The Acura ILX allows the compact buyer to flirt with luxury, without taking the full plunge. It's based on trusty, safe and reliable Honda Civic architecture, but with an upscale sheen and plenty of innovative technology. The ILX is Acura’s first foray into hybrid world.
What's New for 2014
The ILX adds eight standard features to its 2014 offerings including leather seats, heated front seats, an audio system with noise cancellation, and 17-inch alloy wheels.
Choosing Your Acura ILX Hybrid
The powerplant in the ILX Hybrid combines a 1.5-liter four-cylinder gas engine with an electric motor to produce a total of 111 horsepower. Though overall power is modest, fuel economy is anything but: Expect 39 mpg city and 38 mpg highway with the aid of a continuously variable transmission (CVT).
The ILX received criticism in 2013 for a general lack of standard amenities. Acura corrected the problem for 2014, and the base price of an ILX Hybrid includes leather upholstery, Bluetooth streaming audio, a multi-view rear camera, keyless access, push-button start and dual-zone climate control.
Aside from the features bundled in the Technology Package, the ILX has few standalone options. The most significant is a satellite radio.
The Technology Package adds more than $5,000 to the retail price of an ILX and includes a laundry list of appealing upgrades like navigation with real-time traffic and weather, heated front seats with eight-way power, hard-disk storage for media, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, HID headlights, and GPS-linked solar-sensing climate control.
As much as we like the Technology Package, it pushes the price of an ILX Hybrid nearly to $35,000. We think the base is a better value.