spdandpwr

^I drive at 60mph on the highway in order to avoid having the car that high in the rpm band during highway runs

Trentimus

I try to stay low as much as possible.. problematic though here in Texas.

Texas highway speeds are anywhere from 55-80.. POSTED. Usually if you're not going at least 5mph over the posted limit you're getting ran over.

pabarile

Same here. The highway limits are 55-65 here in NJ. I don't have any issues with the car cruising at those speeds (and i tend to never exceed them as I'm interested in maximizing my fuel economy). When i did go to Long Island, I was in a bit of a rush and was cruising at 70mph. At that point i started to notice the engine RPM a little bit.

Still love the car though!

rxj27

Haha nothing says "luxury" to the chinese market more than four crazy white guys free running on buildings...


How do you think the ILX will sell in China?

terdonal

I like that Hybrid trunk lip.

rxj27

I'll jump on the Acura bandwagon...

Best in residual value for all Premium brands!

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/11/26/a...-value-awards/

Deathknight, at least you can a good deal if you decide you don't like the ILX and decide to sell...

Colin

Most of our highways are only 50 MPH! There are a few with 55 and one section where it's 60 but traffic enforcement is pretty vigorous so more than 10 over is rare. In light traffic I normally cruise at 60. This seems to draw little attention and definitely helps with fuel economy.

spdandpwr

80mph posted speed limit is wayyyy to dangerous. Even with crimp zones and safety features in modern day vehicles, an 80 mph impact will be devastating, surprised insurance companies haven't lobbied to reduce speed limits, lol.

00TL-P3.2

And we just got a toll rd with an 85mph limit
Yay TX!

BTW, the 80mph areas are mostly in way West TX, where there's nothing there to begin with.
There are a few 75 zones north of Houston & south of Austin.

pabarile

Yep, agreed! I notice that when i'm on the highway doing the speed limit, people are blowing by me. When people are blasting down the highway at 85mph, I'm not sure they realize that the energy the car possesses increases with the square of their velocity (i.e. it'll take a lot longer to stop, impacts will be worse, etc). Not only is it dangerous, but it uses more gas as well! Unless you're traveling long distance, it rarely saves that much time as too.

rxj27

I think the real reason is our national obsession with horsepower and speed. Its an arms race every year to see the next higher HP sedans...There is no reason everyone needs 200+ HP for normal driving. But once everyone else has it, you have to "keep up" or get run over! Couple this with the naive belief of many untrained adrenaline junkies that they can safely harness that much power and torque...recipe for disaster.

Sorry for the rant from the guy with the hybrid!

Trentimus

Lol, you can basically take the limit in any given area and bump it by 10 mph; that's how people drive here.

spdandpwr

The torque specs are incorrect on the 2009 Accord

That notwithstanding, I thought you got a 6speed manual

rxj27

Way to rub salt on it bro...

spdandpwr

^my apologies, I just saw your post in the sign-up thread...not sure why I thought you had the manual transmission.

rxj27

"As expected, the K24 powerplant in the Acura ILX proved to be a great endurance engine. It had excellent torque off the corners and ran without a hiccup," said Lee Niffenegger, senior engineer for Honda Performance Development (HPD).

"At different times in the race, both cars suffered a similar exhaust issue, but we learned how to deal with it for the future," Niffenegger added. "Unfortunately, the lead car was sidelined by a transmission problem that we need to investigate, but the gearbox in the second car was flawless. That's really the point of these events for us: to push the new models before our customers do, so we can make them even better race vehicles and more reliable passenger cars."

http://www.honda.com/newsandviews/ar...ce=twitterfeed

GarrettinSF

We just bought a 2013 RDX and were given a ILX dealer car while some accessories are being added. I'm truly impressed with the ILX - fun, sporty, good ergonomics. If I was in the market for a smaller car, I would put this at the top of a very short list. Congrats to all of e owners! Have fun with it.

rxj27

http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/12/edward25hrblog/

http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/12/...f-thunderhill/

Awesome blog write up about the race and some really nice pictures! Great reads about the incredible ingenuity of the team when faced with adversity!

terdonal

Great reads, thanks for posting.