In an era that rewards flash and pomp, the Acura TLX finds itself out of its element; it seems inevitable that this luxuriously competent but inherently demure sedan has few friends in the current automotive climate. It's too bad, as the TLX does many things well, not the least of which is the available V6 engine and the ever-present sense of value when compared to the class leaders from Germany. A good deal and a peppy engine, however, isn't always enough for success in the fickle luxury market. This truth has dogged this model for most of its existence, and will likely continue to do so for the 2020 Acura TLX.
What's New for 2020
The big news this year is the introduction of the TLX PMC Edition. Capped at just 360 copies, the PMC marries the Advance Package and A-Spec trim (which are normally mutually exclusive) with an NSX-only paint shade called Valencia Red Pearl. It'll carry a price tag of around $50,000 and be assembled by hand at the factory which builds the NSX supercar. The rest of the lineup sees four new colors added to the palette, making for a total of eight available exterior hues.
Choosing Your Acura TLX
Unlike the confusing merry-go-round of options, packages, trims, and body styles that are common to competitors, the Acura TLX keeps things simple. Four trim levels and two powertrains are about all you need to worry over when pondering how to equip your TLX.
Choose to stick with the base powerplant and you'll get a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine that puts out 206 horsepower and 182 pound-feet of torque. An eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission handles the work of shifting gears. This setup returns an EPA-estimated 23 miles per gallon city, 33 mpg highway, and 27 combined except in A-Spec form, which gets 23/32/26 mpg (city/highway/combined).
If that sounds too tepid, there's a 3.5-liter V6 also on tap. It comes standard on the Advance model and costs $3,200 to install elsewhere in the lineup. A total output of 290 hp and 267 lb-ft of torque is channeled to the tires via a nine-speed automatic transmission. Fuel economy checks in at 20/31/24 mpg with front-wheel drive, or 20/29/23 with all-wheel drive. The A-Spec variant only gets 20/30/23 mpg with FWD, but the same 20/29/23 with AWD.
Front-wheel drive is standard with both engines, but V6 cars can be upgraded to Acura's Super-Handling All-Wheel-Drive, or SH-AWD, for $2,000. Designed for more than just some extra grip in a winter blizzard, this system can send up to 70 percent of power to the rear wheels. Of the power that does go rearward, up to 100 percent of it can be sent to either the right or left wheel. The result is better performance in either dry or wet conditions.
The cars that don't get AWD do compensate by offering an all-wheel-steer system. It allows the rear wheels to slightly turn either with or opposite the front wheels. At high speeds it does the former, benefiting stability, while at low speeds it does the latter, turning opposite the angle of the fronts for increased agility.
Every TLX comes with AcuraWatch, the brand's suite of active-safety and driver-assistance features. Bundled under this marketing name are adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, lane departure warning, traffic jam assist, road departure mitigation, automatic emergency braking, and forward collision warning.
Technically, the Technology, Advance, and A-Spec upgrades are considered packages, but Acura treats them more like trim levels in how they are structured and advertised. As such, we discuss them further under their own headings:
There's no bad choice in the 2020 Acura TLX lineup, really – even the Advance costs less than most competitors with comparable options. Whatever trim suits you best, we recommend you get the V6 engine. The performance and refinement it offers is worth the price tag and the slightly-worse fuel economy.