2015 Acura TLX Pros and Cons: Why (Not) This Car?

	Compared to the MKZ
Price or payments	Better Worse

Acura has never attempted to go toe-to-toe with other upscale brands with its pricing. Instead, its cars have been priced significantly higher than the Hondas on which they are based, but well below a comparable Lexus, much less one of the Germans. With a starting price of $31,890, the new TLX continues this in-between tradition. A Honda Accord EX-L lists for $2,680 less, but a Lexus ES lists for $5,000 to $9,000 more (depending on which engine you equip the TLX with).

Audi and Mercedes both offer sedans with lower starting prices, but the A3 and CLA are considerably smaller than the TLX, and they have much less standard equipment. Equip them like the Acura, and they end up three to four thousand dollars higher.

The Accord comparison warrants a deeper look. An Accord EX-L has leather seats, forward collision warning, and a blind spot camera standard. Add the Navigation Package to the Accord and the Technology Package (which includes leather) to the TLX to reduce the number of feature differences, and the Acura lists for $4,935 more--but includes $4,900 in additional features that are not available on the Honda. The most significant of these: LED headlights and rear-wheel steering. Put another way, if you value the TLX's additional features, the car's more upscale brand and materials cost essentially nothing extra.

And the Lincoln? When both cars are equipped with four-cylinder engines the MKZ costs about $4,000 more. But this is partly because Lincoln has priced the base MKZ so that it can offer a hybrid powertrain for "no additional charge." Plus the MKZ's engine has a turbocharger. Reflecting this, plus that the TLX 3.5 replaces the TL rather than the TSX, it costs much more, $4,225 vs. $1,230, to step up to a V6 with the Acura. Opt for the V6s and load up both cars, and their prices end up about the same.

Given the $4,000 price difference and that reviewers have tended to prefer the more agile handling of the TLX 2.4, it seems a better value than the TLX 3.5 unless you must have all-wheel-drive, which is only offered with the V6.

Handling

Better Worse

When Acura introduced the new TLX to journalists, it promised an engaging, exciting driving experience. Does the car deliver? Not really, but the TLX does feel more agile and eager to turn than the Lincoln. Credit four inches less length, two hundred pounds less weight, and standard rear-wheel steering. Innovative toe-control rear suspension links with integral length-adjusting motors rather than a second rack-and-pinion provide the last.

But while the TLX's steering feels more responsive than the MKZ's, its suspension doesn't control body motions as well, and the Acura sedan can feel sloppy when pushed. Seeking to appeal to both sport sedan and luxury sedan buyers, Acura seems to have tuned the steering for the former but the suspension for the latter. Granted, the suspension is far from flaccid, but over wavy pavement it doesn't feel as tied-down as that of the MKZ, or of the Germans when they are equipped with optional sport suspensions.

Driving position & visibility

Better Worse

Compared to the MKZ, the TLX has a less steeply raked windshield, a more compact instrument panel, and larger windows. The resulting outward visibility adds to the impression that the TLX maneuvers more easily.

Fuel economy

Better Worse

Compared to the Honda Accord, the Acura TLX has stronger engines and different, more performance-oriented transmissions. As a result, fuel economy takes a bit of a hit. Focusing on the four-cylinder, the EPA ratings are 27/36 for the Honda and 24/35 for the Acura. The latter is a nice bump over the 22/31 of last year's TSX, though, and also compares favorably to the MKZ's 22/33.

In my driving, the trip computer reported averages ranging between 24 and 36 mpg in the suburbs (the high number when I was especially easy on the pedals) and high 30s on the highway.

Of course, if fuel economy is a priority you can get the MKZ in hybrid form. Acura offers no such option. But the MKZ Hybrid is relatively sluggish. If you want a combination of good performance and good fuel economy in the same car (if not during the same drive), the TLX 2.4 has an edge.

	Compared to the MKZ
Controls and instruments	Better Worse

Recent Acuras and Hondas have had a pair of instrument panel displays. The upper one is controlled via a knob and buttons on the console, while the lower display, situated between the upper display and its controls, is a touchscreen. I've yet to come across anyone who finds this logical. Most people find it confusing.

What I most mind, though, is that even the simplest operations tend to require multiple taps. For example, to turn on the heated seat you must tap a virtual button along the button edge of the touchscreen, then select a level, then exit. I'm all for keeping the physical button count under control (past Acuras failed here), but there are better solutions.

Not that the Lincoln MKZ's interface is much better. In some ways it's even worse.

Exterior styling

Better Worse

The Acura TLX isn't an unattractive car. But it's not going to inspire any double-takes, either. Mostly it will blend into the crowd about as well as the Accord on which it is based. Acura feels that its signature LED headlamps provide a distinctive face, and they do, but this isn't enough. The 225/55R17 tires, mandatory with the four-cylinder engine, have the unfashionably tall sidewalls of a transportation appliance.

The MKZ's exterior is much more distinctive, upscale, and elegant.

Interior styling

Better Worse

Much the same can be said for the cars' interiors. The interior trim of the recently departed TSX and TL included too much silver plastic as part of a high-tech / sci-fi design theme, and both the plastic and that theme are thankfully gone. But in their place the TLX has a thoroughly generic interior with obviously fake, overly shiny plastiwood.

The trim of the MKZ's center console would benefit from a more upscale look and feel, but overall its interior seems more upscale and much more modern.

Rear seat room & comfort

Better Worse

While the Acura TLX's exterior dimensions roughly split the difference between the TSX's and the TL's, its interior dimensions are quite close to the more compact of the two. Compared to the Honda Accord, rear seat legroom is down a substantial four inches despite a shared wheelbase. Shoulder room and rear headroom also suffer reductions, of about an inch in each case. At 5-9, I can sit behind myself with a little room to spare. Passengers six feet and up will feel cramped, if they fit at all.

The Lincoln is also weak in this area. If others an inch or two more rear knee room than the TLX, but less rear headroom.

	Compared to the MKZ
Powertrain performance	Better Worse

The Acura TLX's 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine is good for 206 horsepower, but at a lofty 6,800 rpm. Without a turbocharger to plump up the four's midrange, its torque output peaks at 182 pound-feet, vs. 260 with the MKZ's boosted 2.0-liter. On paper, the Acura's engine specs aren't sufficient for a 3,500-pound luxury-sport sedan.

Yet the TLX's powertrain performs about as well as the MKZ's. Both cars can get from a stop to 60 mph in about seven seconds. In typical around-town driving the TLX feels responsive, not sluggish.

The Acura's transmission deserves at least as much credit as its engine. The four-cylinder is paired with an eight-speed dual-clutch automated manual. With so many ratios to choose from, the transmission can keep the engine at the optimal rpm for either performance or fuel economy, effectively disguising its peaky nature. An ultra-short first gear makes for energetic starts, if these are requested. Since the new gear can be engaged the instant the former one is released, shifts are as quick and crisp as they are frequent.

Dual-clutch automated manual transmissions can sometimes feel jerky in casual driving. Perhaps because it incorporates a torque converter, the Acura's rarely did in my experience (see the comments for a different impression). I more minded the amount of engine vibration that could be felt when stopped at lights. Rev the engine, though, and it sounds much better than the typical four. Active noise cancellation likely deserves some of the credit for this.

Ride smoothness

Better Worse

The smoothness and quietness of the Acura TLX's ride aren't remarkable, in either the good or the bad sense. They're passable for this class of car.