Acura designed the TL's multi-link rear suspension and
double-wishbone-style front suspension to enhance its sporting
performance while preserving its luxury feel. The chassis
roll center of the current-generation car was lowered to
reduce body lean in corners. V-rated Michelin MXV4 tires
that provide good grip are
mounted on 16-inch wheels. Equipped with four-wheel disc
brakes, the TL provides smooth, sure braking perform-ance.
Anti-lock brakes are standard.
At the core of the TL is a compact, 225-horsepower VTEC
V6. It provides the TL with more power than many of the
other cars in its class. The 3.2-liter V6 comes with four
cams, 24 valves and Honda's famous VTEC (Variable Valve
Timing and Lift Electronic Control) valvetrain. The VTEC
system provides a remarkable combination of performance
and fuel economy. It delivers strong acceleration at highway
speeds and sharp throttle response at lower speeds. The
TL can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than 7.5 seconds.
At the same time, the engine is supremely smooth and quiet,
and it gets an EPA-rated 29 mpg on the highway.
The 5-speed sequential SportShift automatic works like
any other automatic most of the time, although it is much
more refined than most. Shifting is silky smooth. It downshifts
into the appropriate gear when quick acceleration is needed.
And it doesn't hunt unnecessarily between gears. The staggered
design of the PRND side of the shifter gate seems a bit
clumsy, however. I found it cumbersome to shift from drive
to reverse when trying to get out of tight quarters in a
hurry. And the shifter in the TL-S model that we also tested
was much too stiff, even when
just notching side-to-side in the SportShift mode.
The semi-automatic SportShift feature allows the driver
to change gears manually. Slide the shifter into a two-way
gate on the left; downshift by pulling the lever back, upshift
by pushing it forward. It's fun to use and, if used correctly,
can improve performance and efficiency in many situations.
Mostly it gives you a heightened sense of control. You can
use it for slowing the car slightly on a grade, so you don't
have to brake for a slower car. Or you can use it to hold
the transmission in third or fourth gear when you're in
the mountains or on a winding road. You don't always want
the automatic to upshift on short straight stretches because
it will just have to downshift again after you brake and
accelerate out of the next corner; the Sportshift solves
this. The SportShift can also add a little entertainment
when slogging along in stop-and-go traffic. From an engineering
standpoint, the TL's transmission - like its engine - is
extremely lightweight, which contributes to the car's overall
agility.
We also drove the Acura TL Type-S, which is new for
the 2002 model year. We drove it harder than we drove the
TL, because that's the way some owners may drive it. The
Acura website describes the Type-S as having an "aggressive
wild streak," and we couldn't agree more. For every satisfying
driving quality the Type-
S
has, there's an untamed one. It's a very visceral, exciting,
imperfect car. No one can say this is one of those Japanese
cars that's engineered so tightly it lacks character.
The suspension is noticeably firm. It twitches over bumps
in medium- and high-speed curves and does a poor job of
absorbing shallow potholes and other big bumps. The increased
steering ratio allows the Type-S to turn into corners very
crisply, which is exciting. It feels pointy, like an arrow,
and it wants to slash and dart, with confidence-it's a point
and shoot kind of car. It feels very light under the driver's
hands, sometimes too light.
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When driven very hard, like on a race track, the front-wheel-drive
TL Type-S does not offer the level of handling found in
rear-wheel-drive sports sedans, such as the
BMW 3-Series and the new
Infiniti G35. Under hard acceleration, the TL's front tires aren't planted
as firmly on the pavement. Drive it hard over patchy surfaces,
and the yellow light on the dash indicating the VSA is at
work will be constantly flashing as the front wheels are
bouncing and losing grip.
The Type-S engine produces 35 more horsepower and 15
more foot-pounds of torque than the standard TL's. With
this much horsepower, and 232 pounds-feet of torque, torque
steer is felt when pulling away from a stop; and under full-throttle
automatic upshifts, the car will weave to the side a bit.
With this 260-horsepower engine, Acura may have reached
the upper limit of power for this front-wheel-drive sedan.
But this engine loves to rev. And when it reaches 5000 rpm,
it's
lovely. The growl from the free-flowing exhaust is cool,
all the way up to 6900 rpm redline, which hardly feels like
the engine is maxed out. The rev limiter finally steps in
at 7200.
When you're really driving the Type-S hard, it's
fun to work the Sequential Sportshift on the five-speed
automatic to keep the revs over 5000. Acura's auto-manual
is more enjoyable than Infiniti's to use mainly because
it's less awk-ward. You pull the Acura's lever toward the
left, rather than pushing it out to the right as with the
Infiniti shifter, and it's located better. The Infiniti
lever is mounted too far rearward. And unlike the Infiniti,
the Acura will not upshift or downshift without the driver's
input, with the exception of first and second gear.
