The 2010 Acura TL: It's ExTLellent!

Acura is something of an enigmatic brand. Just 26 years old, Honda’s luxury brand predates both Lexus and Infiniti, but seems to suffer from a relative lack of identity when compared to either of those brands. Reaching its performance apogee in the ‘90s, Acura’s image was once one buoyed by such vehicles as the hardcore Integra Type-R and universally praised NSX sports car, but was left to flounder in the first years of the 21st century, when the brand issued the execution order for their hard core performance image in the form of the MDX sports utility vehicle.
But in the model year 2010, there remains a single glimmering light on the Acura horizon. Ironically the only Acura badge to survive from the 20th century, the current TL is a far cry from its prehistoric ancestors. Trading couch-mobile comfort for corner-carving precision in 2004, the TL’s third generation set it apart as a stylish, practical alternative to its long-in-the-tooth contemporaries, the BMW 3-series and Mercedes C-class.

However, with the fifth generation BMW 3-series breaking cover just one year after the third-generation TL’s launch, buyers had trouble seeing past the Acura’s front-wheel drive chassis while critics claimed the TL’s traditional Honda powertrain layout to be something of a compromise when compared to the BMW. Fast forward a few years and even the handsomely aggressive appearance of the resurrected Acura TL Type S couldn’t overshadow the wild Chris Bangle-penned lines of the new Bimmer.

That said, no one would have ever expected the pendulum to swing quite so far as it has. Now in the second year of its fourth iteration, the new TL is anything but staid or compromising. Wearing a strongly styled beak and heavily creased sheetmetal, the new car’s looks are about as universally pleasing as BP’s Top Kill, although in the case of the Japanese sports sedan, that’s a good thing. Earning plenty of criticism for its new nose treatment, there certainly is no avoiding the controversial nature of this new TL, just as there is no ignoring its newfound intrigue. From every angle, the car’s look changes dramatically, from the stylized rear complete with Captain Picard’s exhaust outlets and Darth Vader’s taillights to Cyrano de Bergerac’s proboscis, it’s a car that you can spend a pretty substantial amount of time taking in. And either way, if you think its sculpture on wheels or you think it’s the most hideous thing ever created, at least you’re thinking about it.

Open the door, though, and any thought of controversy will quickly go the way of Tony Hayward… away. Dominated by huge swathes of firm, well-textured silver plastic, the interior falls victim to none of the surface misalignments and faux pas that befell the soft and squishy material within ZDX I recently tested, yet retains a high degree of comfort just the same. By moving the soft touch material to the areas that need it most (armrests, dashboard) and keeping it off the areas that don’t (center console, door panels), the interior looks well sorted without sacrificing its luxurious nature. Furthermore, the decision to trim the dashboard in firm plastic allows the centre control cluster to sit directly atop the knee-level silver trim (the leather-trimmed ZDX requires the hard plastic of the center stack be bounded by the soft foam of the dashboard), which has the pleasant effect of widening the center stack. This allows the use of larger buttons in a more logical layout, and operating things like the automatic climate control is made much easier as a result. However, if it I had to nit-pick, I call into question Honda’s continued use of the push/twist hat switch used to operate their navigation and entertainment system; it remains just a wee bit too balky and convoluted for my liking.

Which brings us to the real meat and potatoes of this new TL: the drive. While the previous TL’s may have punched admirably above their weight class when it came time to put pedal to metal, there was no avoiding the inevitable fact that front wheel drive cars will always play second fiddle to their rear-drive compatriots, as far as performance driving is concerned. But with this one, Acura has thrown a wrench in the works by making their excellent Super Handling All-Wheel Drive system available as an optional extra on the TL. And it is definitely the game changer Acura hoped it would be. Transparent in normal operation, it allows the TL to maintain a front-wheel drive layout to enhance fuel economy and keep the steering light during normal driving situations, transferring power from front to rear and left to right as required. The system’s party piece is its ability to divert additional power to the outside rear tire to keep a steady yaw rate and prevent understeer; a claim it more than satisfies. One doesn’t need to glance down at the power output display mid-corner to know it’s working either; slowing rolling onto the throttle around a particularly speedy highway onramp is how I discovered it. Where I expected howling protestations and an ever widening arc, the big Acura simply hunkered down and actually pulled the front end inward towards the apex. With plenty of grip from its aggressive 245-series Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires, pressing onward yielded more tenacious cornering than I would have ever suspected, with an amazing neutral attitude throughout even the most ridiculous of direction changes. Of course, as most Mitsubishi Evo drivers know, a good all-wheel drive system allows for incredibly impressive speed to be generated around a corner, but some of the most fun can be had when you apply the brakes and in this the TL does not disappoint. Equipped with a six-speed manual gearbox, engine braking alone can cause the tail to swing wide if you commit well enough, while the all-wheel drive system remains there to bail you out at a moment’s notice.

Bringing the pace back down to legal levels doesn’t disappoint, either. Although providing too little feedback at speed, the light steering becomes a boon in parking lots, where the big car’s impressively tight turning circle allows for easy maneuvering. And while the tall beltline does reduce the outward visibility slightly, the pillars are all well-placed and appropriately sized. Road noise is nearly non-existent, and the big 3.5L V6 is perfectly content to sit in sixth gear and plough through the miles, returning excellent fuel economy as well, I might add. The ride may be a little stiff for some thanks to the combination of the car’s sporting attitude and low-profile tires, but is far from uncompromising or uncomfortable, and even Vancouver’s worst cobble stone roads (yes, they still exist) couldn’t condemn the aggressive damping to complaint.

Overall, it’s amazing how Acura’s most controversially styled vehicle has managed to remain its most universally pleasing. Both immensely capable and perfectly luxurious, there remains some of the old Acura DNA here. Resurrected beneath a new skin, but still possessing the same uncompromising combination of surprising performance paired with daily driver practicality that made the Integra and NSX such formidable foes to their European counterparts, it throws down the gauntlet in manner no Acura has done since Y2K. Leveraging Honda’s untarnished record for reliability with the TL’s incredible value, it’s not hard to see why it remains such a popular vehicle up here, and the addition of Honda’s SH-AWD system should make it all the more attractive to would-be buyers. And speaking of attractiveness, rest assured that although beauty may be in the eye in the beholder, this car’s beauty is far more than skin deep.