Tomorrow Acura is revealing the 2021 TLX. After 15 years of not seeming to know what Acura is or who it is for, they are putting a lot of press out saying the 2021 TLX Type-S is "the best-handling sports sedan in the Honda performance brand's history." They have teased a new turbo V6 and announced a return to double wishbone suspension.
Ultimately it sounds like they are trying to return to offering a Legend-like flagship. That's great and all but I think everyone here (myself included) wants to see a modern incarnation of the Integra...
Turbo V6 sound clip: https://youtu.be/nUSbHMHIfIs
https://www.acura.com/future-vehicles/2021-tlx
As a long time Acura owner (Legend Type II, Integra LS, Integra GSR B17, Integra GSR B18C, TSX Wagon) , sports sedan should be fun. Base car with the 2.0T motor, and the 400HP+ Type S motor will be fun.
Sadly, just when all sedans are dead, Acura decides to bring a sedan....timing couldn't be worse. In 3 years they will say "no one bought our sedans"
In reply to pointofdeparture :
a modern ITR doesn't fit anywhere within the brand right now IMHO. especially since the Integra brand has been dead for 15 years globally. Honda has brought the CTR model to the whole world and the price point of the civic type R is where the old Integra Type R was once you factor inflation into the equation.
I'm excited by the promise of this platform. this is Honda trying to care again and go back on their their foundation they built for nearly 20 years of fantastic front engine double wishbone cars. this car with wishbone up front shows a lot of promise as a great handling AWD car and the possibility of a good handling lower level model with fwd.
I am very interested to see the suspension in greater detail. the massive size of that front upright is pretty wild.
In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :
I would not realistically expect a new Integra Type-R myself, but I feel like they could put a little effort into making the ILX something other than thoroughly underwhelming...it would be great to see this kind of excitement injected into the smaller platform.
So here's my take with absolutely no research to back it up:
Honda has historically been very slow to respond to market changes, not due to negligence, but rather due diligence. 15 years ago after the TL died (honestly, the last Honda product that I actually cared about), they analyzed their sales seeing what models were selling and analyzed the culture, seeing what niche they could exploit that other manufacturers were leaving out. They could have chosen to create a crossover, a Ridgeline analog, or continue puffing up the MDX. But they chose to return to their base, as it were. In the early '00s, there were quite a few competitors for the Acura segment: Infiniti and Lexus both had worthy competitors. Now Acura sees that Nissan has pretty much abandoned the sports car segment and Lexuses worth mentioning are approaching six figures. Acura now sees an opportunity to go after the Korean twins and exploit that same market base. Again, I have no research to back this opinion up. It just comes from being a Honda fan in general and having looked at their marketing strategies in the past.
Duke
MegaDork
5/27/20 2:30 p.m.
I hope it's good. After 13 years of enjoying the TSX, we drove a 2017 TLX V6 and were tired of it before the test drive was over. It was plenty quick but boring to drive and fussy to interact with. More power would have done nothing to solve what was wrong with that car.
Hopefully this one will be more engaging.
Wishbones?! Hnnnnnn.
Honda Fan boys to the Internet, stat!
HondaProJason has been teasing the "Integra" name plate all week. I'm guessing either a re-badged upmarket CTR with the Integra name plate or "ITR" OR the ILX will simply turn into an Integra based on the Civic platform.
If that’s it, I like it. Best looking Acura product in a decade.
That is a hot looking sedan.
In reply to CyberEric :
In reply to Petrolburner :
Wait till you guys see the delicious ass
CyberEric said:
If that’s it, I like it. Best looking Acura product in a decade.
Sadly, that's not a very high bar.
Did Honda just copy the stinger styling? That's new.
Looks sharp. Lots of power sounds cool, but its really hard to get excited about.
Now if they'd just turn that engine 90* and power the rear wheels they'd have something. But it's honda. Even when they had a car that only needed a diff and a 36" propshaft to be rwd they still ran the power all the way back forward to the front tires only.
Duke
MegaDork
5/28/20 8:01 a.m.
What's with the H R Geiger center stack?
TGMF
HalfDork
5/28/20 8:14 a.m.
That shifter/radio/climate control area is a hot mess. The rest of what I've seen looks great. Hope the way it drives delivers on the way it looks. Like a presumed reliable Giulia.
Looks great! Would make one hell of a commuter car and would easily last 200k+ with proper care and maintenance.
I dig it. Although I'm sure it will be $50k+ and if I'm looking in that range next year for a commuter car...............I have to admit, I really want a Tesla 3.
In reply to z31maniac :
I'd probably be looking at the Genesis G70. High HP FWD cars just have too many compromises IMO.
bobzilla said:
In reply to z31maniac :
I'd probably be looking at the Genesis G70. High HP FWD cars just have too many compromises IMO.
I figured it would be AWD with that much power? But I'm sure still heavily biased to the front.
In reply to z31maniac :
It's Honda, never underestimate their commitment to FWD at all costs! lol
pointofdeparture said:
In reply to spacecadet (Forum Supporter) :
I would not realistically expect a new Integra Type-R myself, but I feel like they could put a little effort into making the ILX something other than thoroughly underwhelming...it would be great to see this kind of excitement injected into the smaller platform.
Especially since Honda has all the parts to do this!
Scott
dps214
Reader
5/28/20 9:42 a.m.
bobzilla said:
Did Honda just copy the stinger styling? That's new.
Wel, they had to copy it from somewhere. At least they're branching out some.
z31maniac said:
bobzilla said:
In reply to z31maniac :
I'd probably be looking at the Genesis G70. High HP FWD cars just have too many compromises IMO.
I figured it would be AWD with that much power? But I'm sure still heavily biased to the front.
Current TLX has an AWD model so I assume this will be. Though I have to admit the Civic Type R (which really should be awd with that much power) drives much, much better than I expected.
