I knew I’d be in for a treat being paired with the 2020 Acura ILX Tech A-Spec for the Toronto International Film Festival this year. And it never disappoints. The sleek and sporty ride in a stunning Apex Blue Pearl is pure power and style, but spacious enough and loaded with features to nail the marks in practicality.
The ILX Tech A-Spec is powered by a 2.4-litre, 16-valve, DOHC, i-VTEC® 4-cylinder engine and 201 horsepower @ 6800 rpm. Premium Unleaded fuel is recommended.
There are several things which make the ILX sophisticated and elegant. Firstly, its red Ultrasuede™/leather-trimmed seating surfaces is an aesthetic we can get behind. Its leather-wrapped steering wheel add that touch of style that elevate the driving experience. Driver and Front Passenger have heated seating, a luxury as the temperatures drop these coming months. The former has 10-way adjustable seating and the latter gets 4-way adjustment. All this under a power moonroof which we enjoyed particularly this year in our Drive-In experiences at the Festival! Pure ambience.
Safety features are abundant in this offering from Acura, including 3-point seat belts with Automatic Tensioning System (front), Anti-lock Braking System* (ABS) with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD) and Brake Assist, Collision Mitigation Braking System™ (CMBS®), Blind Spot Information System, Cross-Traffic Monitoring System, Lane Departure/Keeping Assist Warning (LDW) system, Front side airbags and Side Curtain Airbags are reasons to drive assured knowing the ILX has your back always.
We can’t stress enough the importance of having Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA®) with Traction Control especially when we drive into rural conditions and on the roads in the winter. It’s a game-changer and life-saver. A multi-angle rear-view camera makes parking and backing-out simple and this plus auto headlights mean we have one less thing to worry about so we can focus on our driving.
Did we mention the car is Proximity Entry? We loathe fumbling for keys and it always is a joy knowing we don’t have to stress about this!
We love a car with several charging options and under the Driver’s Armrest are a few options to stay connected always. It also comes equipped with the Acura Navigation System with Voice Recognition™ and 8″ display, plus a Multi-Information Colour Display for our audio entertainment. The audio system itself is an ELS Studio® Premium Audio System with AM/FM/CD/SiriusXM™, 10 speakers and hard disk drive (HDD) media storage. It also has a CD player. We love it! Syncing via Bluetooth with our phone was a breeze. Where we did have connectivity issues was connection on the AM dial and songs would stop playing via Bluetooth occasionally via our phone. We’d notice long blank audio gaps occasionally but this is a small issue.
While we wish Acura would follow the lead of its sister company Honda and introduce an ECON mode as well, we can’t complain about the ILX‘s Fuel Economy especially with fuel prices dipping of late. It tallies-in at 9.9/7.0/8.6 L/100 km for city/highway/combined.
Some of our highlights at TIFF ’20, which we couldn’t have done with this beauty! While this Festival was very different from others, we are grateful still to have gotten to experience it and we’re grateful for the ILX being there for us.
In addition to this, the ILX Tech A-Spec got us to our interviews safe and efficient, which we appreciate more than ever especially during a Pandemic when we worry about the safety other means of transportation.
And did we mention we’re a Dad again? Our beanie was born during TIFF ’20 (how fitting!) and we had to rush to be by her side to welcome her into this world. We will be bringing her home end of October. So stoked!
As always, everything happens at once in our world, and we were thrilled to be only one of a few outlets granted access to North America’s most historic horse race, the Queen’s Plate – now in its 161st edition at Woodbine Racetrack.
It wouldn’t be TIFF without one of our lucky Readers winning our annual TIFF Survival Pack! Congrats, Calvin!
…and TIFF wouldn’t be complete without at least one Selfie!
Always make time for family. Happy anniversary, Mom x Dad!
And that’s a wrap! Thank you, Acura Canada for your support!
Thrilled to have you join our adventures!
Learn more about the 2020 Acura ILX Tech A-Spec here.
(Photo credit: Mr. Will Wong)
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