2012 Acura Tl 3.5 on 2040-cars

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Join Autoblog editors for a full video tour of the 2019 Detroit Auto Show

The 2019 North American International Auto Show might have been a little more quiet than past years, but there were still some pretty major reveals, including the Toyota Supra, new Ford Explorer, Shelby GT500, Subaru WRX STI S209 and Kia Telluride. We also saw some lovely concepts like the Nissan IMs and Lexus LC Convertible. Senior Editor Alex Kierstein, Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski and Senior Green Editor John Beltz Snyder join me, Associate Editor Reese Counts — with Social Media Manager Michael Dylan Ferrara behind the camera — on a long walk through the show. We discuss cars, poke around the stands, dress a bloody wound and answer your questions in the Facebook comments. For more Detroit coverage, you can check out Autoblog's picks for the best in show, listen to our podcast or look at the best images from all the reveals. Finally, don't forget to watch Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore hand over our 2019 Technology of the Year award. Related Video: Green Detroit Auto Show Acura Cadillac Chevrolet Ford GM Hyundai Infiniti Kia Lexus Nissan RAM Subaru Toyota Volkswagen Truck Convertible Coupe Crossover Hatchback Minivan/Van SUV Videos Sedan facebook 2019 detroit auto show live

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

2019 Acura ILX gets a makeover with more standard safety features

The 2019 Acura ILX compact luxury sedan has finally been redesigned to fit the look introduced by the TLX and RDX. According to Acura, the entire nose from the A-pillar forward and the whole rear fascia have been changed. Up front the car has the pentagonal grille and angry LED lights that are Acura signatures, and they're complemented by crisply creased sheetmetal across the rest of the car. The results are a far sportier, far less anonymous machine. The car will continue to be available in normal and A-Spec versions, with the latter consisting mainly of appearance items such as 18-inch wheels, dark trim and lights, and a rear spoiler. Exterior enhancements are the primary change to the new ILX. The interior is nearly unchanged except the A-Spec has some stylish sport seats similar to those in the RDX A-Spec. Acura also says the infotainment system has been upgraded to be faster, and it has fresh graphics and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. But this is not the system found in the completely new RDX, just an updated version of the current infotainment. The last big upgrade to the ILX is the inclusion of the complete AcuraWatch suite of safety features on all ILX models. This includes automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control and road departure mitigation. Aside from these changes, the ILX is still pretty much the same as the old one. Under the skin is the same naturally aspirated 201-horsepower 2.4-liter four-cylinder as the current model. It's still coupled to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and powers solely the front wheels. The 2019 ILX goes on sale in October, but pricing has not yet been announced. Related Video: