Honda-Tech will spend a week behind the wheel of the Acura performance luxury sedan.
X marks the spot. It did for the first Acura SUV, the MDX, that we reviewed here on Honda-Tech and it will again for the first Acura sedan, the TLX, that we’re going to drive around Central Texas for a week.
That’s right. Acura is going to hand us the keys to a Fathom Blue Pearl 2017 Acura TLX with the 290-horsepower/267-lb-ft 3.5-liter V6 and the Advance Package. That adds such niceties as ventilated front seats, remote start, and adaptive cruise control. Safety features include front and rear parking sensors and the Collision Mitigation Braking and Road Departure Mitigation systems. The Advance Package also requires the addition of the Technology Package, so that means our TLX tester will have navigation with voice recognition and the 10-speaker Acura ELS Studio audio system, as well as the Lane Keeping Assist System, Rear Cross Traffic Monitor, and Forward Collision Warning, among other bits of tech. According to our press loaner’s window sticker, it has an as-delivered price of $43,540.
One thing our TLX will not have is the optional Super Handling All-Wheel Drive setup. That means we’ll be trying out the TLX’s combination of front-wheel drive and all-wheel steering on the city streets, highways, and curvy back roads of Austin, Texas. We’ll test the reflexes of the nine-speed automatic’s Sequential SportShift paddle shifters at low and high speeds. We’ll even find out how the TLX does as a long distance cruiser when we drive it from Austin to Dallas.
If you have any questions about our experience with the 2017 Acura TLX, feel free to send them our way at the bottom of this post via Facebook or on the Honda-Tech Facebook page when you see this post on it.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
