Just reading a review of the TLX from the NYAS, and the author mentions a DCT with a Torque converter. Call me crazy but I've always understood that dual clutches replace the Torque Converter?
I am crazy, but Honda is crazier. Listen to this, its brilliantly insane, udeful tooTLX buyers will be offered a choice of new engines exclusive to Acura - a direct injection 2.4L DOHC inline 4 making 206 hp and 182 lb.-ft. of torque and a direct injection 3.5L DOHC V6 generating 290 hp and 267 lb.-ft. of torque. The 4-cylinder engine is mated to an 8-speed dual clutch transmission with torque converter - a first for a production car - and the V6 is coupled to a new 9-speed automatic that is lighter, with three more gears, than the transmission on the outgoing TL.
I'm betting that's why the TLX V6 will not be available with the DCT, how could there possibly be room for a DCT and Torque converter to all be sandwiched transversely...But Honda has added an interesting fillip to the increasingly common DCT technology: a torque converter like that in a conventional automatic to smooth takeoff and low-speed downshifts, the points at which regular DCTs become jerky as they must slip their clutches to mimic the behavior of an automatic.
A brief lap of the Honda high-speed circuit in a 2013 Accord sedan equipped with the new 8-speed DCT with torque converter showed it to perform about as claimed.
Under power, accelerating up to highway speeds (and beyond), the feel was that of a DCT: fast sequential shifts.
But during a slow rollout from stop, the torque converter absorbed any surging or irregularity in torque delivery to the wheels in a way that few conventional DCTs have so far.