2014 Acura ILX Gets More Standard Features, Higher Price

Photo courtesy of Acura

The Acura ILX, which was all-new for 2013, is getting more standard features, improved interior materials and a $1,000 price bump for the 2014 model year.
Updates include new wheels, new leatherette door liners and new leather seating upholstery. The 2014 ILX also gains an eight-way power driver’s seat, heated front seats and a multi-angle backup camera as standard equipment, according to a press release. Other standard upgrades include a new stereo subwoofer and an active noise cancellation system. The $1,000 price increase raises the ILX’s base price to $26,900.
Autoblog notes that Acura is upgrading the ILX just one year after its release, mirroring the refresh of the 2013 Honda Civic after being fully redesigned for 2012. The publication speculates that part of the motivation for upgrading the ILX was that with the upgrades performed on the Civic for 2013, there wasn’t enough in the way of features or luxury content to distinguish the ILX from the Civic.

Photo courtesy of Acura

USA Today is disappointed that the updates don’t go farther. Specifically, they would like to see the inclusion of an automatic transmission option with the larger engine available in the ILX. The ILX comes standard with a 150-horsepower, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine and a five-speed automatic transmission. The larger engine is a 2.4-liter four-cylinder with 201 horsepower, which is paired exclusively with a six-speed manual transmission.
The ILX competes with other upscale small cars including the $24,200 2013 Volkswagen GTI, $23,080 2013 Buick Verano and $27,270 2013 Audi A3. While the GTI and Verano’s prices undercut the 2014 ILX’s price, neither comes with as many standard features. For example, the Verano comes standard with a backup camera, but both it and the GTI offer leather seats only as an option.