2015 Acura TLX

Character lines accentuate the flared rear fenders, further hinting at the sport potential of the TLX. At the rear, rather simple curves coax a trunk lid spoiler from the form of the metal, while carefully inset and inconspicuous tail pipes sit at the bottom of the bumper fascia. The TLX’s best angle is, to most eyes, its rear three-quarter view.

Inside, the TLX is quite comely, as long as you’re sitting in the driver’s seat. The attractive and easy-to-read instrument cluster and dual-screen center stack look high-tech and suitable to the car’s price point. From the passenger seat, however, a bleak and awkward expanse of black dashboard extends from one’s knees to the windshield; the material doesn’t speak of artistry either.

In the rear seat, things look a bit plainer than up front, but the atmosphere is still generally premium. In loaded V-6 models, all four seating positions benefit from the appearance of leather upholstery and trim elements.

That 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine isn’t massively powerful at 206 ponies, but it’s willing, and sounds great when revved out toward the top of the tach. Better yet, it’s mated with a truly brilliant (though counter-intuitive) 8-speed dual-clutch transmission mated to a torque converter. Why a torque converter? Because it completely eliminates all of the lurch and jerk of a traditional dry-clutch arrangement, while delivering all of the crisp upshifts and zingy rev-matched downshifts of the usual arrangement. It’s smart, it’s lightweight, and it just works.

Toss the TLX 2.4 into Sport+ mode via the IDS button, move the gear lever over into manual, and fire off gear changes with the steering wheel-mounted paddles to your heart’s content. It’ll automatically upshift at redline, but it’ll also hold a lower gear if you’re trying to limit torque application coming out of a fast corner. It’s most exactly what you want—and certainly never really objectionable.

But the TLX sings the sweetest when flitting through yumping, curving, switch-backing twists of two-lane. Nestled in the 3,400-pound range, the car feels lighter still, and the brilliant suspension tune leaves the steering feeling taut and accurate (if not quite precise), the car sorted over bumps, flat at the apexes, and ready to leap out of the corners at the top of the four-banger’s abilities. The Precision All-Wheel Steer (P-AWS) system adds to the feeling of nimbleness at lower speeds, and enhances stability at freeway speeds (and higher). P-AWS is standard on the four-cylinder model.

Step up to the V-6 models and some of that lightweight fling-ability goes away, lost to weight (about 3,600 lbs depending on equipment), but also to the new 9-speed automatic transmission’s vagaries. Still offering Sport and Sport+ modes, and still offering the manual paddle shifters, the 9-speed gearbox’s extra cog does little to improve the experience, while its programming does much to contrast sharply with the refined brilliance of the 8-speed dual-clutch. Shifts are jerky, slow, and lazy; downshifts lack the zing you want to match revs; and when switching from reverse to drive, expect to wait a good 3-5 seconds before anything—anything at all—happens.

With the 290-horsepower V-6, the extra torque also begins to elicit some bad behavior from the front-drive model, spinning the wheels to the point of screechy tires even with traction control on when taking off hard from a stop. While the V-6’s power upgrade over the four is noticeable, it’s not massive, and the better-behaved four-cylinder seems a better match for the TLX’s balanced chassis. Adding Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) to the V-6 (the only way it’s available) takes away the wheel spin issues, making the TLX 3.5 feel much more sure-footed, but the extra weight (curb weight with SH-AWD sits around 3,750-3,800 lbs) saps acceleration further, leaving it feeling a bit flat.

At the end of a quick six hours in the TLX, covering some 270 miles, we found the car to be a worthy replacement to the previous TL--cabin space is nearly as good as the larger outgoing car’s, thanks to a shared wheelbase--and a marked upgrade from the fun-but-wheezy TSX.

The TLX’s materials, on the other hand, are nice, but don’t shout true premium—certainly not in the way the 2015 Mercedes-Benz C-Class does. The design, from the dual-screen infotainment layout, to the seats, to the rather plain and bleak passenger side of the dashboard, falls short of the style-meets-comfort aesthetic found in the upper end of the class, too. That’s not to say the car truly disappoints in any of those respects; it just doesn’t make as good a first (or second) impression, even in upper-tier trim levels where leather wraps many surfaces.

One thing the TLX does better than nearly any other car on the market--and certainly as well as or better than any car in its competitive set--is keep quiet. Wind and road noise are almost non-existent below 80 mph, making for a serene driving experience that allows conversations at normal volumes and takes stress out of long drives.

Optional extras available as part of the Technology, Advance, or V-6 upgrades, include a Forward Collision Warning System, Collision Mitigation Braking System with Head-Up Warning, Lane Departure Warning system, Lane Keeping Assist, Road Departure Mitigation System, Blind Spot Information System, and Rear Cross-Traffic Monitor.

During our drive of the 2015 Acura TLX, we found the lane departure warning system and active lane keeping assist system to be effective and easy-to-use, if not quite up to the task of semi-autonomous use. They’re better taken as additive to the safety of an attentive driver.

Acura’s Adaptive Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow, a convenience feature that also impacts safety by effectively offering traffic jam assistance and limited semi-autonomous driving, behaved oddly, often failing to recognize opportunities to accelerate in traffic, and once, even accelerating toward a stopped vehicle at a traffic signal, requiring driver intervention to avoid a collision.

The Technology package adds a host of features, including rain-sensing windshield wipers, high-tech safety systems like Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning System, Lane Keeping Assist, Blind Spot Information System, and Rear Cross Traffic Monitor. Also included in the Technology package are navigation with 3D view, real-time traffic, AcuraLink infotainment, a premium Acura/ELS Studio audio system with 10 speakers, HD Radio, and more.

In practice, the Technology package’s safety technologies integrate to provide a great deal of additional alerts about what’s going on around the car. Our time driving early pre-production versions of the TLX revealed a few false alerts in the Forward Collision Warning system, but Acura says it will have those ironed out by the time the car reaches production later this year.

For those desiring even more equipment and features, there’s the Advance package. In addition to the features of the Technology package, the Advance package brings: Collision Mitigation Braking System with Head-Up Warning; Road Departure Mitigation System, Adaptive Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow; front and rear parking sensors; and heated and ventilated seats among other extras.

On the whole, the Acura TLX offers a great range of features and equipment, and, taken against its competition, offers tremendous value.

Stepping up to the V-6 models, a nine-speed automatic transmission is standard, but buyers can choose between front- or all-wheel drive. That choice won't impact gas mileage ratings, however, according to the EPA: V-6 models rate 21 mpg city and 31 mpg highway for a combined rating of 25 mpg with all-wheel drive, or 21 mpg city, 34 highway, and 25 mpg combined with front-wheel drive.

Those figures make the Acura TLX a decent performer on longer trips or commutes, thanks to the solid highway figures, but the lower in-town gas mileage keeps the TLX from truly green status even among its gas-burning competition.