My afternoon with the new Acura ILX
 

About two days ago, I received an email from a lady named Laura. She said she worked at the advertising agency that worked with Acura's marketing team. Due to my enthusiasm for the brand, she'd like to invite me and one guest to an exclusive event (I have no idea what kind of information she was going on, Facebook, most likely). The event was called the Acura ILX All Access Ride and Drive Event, and it was to be held today, July 22, in Candlestick Park in San Francisco. It was short notice, but I decided to go. I took my girlfriend, and we both had an awesome time. The NSX Roadster concept used in the film Avengers was present, as were chefs serving refreshments, and there were lots of activities. My two favorites, of course, had to do with driving the ILX. There was a closed course, where I could drive for free as many times as I wanted, and if I really wanted to, I could have a city driving experience in the ILX.

I drove two models: The 2.0L 150 HP 5-speed automatic with the technology package, and the 1.5L Hybrid with a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission, an amazing technology I have been wishing cars would use for a long time). All ILX models are equipped with electronic power steering, Acura's magnetic damping system, some form of TCS, and front wheel drive. No SH-AWD. On their closed course, which included a hard acceleration section, a low speed slalom and a high speed slalom, a sustained speed corner, and a bumpy section, the car was a joy to drive. The steering was my favorite. I love the EPS system in the ILX, and the fact that there was zero torque steer. The acceleration in sport mode was about on par with my tired old 3.2L C32A1 mated to an automatic (I imagine a 3.5 swapped Legend is a lot faster), and there wasn't much noise at all. The car rode smoothly, and was very quiet. I also enjoyed the firmness of the suspension in the corners. Keep in mind, of course, that all of these impressions are after driving tired old my Legend for 2.5 hours.

Honestly, under the hood, it really resembled my mom's 2007 Civic. But that's not to say it was a bad car. In fact, it was just the opposite. This car had tons of leather, the aforementioned options, and a backup camera, heated seats, Pandora and navigation (in the Technology Package) and lots of other bells and whistles. (I'm sure they're all listed on Acura's website). It really is a wonderful little car for being so inexpensive. I genuinely enjoyed each one I drove, and the fact that they come in six speed manual configuration (I didn't drive that one) is really awesome too. The looks are great as well. There's not a lot about this car that I didn't like, to be honest. I found myself praising my slightly more noisy V6 on the way home, and the doors on my KA8 are always cooler than a conventional car door, but I did miss that EPS and the well-appointed interior. Overall, this is a knockout affordable luxury car by Acura.

I don't know what I did to get invited to this event, but I'm also not sure one needs to be invited in order to go. Here's the link I was sent. See if you guys can sign up.

http://acurailx.autoweek.com/index.php

I also have many, many pictures, and I'll put up all of them so you guys can see the car from a lot of different angles, as well as the event, if you're interested in going. I'd recommend it.

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Me with Tony Stark's car

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Not sure why they had this covered.

http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w...3/IMG_2706.jpg

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The ILX

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My favorite body lines on the car.

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Trying the car on, to see if I want one when I'm ready for a car payment

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My girlfriend trying it out.

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I actually found the back seat to be really roomy.

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There are those lines again

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Poking and prodding.

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Time to go drive.

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The course.

The 2.0L 5-speed automatic was first. It had the two tone interior with tan.

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Next was the hybrid, It can be identified in my pictures as the car with the all black interior.

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Back in the 5-speed

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Then I hopped into another hybrid for the city drive.

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That's all I have. Feel free to ask me any questions here.

I gotta hand it to acura's marketing dept.. they are definitely blazing new trails in how they are marketing this car.
your experience sounds good. I hope the rental agency's pick some of these up so I can test one out for a day

if your tired of your oem, throw a chip in it for some new excitement

No events even close to the NW.

I give Acura an EPIC FAIL for not including the NW sector.

So, how did it handle?

"Not sure why they had this covered." I don't think they want people to know it's just built on an older NSX. You can still tell by the doors. Other pictures you can see the dash and clearly it's an old NSX's dash under there.

It handled pretty well. I only have a YouTube-based, Top Gear fueled knowledge of track driving, but the car was pretty flat in the corners, and it never broke traction in the sustained-speed corner, no mater how hard I pushed it. The engine and transmission are transversely mounted, and positioned in front of the front wheels (dislike). In many ways, it's like a later-model Civic with lots of OE handling upgrades. At least that's how it struck me. Overall it was great on their closed course though. As I said before, the EPS and magnetic damping work together to make this car very agile.

Wow that's pretty sweet man! I didn't hear anything about this either... though I would not have been able to attend. Nice to hear more good things about the ILX and see all of the pics and fun you had. I would have enjoyed driving that course.

Great time
 

Glad you had a great time! For those of you who can make it, registration for the Acura ILX All Access Ride and Drive is still open for Chicago, New York and Philly. Check out the site: http://acurailx.autoweek.com/ and we hope to see you there!”

Any chance you guys can make it to Los Angeles? :mhihi: