Overview & Reviews

For 2016, the Acura ILX gets freshened front and rear end treatments, including new LED headlights, for a sharper look. The base 2.0-liter engine is no longer available, so the previously optional 2.4-liter engine is now standard in every ILX, and this year it produces some additional torque and comes with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Lastly, there are several new safety features available, including a blind-spot warning system, rear-cross traffic alerts, lane keeping assist, forward collision mitigation, adaptive cruise control and a multiview back-up camera.

• Strong value and a generous number of standard features
• Roomy rear seat for its class.
• Balanced approach to ride quality and handling ability

User Reviews:

Showing 11 through 20 of 31.00

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  Solid Commuting Car - 2016 Acura ILX
  By barry - July 4 - 10:12 am

  I use this car almost exclusively for commuting, about 20 miles each way. Its a good solid car with great value. Acceleration is more than adequate and the extra tech you get with the tech plus package is great. I did have a problem with my car upon delivery. About a week after I got the car I noticed a vibration, especially in reverse. I brought it in to the dealer and they found that the engine mounts werent aligned. They fixed it and I was on my way. About a month later the vibrations came back. I brought it back to the dealer and they replaced the engine mounts (covered under warranty). I havent had a problem since. Pros: Great value for what you spend. Braking is excellent, gives a real secure feeling. I know a lot of pundits complain about the dual screen system but once you get used to it theres no issue. Cons: Transmission at highway speed is very smooth. At low speeds, particularly stop and go traffic, the transmission can be very choppy and downright uncomfortable. After about a month of driving I became more attuned to this and am able to avoid a lot of the choppiness. It can still be a minor annoyance. My other complaint would be a lack of lumbar support. Any car that claims to be luxury must have it.

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  Can I have my TSX Back Please? - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Don Sutton - June 21 - 4:25 pm

  This is my 3rd Honda and my 2nd Acura. After 300K+ miles and 11 years, I gave my old 2004 TSX to my son who is still driving it. I decided to lease a new 2016 ILX after Acura did the redesign of the exterior and put back the peppy and quick VR4 that was in my TSX. On the plus side, the car is just like the TSX: great handling, terrific on corners and curves, super reliable, solid feel, awesome braking, beautiful long drive on the road touring vehicle, takes 5 passengers around town comfortably with room for luggage, and gets lots of compliments on the styling and interior design. Gas mileage is okay - but not the 29 mpg average promised. Only getting 27 consistently when 1-2 passengers, much less with a full car. On the minus side, I wish the car was like the TSX: the dual screen technology seems redundant and is very distracting compared to the single touch screen the TSX had, the acceleration is hesitant - the car seems to think about moving faster before it actually goes into gears. Gas mileage sucks in city driving. Freeway is 31mpg only, not the 35mpg promised. UPDATE after 1 Year: Exterior pain gets stained easily. Design flaw. Looks like the clear coat is easily damaged by on road flying liquids. OVERALL: Great car, just wish Honda/Acura had not removed the fun and simple aspect of the TSX. Sadly, sometimes I want to take back my old TSX from my son and give him the ILX....

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  Swing and a miss - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Tim S - December 23 - 9:23 am

  I bought this car because after test driving it reminded me of my 07 Civic Si, which I sold to go back to school, only a bit more refined. However, having spent a couple months in it, any refinement I perceived was a false assumption based on the Acura badge. Ill start with the positives: The engine is good; its a rev-happy Honda engine with an okay noise and feels quick enough. Certainly not under powered, though it can feel like its working a little hard sometimes at 80mph and above. The transmission is pretty good too, but its an automatic. This car needs a manual transmission. And finally it has the right balance between ride comfort and feel for the road. Now to the bad: everything else. The worse is the drivers seat. The lumbar support is not adjustable. If you dont like to crank lumbar up to 11, youre not going to be comfortable. The upper part of the seat is even worse. There is absolutely no support for the shoulders, and consequently, zero lateral support. If you make a left hand turn at more than 5 mph you’re going to fall into the passenger seat. And somehow my feet even seem to get lifted off the floor when making turns at a reasonable speed, giving an odd weightless feeling that leaves me grasping for something to brace myself on. Which makes driving rather difficult. So you can forget about any spirted driving on twisty mountain roads. Then there’s the fact that in the best position I’ve found, my head is about half an inch from the ceiling, which creates more than a few visibility problems. The rest of the interior just feels cheap, like it was made by Fisher Price. I had been driving a mid-level Ford Fiesta. I assumed that even the cheapest Acura would be a huge upgrade in quality. I was wrong. Here’s the things that were betting in the 3 year older and $12,000 cheaper Ford: Steering/handling; leather wrap on the steering wheel; stereo (the stereo in the ILX is garbage)’ phone call quality; ease of using phone controls…pretty much everything related to the infotainment system. And the overall feel of the interior materials is just not that much, if any, better in the Acura. Also, the trunk is extremely cheap on the ILK. The lid feels like it’s made of tin and weighs about 2lbs. So you might think that if you don’t care about the infotainment system or having the feel of a luxury car, and just want something with decent driving dynamics, this car is worth a look. If it weren’t for the issue with the driver’s seat and lack of a proper 6-speed manual, I might even recommend it. But as it is, there are many other cars in this price range to look at, such as the GTI, WRX, and even the Civic Si.

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  Excellent for its price & quality - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Gagan - April 5 - 11:16 pm

  Have own the fully loaded Tech plus A-SPEC ILX with the bigger 18" wheels, GPS and all. First what it lacks: 1. A HUD, which I feel is a must for all luxury cars 2. Lack of lumbar support 3. Poor entertainment system. Other brands offer a Bose or a bang and olufsen system. This cars audio is WEAK! It is sort of OK at its highest settings. 4. Complicated command system. The voice command is OK, but messes up most of the time. Rerouting the GPS is a pain. Not very intuitive at all. 5. The car takes a good half-one second to catch up if you suddenly floor the gas pedal - then it is sheer pleasure, with the engine roar and sudden burst of speed! The Good parts: 1. The interiors dont feel cheap, very well done. A true luxury car! 2. Low center of gravity, and very good handling. Very smooth start due to the 8 speed gear box. 3. The looks ! With the 5 LED headlights, to the complicated body lines! This car is a looker, and people keep staring at it. 4. Cost & maintenance. I also own an Audi A4. The windshield wipers on an Audi are $250 Bosch. They are $18 on the Acura!!! You can drive into a honda dealership and get parts, servicing, tune-ups. The german cars will bleed you dry, these wont! The german cars are quieter inside. But they cost $15,000 more to own, and are horribly expensive to maintain. Ive started to spend about a $1000 annually on my Audi - the other germans are very similar. 5. The seats are quite alright. I am about 6, Ive tested the BMW 3 series and the Merc C-300s. The head room is the same, maybe slightly better on the ILX. The problems Ive faced with mine: 1. The cars dont come with a spare tire. BIG PROBLEM. I blew mine in one month, ended up buying a donut. The boot wont fit a full sized spare. Not ideal, but I can live with that. 2. The lane correction system on all these cars is a pain in the neck. I now drive with it turned off. 3. A problem with the transmission handle shifting to gear mode without the release /safety button being pressed. Has happened once. Will have it checked out at the next servicing. And oh, the servicing, including oil change, carwash & tire rotation was $100 only !!!!! I would love for Honda / Acura to improve the negatives that ive listed, and this will be a really 5 star worth car!

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  ILX 2016 model - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Fran - November 20 - 2:31 am

  This car is great! The ride is snug and very quiet. The only major complaint is storage space within car. My last acura, i had storage in the middle compartment, doors, and behind seats. It doesnt have an overhead storage for glasses either. Besides those minor challenges, the car handles great, i havent really openned it up, i just reached 1500 miles on it. I am happy with the car, acura makes very good products, look forward to enjoy car for a long time

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  Midlife madness - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Fernando Rios - September 17 - 12:20 pm

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  Great car! - 2016 Acura ILX
  By BAN - June 19 - 1:49 am

  I got the Premium pkg. This car handles really well. Great pickup, very stable, breaks nicely, feels solid and safe. I am ver happy with the great mileage. The interior is nice and roomy. My husband and son in law, who are tall fit fine, no complaints. Great looker, I love this car. The Navi Im not too crazy about, but I just use my iPhone; for me, the rest of the great pros override this one feature.

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  Best Value - Entry level luxury sedan - 2016 Acura ILX
  By ILX2016 - May 17 - 5:57 am

  If youre in the market for an entry level luxury sedan, youre most likely considering the Audi A3, MB CLA or the BMW 320, along with the ILX. Pricing-wise, the base MSRPs are not that far apart; but, once you start adding options, the prices begin to spread apart. Comparing all the features in an Acura ILX with Technology Plus and A-Spec, the price differences can vary as much as $5k-$10k. Add to that the recent year-end incentives, and the price difference can go as much as $12k. Considering the reliability of Acura, and its traditionally high resale value, the ILX represents the best value in this category.

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  Bought 2 in one year - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Melissa - February 26 - 5:15 am

  Ok....so after driving my Mini Cooper hardtop and commuting 70 miles a day 6 days a week I decided it was time to trade in the stick shift and grow up. After looking at all the entry level luxury vehicles, I decided on the Acura ILX. My situation is, I wanted economical luxury. I wanted a car I could drive until the wheels fell off. I wanted a car that I didnt have to make difficult appointments for to get serviced or maintained. I didnt want to worry about what service needed to be done when the service due light came on....a burden I had driving the mini. For me, this car works great! I bought the premium package in black right around when they launched the 2016s... Drove it for a year and realized I had made a huge mistake. Black is a horrible color to keep clean when you commute and dont park in a garage! So when I took my car in today for its second ever service, I was somehow made an offer I couldnt refuse on a brand new white premium with ASPEC. There is a major difference between the two. I love the ASPEC seats and odometer and foot pedals. The front looks less like a beak! Im so glad I upgraded! Maintence is painless and affordable! No stress car for younger commuter! Im happy! ***update 1 year later. This car is a great commuter and is so easy for me to get serviced. No hassle ! Im so glad I got a white car because I think I only washed it 4 times in a year! Im driving the heck out of it and its great! Only complaint is the scraping if you exit a driveway or take a dip too fast.. you must be very very slow since the front end sits kind of low. Other than that, no complaints so far!

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  Not as thrill asi thought to be - 2016 Acura ILX
  By Ronnie - January 24 - 3:18 am

  I came from a manual stick shift 2003 Acura RSX Type S. I love that car and the only reason why I stick with Acura. I need a small compact 4 doors vehicle since Im a family man with two kids. I looked at the Civics, the Accords. But they just blah and not exciting in terms of styling. Plus. I didnt want to be like 80% of the car out there on the road, so many of them. From teeny boppers, grandmas, Grandpa, to your soccer moms. No thanks. So there it is, I got the 2016 Acura ILX with premium/Aspec package. Honestly, its not really an upgrade from my RSX. Everything about this car feel cheap and could be better. Feels like they are rushing it. The gears always shifting. It can never stay in one gear long, it always shift to make sure the gears are highest fuel economy at the current speed. Its good for gas saving but when you trying to merge or switch lane, you need it to be in a gear that responsive to the throttle. Instead, the car will downshift creating that half to second delay acceleration. Coming from a cable, maybe it have to do with the new electric drive by wire, who knows but its really annoying when you need that quick acceleration. Now on the other hand, the Dual Clutch mode is awesome, stellar and works perfectly. I think that pretty much the only part of the car that stands out. Very responsive, smooth gear transition from downshift and up shift. The steering is numb and you dont feel that much road feed back. The handling is good. Not much body roll. The car puts me to sleep. I need some excitement, the thrill of a screaming VTEC kicking in. Instead I got a very boring tone. The seat doesnt have much bolster to snug you in. I feel Acura lost touch with its racing heritage. My other pet peeve is the head room, Im 511" but it really cramp in there. Only about in of space left from the ceiling to my head. I will probably pass this car to my wife in a few more years and get myself a stick shift car. If you like driving like grandma, just chill, relax, cruising and looking good in it. Then this car is for you.