#PRODUCTWATCH: 2025 ACURA TLX A-SPEC

A luxury Sedan for the ages! We were thrilled to test drive the 2025 Acura TLX A-SPEC for the Holidays. In a timeless Liquid Carbon Metallic, with a festive red and black interior trimming, we couldn’t imagine a more fitting way to ring-in the new year!

What makes an A-SPEC package so unique, you ask? This means more aggressively sculpted body panels and larger wheels, with driver-focused paddle shifters.

Running on Premium Unleaded fuel with a capless system, the TLX A-SPEC is powered by a 2.0-litre, 16-valve, Direct Injection, DOHC, VTEC® turbocharged 4-cylinder enging, operating at 272 horsepower with an idle stop option. Its Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™ is native to the Acura family of vehicles.

In terms of Fuel Economy, you get 11.3/8.1/9.8 L/100 km. Yes, you spending and filling a bit more, but you are getting MORE.

Everything about the TLX A-SPEC suggests sophistication and luxury. Driver and the Front Passenger benefit from heated/cooling seats, and let me tell you there were a few frosty days during the holidays where we were begging for that heated steering wheel – and it was conveniently mounted on the steering wheel too!  

The Driver’s seat has 12-way power adjustment, while front passenger gets 4-way. We couldn’t wait till it got dark sometimes to appreciate Acura‘s Iconic Drive™ ambient LED cabin lighting, complete with a whopping 27 themes! The power moonroof with slide and tilt, punctuates the ambience. And those red and black seats came perforated, made of Milano Premium Leather and Ultrasuede®. Gorgeous.

The TLX A-SPEC is very focussed improving the driving experience, making the Driver and Passenger more at home than ever.  It comes with a 12.3″ HD digital instrument cluster, and also a 12.3″ HD dual-content centre display.  I’ll be honest though that I do wish the display was touchscreen, which would make it much easier to navigate using handwriting with my finger on the touchpad or attempting voice commands, which weren’t functional during the drive.  There were also periods where Google Maps went completely blank on the screen and I couldn’t get it back without turning the car completely off for a duration. Syncing with Android Auto™ however, was a breeze though and once I got the hang how to navigate Google Maps and Spotify through it, we were good!

We are a huge fan of the TLX A-SPEC‘s dual-zone automatic climate control, as everyone has different body temperature preferences and enjoy its keyless access system and walk-away door lock. Parking and reversing are rather easy with its Multi-angle rearview camera with dynamic guidelines, plus a surround-view camera system. A rear seat reminder keeps us mindful of loved ones in the back or things we might have left behind.

Now for the fun stuff! We love that the TLX A-SPEC has a generous amount of charging ports – front and rear – but best of all, it has a wireless charging pad.  Our one critique though, is we prefer to have our phone within eyeshot and here it is positioned at a bit of a reach.

The TLX A-SPEC comes with an ELS Studio 3D® Premium Audio System Speakers, compatible with Bluetooth® Streaming Audio, Wireless Apple CarPlay® and Android Auto™, as we mentioned. And you know how much we adore SiriusXM™. It’s there and ready for you if you need it!

Other nice-to-haves here included perimeter/approach puddle lights and rain-sensing windshield wipers. We certainly saw enough rain this Holiday to make use of it! It also has integrated turn indicators, plus Jewel Eye™ headlights, daytime running lights and fog lights – all of which are LED.

We really appreciated the TLX A-Spec‘s hyper-awareness of surroundings. Perhaps even when it didn’t need to be alarming me, it was very proactively doing so. Among its safety features are: 4-wheel Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD), Collision Mitigation Braking System™ (CMBS®)* with pedestrian detection, Forward Collision Warning (FCW) system, Hill Start Assist, Lane Departure Warning (LDW) system, Road Departure Mitigation (RDM) system, Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) with location and pressure indicators, Blind Spot Information (BSI) system, Lane Keeping Assist System (LKAS), Rear Cross Traffic Monitor system, Traffic Jam Assist, and Traffic Sign Recognition (TSR). With traffic fines increasing and being tracked more aggressively around the City, this is a good friend to have.

Lastly, we drive assured knowing Acura has us covered with Advanced front airbags (SRS), Front side airbags, Front knee airbags, Side curtain airbags, and Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA®) with Traction Control. The latter was hard at work as we navigated some low visibility driving conditions on wet roads on a couple long-distance treks to the border and also beautiful Elora.

Highlights from our festive Holiday Test Drive in the 2025 Acura TLX A-SPEC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by William Wong (@mrwillwong)

More here on the 2025 Acura TLX A-SPEC.

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)