Daily Driver: 2015 Acura TLX

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Hey all, this is Seyth with Autoblog and I'm here in the 2015 Acura TLX. Right off the bat I can tell that the TLX doesn't feel anything like as sporting a sedan as the TL it replaced, at least not in the versions that I last drove, which admittedly were TL's with V6 power and the SH all wheel drive. This TLX has got a 2.4-liter, four-cylinder engine, it's making 206 horsepower, and 182 pound-feet of torque, and it is connected up to a eight-speed, dual-clutch transmission.

As you can tell by the power output this isn't an impressively fast car. It weighs about 3,500 pounds so it's lugging around some weight. At the same time the eight-speed transmission is really responsive especially as you go through the selectable gear programs, you can make the throttle response pretty good.

It is a throttle by wire as well and I haven't noticed any weirdness there, it feels very linear, and like I said, when I turned the system into the sport plus mode the gas pedal becomes really responsive. The exhaust note is muted, you really have to get up over 5,000 rpm before you start feeling like the engine is really pushing you. One of the things that struck me first about this Acura when I got in it was how quiet it was at speed. I feel like in the luxury segment, Acuras have historically done a little bit better for being sportier versions of cars in their segment and not necessarily more refined, but that seems to have been changing a lot on the last few generations of Acura. What it lacks in athletic ability it makes up for in composure. I'm on a pretty good right now, there are plenty of bad ones around where I live so this suspension soaks up a lot of the impacts and it dampens the sound of them as well too.

Acura is clearly going after a much more mainstream customer these days and I think a car like this could be very attractive, more attractive than ever for a shopper of something like a Lexus ES. One feature I did play around with was Acura's active lane keep assist which works actually by moving the steering wheel to a degree to keep you centered in your lane if your hands are off the wheel. What I like about it is unlike some systems it doesn't just bounce from one side to the other keeping the car in the middle as it sort of reads the painted lines or curves on either side but it works to actively keep you centered which is nice. Everything in here feels very solid, the seats are nice, the controls feel nice, I actually don't have that much of a problem with Acura's infotainment system which I know other people have the dual screen setup, I think it's fine, I haven't had real issues using it at all.

Overall if I had to bet, I would guess that Acura is going to have a lot less trouble selling this version, this TLX than they did with the TL especially in the beak-nose form that everybody had a really strong opinion about, one way or the other. The car does well in terms of fuel economy, it's got competitive powertrains, it's got a lot of technology both under the hood and inside the cabin, and I think that there's just a lot of stuff that, if I'm an Acura salesman, I can point out and help me close the deal. Thanks for joining me on this casual Friday, in this very laid back Acura TLX. I hope to see you on the next one and happy driving.