Hot Damn They had this thing to look cool

You are forgiven if you have forgotten the Acura ILX was a thing. The compact Honda Civic sedan has never really been a viable competitor for a BMW 3 Series, let alone an Audi A3, and to top it off, it was incredibly boring. Acura has at least corrected the last problem with this update for 2019, and that seems pretty good.

The 2019 ILX threw the old Acura beaked grille and anonymous bumpy lines on the much sharper grille that we saw on the brand's new sedans and SUVs, in addition to a new front fascia and taillights more aggressive. It looks a lot less like a renamed civic than before, which is fine.

Under the hood, it still uses the 2.4-liter naturally aspirated i-VTEC engine of the old non-turbo Civic Si, with a horsepower of 201 horsepower. Unfortunately, the manual transmission option has disappeared, the only gearbox being an eight-speed dual-clutch unit. Never mind. I can not win them all.

Other enhancements include new sports seats, an optional updated touch screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, standard active safety systems and a modified interior. The higher variant is the ILX A-Spec, which is largely a suite of sports cosmetic treatments both inside and out. Let's hope that a variant of type S happens, because it's one more thing.

Prices have not been announced for this model, but the current price is less than $ 30,000.

As I said before, I used a ILX prepared for the track while I was doing Mid-Ohio School a few years ago, and I was pleasantly surprised by the power of this machine. While he had improved the tires, brakes and springs stiffer, and the manual gearbox now dead, but she could fend for herself. It's a more fun car than you may know, and these upgrades may deserve a second look. Or, really, a first.