ACURA TLX TYPE S STRUTS ITS TYPE A PERSONALITY
Get it in Tiger Eye Pearl. With its dramatic color (don’t call it bronze), my 2021 Acura TLX Type S is meant to be noticed. Angular jawbones. Diamond Pentagon grille. Hooded Camaro-like headlights. Front and rear spoilers. Quad tailpipes the size of ship cannons. “Cool car,” said a passerby in Gaylord. “Really like that car,” said another in Charlevoix.
“Did a great job on the styling,” said my gear head son.
The Type S is the Japanese luxury brand’s Type A personality. It’s a return to the brand’s sporty roots and a Type S badge that graced its performance models like the TL, CL and RSX in the 2000s.
To emphasize the point, Acura introduced the Type S in May at Mid-Ohio racetrack in the hands of none other than
IndyCar superstar Helio Castroneves, who wrung the sedan’s neck around one of North America’s most demanding tracks with your loyal Detroit News scribe strapped into the right-hand seat. It was his first time in the car as well as mine.
“I was not expecting it to be this quick — wow,” exclaimed the four-time Indy 500 winner as he mashed the throttle onto the front straight.
This go-round, the Type S is aimed squarely at luxury muscle cars like Audi’s S-line, BMW’s M-series, Cadillac’s V-series — vehicles that beg you to bypass the interstate and take the long way home on country roads.
West of Interstate 75 in northern Michigan, I turned right on to M-32 — its serpentine curves flowing like a fast river to Lake Michigan. I held the Drive Mode selector to the right until it registered SPORT PLUS. HUNNHHH! The engine quickly downshifted with a grunt. Type S, meet S curves.
Its muscles taut, the Acura leapt from turn to turn, the 355-horse turbo-6 — unique to this car in the TLX lineup — roaring. The paddle shifters — unlike many vehicles — responded quickly to my touch, downshifting 4-3-2 into a hairpin turn with a matching engine blip. HUNHH! HUNH! Big red Brembo brakes slowed the 4,221-pound all-wheel-drive beast. Back up through the ratios in this 10-speed box, the Type S was confident, smooth.
The Acura is worthy of the segment. But the joy of the Type S is not just in its eager drivetrain.
This is a sedan that aims to be as different as the mid-engine NSX supercar that rebirthed Honda’s performance brand back in 2015. While not as radical as Tesla, the TLX is a comprehensive reassessment of each vehicle feature.
Still, the Acura is a cautionary tale in how quickly technology is moving. The 2021 platform has already been lapped by the 2022 Civic, which boasts wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, compared with the Type S’ wired connections.