The hot selling Civic costs several thousand dollars less, but if you think this car is cool then you will fork over the extra money for what Acura hopes will be perceived as “smart luxury.”
The all-new 2013 Acura ILX will go on sale at Acura dealerships on 22 May with a manufacturer’s suggested retail price starting at $25,900, plus $895 delivery, Acura announced today. Other models in the line can exceed $35,000 when fully loaded with premium and technology packages. The five passenger compact car offers three powertrain options, including Acura’s first-ever gasoline-electric hybrid. A detailed AutoInformed driving impression will be forthcoming.
The ILX will be the least expensive car offered by the upscale brand from Honda, and it arrives at a time when purchasers battered by the economy and high fuel prices are shifting to products that are thought to offer better value.
Honda was the first Japanese maker to build cars in the U.S., of course, and the first to establish a separate upscale brand. The ILX is roughly based on the new Honda Civic, but shares few common parts or least none discernible by the owner, and will be built at Honda’s Greensburg, Indiana plant. ILX will also sold in Canada and Mexico, which likely means the slightly larger TSX will remain in the line for only a little longer.
The 2013 Acura ILX will serve as the “gateway to the Acura brand,” said Acura marketing and engineering executives at a press preview in Michigan. The ILX – like virtually all new offerings as described in marketing babble – is an attempt to sway potential buyers more as an emotional purchase than a rational one.
Translation: The hot selling Civic costs several thousand dollars less, but if you think this car is cool then you will fork over the extra money for what Acura hopes will be perceived as “smart luxury.”
The entry-level ILX is powered by a 2.0-liter inline 4-cylinder engine, rated at 150 horsepower and mated to a Sequential SportShift 5-speed automatic transmission. Presumably, a better transmission with more gear ratios will ultimately be phased in.
The hot one – it is really a high performance motorcycle with a car body wrapped around it – is the ILX with a 2.4-liter engine, starting at $30,095. This screamer is rated at an output of 201 horsepower, and has one of the best shifting close-ratio, six-speed manual transmissions I have ever driven. The Honda motor sings and sings right up to its 7400-rpm fuel cut-off, and even driven hard in the upper rpm ranges, it delivers 30 mpg. Torque steer is non-existent in this front-wheel drive setup, and alas, so is steering feel from the CAFE-induced electric steering gear.
The ILX Hybrid, starting at $28,795 – or $3,000 walk up the price ladder to be green – uses an underpowered, anemic 1.5-liter inline engine and what Honda marketing dubs an Integrated Motor Assist electric motor, in a demonstration of what the much higher new fuel economy regulations mean in actual pavement reality. Paired with a Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT), the ILX 1.5L Hybrid has an EPA estimated city/highway/combined fuel economy rating of 39/38/38 mpg, numbers that are achievable based on my test drives if the Honda trip computer is reasonably close to accurate.
A “technology package” is also available on the ILX Hybrid for, gulp, $5,500 and includes all Premium Package features – navigation, satellite traffic alerts, premium audio system, leather-seating surfaces, heated front seats, a power driver’s seat, HID headlights, fog lights.
