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Nice car seeks Millennials | 2018 Acura TLX First Drive

The Acura TLX has a new face. And a rear diffuser. There's also a new A-Spec version with stiffer dampers, quicker steering, a snarlier engine, and snazzy red leather. Plus, every TLX has a revised touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. That pretty much sums up the refreshed 2018 Acura TLX entry-level luxury sedan, which didn't exactly drop into the market with a splash when it launched originally. Is all of that enough to make a difference? Probably not. After a day driving it around southern Indiana and the outskirts of Louisville, Kentucky, the TLX continues to be a perfectly nice car. It's refined and the cabin is well built, but otherwise the sedan is unremarkable. Ah, but there's more going on here than just a mid-cycle refresh. The 2018 TLX is Acura's latest effort following the revised MDX to recast itself as the maker of "precision-crafted performance" cars, inspired by both the NSX and the Precision Concept car shown at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show. It's a top-to-bottom, R&D-to-marketing attempt to better appeal to today's holy grail of customer: the Millennial. To do that, it goes beyond the cars themselves. New Acura commercials are a far cry from an authoritative James Spader rationally extolling the virtues of this and that. There are fast cuts and three images perpetually on screen. There's pulse-pumping music, bright colors, and words like "Geek + Chic" and "Super + Sonic." There are many not-exactly-subliminal images of the NSX. There's a red Power Ranger. It's hip! It's young! It's Millennial! It's also a marketing campaign that has apparently connected with its target generation – well, at least in focus group ratings. "If you look at what the other brands are doing, and particularly the luxury brands, it's so serious," said Jon Ikeda, Acura vice president and general manager. "We're trying to make it more inclusive, not intimidating, more youthful, more optimistic, and more fun. We want to have fun with it. "[The commercials] are trying to set the tone of Acura in general, to make people go, 'OK, I'm interested in that, I want to go drive that.' Now it's up to us to make sure the product reflects that." And Ikeda is actually in a position to make that happen. He's not a business guy or a Mad Men marketing sort – he's moved upstairs after spending decades in design, a tenure that included penning the third-generation TL, the best-selling Acura model of all time and one of the best-looking.

Honda museum opens at company HQ in SoCal, first public day is next month

You don't see too many ordinary cars in automotive museums, and it makes sense. Rare luxury models, iconic muscle cars and obviously collectible vehicles are far more likely to get preserved and find themselves parked upon a climate-controlled pedestal someday. And yet, even if they may not be as collectible, everyday cars typically strike a stronger emotional and nostalgic chord in all of us. They firmly recall a specific time in our lives; what we were doing and where we were. Even if we never owned the car in question, ordinary cars were bound contribute to the overall landscape of your world.  Which is why finding a museum devoted to ordinary cars such a treat. Now, "ordinary" can have negative connotations, so perhaps "ubiquitous" is better to describe what you'll find in the new American Honda Collection Hall at the company's headquarters in Torrance, Calif. As you can see in the gallery above, there are pristine examples of the Hondas we grew up in, learned to drive in, brought us to college ... and those are just my own personal examples. Of course, there are also decidedly less ordinary examples such as the S2000 CR, Civic Type-R Limited Edition and Acura NSX, but apart from perhaps the latter, it would be rare for you to see such "Radwood-era" cars in a museum. You can also see some of the cars we've actually had the chance to review here on Autoblog: the 1999 Honda Prelude, the 1999 Honda Civic Si, the 1985 Honda CRX Si, and a handful of others.  According to Carl Pulley, who is the steward of the collection, the cars on display are just a taste of what is actually available since space was limited within the Collection Hall that's adjacent to HQ's primary lobby. He'll be able to swap different cars in or adopt a theme such as prominent examples from Honda's motorsports endeavors. Indeed, it isn't just Honda and Acura road cars -- we're just focusing on those because, you know, Autoblog. There are race cars, noteworthy motorcycles and even power equipment such as marine engines, generators and weed whackers.  While most car companies have a collection stored someplace, this one will actually be open to the public on a limited but regular basis. There will be scheduled "Cars, Bikes & Coffee" events hosted at the Collection Hall where people are invited to drive or ride their own piece of Honda history (all makes and eras are still welcome) to show off in Honda HQ's vast parking lot and come inside to check out the Collection Hall.

2025 Acura ZDX First Drive Review: First electric Acura or alternative Cadillac?

MONTECITO, Calif. Í– The 2025 Acura ZDX not only looks like an Acura, but it’s arguably one of the best-looking Acuras ever. If weÂ’re talking SUVs, whatÂ’s going to topple it from the podium? The original ZDX? Beneath that skin, however, itÂ’s no secret that the new ZDX rides on General MotorsÂ’ Ultium electric platform, has an interior constructed with General Motors parts, and is even built by General Motors in Tennessee. Ultimately, though, the most GM thing about the ZDX may be this overall assessment of it: This electric SUV provides more performance and features for the money than competitors, but the interior is a real letdown. Sure sounds like any performance Cadillac from the past two decades to me. The trouble for the ZDX is that the competitor it most closely aligns with in terms of price, feature content and EV specs is literally a Cadillac Â… but things have changed. Specifically, the Cadillac Lyriq doesnÂ’t suffer from that whole “interior is a real letdown” thing. Far from it, itÂ’s a reason to buy a Lyriq. Furthermore, the two EVs not only share the same Ultium platform, but their motor offerings are basically the same with power outputs and ranges that closely align. ItÂ’s therefore impossible not to keep coming back to comparisons between the two. Even if the ZDX is a decent value, complete with its $7,500 federal tax credit, why get one instead of the more luxurious Lyriq? In short, it comes with even more features for the money, and boasts the sort of chassis upgrades and handling acumen Cadillac has moved away from with the Lyriq.   So thatÂ’s where that comparison rests, and although IÂ’ll get back into that whole “not really an Acura” angle, letÂ’s take a closer look at the specs that more objectively let the new ZDX stack up well to vehicles that arenÂ’t mechanically related. There are three versions of the ZDX, with no options apart from color and a summer-tire option. Starting at $65,850, including destination but not the federal tax credit, the base ZDX A-Spec becomes the only other rear-wheel-drive Acura besides the first NSX. It produces 358 horsepower and 324 pound-feet of torque, and achieves an EPA-estimated range of 313 miles from its 102-kilwatt-hour battery pack. These specs are roughly equal to the rear-motor Lyriq and Chevy Blazer EV, but they amount to a stronger proposition than anything offered by Hyundai/Kia/Genesis, while comparable luxury models are considerably more expensive.