At least in terms of acceleration.
With every new generation, most of the performance cars on the market are getting smaller engines. Remember when the BMW M5 had a V10 engine between 2004 and 2010? Or when the Mercedes-AMG C63 sported a 6.2-liter V8 under the hood? Well, those days are gone now and we have to deal with cars that are generally heavier and have smaller engines in terms of displacement and number of cylinders.
The Acura TLX A-Spec is another very good example of the downsizing trend in the performance segment. The latest generation of the sporty sedan has a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with 272 horsepower (203 kilowatts) and 290 pound-feet (393 Newton-meters) of torque, which replaced the 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V6 of its predecessor with 290 hp (216 kW) and 267 lb-ft (362 Nm) of twist. Their ideological predecessor, the TL A-Spec, had an even larger 3.7-liter V6 with 305 hp (227 kW) and 273 lb-ft (370 Nm) of torque.
There's A New TLX Type S Now:
A new drag race finally puts the three generations of the performance sedan against each other in a direct drag race. Sam CarLegion on YouTube has a new 10-minute video racing three unmodified examples of the more luxurious and faster Accord from the 2010, 2020, and 2021 model years. And just to clarify, the latter two are completely different in terms of powertrains despite just the single year separating them.
Gallery: 2021 Acura TLX Type S: First Drive
Even the basic stats show there is a difference between these three cars. The newest edition is the least powerful and heaviest of the trio, though it has an efficient and fast 10-speed automatic gearbox. The 2010 model has the most ponies under the hood and is also the lightest, but its six-speed manual gearbox can probably be seen as a disadvantage in a drag race.
Watch the video and let us know - would you trade a little performance for the comfort of the more modern TLX A-Spec?
Source: Sam CarLegion on YouTube
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