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2009 Acura TL
(Credit: Acura)With a navigation system with voice recognition and real-time traffic--and even weather forecasts and graphic weather displays, plus a calendar, calculator, and database of scenic attractions, as well as cell phone integration, the newest Acura TL outfitted with the company's technology package could be thought of more as a PDA on wheels than a serious car. Oops, I forgot the XM satellite radio and the hard-disk drive for both software and music, plus minijack and USB interfaces for external players. Move over, Apple, RIM, and Palm, here comes Acura...
Fortunately, from the car enthusiast (as opposed to gadget enthusiast) perspective, the vehicle underneath the gadgetry is very good. It's larger than before, but not too much so, so there is more room inside. The chassis has had major structural improvements, and the suspension has been revised to improve handling and reduce torque steer, while still providing a luxury sport-touring ride experience.
The 3.5-liter V6 engine is comparable to the previous Type S version, and its maximum 280 horsepower and 254 lb-ft of torque are considerably more than adequate. Although the power peak is at 6200 rpm, with maximum torque at 5000, VTEC variable valve timing and lift for the intake valves of the single overhead cam V6 ensures good low- and mid-range power. A multimode and manually shiftable wide-ratio 5-speed automatic makes the best of the engine's power, and can optimize efficiency or performance.
In "D," the transmission shifts early and uses the highest gear practical. Because of the engine's good low- and mid-range torque this is not a concern for everyday driving, and fuel consumption can be very good. The EPA says 18/26; I got 25 in an 80/20 mix of highway and town driving. Some of which was in "S" mode, a much-better proposition for the performance-minded. As strong as the engine is at lower revs, it's much better up closer to the torque peak--and sport mode drops down a gear or two compared to D to keep it there. In both modes, Grade Logic Control keeps the transmission from hunting gears on hills, and, more importantly, from changing gear while cornering.
Unlike in the old Type S, there is no separate manual-shift gate. Manual shifting is available at any time simply by flicking the steering wheel-mounted paddles. In D, the transmission goes back to automatic operation in a short time. In S, it remains in manual mode until the shift lever is put back to D. In both, computerized controls protect the drive train from driver error.
Acura has spent a large portion of its existence searching for its own niche. It seems to have found it as high-tech performance luxury. If the performance message is diluted compared to some of its past stars (I'm thinking Integra GS-R and Type R and NSX here), the comfort and luxury factors are higher, and the appeal is broader. The number of people who would be comfortable in a TL is considerably larger than those who could live with a Type R as an only car.
It's White House or bust for Detroit, will Intel go into the car battery business? Mercedes puts two displays in the dashboard, and we drive the 2009 Acura TL.
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2009 Acura TL
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The new TL draws closer to Acura's promise of a true luxury sports sedan.
(Credit: Acura/Honda)Acura has heard our prayers and answered with an announcement that it will be offering the 2010 TL SH-AWD with a new six-speed manual transmission for "the enthusiast driver."
The all-new transmission is a proper three-pedal deal featuring uprated internals and a stiffer case, along with a new clutch system. Acura claims new gear synchronizers and a short-throw shifter assembly generate more accurate shifting with low shift effort. With Acura/Honda's history of sweet manual transmissions, we're inclined to believe the claims.
Aside from netting an 88 pounds weight reduction and a better weight distribution, the manually shifted TL will also receive a few upgrades in other areas over the Sequential SportShift automatic version. A Hill Start Assist system should keep owners of the luxury sedan out of awkward, and potentially damaging, rollbacks by holding the brakes until the accelerator is depressed when stopped on steep inclines of 8 degrees or more.
Hey, Acura. While you're in the mood for wish fulfillment, how about a full blown Type-S version or, dare we say it, a Type-R?
(Credit: Acura/Honda)Sportier--read stiffer--suspension tuning should keep the body flatter in the turns, while a retuned power steering system should result in heavier, more communicative steering. Engine and transmission bushings that have been stiffened by 50 and 100 percent, respectively, should reduce drivetrain movement and increase responsiveness--hopefully without too much of an increase in NVH.
There's no word on how the new transmission option will affect the 2010 TL SH-AWD's expected MSRP of $38,505.
Welcome to sunny San Diego
(Credit: CNET Networks)You just don't expect snow in San Diego, but that's what we got last week at a launch event for the 2009 Acura TSX. Due to the terms of an embargo, we have to hold off on giving you any information on our driving experiences from the event, but we can tell you that, thanks to a freak snowstorm, we ended up stuck on a mountainside for the better part of three hours, much of it waiting for a snowplow to come and clear us a path to safety. Usually, this would have been a tedious wait, but by a great stroke of good fortune, your correspondent found himself in a car with Dan Bonawitz, vice president of corporate planning and logistics at American Honda. Bonawitz had some interesting things to say about some of the technologies on forthcoming Acura and Honda vehicles (aside from the top-secret 2009 TSX in which we were driving).
First, he mentioned that Acura's Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS), currently exclusive to the flagship RL sedan, would likely make its way to other models in the U.S. lineup in the future. While we're not expecting to see the radar-based system in the redesigned TL sedan, due to be unveiled later this year, we wouldn't be surprised to see it on future iterations of the MDX or RDX SUVs. The second tech-related tidbit was that Honda is not intending to bring the Internavi Premium Club to the United States. Internavi is a subscription-based service currently available in Japan that provides weather and user-submitted geotags on points of interest to drivers via an Internet connection. Instead, Bonawitz said that Acura vehicles in the United States would continue to use the AcuraLink architecture to stream data such as traffic and weather to their GPS navigation systems. Asked when Honda would be bringing out a successor to the Honda S2000, Bonawitz said that we can expect to see the current-generation model "for at least another year," which suggests to us that there might be something in the works for 2010. According to Bonawitz, 2010 is also the prospective date for introduction of Acura's delayed "NSX-replacement" V-10-powered supercar, which is expected to be based on Acura's Advanced Sports Car Concept.
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