2015 Acura ILX 2.4L Premium with 201-horsepower

2015 Acura ILX 2.4L Premium with 201-horsepower - I got a crack at the ILX Premium with the 2.4-liter engine and six-speed manual transmission. Since I had already spent a week with the 2015 Honda Civic Si, I knew what the engine and transmission were all about. What I didn’t know was whether the throaty, high-revving i-VTEC engine was appropriate for a luxury car. With my weeklong drive in the books, I was able to formulate an opinion on the ILX sedan. You can read all of my thoughts on it after the jump.

The last time Acura made a compact luxury car based on the Civic we received the RSX, which had a cult-like following but ultimately didn’t fit what Acura was trying to be. After only five model years, Acura laid the RSX to rest and left the Civic alone for a few years. With the luxury compact sedan market as hot as it had ever been, Acura chose to meddle with the Civic again and released the 2013 ILX. Initially, the ILX had three drivetrains available: two gasoline drivetrains and one hybrid. As we head into the 2015 model year, Acura wisely cut the slow-selling hybrid model and left the two gasoline powertrains, which include a 150-horsepower 2.0-liter and a 201-horsepower 2.4-liter, to take on the likes of the Mercedes CLA250 and Buick Verano.