1997 Acura Integra Ls - V6 J32a2 Swap - J-series Swap Vtec - With Extra Tl Motor on 2040-cars

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Acura bringing near-production-ready concept sedan to Pebble Beach

Three years ago Acura turned many heads with the Precision concept. Said to be the future of Acura design language, the latest RDX crossover is the most full-bodied expression of the Precision Crafted Performance design language. The rest of the range has only gone as far as the Diamond Pentagon grille. That looks to change later this year, when Acura brings a near-production-ready four-door to Pebble Beach that's inspired by the Precision. Car and Driver, which got a peek into Acura's Southern California design studio, says the tea leaves "point to a new production Acura sedan in the Precision concept's gorgeous 'four-door coupe' form." Believing the Pebble display will be "a tribute to the best of Acura's past" and could presage a flagship to replace the RLX, C/D wonders if the carmaker won't reach into its deep past and resurrect the Legend name. That's seems a bit much, but we have only six months to wait. After that, the next-generation TLX sedan and MDX crossover will arrive, and are expected to wear Precision cues. Both are scheduled to make landfall at the end of this year or beginning of next year. Based on shapes bulging under taut covers, C/D says both will receive stretched front intakes and "hook-shaped, extruded taillights." A juiced TLX Type S with a ducktail spoiler appears to lurk in the near future, too. Eventually, the second coming of the ZDX crossover might get the nod as well. Acura sold the severely rakish crossover coupe from 2009 to 2013, well before crossover coupes had established themselves. Looking at what's happened in the past 10 years, the ZDX was either ahead of its time, or consumers only want diminished rear headroom from German crossovers; no Japanese luxury maker has yet put a sloped roof on one of its crossovers. That means if a new ZDX does come, it could be just as novel the second time as it was the first.Related Video:

Acura is launching an all-out assault on Pikes Peak

  Acura is gunning for multiple trophies at Pikes Peak later this month, sending no less than six vehicles to the famed hillclimb event. The fleet consists of two NSX race cars, two TLX Type S race cars, a TLX Type S pace car, and the 2022 MDX Type S making its first public debut. The all-volunteer team comprising Acura employees will be towing the more potent of the TLX race cars 1,300 miles from its base in Ohio to the Colorado venue with an MDX Type S. While a stock TLX Type S weighs 4,221 pounds, a mass that's pretty close to the 355-horsepower, 354 pound-foot flagship's towing capacity of 5,000, the race car is considerably lighter.  Honda put the TLX Type S on a 600-pound diet, gutting the interior and replacing parts with lightweight components like a carbon fiber hood. Naturally, aerodynamic aids like splitters, canards, and spoilers festoon the race car. On top of that, the 3.0-liter V6 it shares with the big brother MDX Type S has been modified with a with a larger turbo and additional cooling to account for the thin air approaching the 14,000-foot summit. Acura engineer Justin Lumbard will helm the TLX in the Pikes Peak Open Division, in which an Acura TLX GT race car holds the record of 9:24.433, set by Acura race veteran Peter Cunningham in 2019. Meanwhile, chassis engineer and cool-name-haver Jordan Guitar will be piloting the other TLX Type S, a more stock version with only a 300-pound diet. Both cars wear race-modified suspensions and HRE 19-inch 19 x 9.5-inch wheels wrapped in Pirelli slicks. Likewise, the NSX pairs comprise one hard-core racer and one mostly stock car each, allowing Acura to pursue wins in multiple classes. Drivers and brothers James and Nick Robinson are no strangers to Pikes Peak records. James helped Acura clinch the Hybrid Class record with a time of 10:01.913 in an NSX last year, and is now shooting for a Time Attack 1 Division championship. His NSX puts out around 625 horsepower thanks to larger turbos and reprogrammed engine software. A front splitter, large rear wing, 200-pound weight reduction are just some of the race-prep modifications. Meanwhile, Nick holds the front-wheel-drive record, set in 2018 with a first-generation Acura TLX and a time of 10:48.094. This year, Nick is behind the wheel of an NSX that's all stock — aside from safety equipment and race tires — in the hopes of achieving a Time Attack 2 production record attempt.

2013 Acura ILX Hybrid

This Is Not The Acura You're Looking For
Mid-level luxury brands have always had to do a bit of leg work to distance themselves from their more common cousins. Thanks to generation after generation of pervasive badge engineering (much of it from the Big Three), buyers can't be blamed for looking at brands like Buick, Lincoln, Infiniti, Lexus and yes, Acura as tarted up versions of Chevrolet, Ford, Nissan, Toyota and Honda products. For much of its lifetime in the automotive landscape, however, Acura has excelled at putting distance between its offerings and that of its parent company thanks to cars with superior driving dynamics, quieter cabins and clean, attractive aesthetics.
Yes, outliers and dull spots can be found in the company's recent track record, but by and large, Acura products remain situated well above the Honda rabble. When the brand announced it was getting serious about the luxury small car game with the ILX, those of us with a set of the company's keys in our past couldn't help but envision an honest successor to the long-dead Integra. Turns out, that wasn't what Acura had in mind.