Another Glowing Article on the TL
01-31-2004, 04:09 PM
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Another Glowing Article on the TL
Automotives: Acura TL proves itself as winter-car-of-the-year
John Gilbert
Friday, January 30th, 2004
With all the talk about car-of-the-year awards, if we were to vote by region and without compromising, the Acura TL might indeed be the standard-bearer for 2004.
Acura is Honda’s upscale line, introduced because Honda didn’t want to see its customers mature from Civics to Accords and then have to turn to Mercedes, BMW or Audi as their earnings peaked and led them toward a luxury brand. At first there was the Legend, the Vigor and the Integra, and they evolved to the alpha-numeric top-line 3.5 RL, the middle sized 3.2 TL, and the TSX, which supplanted the Integra.
For the last few years, I thought the mid-size TL was more impressive than the top RL. Styling was similar between the two, which is to say clean and unexciting, and while the RL had adequate room, it had a much sportier feel. To augment that, Acura presented us with a “Type-S” sporty version of the TL, which jacked up the horsepower and firmed up the handling, although it was still encased in an undramatic body shell.
The look became more dated last year, when Acura came out with the RSX coupe and this year’s TSX four-door, both with startlingly fresh lines. Meanwhile, BMW’s 5-Series passed the TL as the leading seller in the segment, with the TL slipping to second and staying ahead of the Lexus ES300. Acura market research showed that TL owners liked the handling, performance and comfort of their cars best, but those who considered the TL but bought something else said stodgy exterior styling and the lack of features were the main turnoffs.
For 2004, the TL gets its thorough makeover, and the result indicates Acura will impress its repeat buyers even more, and shouldn’t risk losing many of those who give it even brief consideration. 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.
There is a trend among automakers to return to the traditional layout with the engine in front and the power to the rear tires. It’s the standard-issue from years gone by, for U.S. automakers, or which European luxury car makers like Mercedes and BMW never abandoned during the front-wheel drive trend of the last three decades.
Thankfully, for those of us who drive cars in winters that sometimes are as harsh as this one, Honda has remained steadfast with front-wheel drive both for its cars and SUVs, and also for its upscale Acura line. The only drawback to front-wheel drive is if the horsepower gets way up to blast-off levels, it 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 car’s introduction last October that the TL’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 same engineers are quick to point out that they are not suggesting Honda is considering leaving front-wheel drive. That, of course, left the lingering suspicion that Honda might consider all-wheel drive for future TL’s, or when the larger RL gets its turn to be renewed.
The 270 horsepower represent an increase of 45 over the 2003 TL, which is substantial. It also is 10 horsepower more than last year’s potent Type-S model. 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 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 comes 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. The standard automatic transmission is a 5-speed, which you can get with auto-manual control to shift for yourself, and it is calibrated to hold shifts to the rev-limiter if you put it in the manual gate. But the big news, for performance types, is that you also can choose a 6-speed manual transmission, which gets you far more than just the stick.
The stick-shift version gets high-performance tires, wider and more stable in cornering, and the difference is immediately noticed if you drive both cars around a performance track one after the other. The automatic version 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 of the TLs with automatic, and 15 percent with the sticks, but the manual availability puts the TL up there with the sportiest BMWs and Audis.
With high-flow dual exhausts, and new casting of the manifolds into the cylinder heads, the TL power reaches 270 horses at 6,200 RPMs, while the torque is an impressive 238 at 5,000 RPMs. As fun as the TL is to drive on a racetrack, it is thoroughly enjoyable on highways in the real world — and 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 was only faint hints of torque-steer, just enough to give you that reassuring feeling that you’re about to confront a blizzard with the security of front-wheel drive.
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 five-star ratings for front collisions, and top marks for offset and side impacts as well, with side-curtain airbags to supplement to 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, gives the more spacious interior a 225-watt kick through eight speakers and a subwoofer - 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 won’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, “It’s so beautiful.”
Quite likely, nobody ever had executed that scenario for its predecessor, but the new TL can expect it every day.
John Gilbert
Friday, January 30th, 2004
With all the talk about car-of-the-year awards, if we were to vote by region and without compromising, the Acura TL might indeed be the standard-bearer for 2004.
Acura is Honda’s upscale line, introduced because Honda didn’t want to see its customers mature from Civics to Accords and then have to turn to Mercedes, BMW or Audi as their earnings peaked and led them toward a luxury brand. At first there was the Legend, the Vigor and the Integra, and they evolved to the alpha-numeric top-line 3.5 RL, the middle sized 3.2 TL, and the TSX, which supplanted the Integra.
For the last few years, I thought the mid-size TL was more impressive than the top RL. Styling was similar between the two, which is to say clean and unexciting, and while the RL had adequate room, it had a much sportier feel. To augment that, Acura presented us with a “Type-S” sporty version of the TL, which jacked up the horsepower and firmed up the handling, although it was still encased in an undramatic body shell.
The look became more dated last year, when Acura came out with the RSX coupe and this year’s TSX four-door, both with startlingly fresh lines. Meanwhile, BMW’s 5-Series passed the TL as the leading seller in the segment, with the TL slipping to second and staying ahead of the Lexus ES300. Acura market research showed that TL owners liked the handling, performance and comfort of their cars best, but those who considered the TL but bought something else said stodgy exterior styling and the lack of features were the main turnoffs.
For 2004, the TL gets its thorough makeover, and the result indicates Acura will impress its repeat buyers even more, and shouldn’t risk losing many of those who give it even brief consideration. 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.
There is a trend among automakers to return to the traditional layout with the engine in front and the power to the rear tires. It’s the standard-issue from years gone by, for U.S. automakers, or which European luxury car makers like Mercedes and BMW never abandoned during the front-wheel drive trend of the last three decades.
Thankfully, for those of us who drive cars in winters that sometimes are as harsh as this one, Honda has remained steadfast with front-wheel drive both for its cars and SUVs, and also for its upscale Acura line. The only drawback to front-wheel drive is if the horsepower gets way up to blast-off levels, it 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 car’s introduction last October that the TL’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 same engineers are quick to point out that they are not suggesting Honda is considering leaving front-wheel drive. That, of course, left the lingering suspicion that Honda might consider all-wheel drive for future TL’s, or when the larger RL gets its turn to be renewed.
The 270 horsepower represent an increase of 45 over the 2003 TL, which is substantial. It also is 10 horsepower more than last year’s potent Type-S model. 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 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 comes 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. The standard automatic transmission is a 5-speed, which you can get with auto-manual control to shift for yourself, and it is calibrated to hold shifts to the rev-limiter if you put it in the manual gate. But the big news, for performance types, is that you also can choose a 6-speed manual transmission, which gets you far more than just the stick.
The stick-shift version gets high-performance tires, wider and more stable in cornering, and the difference is immediately noticed if you drive both cars around a performance track one after the other. The automatic version 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 of the TLs with automatic, and 15 percent with the sticks, but the manual availability puts the TL up there with the sportiest BMWs and Audis.
With high-flow dual exhausts, and new casting of the manifolds into the cylinder heads, the TL power reaches 270 horses at 6,200 RPMs, while the torque is an impressive 238 at 5,000 RPMs. As fun as the TL is to drive on a racetrack, it is thoroughly enjoyable on highways in the real world — and 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 was only faint hints of torque-steer, just enough to give you that reassuring feeling that you’re about to confront a blizzard with the security of front-wheel drive.
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 five-star ratings for front collisions, and top marks for offset and side impacts as well, with side-curtain airbags to supplement to 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, gives the more spacious interior a 225-watt kick through eight speakers and a subwoofer - 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 won’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, “It’s so beautiful.”
Quite likely, nobody ever had executed that scenario for its predecessor, but the new TL can expect it every day.
01-31-2004, 05:29 PM
#5
Senior Moderator
Great article, thanks!
01-31-2004, 08:40 PM
#6
Smitty's Moral Police
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