Acura ILX Falls Short Of Expectations - What Will It TakeTo Appeal To The Affluent Buyer?

It needs a motor with a bit more pep mated to an automatic transmission. 0-60 times in the low to mid 6 second range. The 2.4 is only available with a manual. If they could pair it with an automatic I think they could improve sales.

Actually I prefer a manual

'mericans are too lazy to shift a car. They want cars to drive for them, keep coffee warm, beer cold and perhaps raise their children. This is a Smart luxury car the helps the Earth.

Generations of larger cars breed an incompetence in shift gears.

all wheel drive

I think the ILX is priced too close to the TSX. The TSX offers much more room and the 200hp engine, and until the TSX is discontinued (in 4-cylinder form, anyway) I don't see ILX sales picking up that much. Getting rid of the base engine is a start.

It's your styling Acura. Parked next to any other near premium brand it doesn't get a second look and you wouldn't dare tell someone what you paid compared to competitor offerings that make a statement. You need a "WOW" design, a "gotta have it" design, a "did you see what I just bought", a "green with envy" style, a design that makes your mother-in-law glad her daughter married someone with such taste...get it Acura !

Blackura, Where you at?

LED tail-lamps...

OUCH!!

They need to change the style of the front end. Looks like a honda.

I remember when the specs and powertrains were published when the ILX was introduced. When I saw that the 2.4L would only be offered with an automatic, I knew that was the death knell for this new car. Whoever in Honda's organization thought that was the intelligent product offering should be fired. The fact that they offered a 2.0L was even more ridiculous.

How is it that one company can get one new car intro (RDX) so right and another car intro (ILX) so wrong??? Honda, this not 1980 and this is not a car with the Integra/RDX pedigree. This is a car that was based on the much-maligned redesigned Civic so you should have known that it could not afford any type of negative perception. I'm personally surprised you sold 12k of them when there are so many other more appealing offerings for this price, and not from "luxury" marques.

I'm right here Lex...The ILX is heading in the right direction, as you can see Honda made immediate improvements to the Civic when it was panned by the critics, now for 2013 it has been upgraded. Acura will do the same with the ILX, let's discuss this again a year from now...

Blakura, what this should teach Acura is that they need to do consumer market research BEFORE producing new cars. Many companies are doing that and it at least appears that Honda/Acura aren't in touch with what the market wants. The same thing essentially happened with the previous Accord. They went to market with the car they wanted and there was critical backlash. And now they've produced a great product after the feedback. They seriously better not screw up the RLX, NSX, and new MDX.

They should have made a smaller version of the TL. I cannot see this car creating any excitment. The TL created excitement. Still does (even though I personally don't like them).

Acura has seen fit to design their cars as glorified upscale Honda vehicles. The public sees them as such and are declining to purchase an upscale Honda with an Acura label at a premium car price point.

Bird beak! "Squawk, Squawk!!"

ILX needs to compete with A3 so give us the civic wagon from europe just like tsx wagon

Considering Civics are made better than cars costing twice as much, that's probably not a bad thing. Trust me. I drive a $60k 2012 model car with more squeaks and rattles than my 1993 Civic Coupe ever had.

Where does the ILX fit in? Are they axing the TSX?

Competition analysis:

ILX:
Top spec versions of the Jetta and Mazda3?

TSX:
S40 (dead), A4, Regal

TL AWD:
A4 again? G37x, 335x?

RL:
I have no idea...

Change the name. "Acura" sounds somewhat gimmicky and definitely not affluent-sounding.

The ILX is just not remarkable enough to justify its price. It's a really nice Civic with less powertrain choices. Opening up more choices will help, but it is a lame replacement for the TSX.