We walk around the new 2018 Acura TLX and show you the differences between the regular TLX and the new TLX A-Spec.
TranscriptThis is James Riswick for Autoblog. I'm here along the Ohio River in Indiana, and this, and this, is the new Acura TLX. It has been revised for 2018. Right here is the regular TLX, the V6 Advance, and this is the new TLX A-Spec.
Now, both have the new Acura face on them. In fact, everything from the A pillar forward visually could-- the new face is new, has a new kind of superhero grill on it. Now the differences between regular and A-Spec are this is glossy with chrome, and this is matte with dark chrome. That darker finish is, in fact, along the window sills, and then you have chrome here on the lower part of the car and along the sides and on its window sills. So those are the key visual differences between the cars.
Now functionally, the A-Spec, it has larger stabilizer bars. It has stiffer springs. It has quicker steering, and it's louder. Now, there are some changes around the back. So what's new back here is you have a new rear bumper. You've got some chrome trim here, as you can see, not on the A-Spec, but on to A-Spec, you do have this fake vent, and really, what would be modern Honda design without a big, fake rear vent?
Now, you have round, exposed exhaust here. They are more rectangular over here. This is a black spoiler here. This is a body-colored spoiler here, and you'll note that when you get the V6, you get a rear diffuser, because on a V6 powered TLX, that's just something you need.
And then there are some changes inside as well. Besides some new trim and the availability of heated rear seats, you get some colorful LED lighting that goes along here. If it was dark, you'd be able to see it. But then, if you've been in an Acura recently, you'll notice that this is a new touch screen. And it's more colorful. It's more modern in its appearance, and it responds quicker to inputs. All good, but still annoyingly, there's only three radio presets that show up at a time. And if you want to turn on your cooled seats, you have to go into an additional menu screen.
But you still have the secondary screen up there. The graphics are still pretty rudimentary, circa '08, and they are still controlled by this knob down here, but there are some additional features, such as wireless smartphone charging. And this here, the smartphone button. When you press that, tada, Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. And how this works is you operate it through the knob down here. You can twirl between things or you can move up and down, as such.
And one thing that's nice about this setup is that, yeah, you can have Apple CarPlay land up there, but you still maintain all of your Acura settings, so you can keep your radio on while calling up a text message or someone's phone number. You can look through your podcasts. You can still have everything up here at the same time, which is nice. Often, you have to go back awkwardly between the two lands, the OEM land and your Apple land. That's a nice improvement.
So in terms of design, basically exactly the same. You can now get red leather on the A-Spec model, but aside from that, about the same. Just still a little more functional, more features. So there you have it. The new Acura TLX, inside and out.
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