Acura is in the midsts of giving their lineup a bit of excitement once again. With such models as the new TLX and refreshed ILX, it seems Acura is figuring out how to make cars that appear to be fun. There could be more excitement on the way. Honda is currently readying a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder engine that will go into a number of their own vehicles. This has caused talk of whether or not Acura will use it as well. Car and Driver decided to ask Acura product planner Gary Robinson if the 2.0L turbo engine could go into the ILX.

“Acura is always going to get the best engines Honda makes,” he said. And the cars in which they will be found “will always be more powerful” than their Honda counterparts. “Obviously, a 2.0-liter turbo is more of a must-have in the luxury world than it is in the mainstream world, so . . ." said Robinson.

Now before you start dreaming of a turbocharged ILX, Robinson explained that the current ILX would require a lot of re-engineering to allow for the turbocharged engine to fit. Most likely it will come when the ILX is redesigned, expected in 2018 or 2019.

Source: Car and Driver

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With Acura dumping it's manual transmissions for slush-boxes, I fail to see how they're likely to win back any of their old fans. I also don't really see them making any inroads with the luxury crowd either as the brand still straddles the line between true luxury and just being a tarted up Honda.

I really do think the MT matters less and less, but the performance niche Acura had has sort of been absorbed by the German Marques.

And Honda is not well known for doing Awd, turbos or dct's well or anything else like that.

I know I'll sound like a GM fanboi here, but the Verano T is a better car in just about every measure unless you're specifically going for loud.

Failure before even leaving the gate for Acura.