A Look at the Upcoming 2016 Acura ILX

The ILX came on the scene in 2013 as a car that appeared to be trying to fool the massed but failed miserably. This car, which was based on the Honda Civic, offered little distinction from its sibling when you sat behind the wheel. Even though the looks were different, the car unfortunately did not feel like a luxury model that should bear the Acura name.

For the upcoming model year, Acura is asking permission for a “do over” and making some amazing changes to the ILX to make it truly a luxury car that deserves the title. For the most noticeable changes, prior to even turning the key, you can see the headlight treatments are upgraded, LED taillights are in place, new wheels are present, a sport appearance package has been added and the infotainment system is upgraded with a dual-screen all make it easy to see this is not the same ILX as the 2013 model.

Even though the looks and great appearance has been upgraded, the fact is the ILX was a great looking car; it just didn’t perform like a luxury model. Perhaps the new powertrain will correct this issue entirely. The basic powertrain on this car was previously a 2.0-liter four cylinder engine with a five-speed automatic, or the2.4-liter four-cylinder engine attached to the six-speed manual transmission. Replacing this confusion is a single powertrain that offers a bump of 51 horsepower to the 201 mark and shows up as a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine that is attached to the dual-clutch eight-speed automatic transmission. This gives the car better power and better fuel efficiency; that sounds like a huge improvement to start with.

As with any luxury car, the expectation is the car will offer a very quiet ride. The new ILX adds much better sound deadening with thicker glass, active noise cancellation, and wheels that offer some insulation from the road noise. Included in the quieter ride is a set of new seats and a redesigned dashboard to give a much nicer ride than before.

The tech needed to be upgraded as well and the new package of bundled driver assists called AcuraWatch give the ILX exactly what you need. This bundle brings in adaptive cruise control, collision mitigation and braking, forward collision warning, lane departure warning and assistance, blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic monitoring. This makes for a fantastic menu of great features for you to fully enjoy and feel like you did get a great luxury car.

Having all these upgrades aboard and enjoying the great features comes at a bit of a price, but one drive in the new ILX will have you more than happy to pay the luxury price for the car. Even entry level luxury cars should offer great items for you to take advantage of and the new ILX has plenty aboard along with a great new powertrain to make the 2016 model a “do-over” that was worth asking permission for.