The hot and sporty side of Acura jumped out with Acura Type S concept, and almost all of it has made it to production as the new 2021 Acura TLX, a car that is better on paper in every way compared to any other Acura sedan of the last decade.
While it won’t exactly be an NSX with four doors, the new TLX Type S is pretty close, with a new turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 engine tuned by the team who worked on the supercar.
Correction: This article previously incorrectly stated the 3.0-liter V6 engine was a twin-turbo. It has a single turbo, though the press release also mentions the NSX’s twin-turbo unit multiple times, hence my confusion.
The Type S also comes with standard all-wheel drive and torque vectoring which can send up to 70 percent of torque to the rear wheels, a tuned 10-speed automatic transmission, a small spoiler, front splitter, rear diffuser, summer performance tires on 20-inch wheels with Brembo brakes, and a quad exhaust.
Unfortunately, Acura is reserving the power and torque figures for a later announcement, which should come before the Type S goes on sale in the spring of next year, though the regular TLX will come this fall.
Speaking of the regular TLX, its new 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder makes 272 horsepower and 280 lb-ft of torque through the front-wheels, though the all-wheel drive system is optional.
It also benefits from Acura’s latest push towards sportiness, as its chassis had to be heavily overhauled to suit the Type S and its needs. That means the normal TLX also gets a body that boasts 50 percent more torsional stiffness, a new double-wishbone front suspension replacing MacPherson struts, a redesigned multilink rear-end suspension, new variable ratio power-assisted steering, and an optional adaptive damper system.
Inside, the car has a new 10.2-inch infotainment screen and a 7-inch driver gauge cluster screen, as well as an updated Acura True Touchpad Interface.
The wheelbase is also 3.7-inches longer, the car overall is 2.9-inches longer, and over an inch wider in the front and rear track. It’s also 0.6-inches lower, because sporty.
All of this should mean the new TLX starts around the “mid-$30,000 range,” according to Acura. Is that good? Does that sound good? Are we finally happy? It’s not the price of the Type S, and I’d want to know power figures before committing, but it sounds like Acura made another good car.
