The 2021 TLX Is What an Acura Sport Sedan Should Be
Enthusiasts fell in love with Acura because its cars offered excellent Honda engineering with more luxury at an attainable price. But like its parent company, Acura drifted from the original formula in the 2000s and 2010s, and while sales remained strong, the thing that made Acura special faded away. But over the last few years, Acura has tried to win back enthusiasts. First with the amazing NSX, then with the surprisingly sporty RDX crossover, and now this, the second-generation TLX.
Here's how you know Acura is serious—the new TLX has a double-wishbone front suspension. It’s more expensive and harder to package than a McPherson strut, but it also provides superior ride and handling characteristics. Throughout the Nineties, Honda and Acura bucked the compact-car norm with double-wishbone front axles, but eventually switched to simpler, cheaper setups. The 2021 TLX rides on a dedicated platform with double wishbones at the front and a five-link setup out back. This is no fancified Accord, proof that Acura is putting in the work.
We appreciate the effort, and the chassis is the highlight of this new TLX. Our top-spec Advance trim tester felt more sport than luxury sedan, with a reassuringly taut ride. It's a little harsh on bad city roads at low speed, but opens up beautifully as speeds rise. Acura engineers worked on stiffening up the body structure for the new TLX, and this has provided the best combination for a great ride/handling balance—a stiff shell, with suspension that actually suspends. Advanced models also come with standard adaptive dampers that never feel too firm, even in their sportiest setting.
As standard, the TLX drives its front wheels, with Acura's Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) a $2000 option. You should tick the box for SH-AWD. This isn't a system that simply sends a little torque rearwards when it detects wheelspin. It can push 70 percent to the rear wheels, and of that, 100 percent can be split to either side. The effect? Amazing agility. Maintain a decent amount of throttle mid-corner, and the TLX will overdrive the outside rear wheel to help the car rotate. You can feel it working, especially in Sport mode, and it's great. SH-AWD makes the TLX corner unlike any other sport sedan, contributing to a wonderfully neutral balance.
The steering is lighter than you might expect, but it's quick and accurate. Like the NSX, the TLX uses a brake-by-wire system, and just as with the supercar, it's flawless. If no one told you it was by-wire, you'd probably never know. Pedal feel is excellent, with great bite right at the top, and even after some spirited runs on great sports-car roads outside of New York City, there was no fade.
I had higher hopes for the engine, though. The TLX comes standard with a version of Honda's familiar turbocharged K20 2.0-liter four-cylinder, here making 272 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque. Peak power comes at 6500 rpm, though torque is a plateau from 1600 to 4500, and there's not much point (or fun) revving beyond that point. It's effective, if a little joyless. You could accuse us of being too nostalgic for old Honda screamers, but this engine is a lot more fun in the Civic Type R, where it wants to rip to redline as soon as it comes on boost. Engine sound is also digitally enhanced in the TLX's Sport mode and the digital augmentation is so coarse and unmusical, you might be tempted just to leave it in Normal. It's not a rough engine, so why give it a fake, gruff character?
Looking under the hood reveals something interesting—a lot of space between the engine and the firewall. Acura wanted to give this car the long "dash-to-axle ratio" traditionally a hallmark of rear-wheel drive cars, and to do that with this transverse-engine application, the firewall was simply moved further back. In engineering terms, this is silly, but the result is a great-looking car. The extra space will be filled somewhat by a twin-turbo V-6 in the upcoming Type S model. This muted gray doesn't do the car justice, but this is a handsome machine, with a far more purposeful, refined look than the previous TLX.
Back to mechanicals for a moment. The engine is paired with Honda's 10-speed automatic, and while 10 gears seems too many, you hardly notice the surplus. The paddles on the steering wheel feel cheap, but they actually respond well to driver commands, and the programming in auto mode is very good. You're never left wanting for a downshift. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to dream of what this car would be like with the Civic Type R's manual.
As much as Acura focused on winning over enthusiasts with this new TLX, the folks there know this car has to tempt people out of their BMWs and Audis. The exterior styling helps in that regard, as does the interior, which feels nicely premium. Perhaps not BMW or Audi good, but much better than the last TLX. I'm not yet convinced by the infotainment system, with its center-console trackpad control, though the heads-up display in this Advance trim car was excellent. With steering wheel controls, you can use the HUD to control navigation and media settings, and while the response times are a little slow, it's a very clever thing. Also available in the RDX, this HUD is useful beyond simply repeating information.
Oh, and the car makes cool sci-fi noises when you cycle through drive modes.
Old-school Honda and Acura fans will find a lot to like here. The new TLX is a very good sport sedan with a standout chassis, and sharp looks. And the price is very appealing. MSRP for a base model is $38,525, while our loaded tester stickers for just under $50,000. A TLX is cheaper than a similarly equipped A4 or 3-Series, while offering a bit more room and Honda's excellent reputation for reliability.
And if you don't think the engine is special enough, the V-6-powered Type S arrives next year.
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