HD 2018 Acura TLX | CarGurus Test Drive Review

Such a beautiful car especially in this shade of white. I couldn't agree with you more on the two-tier dash layout. Dated is putting it midly. Acura should take a cue from Hyundai/KIA/Genesis in terms of infotainment ergonomics. This car could also benefit from a nice Brembo brake set up like some of the competition offer. It's so close to being perfect. Awesome review as always Mike. Looking forward to the next one.

Overpriced, So-so interior, infuriating 9 speed, irritating dual-screen, Meh-engine compared to the competition. Get the Accord 2.0T unless you really need SH-AWD. The Stinger GT and even the Regal GS kicks this POS's ass.

Here is what I would say to Acura if they ever opened up their ears to listen: You guys are 10 years behind. Every Japanese automaker has been making leaps and bounds with regards to design, engines, and transmissions. You peaked in 2008 with the TL Type S — and then spent the next decade offering atrocious shit. You guys forced the «beak» which nobody wanted, for 10 years. You're still using the same 290hp engine from the '08 TL-S in the new TLX — and you've made the cars heavier, so they're actually slower than they were 10 years ago. AND as if that wasn't enough, when you finally decided to redesign the TLX, you ended up making it look 90% similar to the '08 TL-S. Then, you sourced a shitty 9-speed automatic transmission, which made the TLX horribly unreliable — compared to the older TLs and TSXs. Your entire sedan lineup is objectively worse in every aspect — except for infotainment — than it was a decade ago.
You've been making terrible design and engineering decisions for a decade, and have been half-assing any real «improvements» you've tried — I mean the TLX GT edition was literally just some wheels and a lip kit (which had already been available separately for a year before anyway) — it had no real upgrades at all.
So honestly, while you're announcing all of these new Type-S and A-Spec models, it's too little too late. You've been dramatically outpaced by literally every other Japanese and German (and arguably Korean) automaker. Acura: you're playing catch up to such an extent, that your new models won't even be able to compete with the current offerings from other automakers. Your new models will be competing with your lineup from 2008, and Honda's current lineup. You done goofed. Everyone's left you in the dust, so you're competing with yourself.
Everyone else has made enormous strides in design, and engineering — and you've spent the last decade making your once-great products, gradually worse than they originally were.
You have become a case study of a company who had enormous success 10 years ago (the TL actually outsold the BMW 3 series from 2004-2008) — and who has made such poor decisions that you are no longer competitive against anyone but your former self. I loved Acuras. I had an MDX, I have an RSX type S, and I have an '08 TL type S… but I wouldn't buy ANY new Acura today — because your older cars were miles ahead of anything you offer now — and everyone else's current offerings are even better.
The best analogy I can think of for the current state of your company — is that of a once-great athlete who threw his career away through drug abuse — and who is now coming out of rehab and trying to get his life in order. He's trying to get back to the level he once was at. The only problem is i) he's aged, and has developed a poor reputation; ii) the other athletes have gotten WAY better and have left him behind, and iii) there are new athletes in the space who are also way better than he is.
Acura: you've got a tall, tall, tall mountain to climb in order to get back to where you once were…
And once you've reached the top of that mountain and regain your former glory, you've got another tall, tall, tall mountain to climb to get to where the other automakers are right now. You've really wasted the last 10 years — and should probably fire the people responsible for that. I really hope you can become a market leader again, but unless you start making better decisions, you're going to be stuck competing with yourselves/Honda forever. Good luck.