Auburn Hills — The Tesla Model 3 and Y dominate the electric vehicle market. They are the standard by which all other EVs are judged. But as numerous Hertz customers have communicated to me, not everyone is comfortable in a Tesla. If you haven’t been in a Tesla before, the experience can be bewildering.

Where’s the instrument screen?How do I operate the mirrors?Why doesn’t it have any %#*!@ knobs?

Some folks just want a normal car. For those folks, there is the electric Nissan Leaf.

Small and nimble, the 2024 Nissan Leaf is fun in the twisties. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Leaf hit the U.S. market looong before the Model 3/Y in 2011 and — rather than tear up the blueprints and re-invent the automobile as Tesla did — Nissan’s intent was to create a good ol’ Nissan with an electric motor where the engine usually is found.

Getting acclimated to a Leaf is as easy as learning your way around a Nissan Sentra or Toyota Corolla or any of your typical gas-powered cars. I have a Tesla Model 3 and Subaru Impreza in my garage, and the Leaf has a lot more in common with the ‘Ru.

Hatchback. Similar interior space. Simple digital instrument and dashboard displays. Console choked with more buttons than an airline cockpit. I selected Drive from the console-mounted shifter (won’t find that on a Tesla) and I was off.

I adjusted my seat heater with a dash button. My mirrors with a door button. My temperature with a dash button. My AM radio station and favorite Sirius XM stations with a button. Heck, Tesla doesn’t even offer AM or Sirius XM stations.

Through the twisties of Oakland County back roads, my front-wheel-drive, top-trim SV Plus Leaf was as playful as our family FWD Impreza. With its short wheelbase and rigid chassis, the Nissan is eager to be thrown around, and I toggled e-Pedal for single-pedal driving using motor regen as a brake. Stomp on the gas pedal and you’re reminded this is an EV — instant, silent electric torque at the ready — even spinning the front wheels on slick winter roads out of stoplights.

Credit a 62 kWh battery in the SV Plus, which nearly triples in size over the OG 2011 model and its mere 24 kWh lithium-ion pack. It’s also a step up from the 40 kWh standard battery.

“Range aside, the Leaf seems like a normal car,” wrote our friends over at Car and Driver magazine back in 2010 of the new Leaf.

Oh, yes. Range.

The Leaf has certainly improved over the years from the OG’s 73-mile range when it debuted in 2010. With its bigger battery, the second-gen Leaf has not only gained better acceleration but better range as well. The $29K base S boasts 149 miles of range, and my range-topping SV Plus says it can go 212 miles in Normal mode.

But with more battery comes a lot more price (see the GMC Hummer EV at $100K-plus with a 210 kWh battery) and the SV Plus sticker jumps to $38K. That’s Tesla Model 3’s entry-level price with 240 miles of range and a proprietary charging network for when you want to hit the road. What’s more, the Leaf is no shoo-in for the capricious federal tax credit of $7,500 even though it is Made in the USA. Seems its battery sourcing is not to the liking of federal bureaucrats that spoon out the sugar. Dealers have been urging buyers to lease EVs since the $7,500 is easier to get that way.

I drove the Leaf locally during my week-long test — charging it back to full on my home-installed 240-volt garage charger. The Leaf pioneered CHAdeMO charging in the U.S. among mainstream autos, but that standard has fallen behind the CCS standard (favored by other manufacturers) and the fast-emerging de facto North American Charging Standard favored by Tesla.

My Leaf tester has both CHAdeMO and J-1772 plugs, which made it easy to charge at home on my Level 2, 240-volt garage unit (especially since the closet CHAdeMO to me was 15 miles away in Farmington Hills).

Had I hit the road, plugging into the CHAdeMO would have been a lot more effort than Tesla’s proprietary network and even growing CCS infrastructure. Bark your destination to the Tesla and it maps your route — including when-and-where to charge, nearby restaurants to wait out the charge, and so on. Leaf will only find chargers in the immediate vicinity (as well as gas stations, since it shares software with gas models), but it won’t map a route for you to the third-party chargers that pepper the landscape. Best to download a Better Route Planner app on your phone. Time to Charlevoix from Detroit compared to a gas model? Ninety minutes longer due to two looong charging stops.

More problematic: EV range doesn’t hold up in Michigan’s cold winter climates. Chart a course up north, for example, and you need to be cognizant that some fast chargers are 100 miles apart, which can get tricky for low-range 212-mile models like Leaf.

It’s typical for my Tesla Model 3 (and other EVs) to get just 60% of range traveling at 75 mph in 30-degree weather. That means 127 miles of range in a fully charged Leaf, so you might want to back off the accelerator pedal to 65-70 (which ain’t easy for your lead foot reporter). Expect to sit at the chargers for awhile, too. The Leaf can only charge up to 50 kW compared to 250 kW for Teslas.

The Leaf’s natural competitor, the Bolt, gets more range at 258, but I’ve seen Bolts crawling into chargers on I-75 on the way north with little range left. Speaking of natural competitors, the Toyota Prius hybrid starts to sound juicy with its 588 miles of range. Remember when Prius was the trendy choice?

Given their small size, Leaf and Bolt are best relied on as local cars where you can charge at work — or have a charger at home. If you eschew road trips for air travel, Leaf is in your wheelhouse. From its geeky roots, the nerdy Leaf’s wardrobe has been upgraded to fit in with other Nissans — though its center hood-mounted charge port is as convenient as ever.

The interior of the 2024 Nissan Leaf. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

The mantle of Top EV has been handed off to the Ariya SUV and its fashionable interior. Ariya gets the latest self-driving software (sorry, Leaf), fancy bronze paint options (sorry, Leaf) and better, 130 kWh, CCS fast charging (sorry, Leaf). But Ariya also gets fancy haptic touch controls with no knobs.

Oh. No knobs?

Check out the good ol’ analog Leaf across the showroom.

2024 Nissan Leaf

Vehicle type: Battery-powered, front-wheel drive five-passenger hatchback

Price: $29,280, including $1,095 destination ($38,210 SV Plus as tested)

Powerplant: 40 kWh or 60 kWh lithium-ion battery mated to electric motor

Power: 147 horsepower, 236 pound-feet of torque (40 kWh battery); 215 horsepower, 251 pound-feet of torque (60 kWh)

Transmission: Single-speed direct drive

Performance: 0-60 mph, 6.8 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 106 mph

Weight: 3,831 (as tested)

Fuel economy: EPA est. range, 149 miles (40 kWh battery); 212 miles (60 kWh battery as tested)

Report card

Highs: One pedal driving; easy-to-use controls

Lows: Lacks range; lacks charger navigation system

Overall: 2 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.

Daytona Beach — Roger Penske won his second Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona on Sunday, leading a Motor City onslaught on the Super Bowl of American sportscar racing.

Team Penske’s #7 Porsche 963 GTP racer beat the #31 Whelan Cadillac GTP of Ganassi Racing to the line by just two seconds after 24 hours of nail-biting racing, with the two top dogs swapping the lead multiple times.

2024 Rolex 24 Horus of Daytona had it all from 11 automakers, Mustang vs. Corvette battle, a record nine female drivers and 15 IndyCar drivers; even Brad Pitt was there in a racing suit shooting a movie.

Victory: #7: Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP: Matt Campbell, Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron, Josef Newgarden, podium. Courtesy of IMSA. Michael L. Levitt, LAT Images

The Rolex 24 set an attendance record, with the biggest crowd in its 62-year history. Here are the highlights:

Penske leads the D in the D. The last time “The Captain,” 86, won a Daytona 24-Hour race was in 1969 when he was just 32 years old.

Emotional after the race, he was nonetheless typically understated. “This was a good win for us, now we have to go win Le Mans.” Le Mans, in the heart of France, is the world’s most prestigious endurance race and one of the rare baubles not in Penske’s trophy case.

For Porsche, it was the 19^th time they’ve been atop the Role 24 podium, a record. That number equals the number of wins Penske has at the Indy 500. Josef Newgarden, the IndyCar ace who won his first Indy 500 last year for Bloomfield Hills-based Team Penske, was on the four-man team that won the Daytona 24 Hour. Dane Cameron, Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasir rounded out the lineup, with the latter bringing the red-and-white Porsche across the finish line after a sterling duel with Cadillac driver Tom Blomqvist, who won the race a year ago for Acura.

“To see Roger in tears, this means a lot. It’s very special, and congratulations to Porsche, it was a team effort,” said Newgarden, one of 15 IndyCar drivers in the highly competitive 59-car field.

The Porsche Penske win was hard-earned over the #31 Cadillac that Pipo Derani had put on the pole, smashing the track record by two seconds. Porsche entered four GTP prototype cars in the contest — two from Team Penske — but it was the #7 that kept up with the Caddy’s torrid pace from the start. The two hybrid-V8-powered machines never ran into serious reliability problems — even as their BMW and Acura competitors struggled with bugs.

Ford vs. Corvette. Detroit’s two most famous muscle cars squared off in the GT class for the first time with all-new GT3 cars that the brands now offer for sale to customer racing teams across the globe. Corvette fielded two factory-backed teams managed by New Hudson’s Pratt & Miller, plus two private entries from AWA. Mustang fielded two factory Ford Performance teams and one private entry from Proton Competition.

In anticipation of the Detroit face-off, the Rolex 24’s official T-shirt featured the Mustang and Corvette.

The Mustangs qualified well down in the field, but it didn’t take long for them to find race pace with the #65 car at the hands of veteran Joey Hand spearing through the field of Lamborghinis, Porsches and Ferraris early on. Four hours into the race at sunset, the GT competition was a Detroit shootout with the #65 Mustang running first and the Pratt & Miller Corvettes just seconds behind in third and fourth.

Alas, the night would not be kind to the Motown muscle entrants. One of the Corvettes punted the sister #64 Ford Performance Mustang while under caution, sending it careening into the Proton Mustang, forcing the latter to retire with heavy damage. The #64 soldiered on, but many laps down. Before noon on Sunday, mechanical issues had befallen all of the Detroit GT competitors, with the #65 Mustang and both AWA Corvettes joining the Proton Mustang behind the wall.

The #3 Corvette finished fifth in class, the #64 Mustang sixth and the #3 Corvette eighth.

Brad Pitt. The American heartthrob has been a fixture in Daytona Beach for the last two weeks, shooting scenes for his new racing movie, tentatively titled “Apex.” On Saturday night, he was in pit lane, filming footage. Pitt’s character is reportedly a veteran sportscar racer coaching an up-and-coming Formula One driver. Pitt attracted plenty of attention along pit lane, but so did Patrick Long (the legendary, ex-Penske Porsche racer who won Daytona in 2009 and is featured in the film) and Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who has produced classics like “Top Gun, “Flashdance” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

The movie crew also had cameras in the #120 Porsche GT entry and a paddock garage full of movie cars in similar livery.

Funky trunk. Racing programs are key to technology transfer as production vehicles learn from the abuse race cars take over 24 hours of motor racing at the limit. But the Mustang GT3 could learn from the production Mustang on keeping its trunk shut.

Both Ford Mustang Performance factory cars had to take early pit stops after their rear bonnets shredded. Faulty rear pins were to blame.

Cadillac thunder. “I’m an audio geek,” said General Motors Co.’s director of performance and racing propulsion, Russell O’Blenes, and the Cadillac GTP car was proof. The 5.0-liter overhead-cam 670-horsepower beast could be heard all around the Daytona tri-oval, and that’s by design. Even as it revved to 8,800 rpm like a Ferrari, the big bopper had the low baritone of a classic GM V-8.

“We want the race car to have as close a correlation to the customer as possible,” he said as the Caddy thundered by on Daytona’s high banking. “And the customer passion for V-8s is incredible.”

“He doesn’t sleep.” So said Porsche Motorsport chief Urs Kuratle of the ageless Roger Penske when Porsche Penske first partnered last year at Daytona. The 86-year-old is renowned in the IMSA paddock for being awake for the entire 24-hour race in the team’s paddock command center. “The man is a national treasure,” smiled veteran AP racing correspondent Jenna Fryer.

The Super Bowl (of racing). Daytona International Speedway’s mile-long main grandstand and stadium would make the NFL proud. Built in 1958 for $15 million, the 10-story, 100,000-seat structure was renovated 10 years ago for $400 million with state-of-the-art corporate suites and tech.

On the seventh floor, a massive data system crunches nine terabytes of data during the Rolex 24, monitoring everything from the 59-car entry’s tire pressures to engine torque to make sure the racing is fair.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Sterling Heights — Three-row SUVs are pickups with hatchbacks, so Mrs. Payne and I took my 2024 Lexus TX 500h Direct 4 to Gardner White to complete our month-long search for a big, stuffed sofa chair.

Ahead of our chair pickup, we called the GW furniture department to make certain the mega-chair would fit.

Salesman: What’s a Lexus TX?

Me: It’s like a Chevy Traverse.

Salesman: Oh yeah, you should be fine.

The Paynes load a sofa chair into the 2024 Lexus TX 550h F Sport at Gardner White’s loading dock.. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

We measured, he was right. The chair was 25” tall x 38” deep, which fit (sideways) through the rear hatch. The chair’s biggest dimension was width at 52” but the interior easily swallowed that with the rear two rows of seats flattened. Heck, with 85” of room from the back of the front seat to the hatch, we could have fit our living room sofa in there. TX for Texas-sized.

For all their utility, three-row mid-sized SUVs are a varied lot depending on brand. A BMW X7 has more technology than the space shuttle (and probably horsepower, too). The Dodge Durango Hellcat is also a rocket ship on wheels — and, like a Charger Hellcat, offers cinema-size rear seats so the whole family can enjoy the theatrics. The Mazda CX-90? Honey, I blew up the Miata.

Now along comes Lexus with its first mature three-row unibody ute, and it’s got all of the Toyota family DNA: Hybrid power, Lexus RX interior, Papa Prius quirkiness.

What big utes are for. The 2024 Lexus TX 550h F Sport swallows a sofa chair at Gardner White. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Being a descendent of Prius used to mean geeky design and interior features in weird places (think shifters on the dash). But for ‘24, Prius has cleaned up its act with a handsome, minimalist design. So, too, Lexus TX. Circling the TX in the Gardner White parking lot, I was struck by how much my tester looked like … well, a Chevy Traverse parked nearby.

Clean lines, boxy shape, slab sides, square jaw. Made in Indiana, which may explain the Midwest accent. “That’s really nice looking,” said my wife’s gal pal Jameson.

Where was the Darth Vader maw (“Spindle Grille” in Lexus speak) that I had just tested on the Lexus UX 250h? Where were the deeply scalloped side flanks? Zany rear hatchback design? The TX is spare, purposeful — dare I say conservative? The front fascia could pass for the simple Shake Shack logo.

I pressed the key fob’s unlock button just to make sure I had the right vehicle. Like GM’s three-row products — Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia — the Lexus is built for travel. German SUVs are built for vroom, TX for room.

It’s not just the chair-swallowing rear cargo hold. With all three rows of seats upright, the Lexus will carry a men’s basketball lineup and its sixth man. At 6’5”, I could sit behind myself in the third row. Lexus engineers were thoughtful enough to add space under the second row for my size-15 shoes as well. Access to the third row is easy: push the button on top of the seatback or yank the handle on the seat bottom, and the captain’s chair will collapse forward.

Careful exiting, though. After collapsing the seat forward, I tried to exit the third row facing forward. Bad idea. My foot slipped on the slick door rail and — YAAAHHH! — I sprawled forward, my right knee buckling under the middle seat. Note to self: Exit backward, like climbing down from a ladder.

The roomy theme pervaded the cabin, including a console that can charge phones and square cupholders that accommodate a variety of bottles. Even the name is big: TX500h F SPORT Performance Direct 4. Allow me to translate:

TX tops an (out of order) alphanumeric SUV lineup that includes the subcompact UX, compact NX, midsize RX, rugged GX and full-size LX. The number 500 is the top trim model and h = Hybrid. F SPORT designates a performance trim with standard Direct 4 all-wheel drive with four-wheel steer.

The 2024 Lexus TX 550h F Sport features a 360-degree camera which helps back the big ute into tight sports.. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

It all gels for a surprisingly peppy driving experience anchored by a hybrid 4-cylinder drivetrain that debuted in the geeky Pious — er, Prius — 25 years ago.

That’s right. Behind that Shake Shack grille is a Prius-like gas-hybrid powertrain made up of a nickel-hydride metal battery, electric motors and a 2.4-liter turbocharged 4-banger. No Bimmer-like V-6 or Durango-like V-8. Just a good ol’ Toyota hybrid that somehow pumps out 366 horsepower and 406 pound-feet of torque. The same turbo-4 is available in the standard TX 350, or you can move up to hybrid V-6 in the 550h plug-in to creep silently around town for 33 miles on electrons.

My F SPORT dressed in Incognito (clay gray) is the sweet spot. Without a giant sofa chair in the cargo bay, I nailed the throttle onto I-75 and the 4,949-pound land yacht merged with authority.

From geek to chic, Prius’s hybrid powertrain is so mainstream it powers a three-row family luxury SUV. Lexus also indulges its inner geek in operation. The space-saving monostable shifter is right out of the Prius and helps save console room. Happily, Lexus has abandoned its unworkable console touchpad for a proper, 14-inch touchscreen. With fat temperature dials, TX’s system echoes the best-selling RX.

The TX’s haptic adaptive cruise control steering wheel controls are more problematic. GM products do this best with raised switches, roller and buttons that allow you to adjust speed and volume without taking your eyes off the road.

The Lexus attempts that same feat with a steering touchpad that controls info in the head-up display. On I-75, my eyes never left the road, but the touchpad was cumbersome to operate. That head-up display comes with a pricey $2,380 Technology package that includes two essentials in a three-row this size: auto park and panoramic camera.

The latter came in handy as I backed into the Gardner White loading dock to load our chair (and again when I unloaded the chair in our garage). Between the cameras, collapsing side mirrors and the constant beeping of sensors, I was able to back right up to the GW dock where the chair awaited.

Gardner White dock operator: I love Lexus. My 2005 E350 sedan has 350,000 miles on it and runs like a top.

Me: That’s the Lexus secret sauce.

Plus, this one will carry a sofa chair.

Next week: 2024 Nissan Leaf

2024 Lexus TX

Vehicle type: Front-engine, front- and all-wheel-drive six- or seven-passenger SUV

Price: $55,050, including $1,350 destination fee ($77,159 TX500h F Sport as tested)

Powerplant: 2.4-liter turbocharged inline 4-cylinder (TX350); Hybrid 2.4-liter turbocharged inline 4-cylinder with 1.4 kWh nickel metal hydride battery and two electric motors (TX500h)

Power: 275 horsepower, 317 pound-feet of torque (turbo-4); 366 horsepower, 406 pound-feet of torque (hybrid)

Transmissions: 8-speed automatic (TX350); 6-speed automatic/direct drive (TX550h)

Performance: 0-60 mph (5.7 seconds, Car and Driver); towing capacity, 5,000 pounds

Weight: 4,949 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA, 27 mpg city/28 highway/27 combined

Report card

Highs: Simple styling; roomy interior

Lows: Bland interior by luxe standards; finicky head-up display

Overall: 3 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Hell — At a time when electric vehicle mandates are forcing a commoditization of auto products, the Type S dynamic duo of the Acura Integra and TLX are welcome rebels.

I fell hard for the Integra Type S when it debuted last year, and now the TLX Type S gets a healthy mid-cycle update for 2024. Dressed in Urban Grey Peal, body stampings you could slice paper with and quad tailpipes the size of ship cannons, the TLX Type S isn’t shy.

I took it out on Hell’s asphalt dance floor this January to tango. When I turned the fat DRIVE MODE knob to SPORT+, the Acura suspension noticeably stiffened. The 10-speed transmission dropped a gear. The engine growled. We danced across Hadley Road, the big sedan’s turbo V-6 delivering effortless power while the neutral chassis rotated beautifully through corners.

With a 355 horses and a liquid-smooth, 10-speed transmission, the 2024 Acura TLX Type S was a joy in Hell’s winding roads. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Born in 2020, TLX is still cursed by inherent flaws of a mouse pad-controlled console screen and cramped rear seats in a brutally competitive luxury muscle space. Those flaws were corrected on its Integra stablemate.

The pair make for an intriguing choice. But first, let’s hear it for muscle.

Performance auto fans are blue as the auto industry struggles with a government-forced transition to electrics. Mandating battery-powered drivetrains is inevitably breeding homogeneity: quiet, smooth soap bars focused on maximizing range.

That’s the opposite of highly individualized, multi-cylinder hellions aimed at enthusiasts. Recent years have seen low-volume standouts of the breed — Chevy Camaro, Dodge Challenger, Dodge Charger, Kia Stinger, Hyundai Veloster, Audi TT, Ford Focus/Fiesta ST, Alfa Romeo 4C — sacrificed for low-volume EVs aimed at meeting government regs.

Increasingly enthusiasts must seek refuge — not in bespoke models like Camaro and Challenger, but in performance sub-brands of existing models like Cadillac CT5-V, BMW M340i, Audi S5. Type S is Acura’s sub-brand that endows TLX with a special 355-horsepower six that immediately got me thinking of Hell.

Hell, Michigan, that is, where the roads are curved and people scarce — a playground for Type S, which is aimed at enthusiasts, but not track rats. For the hardcore motorhead, there are steroid-fed 500-plus-horsepower cyborgs like the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, BMW M3 and Audi RS5. The Type S is a middle ground between beauty and beast — a sedan upgraded to thrill without a supercar bill (my favorite CT5-V Blackwing, for example, rings the register at $100K).

My $58K TLX Type S tester, meanwhile, boasts a sticker not far from some of our dearly departed favorites: the $53K Dodge Charger Scat Pack and $53K Kia Stinger GT2, for example. It does this while providing luxurious red leather confines, rad styling handed down from the NSX supercar and an array of standard safety features, including blind-spot assist, adaptive cruise control and Brembo brakes.

For the new model year, Acura also gifted TLX standard jewelry like a fashionable, frameless front grille, new wheel designs, digital instrument cluster, 12.3-inch dash screen, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, 360-degree camera and 10.5-inch head-up display. That’s a lotta goodies under the Christmas tree.

The ergonomics complementing these tech goodies are typically excellent for a Honda product, including NSX supercar hand-me-downs like a compact trigger shifter and meaty Drive Mode knob. Notably, the head-up display is operated by a button on the left dash so 5’5” Mrs. Payne and her 6’5” husband don’t have to fish around in the infotainment screen every time we swap seats.

So it’s a surprise the Type S’s two big negatives are ergonomic: remote-controlled screen and small back seat. Even Lexus has abandoned its mouse-pad screen controller — joining Bimmer, Audi, Mercedes and Cadillac with touchscreens (ooooh, check out the 2025 CT5’s new Lyriq-like 33-inch screen).

It’s a smartphone world, and touchscreens rule. The TLX rear seats? Too small for a sedan this size.

Walk across the Acura showroom and TLX’s new little brother, Integra Type S, gets it. Indeed, little brother has a significant 2.5 more inches of legroom in back, courtesy of its shared Civic chassis. Also shared with Civic is a touchscreen with similar standard goodies as TLX: wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, HUD, adaptive cruise control, blind spot-assist, digital instrument display and those comfy red-leather thrones.

Integra’s touchscreen is a major improvement and also opens up console space. My Gen X son is a hot-hatch fan and loves his Mazda3 Turbo but wishes it had a touchscreen. Were he to enter Acura’s showroom, he would run to the Integra Type S.

At $5K less than big brother, the $52K 320-horse, turbo-4-powered Integra Type S also gains a hatchback for better utility and loses a whopping 1,000 pounds over TLX. As fun as the TLX Type S is in Hell’s twisties, the lighter Integra is even sharper. The Integra Type S even gains Dodge Widebody-style blistered fenders for added visual menace.

No wonder I wrote “the Integra Type S is as good as it gets” last year after shredding California Route 150. No wonder Car and Driver elevated Integra Type S to its coveted “10 Best List.”

And yet.

Before you turn your back on the TLX and write that Integra check, consider the white powder that buried my driveway as I returned from Hell. The TLX’s all-wheel-drive system drove up my steep driveway like snow wasn’t even there.

It’s an asset Acura didn’t bestow on Integra Type S — unlike its $50,000 AWD competitive set of Audi S3, BMW M235i XDrive and Mercedes CLA AMG 35. Also unlike those beasts, Integra Type S is only available in a stick. Whoooooaaaa! My son just stopped in his tracks.

As much as we motorheads like manual shifters, they can be a turn-off for daily driving — and distasteful to other members of the family who don’t share our passion. As modern as Integra Type S is for a new generation of buyer, the stick shift is a throwback.

Especially when you consider TLX Type S’s delicious 10-speed manual. As I stomped on the gas through Hell, the tranny was smooth as silk, swapping gears like a pro. No jerks, no confusion. To satisfy my Neanderthal manual-mode needs, I used the steering column paddles. They are as crisp as any I’ve driven. Through Hadley Road’s undulating sweepers, I flicked easily between 4^th, 5^th and 6^th gears — the gearbox, engine and AWD system dancing as one.

Quad pipes like ship cannons. You’ll know the 2024 Acura TLX Type S by its four exhaust pipes out back. . Henry Payne, The Detroit News

So rejoice that Acura offers not one — but two — compact mid-sized performance cars: TLX and Integra Type S. Do you like a manual and touchscreen? Or automatic and all-wheel drive?

The choice is yours.

Next week: 2024 Lexus TX

2024 Acura TLX Type S

Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive five-passenger sports sedan

Price: $53,325, including $1,025 destination fee ($58,825 as tested)

Powerplant: 3.0-liter turbocharged 6-cylinder

Power: 355 horsepower, 354 pound-feet of torque

Transmissions: 10-speed automatic

Performance: 0-60 mph (4.9 seconds, Car and Driver); top speed, 155 mph

Weight: 4,221 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA 19 mpg city/25 highway/21 combined

Report card

Highs: Distinctive styling inside and out; smooth 10-speed auto transmission

Lows: Maddening touchpad; small back seat

Overall: 3 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

Oakland County — The auto industry’s emerging electric car segment begs the question: how do you differentiate brands if everything sounds like a quiet, electric motor-driven Tesla? Porsche’s answer is Porsche-like handling. The Mustang Mach-E pipes in an artificial growl. Dodge says its Daytona Banshee’s electronic Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust will roar like, well, a banshee.

Actually, luxury automakers have been struggling with this issue for a while. As electronics democratize auto tech and nanny mpg laws forced drivetrains to downsize to 4-cylinders and CVT transmissions, premium brands have had to hone their brand identities.

Take the Lexus UX 250h F Sport sitting in my driveway. You can see it from space.

With big grille, lots of body cuts, and flashy wheels, the 2023 Lexus UX 250h stands out. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Lexus’s entry-level ute wears a wild wardrobe that would make Gene Simmons proud. Yuuuuge front grille. Angular peepers with L-shaped eyebrow running lights. L-shaped gills. Dramatic swept flanks that look like the sheet metal was shaped by desert winds. Narrow greenhouse that finishes with three-dimensional taillights arching across the rear.

It’s polarizing. Outrageous. A design statement. At $47,930, my hybrid F Sport Handling tester added a moonroof, power-folding mirrors and a kick-open rear hatch. This is a brand you won’t confuse with any other.

Open the front doors and the drama continues. The front seats wrap me in red leather. A Cyclops-eye instrument gauge slides back and forth, depending on how you like your drive data displayed. Drive modes are selected using one of the devil’s horns that sprout from the instrument hoodie. Tweak the horn to SPORT or SPORT PLUS and the instrument gauge glows (appropriately) red.

Loud mouth. Red leather. Hoodie. Devil’s horns. Oh, this bad boy wants to misbehave. Grab the shifter, yank it into DRIVE and the Lexus’s bark … is worse than its bite.

Stomp the throttle and the 181-horsepower engine drones. Never mind that similarly priced luxury competitors like the Audi Q3 and BMW X2 boast much more powerful turbo-4s — the Lexus will be eaten for lunch by mainstream brands like the 250-horse Mazda CX-30 or 210-horse Kia Soul Turbo.

The latter pair cost less than 35 grand while also offering all-wheel drive and distinctive styling.

Indeed, for a grand less than my 250h tester, you could buy my coveted all-wheel-drive hot hatch VW Golf R with 315 horsepower, digital tech, two more inches of rear legroom/two more cubic feet of cargo space and be the envy of every motorhead on your block. Heck, for the same coin, the BMW X1 has 60 more horsepower, four more inches of rear legroom, and eight more cubic feet of cargo space.

But they don’t carry Lexus badges.

The 2023 Lexus UX 250h offers front or all-wheel-drive with the latter preferred for Michigan winters. . Henry Payne, The Detroit News

The auto industry talks about the Cult of Tesla and its hordes of fans who worship the brand’s pioneering, risk-taking, high-tech EV cars. Never mind the, ahem, quality issues. Lexus owners are no less cultish — they just prioritize.

Lexus vehicles are bone reliable, winning so many quality trophies that Tokyo HQ long ago ran out of shelf space. That quality is backed by Disney-quality dealer service, which lavishes customers with attention. I’ve met Lexus owners who love their dealer contact more than their dog.

Tesla fans marinate in sex appeal but, um would like a little show of quality every once in a while. Over on the Lexus side of the dance floor, they are at home in the trusty arms of their brand, but, um, would it kill them just to take me out on the dance floor and do the swing?

Just once?

Tesla quality is improving and so is Lexus sex appeal. Beneath the UX 250h’s wardrobe is a good ol’ conservative, reliable appliance.

While autos like the $35K Chevy Bolt EUV (Super Cruise) and $50K Tesla Model 3 (Autopilot) push cutting-edge driver-assistance features, my Lexus offered adaptive cruise control. Cruising down Telegraph Road toward stopped cars at a traffic light, the Lexus’s average system would only brake hard once it was nearly on top of the traffic. Um, better to intervene.

BMW and Cadillac sport superb interior ergonomics like tactile steering-wheel controls that you can locate easily with your thumbs so you never have to take your eyes off the road — or squint at the controls in the dark. UX’s average control buttons, however, are flat and hard to locate by touch alone.

Lexus steps it up when it comes to infotainment.

Long a laggard in tech like voice command software and Apple CarPlay, Lexus offers an “Intelligent Assistant” system with a native navi system on par with Google Maps. On the way to the airport with Mrs. Payne, I barked our destination — Hey Lexus! Navigate to QuikPark, Romeo, Michigan — and the system understood my West Virginia accent like we’d grown up together.

Still, Mrs. Payne prefers Apple CarPlay (and Android Auto) so she can play her Spotify music lists and pre-set a destination on her phone in the house (that then translates to Apple CarPlay in the car). It’s a wireless world (except, ironically, for government edicts forcing automakers on the electric car cord), and the Lexus hybrid is in sync.

As the car rotated onto Telegraph, my wife instantly grabbed for the ceiling handle to brace herself. But the Lexus is no Mazda CX-30 Turbo, so I took the corner at a moderate pace.

The F Sport trim offers paddle shifters, but I never touched them. Indeed, the AWD system is hardly necessary for burning rubber out of stoplights — Lexus clocked an 8.4 second run from 0-60 mph — but owners will find it useful in Michigan snow. Indeed, the most interesting drivetrain feature was to gauge how long I could maintain electric power at low speeds before the gas engine kicked in.

True to the commoditization of vehicles today, the UX 250h has the same CVT automatic transmission found in a Toyota Corolla Cross. But unlike the UX Darth Vader-mobile dressed in red leather, Gene Simmons would never give the Toyota a second look.

Next week:

2023 Lexus UX 250h

Vehicle type: Front engine, front- and all-wheel-drive, five-passenger hybrid SUV

Price: $36,490, including $1,150 destination fee ($47,930 F Sport as tested)

Powerplant: 2.0-liter 4-cylinder mated to twin electric motors (as tested)

Power: 181 horsepower

Transmission: Continuously variable transmission

Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.4 seconds (mfr.); top speed, 110 mph

Weight: 3,604 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA est. mpg 41 city/38 highway/39 combined (AWD as tested)

Report card

Highs: Much improved interior displays; lots of personality

Lows: Tight rear seat; personality ends when you press the pedal

Overall: 3 stars

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.