Untuck that polo shirt, pops. It’s the weekend! And in case your trip to Home Depot and Bed, Bath & Beyond isn’t exciting enough check this out– the next-gen Acura TLX prototype was just spotted with the company’s sweet new pentagonal grille. Oh yeah, I reckon Acura sedans are about to get sexy again.
(Update: It has come to light that spy photos of a prototype Acura TLX originally credited to Kinja user RacinJason001 were actually stolen from professional photographer Brian Williams and re-watermarked. The images have been deleted from this post.)
Acura broke a lot of khaki-clad hearts in 2009 when they “upgraded” one of the prettiest designs in junior management transportation (the 3rd generation TL) for what I guess we ended up calling “the robotic bird beak” of the four gen.
I thought the car actually got a lot better looking with the 2014 redesign and transition to “TLX” nomenclature, until I saw Acura’s angular approach for the future. We knew the “Precision Concept” was too aggressive to make it to production but one key detail already has– the clean and purposeful five-sided grille charging ahead like a futuristic knight’s helmet. And it’s much, much prettier than the chrome blade-thing that’s been perched at the front of the TL/TLX hood for the last seven years.
Looks like something new is going on with the back end, too.
When Acura presented this grille on their MDX SUV I was titillated. Could these cars finally be coming back around to the subtle-elegance that made them such enviable dadmobiles a decade ago?
My colleagues might disagree, but I’m genuinely excited about Acura’s return to what I consider a fine-looking front end.
...Ack! At least I was until I remembered the company just killed the TL(X)’s manual transmission option. Acura, why must I be tortured!?