All-new Acura TL rates car of the year for all weather
Everywhere you look, somebody is naming a car of the year award, and there are a lot of valid candidates. But the list gets a lot smaller if the criteria included driving eas in the snow-belt, where, especially in an industrial-strength winter like this one, the Acura TL might be an easy winner.
Acura is HondaÂ’s upscale line, introduced because Honda didnÂ’t want to see its customers mature from Civics to Accords and then to Mercedes, BMW or Audi as their earnings peaked and led them toward a luxury brand. At first there was the top Acura Legend, the Vigor and the Integra, and they evolved to the alpha-numeric 3.5 RL, and the middle sized 3.2 TL. The Integra went away for a couple of years, reappearing in the past year as the TSX.
The 3.2 TL and the 3.5RL both shared one appearance item. They were classy, but straight, slab-sided, and pretty unexciting to look at. I always thought the mid-size TL was more impressive than the top RL, because it had adequate room, and a much sportier feel. More recently, Acura presented a “Type-S†version of the TL, which jacked up the horsepower and firmed up the handling, although it was still encased in an undramatic body shell.
When Acura came out with the RSX coupe a year ago, and this yearÂ’s TSX four-door, both sharing dramatic and fresh lines, the bigger sedans looked even more dated, and BMWÂ’s 5-Series passed the TL as the leading seller in the segment, with the TL barely holding second, ahead of the Lexus ES300. Acura market research showed that TL owners liked the handling, performance and comfort of the TL, but those who bought something else said stodgy exterior styling and the lack of features were the main TL turnoffs.
For 2004, the TL gets a thorough makeover, and a sensational new outer appearance, more spacious interior, and endless features, should hold its repeat buyers and conquer a lot of those who consider it among the impressive mid-luxury segment. The new TL styling is as bold as its predecessor was boring, and performance is improved to the point that there is no Type-S model, and, frankly, none is required, while the price, at just over $32,000, is reasonable for all you get.
There is a trend among automakers to return to front engine/rear drive, the conventional system that Mercedes and BMW never abandoned during the front-wheel drive trend that swept the industry. Ever-increasing power is the reason some companies are going back to rear-drive, but thankfully, for those of us who drive cars in winters, Honda has remained steadfast with front-wheel drive both for its basic cars and SUVs, and also for its upscale Acura line.
Too much horsepower can overwhelm the front wheels, which are already doing heavy duty to steer and carry the disproportionate weight of the engine. Honda engineers told me at the carÂ’s introduction last October that the TLÂ’s new power increase, which is up to 270 from the 3.2-liter V6, is getting near the practical limit for front-wheel drive. The lingering suspicion is that Honda might consider all-wheel drive for future TLÂ’s, or when the larger RL gets its needed turn to be revised.
In their attempt to make the TL a sophisticated sports sedan, combining its usual sporty handling with more comfort, improved safety and upgraded performance, Acura set the BMW 5 as the benchmark for performance and the Lexus ES300 as the benchmark for comfort, but also looked at the Audi A4, the Volvo S60 and the Mercedes C230 for combinations of those features. Priced at just over $32,000, the Acura TL may now become the benchmark for those cars, coming with more impressive standard equipment than could be expected – or even imagined. It also has EPA estimates of 30 miles per gallon highway and 20 city, while meeting ultra-low-emission LEV-2-ULEV standards.
The TL is plenty sporty, with great handling from the four-wheel independent suspension, with double-wishbone architecture at all four corners – similar to a high-level race car in both design and precision. Front and rear stabilizer bars further enhance the stiffened new body, making the new TL a standout for everyday traffic or emergency handling. According to Acura designers, the new TL now beats the 2003 BMW 530 benchmark sedan in g-forces measuring handling stability. By using aluminum in the subframe, Acura saved significant weight, making the car 30 kilograms lighter than the old TL, while using high-strength steel for 48 percent of the body to improve safety, and structurally stiffening the frame’s torsional rigidity by 24 percent, pushing it past BMW’s impressive levels.
Acura has truly set apart the TL for performance enthusiasts with a masterstroke of design differentiation. To start with, 270 horsepower means an increase of 45 horsepower from the 2003 model, and 10 horsepower better than last yearÂ’s potent Type-S model. The standard automatic transmission is a 5-speed, which you can get with a manual control to shift for yourself, where it is calibrated to hold shifts to the rev-limiter. But the big news, for performance types, is that you also can choose a 6-speed manual transmission, which offers far more than just the stick.
The stick-shift version also has higher-performance tires for more stable cornering, and the difference is immediately noticed if you drive both cars around a performance track one after the other. The automatic was very good, but the stick TL felt ready to race when we drove the cars at Pacific Raceway near Seattle. Acura officials anticipate selling 85 percent with automatic, and 15 percent with the sticks, but the manual availability puts the TL up there with the sportiest BMWs and Audis.
High-flow dual exhausts, and new casting of the manifolds into the cylinder heads, lifts the TL power to 270 horses at 6,200 RPMs, while the torque is an impressive 238 foot-pounds at 5,000 RPMs. As fun as the TL is to drive on a racetrack, it is also thoroughly enjoyable on highways in the real world – even in winter. Acura went with Bridgestone tires for high performance, and gained on foul-weather traction at the same time. With all that power, there were only faint hints of torque-steer, which I found were just enough to reassure you that you’re driving with front-wheel drive. The added security of FWD is unquestioned when you’re about to confront a blizzard.
Using computer crash simulation to select where to use high-strength steel for safety, and a rollover-sled at its Ohio facility, Acura claims unexcelled 5-star ratings for front collisions, and top marks for offset and side impacts as well, with side-curtain airbags to supplement the usual front bags. The TL goes so far as to make the hood hinges and fender brackets collapsible upon impact to cushion pedestrians.
Four-wheel disc brakes are enormous and extremely potent, with electronic assist assuring you of full force braking in emergency situations. The driver controls the power through an electronic drive-by-wire system, with torque-sensing power steering.
A spectacular ELS-5.1 DVD Surround sound system, built by Panasonic under the tutelage of record-mixer Elliot Scheiner, gives the more spacious interior a 225-watt kick through eight speakers and a subwoofer. The system is standard on every TL. Improved bolstering in the sports seats, XM satellite radio, remote controls on the steering wheel, heated front seats with power for both driver and passenger adjustments, keyless entry, Xenon gas-discharge headlights, foglights, and a moonroof all fill a bulging standard-equipment list.
In fact, there is so much standard equipment that the only option on the TL is the navigation system. It is improved, too, with a large screen high on the center dash stack, and it can responds to 293 voice-activated commands in order to identify 7 million points of interest. Those undoubtedly include Acura dealerships, although you wonÂ’t be needing them often, with no scheduled tune-ups for 105,000 miles.
With all the high-tech goodies and real-world performance and safety attributes, and the much-improved interior layout, the styling is eye-catching. I was sitting in the car waiting for some takeout chicken in a fairly dark suburban Twin Cities restaurant parking lot, when a family of four stopped to come back for a closer look at the car. They were embarrassed when they realized I was sitting inside and the young man who had walked around the back hustled to rejoin the others. His mother asked him what kind of car it was, and he relayed that the emblem on the rear said it was an Acura TL, and she said, “ItÂ’s so beautiful.Ââ€
Quite likely, nobody ever had executed that scenario for its predecessor, but the new TL can expect it every day.
(John Gilbert writes weekly auto columns. He can be reached at jgilbert@duluth.com.)
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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