For its second model year, Acura has added new features to the ILX compact sedan, which serves as its entry-level vehicle.

The 2014 Acura ILX will go on sale tomorrow at dealers for Honda's luxury brand, but an announcement of new features and upgrades thus far applies only to the two conventionally powered models.

Those offer either a 150-horsepower, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine or a more powerful 201-hp, 2.4-liter four.

The smaller engine is paired with a five-speed automatic transmission, while the higher-output four drives the front wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox.

The 2014 ILX models being updated get eight new features, including 17-inch alloy wheels, an eight-way power driver's seat, leather seating surfaces and heated front seats, and a rearview camera that covers multiple angles.

The audio system has been enhanced with a new sub-woofer, and the car now employs Active Noise Cancellation to cancel out certain types of road noise by playing "anti-noise" through the car's speakers.

The base price of the 2014 Acura ILX with 2.0-liter engine and automatic transmission goes up by $1,000, to $26,900 before delivery.

Acura's release announcing the 2014 changes says only that, "Information on the 2014 Acura ILX Hybrid will be announced at a later date."

The ILX Hybrid uses essentially the same powertrain as the Honda Civic Hybrid: a 111-horsepower, 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine with a 15-kilowatt electric motor sandwiched between the engine and Honda's continuously variable transmission (CVT).

2014 Acura ILX

2014 Acura ILX

The two 2014 ILX models are rated at a combined 25 mpg for the 2.4-liter and 28 mpg for the 2.0-liter, along with 38 mpg for the 2013 ILX Hybrid.

The two cars share some underpinnings and are both assembled at a Honda plant in Ohio; the lighter Civic Hybrid is rated at 44 mpg combined.

When we drove the 2013 Acura ILX Hybrid last summer, we found  that while it returned more than 40 mpg on our usual test cycle, the car was simply underpowered in some types of driving.

Out of 12,251 ILX models sold during 2012, only 972 (or 7.9 percent) were hybrids. Similarly, through April, just 535 (7.1 percent) of 7,508 were ILX Hybrids.

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