2024 Acura TLX Type S First Drive: It Had One Job
Acura’s hot TLX leaves us cold.
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Zoom out from our car-loving-enthusiast-bubble and to most folks cars have but one job: get from A to B while asking as little of their owners as possible. To those unafflicted by the car bug, sport sedans like the Audi S6, BMW 5 Series, Cadillac CT5-V, and yes, the 2024 Acura TLX Type S you're here to read about, make little sense. Why would anyonewanta car that's less efficient, more uncomfortable, and more expensive than "regular" sedans? To the performance-addicted few, the dopamine hit when we wring an engine to redline, that gut check we get under heavy braking, and that shot of adrenaline when we nail a corner's apex, and most important, thatneedto sneak back behind the wheel for more drive time make the compromises worth it.
Perhaps that's why we're left so cold by the updated-for-2024 TLX Type S.
The refreshed TLX Type S enters 2024 as we might all hope to: better looking and smarter than before. The car's nose and tail get minor nips and tucks to accommodate a more advanced driver assist system, while inside the instrument cluster gauges get replaced by a 12.3-inch screen and the infotainment display grows to an equal 12.3 inches. Acura rounded out the changes by making a head-up display and premium audio system standard, adding a couple new colors and wheel options, and by reprogramming the Sport+ drive mode for quicker throttle response.
That Sport+ tweak is the only performance enhancement to the TLX Type S. The car carries over with a 3.0-liter turbocharged V-6 mounted mostly forward of its front axle, teamed with a 10-speed automatic and torque-vectoring all-wheel drive. A brake-by-wire system featuring 14.3-inch four-piston front Brembo brakes (with the lesser TLX's stock 13-inch units in back) are responsible for reigning in the 355 horses and 354 lb-ft of torque, while an adaptive damping system aims to keep the tires—optional Pirelli summers wrapping 20-inch copper wheels on our test car—in contact with the pavement.
Prices creep up with the changes; the TLX Type S now starts at $58,195, up from $56,945 last year, while our test car stickered for $62,477. That's a hair under the Audi S6, M Sport-equipped BMW 5 Series, and Mercedes-AMG E53, but a chunk of change more expensive than rivals big and small like the Cadillac CT5-V, Audi S4, and AMG C43.
To be fair, maybe we'd be foolish to expect fundamental changes from a light refresh in a car we described at our Performance Vehicle of the Year competition as "sloppy," and "inconsistent," but we're eternal optimists.
With 355 horsepower on tap, the TLX Type S will never be mistaken for being fast, but it's quick enough. Fun, even, to just punch it in a straight line; Acura's "Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive" system puts the power down well and the 10-speed auto, despite sharing its gear ratio spread with lesser four-cylinder TLXs, does a good job at keeping the porky Acura's engine in the meat of its powerband. Throttle response in the retuned Sport+ mode feels aggressive, which, coupled with switching the transmission into its own Sport mode, helps mask some of the turbo lag the V-6 otherwise experiences off the line.
The powertrain is enjoyable enough that you might even be tempted to amp the pace and start pushing the TLX Type S on winding backroads. That's where things begin to fall apart.
Turn the Acura into a corner and you're greeted with body roll and vague, artificially heavy steering, with little information from the front tires about what's going on beneath you. Swapping to a more aggressive drive mode simply makes the steering heavier and the ride firmer without improving feel or chassis control. The brakes are worse. While fine around town, they're mushy and difficult to modulate smoothly when slowing down quickly, like, say, when traffic suddenly stops in front of you.
This TLX is best enjoyed on a gently curved and relatively smooth road. In these conditions at low-highway speeds the Acura feels buttoned down and athletic. It's when you start asking for more from the car that the TLX becomes less of a cohesive sport sedan and more a collection of individual performance upgrades.
The updated interior, while an improvement on the prior version, is no saving grace here. We appreciate the pinstriped digital dash, the HUD, and the larger infotainment screen, but we still don't love actually interacting with the TLX's software suite via the fussy console-mounted trackpad. Ditto the revised driving aids, which work well but aren't as advanced as what's on offer in vehicles such as the CT5-V.
While subtly improved, the 2024 TLX Type S ultimately doesn't rise to the high standards set by Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes, or even Acura itself with its excellent Integra Type S. That's not to say the TLX Type S is bad; it's moderately powerful, sounds good, looks great, and is quick enough. But the questions we keep coming back to are twofold: Are the updates made to the TLX Type S to make it sportier worthy of the cost and efficiency penalties? And will we put this Acura in our sporty car pantheon? The answers to both of those questions is "no." That's a death knell for any sport sedan.
I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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