2021 Acura TLX Review

The Acura TLX is a small luxury sedan that competes with the likes of the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class. While older Acura sedans have developed something of a cult status, more recent four-door models have fallen short in terms of both performance and luxury. With a full redesign, Acura plans to fix that with the 2021 Acura TLX.

This new Acura has been built from the ground up on a new platform to improve every facet of the TLX experience. Outside, it's longer and wider, with a longer hood and more aggressive proportions. In person, the TLX certainly looks the part. It gets new engines, Acura's latest tech features and higher-quality materials in the cabin.

All these changes add up to the best Acura sedan in years. But is that enough to make you want to buy one instead of the typical Audi, BMW or Mercedes?

The 2021 Acura TLX gets its power from a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that makes 272 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque. That's slightly less horsepower but more torque compared to the first-generation's V6 engine upgrade. A 10-speed automatic transmission sends power to the front wheels by default, and all-wheel drive is available as an option.

The performance-oriented TLX Type S swaps out the four-cylinder for a turbocharged 3.0-liter V6. It develops 355 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque, which is similar to what you get from the upgraded six-cylinder engines in the 3 Series and C-Class. The Type S will also benefit from upgraded Brembo brakes. Acura estimates that the Type S can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in about 5 seconds, which feels accurate from the driver's seat.

Power from the new four-cylinder engine is strong in the middle of the rev range thanks to all that beefy torque, and the engine makes an excellent, throaty growl when pushed. The new 10-speed automatic is smarter and better behaved in every way than the old nine-speed as well.

Unfortunately, the four-cylinder engine's power delivery isn't linear and starts to drop off after you pass 4,500 rpm. The 10-speed's first few gears are aggressively short, which takes better advantage of the engine's torque and makes the powertrain feel more responsive at lower speeds. But after those first few gears, Acura has made the gear ratios a lot taller. At that point the engine's nonlinear power delivery becomes much more apparent. All of this is to say that Acura's gearing choices have resulted in a less sporty acceleration in the base model than we'd expect.

The extra power from the Type S easily compensates. Crank the drive mode setting up to Sport+ and the Type S goes into attack mode with firmer suspension damping, sharper steering responsiveness and a louder exhaust note. The torque-vectoring feature of the all-wheel-drive system allows for harder and earlier acceleration out of turns, as you can feel that outside rear wheel gripping and helping to remove cornering stress from the front tires.

There's no question that the TLX is a sporty sedan, especially considering how much power you get standard. Enthusiast drivers will certainly want to get the Type S, however.

Like Acura's RDX and MDX SUVs, the TLX is quite comfortable. The ride is forgiving when you're driving over bumps and ruts. Opt for the TLX Advanced, and the suspension is downright soft when you have the car in its Comfort drive mode. This is also true of the TLX Type S.

Seat comfort is a high point as well. The front seat cushions are soft yet supportive and very adjustable, even offering variable lateral and lumbar support to better hold you in place during spirited driving. The rear seats are also pretty cushy, though they don't offer nearly as much support as the front seats.

Acura has seriously stepped up the TLX's materials compared to the last generation. The outgoing TLX had quite a bit of cheap-feeling plastic. Acura's designers proudly told us: "If it looks like metal, it's metal. If it looks like wood, it's wood." There's still a generous amount of plastic, but it's sturdy, textured stuff for the most part, and there's quite a bit of stitched leather and faux leather around to offset it.

But the TLX can't fully escape Acura's association with Honda. Switchgear will be familiar to people who have driven Honda's latest generation of products. None of it is cheap, but it's also not the more bespoke experience of rivals such as Mercedes.

While the construction has improved, the design of the interior may still prove contentious. The dashboard's center stack, built around the focal point of a large, shiny mode select button, is unlike anything else in the class. Whether that's a good or bad thing depends entirely on your tastes.

Front-seat space is excellent. The extra elbow and knee room is apparent, and two adults can share the front of this car with ease. But while the car and wheelbase have grown in overall length, the dash has also been pushed back to lengthen the hood and add to the TLX's dramatic stance. While the exterior has grown to challenge the width of cars like the Porsche Panamera and length of the BMW 5 Series, overall passenger volume remains nearly unchanged. This is still decidedly a small luxury sedan on the inside.

Rear legroom has grown by only about half an inch, and rear headroom has decreased slightly. We've found that passengers taller than 5 foot 10 or so will start to feel cramped.

The touchpad-based infotainment system is likely to remain polarizing in this generation, even though it has been improved. We appreciate Acura repositioning the volume knob and channel seek buttons to the console next to the pad, and Acura's work to improve the responsiveness of the touchpad and handwriting recognition has helped. But for fine control in situations such as manipulating the navigation interface, Acura's touchpad still isn't an ideal system. At least the 10.2-inch screen is crisp and attractive. If Acura simply made it a touchscreen, that would probably alleviate a lot of complaints.

There's no fully digital gauge cluster option like you can get in the German sedans, but the TLX's purposeful gauges work fine. The Advanced model sports a large 10.5-inch head-up display with basic but clear information displays. Other tech features include a Wi-Fi hotspot and limited remote control and monitoring of the vehicle through a smartphone app.

A full suite of safety features and driver aids is also standard, including adaptive cruise with stop-and-go and even low-speed steering assist, features for which most rivals will charge you extra.

The star of the Acura's cabin technology has to be the available 17-speaker ELS stereo. The clarity and quality of the system may be best in class, doubly impressive considering just how much sound the stereo can pump out.

The TLX's official cargo volume has shrunk more than half a cubic foot, but at 13.5 cubic feet it's still doing well for the class. The trunk opening is generous, as is the cargo pass-through with the seats folded down. Note that the Type S has frame-stiffening braces that run right across the opening, and that can limit the size of the items that can pass through.

The TLX also has solid in-cabin storage for a luxury sedan. The rubberized phone tray, which doubles as a wireless charging pad, is perfectly placed and big enough for larger smartphones. Tandem cupholders have anti-tip elements and the center armrest bin provides a good spot for wallets and other personal effects along with a couple of USB ports and a 12-volt power outlet.

The 2021 TLX gets an EPA-estimated 25 mpg combined (22 city/31 highway) with front-wheel drive and 24 mpg combined (21 city/29 highway) with AWD. This is a little less than what most of the four-cylinder engines in German small luxury sedans provide, but you are getting a little more power with the Acura.

The 2021 TLX Type S comes in about midfield in terms of fuel efficiency with an EPA-estimated 21 mpg combined (19 city/25 highway). For context, on the high end, the BMW M340i xDrive returns an impressive 25 mpg combined, while the Genesis G70 is on the lower end at 20 mph combined.

The TLX is available in five trim levels: base, Technology, A-Spec, Advanced and Type S. Technically, Acura refers to each as packages, but they're no different than trim levels. The first four trim levels come with a 272-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder engine, a 10-speed automatic transmission and front-wheel drive. All-wheel drive is optional. The TLX Type S comes with an exclusive 355-horsepower turbocharged V6 as well as a 10-speed automatic and all-wheel drive. Feature highlights include:

Base
Starts the TLX off with:

• LED headlights
• Sunroof
• 10.2-inch infotainment screen with touchpad controller
• Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration
• Heated, power-adjustable front seats
• Simulated leather upholstery
• Keyless ignition and entry
• Onboard Wi-Fi hotspot
• Dual-zone climate control
• 10-speaker sound system
• Aluminum interior trim

The TLX also comes standard with these safety features and driver aids:

• Forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking (alerts you of a possible collision with the car in front and applies the brakes in certain scenarios)
• Lane keeping assist (steers the TLX back into its lane if it begins to drift over the lane marker)
• Adaptive cruise control Adaptive cruise control (maintains a driver-set distance between the TLX and the car in front)
• Traffic sign recognition

Technology
The Technology package adds, as you might expect, more technology:

• Front and rear parking sensors
• Blind-spot monitor (alerts you if a vehicle in the next lane over is in your blind spot)
• Rear cross-traffic alert (warns you if a vehicle behind you is about to cross your vehicle's path while you're in reverse)
• Leather upholstery
• Integrated navigation system
• Customizable ambient lighting
• Upgraded 13-speaker sound system

A-Spec
The A-Spec includes more technology and a sportier appearance package:

• Sporty exterior appearance package available in unique colors
• Unique brushed aluminum interior trim
• Flat-bottom steering wheel
• Microsuede seat inserts
• 17-speaker ELS sound system
• Ventilated front seats
• Wireless device charging pad

Advanced
The TLX Advanced adds further tech and comfort features such as:

• Adaptive suspension (enhances ride comfort and handling stability)
• Surround-view camera system (gives you a top-down view of the TLX and its surroundings for tight parking situations)
• Front-seat bolster and thigh-support adjustments
• Heated steering wheel
• Heated rear seats
• Head-up display
• Rain-sensing wipers

Type S
This sporty TLX has the more powerful engine as noted above. Feature-wise, it's similarly equipped to the A-Spec. It also has:

• Adaptive suspension
• Extra chassis bracing (can help to enhance handling)
• Front-seat bolster and thigh support adjustments
• Heated rear seats
• Brembo brakes

Options on the Type S include:

• Heated steering wheel
• Lightweight wheels with summer performance tires