The Acura TLX A-Spec is one of the most impressive cars we've driven all year

Acura TLX

PROS: Splendid V6 engine and smooth-shifting transmission; dual infotainment screens make sense with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto; comfortable and spacious interior; value versus the competition; legendary Honda reliability.

CONS: Not a luxury status symbol; still lacks rear-wheel-drive (although AWD is excellent); sub-300hp motor; styling still a bit controversial for Acura loyalists.

Sometimes, a really great car just kind of sneaks up on you. Several years ago, Acura (Honda's luxury division) rolled out a new version of its TLX sedan, a mid-size BMW 3-Series fighter.

That's no easy task; everyone selling a mid-size luxury sedan has been unsuccessfully fighting the 3-Series for decades. But the TLX was absolutely necessary to keep Acura competitive in the segment. That said, everyone also knew that the almighty BMW wasn't going to be dethroned anytime soon, if ever.

Enter the TLX A-Spec, which I recently borrowed to test out. I drove a well-optioned 2018 that came with all-wheel-drive and stickered at $45,750. (Interestingly, I sampled the Acura in and around Fremont and San Jose, CA, when I was also checking out the launch of the Tesla Model 3, the all-electric mass-market car of the future).

It would be a sad understatement to say that I liked this car. I've always been an Acura fan — even though Honda doesn't do rear-wheel-drive and therefore has a tough time against BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus, who do. The brand's cars and SUVs are exceptionally well-done, with reasonable performance, great reliability, and fantastic Honda engineering. My TLX had a brilliant 3.5-liter V6 under the hood (Honda makes superb V6's) and all the go-fast upgrades that earned it the A-Spec designation.

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The TLX A-Spec isn't flashy, but it's a nice looking set of wheels, in shimmery white with a black interior.

The TLX replaced the TL in 2015 and was quickly greeted with the usual sighs about how Acura is never going to top the Big Four luxury automakers: Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, and Audi. Along with Infiniti (Nissan's luxury brand), Acura has long strived to replicate Lexus's achievements, but of the Japanese carmakers, only Toyota has truly cracked the luxe code.

This is a misplaced lament. Acura has been around since Ronald Reagan was in the Oval Office and over the decades has sold many vehicles, including the much-loved Legend and Integra. The brand has its own thing going, and in my view, it's different from Lexus's "Don't think about it" approach toward luxury and the Germans' focus on driving performance.

I gave some serious thought to buying a used luxury sedan a few years back — certified pre-owned luxury cars are great deals — and Acura was my first stop. Yes, rear-wheel-drive is nice, but if you're mainly going to be navigating freeways and urban/suburban roadways, you don't really need it, and having to send power to the back wheels adds mechanical complexity.

Acura's solution is to use its front-wheel-drive platforms to host AWD technology. You either buy this or you don't. And as Acura once pointed out to me, Infiniti's decision to go RWD hasn't really helped it to conquer the BMWs and Mercedes of the world.

Ultimately, you're getting a much nicer Honda in the bargain if you go for an Acura like the TLX. If that sounds like a compromise, it isn't, unless status ranks higher than common sense. Hondas are a superb baseline; Acura's are better.

The much-maligned "beak" is gone from the TLX's front fascia, replaced by the angular grilled and the large Acura badge.

Acura took it a little too far in a flashy direction with its prior front-end design, alienating some owners who have always liked the brand's sharp but non-Germanic looks.

Honda's overall problem with design had been that decades of competence had suddenly become boring. So Acura overreacted and has now retreated.

The result is a fairly well-designed car that blends clean lines with a touch of aggression — but just a touch. And check out those "jewel eye" LED headlights! Very sleek and contemporary, although, one could complain that they're out of scale when compared to the badge,

Why have just one infotainment screen when you can have two?

The TLX's infotainment system checks all the boxes: navigation, SiriusXM radio, voice commands, Bluetooth connectivity, AUX/USB ports. Everything works well, although the overall interface, combining touchscreen and controllers, isn't as compelling as what's on offer from Audi or Cadillac, the luxury segment infotainment leaders.

But here's a twist: the TLX provides not one but two screens.

As you can see from the photo, I ran both audio and nav at the same time. But whats really cool is that you can use the upper screen to run Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, while keeping the lower screen devoted to Acura's own system.

I'm not a major CarPlay devotée, but my colleague Ben Zhang is, and he really liked this feature when he tested the TLX A-Spec in New Jersey after I drove the car in California. If you aren't going to go all in for CarPlay, Acura has sort of stumbled into an appealing arrangement with the dual screens.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider