Car Review: 2022 Acura TLX Platinum Elite

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The new-for-2022 TLX is the latest in a line of Acura sedans that I grew up obsessing over in my teenage years, before logging many testing miles over a 16-year career. Acura debuted the TLX nameplate for model-year 2015, and the designation intended to swallow up the TL and TSX sports sedans it replaced at the time.

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Over numerous years and assignments, I’ve accumulated about a dozen published stories on these machines, formed from over 12,000 kilometres of real-world testing. So below, I’ll be taking you for a drive in the latest incarnation of a product that’s long captivated my attention, because of the character engineered into the way it feels and drives.

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Under the hood, it’s a 2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder, good for 272 horsepower at 6,500 revs and 280 lb-ft from just 1,600. The flexible engine serves up plenty of quiet snap for city driving, and reserves ample pulling power for highway passing and merging. Though no speed demon, the TLX will engage enthusiast drivers with its familiar VTEC snarl, overlaid with a subtle turbocharged soundtrack. This engine sounds like it’s built to do its best work when spinning fast, and if you grew up a fan of fast Honda and Acura engines of previous decades, the sound and character of this one will take you back a little.

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Acura’s latest sports sedan structure is home to a double-wishbone suspension. This setup is rare in sedans, but common in some of the world’s best handling cars. With the promise of more precise and agile handling, the engineers even doubled the rigidity at the suspension mounting points, creating a better foundation upon which to tune that suspension. Adaptive dampers are fitted, which allow the TLX to take millisecond control over each of the shock absorbers in real time. At the direction of a computer that processes road surface data, the adaptive dampers are fed a stream of data that’s used to trigger changes intended to help smooth out the ride and stabilize the vehicle’s body over its wheels. 

The result, from the driver’s seat, is a ride that’s creamy and comfortable for long-distance highway cruising. The car absorbs bumps rather than bouncing over them, and in SPORT mode, the feel is more taut and athletic, but similarly smooth.

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The steering setup in SPORT mode is the ideal match for the steering, and where the steering and suspension feel most in sync. Specifically, the steering is refreshingly sharp and quick, and the front end of the TLX feels surprisingly light and eager. Where a lot of sporty four-door cars go for a heavy and thick steering feel, the TLX feels crisp and light and sharp.  The feeling of mass over the front wheels is minimal, the TLX feels light at the controls, and drivers never feel like they’re wrestling anything. The rear-axle torque-vectoring effects of the Super-Handling AWD system which further tidy up the handling when drivers push the car a little out of corners with the throttle. The end result is a steering and handling sensation that I usually expect in a smaller, lighter sports car. In SPORT mode, the TLX feels like more ‘sport compact’ than ‘luxury sport sedan’— again, calling old favourites to mind.

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Beneath the floor, it’s Super Handling AWD (SH-AWD), cleverly vectoring drive power between and across the axles and even using the AWD system to help steer and turn the car in fast corners, and enhance all-weather traction too. With the latest updates, the AWD system can send 40 per cent more torque the rear axle, 30 per cent more quickly. From there, 100 per cent of that rear-axle torque can be split between the wheels. Further, with the capability of spinning a single rear wheel slightly faster than all the rest, Acura’s latest AWD system is an expert at wheel-by-wheel control, with a bag of tricks up its sleeve.

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From the driver’s seat, the experience is as athletic or confidence-inspiring as you like. The overwhelming sensation during spirited driving is a fun-loving engine, and handling and steering that encourage you to enjoy guiding the TLX along with tiny, precise, and very lightweight inputs. Elsewhere, brake pedal feel is  precise and easy to modulate — easily in the same territory as other personal favourite sports sedans from from BMW and Lexus. 

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Drivers will also appreciate the TLX’s laid-back side. T he highway drive is smooth and creamy, and the adaptive dampers often see the the body respond to even larger dips and bumps in the road with subtle undulations and minimal springiness. O n rougher, around-town roads, the suspension feels like it has a lot of travel and isn’t afraid to use it. The adaptive shocks help smooth things out with real-time suspension control, and so you’ve got a machine with a very relaxing highway drive that stands up nicely to rough road and backroad surfaces, too.

The 10-speed automatic uses push-button shift, and does its best work in gentle driving. Laid-back drivers should expect no issue, though enthusiasts will wish for faster, more responsive gearshifts in both automatic and manual shift modes. If you’re coming to a TLX from a recent BMW, Audi or Mercedes, you’ll find the transmission to be more sluggish, and may wish for faster responses to your commands.

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Elsewhere on board, it’s stretch-out space for four adults, comfortable climate-controlled leather seating up front, and no shortage of fixed, tactile buttons and switches and chunky controls presented to the driver. This gives the cabin a busy, high-tech look. Common functions are grouped logically and presented beautifully in the form of various control surfaces, consoles and button clusters. Interfacing with most of the TLX’s features requires the use of a dedicated hard button, not a touch-screen.

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Still, test-driving shoppers should allow extra time to explore the TLX’s touch-pad infotainment system, to ensure they like how it works. I found the system to be frustrating to navigate at first, and the touch-pad to be awkward and imprecise in action until I’d put in a bit of practice.  After a few days, the system becomes easy to use — though more straightforward systems with better graphics are available elsewhere for the money.

So, a quicker-shifting transmission and more straightforward infotainment system would be welcomed improvements for this writer. Still, my overwhelming impression of the new TLX came from deep beneath its many layers of sheetmetal and tech and leather: here’s a modern, comfortable and high-tech sport sedan experience that’s true to its roots, and that comes with the ability to reach back decades and call some old favourites to mind.