Acura ILX 

This is more than just a normal mid-cycle refresh. Top to bottom, from styling to interior refinement, luxury features to leading edge safety technology, thrilling sports sedan performance to luxury sedan quietness. ILX is now a true gateway to what it means to be an Acura performance luxury sedan. As I said, Acura customers already give us high marks for ILX's sporty and elegant exterior design, but for 2016 we've upped the anty with a bolder, more distinctive front-end, highlighted by Acura's signature jewel eye LED headlights, now standard across the line-up, a boast no competitor can make. The styling changes carry around to the back, with a restyled rear bumper and new rear LED tail-lights. Inside this new ILX is a level of standard feature content, unmatched in this segment, including a remote enginge start and all kinds of new entertainment options, including an HDMI hookup. If you're part of the pun, this ILX is in tune with the needs of millenials. Further, there are available cross traffic and blind spot monitors, and for the first time we're offering Acura customers an easy option, in addition to available embedded navigation.

Updates

This is content younger buyers moving into luxury are going to demand. We've got it now. But honestly, the biggest changes to this ILX are the ones you can't see, and that we really can't show you today, and that's the driving experience. This new ILX responds to the will of the driver, like only an Acura can. With intuitive and intelligent performance. It starts under the hood where we're doing more than infusing the ILX with the spirit of TLX. We've given it some of the thrill by equipping it with one of TLX's two new drive trains. Yes, the same and our incredible 8-speed dual clutch transmission with torque converter. This new power plant ups peak output on the ILX by 51 horsepower to 201, with torque-up 40 pound feet, to 180, from the outgoing model. That gives the ILX the best power-to-weight ratio of any front-wheel drive vehicle in its class. If you've driven the 2.4 TLX, you know the story. Incredibly intuitive, and lightning fast shifts, with rev-matching down shifts via the most advanced, most responsive, and most joy-inducing transmission technology in the class. The Acura exclusive, 8-speed DCT with torque converter. In ILX, it all comes to you with fingertip controls, courtesy of its steering wheel mounted shift paddles. It's a hell of a powertrain, and a major game changer for ILX performance. And we've made many more performance and ride quality enhancements. It's more quiet, and the driver will experience a thoroughly re-tuned suspension in their first trip down the road.

Safety

In the area of safety, the ILX gets another valuable shot at accurate DNA, with the adoption of our Acura watch suite, of safety and driver assisted technologies, available as an option on all ILX models. This includes what enthusiast experts tell us is the best lane-keeping assist system in the business, along with new road-depature mitigation, and an enhanced collision mitigation braking system, with sensor fusion technology. That even sounds advanced. There are also major enhancements to the body design to achieve a major plus rating from the IIHS. 

Trim Package

Finally, we're bringing the 2016 ILX to market, with a trim package reflective of the accurate brand direction. That means expanding customer choice, with a standard ILX, a new ILX premium, and tech plus, and the top of the line ILX A-spec, which is the model you see here. The standard ILX premium and tech plus models get an upgraded 17-inch alloy wheel for 2016, while this A-spec gets the 18-inch alloy wheel, side seal garnish, trunk spoiler, fog-lights, red instrument lighting, aluminum pedals, and more. And this beautiful Catalina-blue pearl, is available on all premium and above grades.