2025 Acura TLX

Pros 

• There are a lot of features for the price.
• An all-wheel drive is an option that can make the car more agile.
• One of the best 3D sound systems you can buy right now is the ELS Studio. 

Cons 

• It can be hard to concentrate when using the infotainment touchpad controller.
• The back seats may be too small.
• Many competitors are faster and more fuel efficient.

How is it to drive the TLX? We tested the TLX A-Spec, which has a four-cylinder, turbocharged engine and all-wheel drive. It took 6.5 seconds to get to 60 mph on our test track, which is a little faster than other midsize luxury sedans with base four-cylinder engines. 

The all-wheel-drive system is good because it lets you make tight turns more quickly and easily. The steering doesn’t communicate enough, but setting the drive mode to Sport makes the wheel feel heavier and better for driving aggressively.

Even though it’s not perfect, the 10-speed automatic transmission is a big step up from the nine-speed automatic in the previous model. In Normal and Comfort drive modes, it feels slow, and it shifts early when the throttle is pressed down. But when you put the car in Sport mode and need quick acceleration, the turbo boost stays ready.

How does the TLX make you feel? Although the TLX is comfortable to drive, it also performs well. The back seats are tilted back so that you can sit comfortably, and the front seats are nicely padded. The front seats, on the other hand, can’t be adjusted very much, and the side bolsters offer little support when driving quickly. 

The ride is a good mix of soft and firm on different types of roads. However, sharp road bumps can make the cabin thunk. The level of noise has gone down a lot. Even though instrumented tests show that the TLX is a few decibels louder inside than its competitors, it’s still a pretty quiet car. We like that the A-Spec’s front seats are heated and cooled and that they have an automatic mode that changes the temperature inside and out based on the outside temperature and the driver’s preferred temperature inside. The system for controlling the temperature is also easy to use.

How is the condition of the inside? The inside of the TLX is very nice. With a lot of movement in all directions on the seat and a lot of tilt and reach on the steering wheel, it’s easy to find a good position to drive. The car’s large door openings and gently curved roof make getting in and out of it look more elegant. There isn’t much legroom in the back, which is a problem, especially for taller people. More than that, it costs less than Acura’s smaller Integra. 

It can be annoying and hard to focus when using the TLX’s main technical interface, which consists of a trackpad controller and a display screen. The trackpad works like a touchscreen, but it’s too small and unreliable to use with all the virtual buttons that show up at once.

What’s wrong with the tech? The built-in navigation system is easy to use and has clear maps, but the touchpad interface has some serious problems. The ELS sound system is very accurate and powerful, and the screen is quick and easy to use. 

Wireless connectivity is built in as standard, so your phone can connect to Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Strangely, a luxury sedan doesn’t have USB ports for the people in the back seats, even though wireless charging is common. We like that most standard advanced driver assistance systems work very much like natural driving. We did notice, though, that adaptive cruise control reacts slowly when the car in front of you moves out of its lane.

What’s going on with storage? The TLX’s trunk is 13.5 cubic feet, which is more than most of its competitors. It’s easy to load long items horizontally because the trunk opening is so big. Still, a short decklid makes it harder to get to the deep end of the trunk, and you’ll have to reach to load and unload things that are pressed against the back seats. There are a lot of storage spaces in the cabin, but most of them aren’t very big. 

If you use your sports sedan as a family car, you should know that the lower anchors for the car seats are hidden by a leather strip with Velcro on the back that you need to take off. The TLX is small, so there won’t be much room in the front seats. Although the TLX’s small size will limit front seat space, the wide doors should make loading a car seat easy.

How much fuel does it use? The Acura TLX with all-wheel drive that we tested is expected to get 24 mpg on the highway and 22 mpg on the highway. It gets a few miles per gallon than most other sedans in its class. Our test TLX got a better 26.2 mpg on our real-world evaluation route, but the car’s overall fuel efficiency isn’t as good as we thought it would be.

Does the TLX have any value? A small midsize sedan costs about the same as the TLX. Because the materials are nice and the car is well put together, this Acura is a great deal. Its powertrain warranty lasts longer than the German competition at six years or 70,000 miles, but its bumper-to-bumper warranty lasts only four years or 50,000 miles, which is the norm for this segment.

Only the “Sport” driving mode gives you enough steering weight to place your car precisely in corners. It’s not a true sports sedan because the engine isn’t very powerful. The rest of the TLX, on the other hand, is meant to get people excited. The TLX should be able to compete with some of Europe’s best sports sedans once summer tires are put on it. The TLX also looks great in almost everyone’s driveway. This is especially true for the A-Spec model, which gives the TLX lineup a look that is reminiscent of the Type S.

The TLX A-Spec has the best mix of performance, fuel economy, style, and grip on wet roads. The A-Spec has more standard features and a wider range of colors, as well as a nice look and Acura’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) system.