Acura ILX: like a fancy Civic

Time to chime in on our latest test subject: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/new-cars/2013-165-ilx-24l/

Serious suggestion. Stop making the Better than, Not good as, funny but make them useful. Like saying better than (car in it's class likely to be cross shopped that's it's better than) and not good as the car you feel is the best value in it's market.

I've actually been in the market for new cars and have not used the GRM reviews but used other alternate organizations reviews. I would love to know the GRM opinion on what the best 25-30K wagon available to purchase today is or whatever but find your reviews to not provide that.

I have not driven the Acura, but agree with David's thoughts. I could picture myself getting a "Si for grown ups", but the poorly-justified price increase, and lack of a diff kinda ruin it :(

I just reread my review and stand by those comments. I really like this car, and it would be perfect for my wife and I. The big thing is the price premium over the Civc. I'd pay a little more for the Acura sheet metal, but I just can't justify about 25% more.

On a daily driver that's not being autocrossed/tracked, I could live without the limited-slip diff. No, it's not ideal, but we could manage.

No matter what, until they decide to do something new with their grilles, they will still be too ugly to put in my garage, high performers or not.

I love the new grilles. Know what's weird though? I didn't realize Acura didn't make anything non-supercar with 2 doors anymore. They have 4 different sedans (WHY?) 2 different SUV's, an acura Crosstour, and a wagon. Seems like the brand is lost in the woods with no real identity other than "Overpriced hondas with leather and nav...not available with 2 doors."

Really? Even the Citation was better then the Cimarron, which was just a copy of the Citation.

Ranger50 wrote: Really? Even the Citation was better then the Cimarron, which was just a copy of the Citation.

uMMM.. No. The citation was a completely different vehicle. The Cimarron was a warmed over Cavalier.

Citation:

Cimarron:

Cavalier:

As for the ILX, I can't justify a $30k civic. Hell, I can't justify a stripped down $20k civic. There's better places to put my money IMO, and the initial quality out of the Greensburg, IN plant isn't exactly awe-inspiring. Cars are getting shipped without emblems, dash/interior scratched to hell, missing relays, etc.

Why not just opt for a TSX too? And I agree that they are lost in the woods because they offer a TSX with a V6 (yes less HP than the TL variant) but all of their vehicles step on the toe's of their own vehicles lol.

I have a 2012 Si four door now and I'm not exactly the biggest fan. I miss my 8th gen Si very much so. The new Si just lacks the "soul" and enthusiast feel that the 8th gen had. I feel like the new Civic is just an appliance. David if you want I'll sign the lease over to you :). If not I have a few more days left before I can turn it in with this military deal for leases. It's just like the black one you posted in your review. I'll even throw in an extra set of wheels with Hankook RS-3s on them.

In reply to Bobzilla:

Maybe... But a whole bunch of folks bought Integras... which were basically expensive Civics in fancier sheet metal.

The integra's actually had upgrades you couldn't get on a civic at the time when they came out. 4-whl disc, great suspension, 2 cams etc. This, well this is just the same ol same ol. Plus, their QC sucks compared to the old Japanese built Integra's. I would take a 4-dr GSR Integra over one of these any day of the week.

I wonder how good the acura "beak" would look body coloured

mad_machine wrote: I wonder how good the acura "beak" would look body coloured

We've done a bunch. Depends how it's done. It does "help".

If an Acura isn't a NSX, I don't notice it.

As an owner of multiple Acuras and Hondas (Civic, Accord, Integra) this thing doesn't excite me in the least. It looks boring, the spec sheet is boring, and it's too expensive. And the grille is still ugly to boot. And Acura quality isn't what it used to be.

Also, car naming is getting stupid. ILX is a stupid name for a car. How about some of these companies get back to using words for their car names. Acura used to have pretty cool names. Legend was quite possibly one of the best car names ever, IMO. The alphabet-numeric soup used these days, especially by luxury makers, is getting retarded.

At least "WRX" meant something. What does ILX mean? Illegitimate Little eX-civic?

Didnt read the thread, BUT...

Honestly, other than the price, Cimarrons were good cars. It's still the best cavalier ever made imo. I wish i had another one.

We've had Acura civics for quite a while in Canada. The 1.6EL,1.7EL, and CSX.

Edit, didn't read the article.....

BTW, the car already had it's first stop-sale recall. Oy....

irish44j wrote: As an owner of multiple Acuras and Hondas (Civic, Accord, Integra) this thing doesn't excite me in the least. It looks boring, the spec sheet is boring, and it's too expensive. And the grille is still ugly to boot. And Acura quality isn't what it used to be.

I agree. Although I think that historically, Acura has done a much better job of converting Honda's to Acura's than other brands. I bought a '94 Integra GS-R new, and I remember that the first time my buddy, who had a Civic si, saw it he said "That's just a gussied up Civic". Then I let him drive it and his opinion totally changed.
I can say the same thing about my '03 TL-S versus the Accord it was based on.
But any time one car is based on another, you can have changes that range from badge engineering, where they change just a couple things cosmetically and then sell it as a different brand, to platform sharing, in which much more comprehensive changes are made.
I haven't driven an ILX, but it sounds like this one may lean slightly more towards the badge engineering end of the spectrum. That's okay, but it doesn't interest me because it doesn't offer anything substantially different than a Civic.

I just bought a 2012 Civic Si Sedan (in silver). I ripped all the badges off and I am probably going to stick some 16x8" wheels with decent rubber on it (it comes with some pretty gaudy 17" wheels). Not a single person seems to notice that it's the "boy racer" version without riding in it first (and seeing the seats). I think that it's the best compromise for a "grown up" civic.

Autolex wrote: I just bought a 2012 Civic Si Sedan (in silver). I ripped all the badges off and I am probably going to stick some 16x8" wheels with decent rubber on it (it comes with some pretty gaudy 17" wheels). Not a single person seems to notice that it's the "boy racer" version without riding in it first (and seeing the seats). I think that it's the best compromise for a "grown up" civic.

put an ILX badge on it.