I went to my local Acura dealer this morning and got to test drive the V6 Tech FWD. Feel free to ask me any questions you might have.
They didn't have a i4 version, so I couldn't test one unfortunately. (Strangely, the dealer emailed me a little while later saying they had some i4s now but they would sell quickly ... lame!)
The 9AT is not nearly as bad as the reviews have made it out to be - it is slow to shift compared to the 6AT in my GS but it isn't awful. I think it may just be when you drive the 9AT back to back with the 8DCT that the slow shifting becomes more apparent. I was in Sport+ and using manual shifts at the time when I measured the time to shift. In Normal mode and on automatic the car did have a very rough 2->3 shift, it felt very slow and not smooth at all, almost like something was wrong with the tranny. Maybe that is just the car I drove, but it makes me worried about the 9AT's reliability (visions of the 2002-2003 5AT in the CL/TL). 9th gear is really tall, you can't get into 9th until you hit 60mph ... wow. In manual mode it is hard dealing with so many gears.
Getting into gear is not a 5 second wait time either, I pressed D and by the time I lifted off the brake and pressed the gas, the car as moving immediately. That said the lack of a shifter and having buttons instead is really strange and seems entirely too gimmicky. I don't like it at all. The IDS button is annoying too - having to press the button to cycle through the modes - I really prefer the way Lexus does it with a dial. I can blindly get into any mode in my GS, I can't do that with IDS since I have to cycle and if I don't know what mode I'm in, I have to press it to see what mode I'm in and then cycle. Even to change it, you have to press it twice to switch one mode "ahead" - once so it tells you what mode you're in and once to actually change modes.
Torque steer is bad in the FWD V6 and flooring it - even from a roll will induce lots of it. I wouldn't try gunning it in a turn unless you have the Advance model that can detect you're about to leave the road :) Despite there being torque steer it never felt like the car had a lot of torque down low, it doesn't push you back into the seat or anything. It was just loud and reasonably quick, nothing earth shattering but with estimates placing the 0-60 time in the ~6 second range that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.
I do find the 2 navigation screens confusing, I think after using it for awhile you'd get used to it, but I certainly don't like it as much as I thought I would. For example, typing in an address - as you start to type on the touchscreen, letters disappear and only let you type the next letter that matches a street name - thats fine. But then when it decides it knows the street you want, the keyboard disappears from the screen you were looking at and you have to look at the top screen to pick a street name from a list using the dial. When the keyboard disappeared I thought I had pressed something wrong - didn't realize I had to look at the other screen. You'd get used to it - but it was confusing for me at first. Plus - getting to the part where you input an address - I would think you'd press the "Navi" button on the center console - but that just brings up the Map - I have to press "Menu" to get to the menu and then that will give me the option to enter a destination. Overall a pretty poor user experience imho.
Also - the location of that dial is terrible, it is upright unlike the BMW iDrive or other systems where it is on the lower center console and easy to reach with your hand.
Interior quality leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. The "extra" padding they put on the center console and doors seems non-existent. It wasn't uncomfortable putting my arm in either place, but it didn't feel well padded. There are hard plastics all over the car - in fact a lot of it feels no better than the Honda Accord. The leather is certainly better, but the upper door area, the dashboard area - all hard plastics. My 2003 TL-S had a better interior materials. You can see where they cut corners to try to bring the price of the car down.
Handling - the car rides pretty rough, you definitely feel bumps in the road - it isn't terrible, just a little jarring when you hit bumps or potholes. Part of that I think is the Macpherson Struts and not just stiff springs. The salesman actually encouraged me to take turns fast - which was awesome. I took a few quick uphill sweepers as fast as was comfortable to me. The car handled them with no issues - I think for most people the handling won't be a problem even in the V6 model. Steering in Sport+ seemed pretty good but there wasn't a lot of weight to the steering - I think this is a problem with a lot of EPS cars lately - although ironically one of Honda's first EPS cars the S2000 doesn't have any issues with steering weight. Driving dynamics imho has never really been a huge issue for Acura, even the 4G TL drove great, its more the polarizing looks that turned people off of the 4G TL. Driving at 6/10's shouldn't be a problem. Most Acura owners probably won't know that they're missing. The car obviously rides like a FWD car (since it is one) - PAWS didn't seem to get rid of that feeling when you take a right hand turn fast and the car understeers (it feels like the car is fighting you to make the turn). RWD biased cars don't have this problem.
Cabin quietness - I didn't spend a lot of time on the highway, but when I was on the highway I didn't notice it was loud in the cabin - but I also didn't feel like it was super quiet either. I think it is an improvement for the TL in general in term of cabin quietness, but either of my Lexuses (or Lexi?) on the highway it can be eerily quiet, and I didn't get that with the TLX.
Overall - I think all of the flavors of the TLX will please Honda and Acura owners wanting a replacement for their TSX, TL, Accord or something similar. I don't think Acura will be getting a lot of conquest sales from BMW, Audi or Lexus.
