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Acura TLX Carries over mostly unchanged for 2017

In its third year of production, Acura’s midsize sporting 4 door sedan arrives at dealers today with few changes, other than the expanded color pallet. Hey, if it’s not broken why fix it?
Acura_TLX

At the end of the day Acura TLX may be the most reliable trouble free midsize sports sedan available in the premium car segment, it’s also affordable. Looking to Acura’s consumer recall site, we find a mere 2 product recalls in the first two years of Acura TLX production -- a mislabeled axle load capacity, and a defective 9 speed AT parking gear.

I first experience TLX back in 2014 in West Virginia, and was captivated by this car’s affordable refinement, interior accommodations, sensible good looks, ride and drive dynamics. I further found the 2.4 Liter 4 cylinder, 8 speed dual clutch transmission equipped 4 door to present an exceptional sport-drive experience, that easily doubled as a well dressed town car. Catch my Acura TLX drive review here.

Looking to the numbers, 62,000+ TLX sedans drive the roads of North America today, with the vast majority of Torque News readers reporting a positive drive and ride ownership experience. Yes, we’ve read a report of a jerky gear transition or two, but rarely.

Offering two engine, transmission options, P-AWS and full time all wheel drive, with a beginning MSRP of $31,900 (TLX 2.4 Liter 4-cylinder gasoline PAWS,)TLX offers European inspired precision engineering without the sticker shock.

For Acura fans with a sporting tendency, TLX takes Honda Si inspired engine performance and mates it to a stellar dual clutch 8 speed transmission with torque converter, I personally like the lighter front end and tire spinning drive dynamic of this variant.

On the more refined road-sticky side of TLX, look to the road and weather taming TLX direct injected 290 horsepower, 267 lb-ft torque V6, 9-speed automatic “super handling all wheel drive.”(SH-AWD.) It’s an exceptional handling, comfortable and interior quiet premium 4 door sedan. Priced from MSRP $41,600, this sedan give s the European entries a run for the dollar.

A fun daily driver with a sporting attitude

At the end of the day 2017 Acura TLX may be your best option for a financially attainable premium family 4 door sedan, that easily doubles as your weekend sports sedan. It’s reliable and priced right, and for 2017 comes in an expanded color pallet, offering 3 new colors: San Marino Red,Lunar Silver Metallic and Fathom Blue Metallic.

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Comments

Philip Beierschmitt (not verified)    July 28, 2016 - 9:42AM

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Hi Parks, fathom blue is a carryover color, modern steel has replaced graphite luster in all 17 models except the RLX

JIm B (not verified)    October 19, 2016 - 10:24AM

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Your comment regarding recalls and reliability may be a bit misleading and I'm sure you mean well. The 2015 TLX with the 9 speed transmission had a significant number of complaints about how the car shifted from 1-2 and 2-3. It can shift quite abruptly here and the experience will be "odd for the driver." So while they may have remedied this, I wouldn't necessarily agree with your claim.

Parks McCants    October 22, 2016 - 4:04PM

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Welcome Jim B. My comment is directed to the results of a specific recall search, as published by U.S. federal safety. You're reference as to the shift dynamic of the Z9, while known in this segment and other applications outside of the Acura brand, is intermittent, and not experienced by all owners of Acura TLX Advance. But you do raise a real concern. Thanks for dropping in.

Shana (not verified)    May 13, 2017 - 9:27AM

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I have to agree with you. I owned a 2015 TLX 9 speed transmission and I was totally displeased with the transmission. I complained multiple times to the dealerships service department. Within the first year while driving on the highway all of the warning lights started cycling through and the transmission struggled to stay in gear. After getting off the highway it wouldn't go in reverse without having to be turned off and restarted. The dealership claimed to do software updates whenever I complained but nothing ever remedied the issue. I just bought a 2017 TLX 9 speed transmission to replace the 2015 and I saw the difference the 1st day. Hopefully this one will live up to Acura's name.