2017 Acura Rdx Advance Package on 2040-cars

Auto blog

This is why Acura hasn't yet announced its EV strategy

Despite parent company Honda's green and friendly brand image, luxury marque Acura hasn't made a grand statement about electrifying their lineup. Even as brands like Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley, and Infiniti pledge to entirely electrify their lineups in the coming decade, Acura has held back. The reason, according to Acura head honcho Jon Ikeda, is that it's focusing on reestablishing itself as a performance brand. In a wide-ranging interview with Automotive News, Ikeda says Acura came out of the gate strong in 1986 and did well for the first 20 years, but when the bottom fell out of the market in 2008 the brand experienced "growing pains." That spawned a period of self-reflection and, as Ikeda puts it, "What are we about?" The decision was made to go back to Acura's roots as the performance division of Honda. "That's what Acura is. That's what I fell in love with," Ikeda says. Ikeda joined Honda in 1989, but his promotion to Acura boss in 2015 was a surprise to many, including himself. That's because Honda had a tradition of putting engineers at the helm, and Ikeda was a designer, responsible for the looks of such cars as the FSX concept, 2001 Civic Coupe, and beloved 2004 Acura TL. 2021 Acura TLX Advance View 38 Photos When asked by AN whether Acura is worried that luxury competitors are putting stakes in the ground to claim EV brand identities, Ikeda says no. "For us as a brand, we needed to kind of refocus and reestablish ourselves as a performance brand... We want everybody to understand where we are, what we're about first. Even if we go electric we will continue to be a performance division of Honda and performance will be our focus." To earn its performance street cred, Acura poured resources into the second-gen NSX hybrid supercar, which served as testbed for how electricity can work harmoniously with performance. They will continue to campaign IMSA race cars to earn trophies as proof, and Ikeda also wants to bring more Type S models to the lineup. Ikeda says Acura is still in the process of rebuilding its foundation, but when he's done he expects people to associate Acura with performance. That sure seems ambitious to us, but products like the new TLX are a helpful stepping stone. It also explains why Acura is investing in different platforms to differentiate itself from Honda. To be clear, Ikeda isn't ruling out electrification.

2021 Acura TLX Type S Road Test Review | Golden and glorious

After spending an entire month with our long-term 2021 Acura TLX A-Spec, I had high hopes for the new TLX Type S. When you start from a good base, that means things can only get better, right? The chassis underneath the base TLX’s flashy sheetmetal is a thing of brilliance. This four-door is taut and responsive the way you expect a high-performance German sport sedan to be, and the SH-AWD system is one of the best in the business, hugely aiding its agility. But not everything about the TLX A-Spec with its 2.0-turbo four-cylinder is perfect in the fun-to-drive column. The 10-speed transmission is mediocre at best, and while the engine makes a good noise, an Accord with its 2.0-turbo can outrun it in a straight line. ThereÂ’s enough thrust to keep things lively, but itÂ’s not going to raise your pulse. Enter the TLX Type S. It marks AcuraÂ’s mighty return to performance cars (beyond the NSX), and itÂ’s a chance for Acura to address our issues with the standard TLX. LetÂ’s get into it. The Type S boots out the four-cylinder in favor of AcuraÂ’s totally new 3.0-liter turbocharged V6. This engine is exclusive to the Type S for the time being, and itÂ’s a winner. DonÂ’t expect a high-revving classic Honda experience, though. Instead, just like the new turbocharged Civic Type R, this V6 is a torque monster. The peak 354 pound-feet hits low in the rev band at 1,400 rpm then carries on up to 5,000. Its peak 355 horsepower is made at 5,500 rpm, and redline comes shortly thereafter at 6,200. Acura still found a way to make this relatively low-revving V6 sound more frenzied than it actually is. The trip up to redline in Sport and Sport+ (which opens the active exhaust valves) is music to the ears. ItÂ’s not punishingly loud, but the pitch increases with revs to a much higher note than you might suspect. Open the windows, and youÂ’ll also get some turbo-spooling noises for even more drama. The personality and character level of this engine is off the charts compared to the standard 2.0T. Only BMWÂ’s inline-six — in the M340i — offers up a similarly enticing noise. The pull from this engine matches the sound it makes, too. Good luck finding a dead spot or weak point anywhere, because it doesnÂ’t exist. ThereÂ’s no cliff of torque at the end of the meaty rev band, and while the Type S might not win every stoplight drag race — Acura estimates an approximately 5-second trip to 60 mph — itÂ’s plenty quick enough to have a hell of a good time in.

Acura NSX EV puts winner Tetsuya Yamano back on Pikes Peak

With Pikes Peak right around the corner, Acura is showing off more details about its NSX-inspired all-electric racer. The four-motor EV will be driven in the Electric Modified Class by Tetsuya Yamano, who has been testing the car at the Hill Climb for the past few weeks. Acura is also running two NSX hybrids up the hill in the challenge next weekend. So, what's different inside this NSX-like EV? Like the all-electric Honda CR-Z that Yamano drove up Pikes Peak last year – winning the Challenge Exhibition class with a time of 10:23.829 – the NSX-inspired EV uses two Twin Motor Units (TMU) from the company's Sport Hybrid SH-AWD powertrain. Each axle has a TMU and that means that the car, "has achieved independent torque distribution to all four corners – true four-wheel torque vectoring," according to Acura. That sounds nice, but the real test will be out in Colorado in just a few days. Related Video: Acura NSX-Inspired EV Concept Ready to 'Charge Up' Pikes Peak Vehicle Features World's First All-Electric, 4-Motor SH-AWD® Powertrain Jun 20, 2016 TORRANCE, Calif. – Acura will campaign an all-electric, NSX-inspired EV Concept in the Electric Modified Class at the 2016 Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The Acura EV Concept features a further evolution of the experimental, all-electric, 4-motor Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™ (SH-AWD®) powertrain that won last year's Pikes Peak Challenge Exhibition class. The supercar-inspired Acura EV Concept will be driven by Tetsuya Yamano, who campaigned last year's CR-Z-based electric prototype. The Acura EV Concept is the ultimate embodiment of the all-wheel-drive Electric SH-AWD powertrain featuring a world's first technology that enables four-wheel independent torque allocation. The Acura EV Concept's Electric SH-AWD powertrain produces three times the total system output of last year's electric prototype and is mated to the NSX body. "We've been tuning the car for several weeks at Pikes and have advanced its performance significantly," said Tetsuya Yamano. "We're honored to be running at Pikes in this historical, anniversary year – an event respected by racing fans all over the world." 4-Motor Development Honda R&D has been developing "super handling" technology for more than 20 years in the pursuit of ideal vehicle handling.