2019 Acura ILX Road Test and Review

19acurailxfrontbeauty1abtsessions ・ Photo by Ron Sessions

The 2019 Acura ILX sedan is the brand’s least expensive product and acts as a move-up for compact four-door owners looking to upgrade to a luxury offering. It shares much of its basic architecture with an older version of the front-wheel drive Honda Civic, but it offers an upgraded powertrain plus comfort and convenience content that's not necessarily available in the cheaper Honda.

As with the mid-size TLX, Acura’s best-selling sedan, the 2019 Acura ILX gets a new front clip with the brand’s sporty new Diamond Pentagon grille, 14-element (seven on each side) Jewel-Eye LED headlamps, and a muscular power-bulge hood. LED taillamps add some spice to the rear as well. Before this year's update, the ILX was last overhauled for the 2016 model year. For 2019, Acura also makes the ILX’s value proposition even stronger with a base price some 8 percent lower than that of the outgoing model — despite added safety and technology content. Including destination and transportation charges, the 2019 Acura ILX sedan retails for $26,895.

Perky Performer

The Acura ILX comes standard with a lively 2.4-liter double-overhead-cam four-cylinder. It’s the same basic engine that powers the base trim of the larger, mid-size Acura TLX sedan, but in the smaller, compact ILX weighing some 400 pounds less, the 201 horsepower and 180 lb-ft of torque feels more engaging. The perky sedan can scoot from rest to 60 mph in a little over 6 seconds.

The ILX also shares the TLX’s eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, which delivers the kind of visceral response a manual gearbox offers, but with lightning-quick and seamlessly smooth shifts. Steering-wheel-mounted paddle shifters that enable fingertip manual shift control are standard as well. EPA fuel economy estimates are 24 mpg in the city, 34 mpg on the highway, and 28 mpg combined. I saw an observed 26.5 mpg over a week’s time in mostly suburban driving, which shouldn’t break anyone’s gas budget even when filling up with Acura’s recommended premium unleaded fuel.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Engaging Cabin

The interior of the Acura ILX is upscale without being over the top. It’s a perfect bridge for buyers satisfied with their Hondas to move up to the Acura brand. While the Acura ILX’s Honda Civic roots are readily apparent, the compact luxury sedan offers a satisfying blend of no-nonsense functionality and upscale stylishness.

Standard equipment in the ILX cabin includes dual-zone GPS-linked automatic climate control, keyless access, push-button start, a tilting and telescopic steering column, ambient interior lighting, a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, active sound control (which, along with an acoustic windshield, helps keep the ILX quieter than the Civic), and a tilt-and-slide moonroof. The front side windows and moonroof can be opened remotely as well. Moving up to A-Spec trim adds a black headliner and stainless-steel pedal trim.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Take Your Seats

Shown here in sassy red and black A-Spec trim, the ILX's standard sport front bucket seats are as comfortable and supportive as they are good-looking. The base ILX front seats are heated, and the driver’s is power-operated with adjustable lumbar support.

Black faux-leather covers the base seats. However, the $1,750 Premium package brings perforated two-tone leather with contrasting piping and stitching, plus a power front-passenger seat, also with adjustable lumbar. You can choose between black and gray or black and brown color schemes. The $2,000 A-Spec package adds stylish and soft-to-the-touch faux-suede detailing to the leather seats.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Infotainment Choices

Standard ILX fare includes a six-speaker AM/FM/MP3 stereo with a separate in-dash CD player. This system has a single color display for audio functions as well as a standard backup camera and a full set of analog buttons for audio presets and tuning, plus a simple rotary volume knob. Bluetooth phone connectivity and audio streaming are also included, as well as Siri Eyes Free voice control and SMS/MMS text message capability. A large, easy-to-reach dash-mounted infotainment control knob allows switching between functions.

Opting for the $1,750 Premium package brings a richer-sounding seven-speaker premium audio system with a subwoofer, plus SiriusXM satellite radio, HD radio, and — more importantly — Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone integration. Along with the premium audio system is a revised two-screen infotainment layout that ditches most of the analog controls (except for volume) in favor of a lower-mounted 7-inch touchscreen for audio controls, shortcuts, and some climate control functions.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Navigation

If you’d rather not use your phone for maps and directions and want an imbedded in-car navigation system, that requires upgrading to the $1,900 Technology package.

The map displays in the infotainment system's upper screen, which is well recessed to minimize glare and includes a 3D view plus real-time traffic information as well. Along with navigation, the Tech package includes the ILX’s best audio system, the concert-hall-worthy Acura/ELS Studio Premium system with 10 crystal-clear speakers, plus Song by Voice capability. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody sounds awesome with this system.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Close Quarters Aft

The Acura ILX shows its compact Honda Civic origins when you climb into the rear seat. It’ll fit three across in a pinch, but the center rear passenger had better be small. Regardless, longer trips will require some negotiations with the driver and front-seat passenger to slide their chairs forward a bit.

A center rear armrest with a pair of cupholders makes the ILX a decent urban four-seater. The rear seat can be folded down to expand trunk space, but the seatback isn’t divided as it is on many SUVs to, say, fit one passenger back there on one side and fold down the other to handle a larger item in the trunk.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Debunking the Trunk

The ILX offers a reasonable-for-the-class 12.4 cubic feet of trunk space. The fold-down rear seat expands that space greatly and allows for transporting longer items such as skis, a floor light fixture from IKEA, or a stepladder.

Folding down the one-piece rear seatback is made easy with a remote seatback release lever within easy reach just inside the side of the trunk opening. There is no spare tire under the trunk floor, just an inflator and a can of tire-repair goop, so make sure your cellphone is charged and you have a good roadside assistance plan.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Street Smarts

Put the Acura ILX in motion and its character is akin to that of a Honda Civic Si without the boy-racer styling cues. So, same tight MacPherson strut front/multi-link rear suspension with just-right amplitude reactive shocks; same quick, precise, nicely weighted electrically boosted rack-and-pinion steering; same powerfully reassuring four-wheel disc brakes.

The ILX feels light on its feet, agile in the turns, and stable on the highway. And the 201-hp naturally aspirated 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine can get around slower traffic and merge onto fast-moving freeway traffic in a hurry without working up a sweat. The standard 215/45R17 high-performance all-season tires provide satisfying levels of grip for this front-wheel drive compact sedan. Aside from wider tire contact patches, the A-Spec package as installed on the test car doesn’t offer any substantive performance upgrades other than just plain looking faster (which it does standing still).

Photo by Ron Sessions

Safety Smarts

As it has with all other sedans and SUV models in its lineup, Acura makes the AcuraWatch active safety and driver-assistive tech standard in the 2019 ILX sedan. This includes a forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist, and a lane-departure warning with road-departure mitigation. Included with the optional Premium package are blind-spot and rear cross-traffic monitoring.

A backup camera with changeable views is standard, and one with trajectory guidelines as pictured above is included in the optional Technology package. The rear seat includes a LATCH system for anchoring child safety seats.

Photo by Ron Sessions

Compact Luxury Gem

With road-ready sporty looks, a lively 2.4-liter four-cylinder, and an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission shared with the larger TLX mid-size sedan, the 2019 Acura ILX packs a lot of performance and value into a compact four-door sedan.

Best of all, the ILX offers the same engaging driving dynamics as the popular Civic sedan — just upgraded with a more upscale design.

Photo by Ron Sessions