Acura's hand-built TLX PMC will set you back just over $50,000

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In April, Acura announced that it was going to do a special version of its TLX sedan called the PMC, named after its Performance Manufacturing Center -- aka the facility where it builds the NSX -- because that's where all 360 examples would be hand-assembled.

What we didn't know about the TLX PMC is just how much Acura was planning on charging for the pleasure of owning a hand-assembled sedan in NSX-red paint. The company ballparked it at around $50,000, and the result is true to that estimate. Pricing has been pegged at $50,945, including destination, according to an announcement made earlier in July.

So what exactly does your nearly $51,000 buy you in Acura PMC-land? Well, in terms of what's on the spec sheet, it's essentially an appearance package for an A-Spec TLX all-wheel drive model. You get special NSX-only Valencia Red Pearl paint, some unique trim and different seats. In terms of performance it's the same as the standard car.

What's harder to quantify is the hand-built nature of the car and the degree of care with which Acura's master builders assembled this car. These aren't production-line vehicles, so everything gets installed, adjusted and tweaked to be just right (presumably). The vehicle also undergoes the same verification process as the NSX, which includes a dyno test.

Typically, to get this kind of attention to detail lavished on your vehicle during the assembly process, you'd have to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars at a boutique manufacturer and then deal with all the problems of owning a boutique exotic car. At the end of the day, your lovely handmade Acura is still an Acura, and the ownership experience should reflect that.

Honda's fancy cousin has started shipping all 360 TLX PMC models to dealers where, if you're quick and you're lucky, you can plunk your money down on one since Acura doesn't have any kind of special order process for the cars.