I went by the dealer to drive the two "test drive" vehicles. A white/espresso 4 tech and a black/black 6 tech. They had a limit of 10 miles, which was mostly highway unfortunately, but still gave me a good chance to check out the car.
Background: I have a 07 TSX auto which has been a great car. I like the way it feels, drives, and sounds. The interior electronics layout is almost what I consider perfect. There's nothing wrong with my TSX, so the only thing pushing me to a new car is tech, performance, and size (family is growing).
Interior
Hard plastics - I immediately noticed the hard plastics, and it reminded me of the plastic-heavy Honda pilot we have. The use of glossy buttons, particularly the AcuraLink buttons seemed like a step back. I like soft touch, and that is missing in half of the controls and surfaces.
Mirror reflection - yes, it is there. It is also there on my 07 TSX. The use of metallic trim is unfortunate and I don't really like the shiny outlines. I'd much rather have the black bezel around the vents. Not a show stopper, but a little annoying.
Interior colors - Espresso seemed like an off combination of black plastics, brown leather, and the wood trim. Oh that wood trim, how I detest wood trim anything. Looks so cheesy, and the Espresso color scheme just didn't fit together well. Black interior was a lot nicer in my opinion, and the wood trim didn't look as bad, though I'd prefer a darker stain like what they did on the Honda Accord.
Interior space - I like the space, seating, etc. Nice touch on the LATCH access in the back. Bigger than the TSX for sure, but doesn't drive as "large" as a TL did.
Controls - Moving controls to a central screen would take some getting use to. I miss buttons, though there are some. Navigating controls was almost completely intuitive, but there were some things (like having to scroll to exit in the MID in order to exit the menu) and setting up the NAV that took some "figuring out".
Lane Assist - Freaky. Really freaky. It actually works fairly well, at least on the highways here. The salesman actually did a "ok, take your hands off the steering wheel" bit and the car drove itself. The resistance in the steering wheel when changing lanes was interesting as well.
Blind Spot - lights up a lot. Does it do this whenever a car is present? That would be very annoying in traffic to have the orange indicators constantly lit up.
Parking Brake - just doesn't feel right being a button, but it would quickly get into my routine I suppose.
Push button gear select (v6) - More getting use to. Though I missed having something to rest my hand on.
Car feel - We started with the 4, and it felt great. Good acceleration, felt nimble, and the engine was very quiet. No problems with power during highway driving. Then we moved to the 6 and it felt... heavier. I can't describe it well, but it certainly felt more substantial, but also less nimble. Also the 6 felt rougher than the 4: going from park to reverse to drive caused a little shudder in the car, and there seemed to be some gear hunting when accelerating in traffic. For me, the 4 felt crisper, and actually more enjoyable to drive.
Drive home and conclusions - Got back into my 07 TSX, and thought about the TLX on my drive home. Nice car - and if I needed to buy a new car right now, it would be a top contender. But it wasn't enough to get me out of my TSX. Not sure if any of the nitpick things above (and they really were just small things) would sway me over - I think its more of the economics (no car payments now, minimal maintenance, etc.) than anything else. But if the TLX was 100% WOW that might be enough. Right now, I give it a 50% WOW and 50% neutral as compared to the TSX.
Other things my salesperson mentioned:
- Acura has only minimal markups on these vehicles due to desire to drive adoption, especially towards TSX users.
- They expect pricing to increase $1k-$2k for 2016.
- Dealers are not swapping inventory
- What they have on hand or on order is it, or you can wait 3 months.
For me, I'm at least 3 months, if not year+ out.
Background: I have a 07 TSX auto which has been a great car. I like the way it feels, drives, and sounds. The interior electronics layout is almost what I consider perfect. There's nothing wrong with my TSX, so the only thing pushing me to a new car is tech, performance, and size (family is growing).
Interior
Hard plastics - I immediately noticed the hard plastics, and it reminded me of the plastic-heavy Honda pilot we have. The use of glossy buttons, particularly the AcuraLink buttons seemed like a step back. I like soft touch, and that is missing in half of the controls and surfaces.
Mirror reflection - yes, it is there. It is also there on my 07 TSX. The use of metallic trim is unfortunate and I don't really like the shiny outlines. I'd much rather have the black bezel around the vents. Not a show stopper, but a little annoying.
Interior colors - Espresso seemed like an off combination of black plastics, brown leather, and the wood trim. Oh that wood trim, how I detest wood trim anything. Looks so cheesy, and the Espresso color scheme just didn't fit together well. Black interior was a lot nicer in my opinion, and the wood trim didn't look as bad, though I'd prefer a darker stain like what they did on the Honda Accord.
Interior space - I like the space, seating, etc. Nice touch on the LATCH access in the back. Bigger than the TSX for sure, but doesn't drive as "large" as a TL did.
Controls - Moving controls to a central screen would take some getting use to. I miss buttons, though there are some. Navigating controls was almost completely intuitive, but there were some things (like having to scroll to exit in the MID in order to exit the menu) and setting up the NAV that took some "figuring out".
Lane Assist - Freaky. Really freaky. It actually works fairly well, at least on the highways here. The salesman actually did a "ok, take your hands off the steering wheel" bit and the car drove itself. The resistance in the steering wheel when changing lanes was interesting as well.
Blind Spot - lights up a lot. Does it do this whenever a car is present? That would be very annoying in traffic to have the orange indicators constantly lit up.
Parking Brake - just doesn't feel right being a button, but it would quickly get into my routine I suppose.
Push button gear select (v6) - More getting use to. Though I missed having something to rest my hand on.
Car feel - We started with the 4, and it felt great. Good acceleration, felt nimble, and the engine was very quiet. No problems with power during highway driving. Then we moved to the 6 and it felt... heavier. I can't describe it well, but it certainly felt more substantial, but also less nimble. Also the 6 felt rougher than the 4: going from park to reverse to drive caused a little shudder in the car, and there seemed to be some gear hunting when accelerating in traffic. For me, the 4 felt crisper, and actually more enjoyable to drive.
Drive home and conclusions - Got back into my 07 TSX, and thought about the TLX on my drive home. Nice car - and if I needed to buy a new car right now, it would be a top contender. But it wasn't enough to get me out of my TSX. Not sure if any of the nitpick things above (and they really were just small things) would sway me over - I think its more of the economics (no car payments now, minimal maintenance, etc.) than anything else. But if the TLX was 100% WOW that might be enough. Right now, I give it a 50% WOW and 50% neutral as compared to the TSX.
Other things my salesperson mentioned:
- Acura has only minimal markups on these vehicles due to desire to drive adoption, especially towards TSX users.
- They expect pricing to increase $1k-$2k for 2016.
- Dealers are not swapping inventory
- What they have on hand or on order is it, or you can wait 3 months.
For me, I'm at least 3 months, if not year+ out.