People have slanted views. The TLX is pretty much an Accord. The Accord has won 25+ C&D top 10 awards, more then any other car ever and is great for being best in its class. The TLX is a more luxurious version all around. Sure if they put it up against BMW it falls short in *performance* but that doesn't mean anything. The TLX is not really built in any way to compete *against* them but live in the category of a well made car with great (not top end) luxury, technology and craft. It does well. If they compared the *other* "competitor" cars to what the TLX is meant to be then they fall short.... especially in the price "band for the buck" department. I wouldn't take any of them (except maybe an IS350 which I used to own.... which was also fielded complaints like it didn't have the "performance" of a BMW... yet whooped its arss in Luxury) for my daily 80 mile commute for which I now have an average of 30.2 mpg in 750 registered miles. Many of the people complaining about the TLX are the same that drool over Accords... makes no sence.