model year. How early can you sell a 2016? January? Could you sell a 2016 in late 2014? Anyone know if there are rules on this?

I'm still favoring a manual and have a year to go on my current lease. I'll be looking forward to the MMC ILX vs. the TLX for the transmission alone. Secondary, is the huge size difference. 179" to 190"... not needing anything that big.

 

I agree Colin. Even tough Acura has left a REALLY bad taste with the experience/problems i'm having with my ILX (suspension related, road noise...), i'm not ready to just walk away from a manual transmission for an automatic in the TLX. I have 1 year remaining on my lease as well. I will take a look at the 2016 ILX and see if it is appealing enough for me to stay with Acura going forward. They certainly don't deserve my loyalty, if you ask me.

 

Ha funny, I actually saw this car in Claremont, CA cruising/test driving down route 66 about a month or 2 ago. They saw my car and smiled and stuff. I didn't think much about it at the time.
@ Colin and Spirited driver - Don't know your situations, but mine, I'm a single guy with no kids doing my own thing. I learned how to drive stick shift in Japan while on Active duty orders over there. NO WAY was i getting an auto when I got back. That being said, this may also be my last stick shift. I plan on holding on to this car as long as possible. If i have kids and all that later on, I'm not going to drive as aggressively with them in the car. And/or I wont have a sporty type car either. No room. So I'll keep the ILX as a extra "beater". I mean, if I could have found a newer stick shift TSX at the time i bought the ILX, I would have jumped all over it. Couldn't find one that met my tastes. TLX is too big for my tastes. I have parking issues where I live, work and play. The compact size of the ILX is great for parking, TSX would be annoying, but TLX would be an impossible everyday hassle.

 

I'm glad I found ample peace if an automatic. Even without the paddle shifters I would be fine. But they make it feel so much more like a race car. Hahaha
I wanted the luxury of having a free hand at all times so it was anot awesome change and I'm still enjoying it. It is only 2.0 but the 2.0 can do great things tuned and f/I so I'm content.

Plus my class has more arm room. There are so many of you 2.4 guys here its not even funny.

 

Arm room and simplicity in driving an auto trans would be more important when I have more constant passengers. Right now is more of a once in a while. But thats why I also keep a daily driver mentality on my mods. For example - slammed on a daily driver doesn't make sense to me, but I can see a single guy doing it for fun. But if that same single guy has a kid later, I mean really, are they going to drive around with their kid in the baby seat slamming and scraping over bumps? Priorities man. The kids gonna die from shaken baby syndrome and dude's ass is going to jail... SMH...