Gadgetory

the tagline for this new Acura is luxury starts here that's probably code for we never should have killed off the Integra let's take a look at Acuras new entry-level sporty compacts today in the ILX and check the tech okay let's get it out of the way yes it's a glorified Civic that's basically the platform underneath the ILX things are pretty familiar up front you got the latest version of Acuras Mighty Morphin Power Rangers breastplate on the grill there and it's nice and handsome through here then we get to this radical new restyling this is a whole different look for Acura in the rear quarter reminds me an awful lot of that is behind us to be honest now once you get in the ILX you find a very familiar acura cabin except for one thing you can't get the crown jewel of car tech these days a navigation system if you get this 2.4 liter which has the six-speed manual they think you're buying some kind of a four-door track car so you can't get the thing that you do want now I like but don't love Honda Acura as an average so I'm not shedding too many tears I'm just gonna duct tape my phone up there but you end up with this roughly 5-inch Honda Civic display that we like but it's a little bit of a letdown what you do get in that display though once you get over the fact that you're gonna have to juggle your phone is pretty good stuff all the audio options that matter you got am/fm very clear simple display as you can see XM satellite radio is well done it does a good job of locating channels quickly and using the metadata well obviously an optical disc slot right here and under the aux button multiple presses are going to bring you to bluetooth streaming audio which you can see will have meta tag information if you've got it on your tracks you've got Pandora support through an iPhone only cable down here too it is also a USB dongle and if you have any kind of iPhone or iPod plugged in here you'll get standard playback of its music as well or Pandora now the phone connection there's another interesting wrinkle aside from Bluetooth hands-free and bluetooth streaming like I showed you you also get access to the text messaging function of your phone it's paired now these 6-speed 2.4 liter cars have a premium package on them and that means you're going to also get the premium audio system which is six speakers as well as a sub 360 watts instead of 160 bass on this guy and a rather elaborate backup camera which gives you a whole bunch of different views to the stern if you backed this thing into something used a crappy driver or a drunk you this is crunchy when the moon roof is closed glance up and get a nice shot of all these greasy mechanicals not pretty makes it kind of unique only one model has the 2.4 liter inline 4 and it only comes with a six-speed manual there are three 2-liter fours and a couple of hybrids but this one is kind of the unique track car if you will which makes no damn sense at all its four-door sedan for crying out loud with front-wheel drive here the numbers 201 horsepower 170 foot-pounds of torque 0 to 60 is in the high sixes let's call it 6-8 for a car that weighs twenty-nine hundred to three thousand pounds mpg is 22:31 average it out at twenty-five now driving this 2.4 liter ILX reminds you why you don't want a 2-liter iox at least that's my hunch I haven't driven that model but this one has just the right amount of power it's not overwhelming but it's never got less and the power comes on effortlessly I really like that that's that responsive thing I always look for now since you only have a manual gearbox 6-speed available in this car it better be a good one and the clutch and the gearbox feel are quite good the only downside is that typical Honda habit of having rpm foot when you put the clutch in I don't know if that's an mpg preserving strategy or what part of their programming that is but for the way I Drive I hate it in typical Honda fashion these motors never run out of breath and this one revs all the way to the let's see 70 100 rpm redline with any pauses built like an ingot no squeaks rattles or clunks which is more than I can say for some more expensive cars we've tested lately and the handling is good although you're never forgetting that's a front-wheel drive car it's got the occasional dart and pull of torque steer but when you've got significant torque on the front end that's going to happen visibility is also quite good the way they've got these pillars arranged and the car is fairly quiet though with the 17-inch wheels we get on this trim level which are an inch bigger than stock you get a lower profile tire and more drumming on California's crappy pavement ride quality is also nice I mean the car handles well but it's also not going to be punishing you on your daily commute okay let's price this guy out the 2.4 liter 6-speed is about 30 grand right on the nose delivered and there's nothing to add really if you want to go CNET style you got to step down to a 2-liter four then you can option up the thing the gills but then you're going gutless style also and the hybrid that's an acquired taste so good luck with this