By wedging itself somewhere between mainstream brands and traditional European luxury, Acura has carved out a modest but still devoted niche for itself. We used to call Acura the Sharper Image of car brands because of their high-tech nature, but that plan didn’t work well for the shopping mall retailer.
Does Acura still have its magic, or has it lost some of its mojo with a series of oddly-executed designs like beaky front fascias and the misdirected ZDX five-door crossover-thing?
We decided to take a look at what’s arguably the brand’s flagship to decide for certain: The 2012 TL SH-AWD.
What is it?
The fourth generation TL has been on the market since late 2008, but an early-introduction 2012 model gained some styling tweaks to reduce the visual impact of its snout. Along the way, it also grabbed Honda’s latest six-speed automatic transmission, available air conditioned seats and enough sound deadening to drop highway roar by three decibels. Color us interested.
Our tester is the range-topping SH-AWD, which means it has the company’s “super handling†all-wheel-drive in place of standard front-drive motivation, as well as a 25 horsepower boost. An optional Advance package (which isn’t available with a manual transmission) adds a blind spot monitor, 19-inch alloy wheels and the aforementioned ventilated seats.
What’s it up against?
Even at this elevated price and equipment level, TL is still a big step below the cheapest Mercedes-Benz E350 (around $50,000) or BMW 528i (about $47,000). And if you did pony up the extra cash for either of those, you’d still lack all-wheel-drive and a whole list of luxury features.
So we’d say that the TL SH-AWD is a closer rival to the Volvo S80 T6 AWD, the Cadillac CTS AWD and the Saab 9-5 Turbo4 AWD, all of which compete in an excellent, but often overlooked ‘tweener segment full of larger vehicles and cut-rate prices.
Any breakthroughs?
Although the Advance moniker might suggest a bunch of features we’ve never seen before, TL is a little short on wow. Everything you might expect to find is there, including fine leather trim, a good navigation system with a high-resolution display, a proximity entry system and the latest Bluetooth tech.
But aside from an excellent ELS audio system, which can play technically brilliant but rarer than an honest politician DVD audio, there’s not that much that stands out. That stereo system does positively rock, however.
What’s it look like?
TL’s distinctive “can opener†front grille that debuted back in late 2008 is still on board, but the look is a little more refined than before. In fact, perhaps it’s just the fact that we’ve gotten used to seeing TLs coming and going, but we’re starting to find its overall appearance to be rather attractive.
Toned and muscular from every angle, the TL looks like it might pack a honking V8 engine. Flared fenders give way toward the rear to a pair of large integrated exhaust pipes. The shield motif of the front grille carries over to the trunk lid, which unfortunately offers a relatively small opening and a high liftover.
Walk back around the side of the TL and you’ll probably need a little more time to take in this car’s girth. It’s a big’un, as our old friend Al Bundy would say. Stretching about 194 inches from head to toe, the TL is one of the largest cars in this segment. But that’s necessary since bottom-rung TLs are almost priced on top of the company’s TSX.
And on the inside?
Compare the button-heavy TL dashboard to, say, the almost entirely switch-free Lincoln MKS and you’ll find two automakers operating on seemingly entirely different planets.
Frankly, we think the answer lies somewhere between the two, but that’s not to say that the TL didn’t prove to be an excellent place to whittle away the miles – especially now that it’s noticeably quieter than before.
TL’s dashboard is of the dual cowl variety currently en vogue at General Motors, which means that it eschews the more driver-focused arrangement we might have expected. Despite the apparent concession toward the mainstream, TL features all of the other sport-oriented elements expected: a three-spoke steering wheel, clear and simple gauges, well-bolstered sports seats and a pair of paddle shifters. From there, the instrument panel features a myriad of buttons for climate and audio controls, not to mention a stubby “wart†knob for the navigation. After a day or so of acclimation, we found buttons without difficulty, but there’s certainly a small learning curve.
Fire up the TL and the navigation screen defaults to a “lawyer†page that forces the driver to hit “agree†in order to do much of anything. Don’t hit agree and the big screen turns off, which only leaves a thin single-line display for audio and climate controls. Shame on Acura for this oversight; if a lawyer page is necessary, it should only pop up when the driver actually wants to use navigation. Most people don’t need navigation every day, so they don’t need to be told to be careful using it while driving.
At least the infotainment setup is well-designed, if not especially glamorous in its operation. Menus are easy to sort through and the navigation map is of especially high quality. Only a curiously useless (and slow to update) weather page detracts; it will show tomorrow’s forecast only in vague, unspecific terms like “cloudy.†Gee, thanks. But what if a Blue Norther or a Nor’easter is imminent? Panic!
Otherwise, TL’s interior is comfortable and spacious. The front seats feature a touch too much standard lumbar, as is the norm for Honda and Acura vehicles, but the back is commodious for two or three in a pinch. Rear legroom and trunk space are both a bit tight given the TL’s big exterior dimensions, but shoulder room is top notch.
Interior materials range from excellent to merely good, with buttery soft leather contrasting against a bland metallic-look trim splashed throughout the cabin.
But does it go?
Specify all-wheel-drive and you’ll net a 3.7-liter V6 with 305 horsepower in place of the standard front-driver’s 3.5-liter, 280-pony unit. That’s good for a little crisper and broader power, but it combines with the all-wheel motivation to dent fuel economy from an impressive 29 mpg highway on the front-driver to 26 mpg on our tester.
But we were happy to guzzle a little extra fuel. As tested, TL tips the scales at a hair over 4,000 lbs., which actually makes it something of a featherweight given that power is going to all four corners.
With 273 lb-ft. of torque occurring at a fairly high 5,000 rpm, the 3.7-liter V6 needs to be revved to make the most of the available grunt. Fortunately, the new six-speed automatic is more than willing to drop down a gear or two for passing. Paddle shifters add to the sporty feel, although this transmission seemed smart enough that we rarely found ourselves flapping.
SH-AWD sends 90 percent of available power to the front wheels most of the time, but hard cornering can send about 70 percent of the grunt to the rear wheel drives to give the TL a more neutral, planted feel. What makes the system “super†is its ability to turn the outside rear wheel a little faster than the others, which helps the big sedan feel almost alarmingly nimble. An electric rack-and-pinion steering setup is super fast and not especially heavy, although feel is dialed in just enough to give the driver an idea of what’s going on up front. We were mixed on the steering; some drivers felt like its video game-fast feel was sporty, while others suggested that it was a bit unnatural.
But there’s no denying that the TL offers an excellent ride. Even on the 19-inchers on our tester, TL responded well to even the roughest pavement we could find. A double-wishbone setup anchors the front wheels, while the rears use a multi-link. Rebound was exceedingly well-controlled.
During our testing, we didn’t struggle to best the 26 mpg city rating, but strictly urban driving was about par with the 18 mpg EPA figure. For the record, those government types suggest that the TL will net 21 mpg combined.
Why you would buy it:
TL is an intelligent sedan with looks to kill.
Why you wouldn’t:
You’re seeking something a little more elegant and you’re willing to pay for it.
Leftlane’s bottom line
Loaded up with our tester’s SH-AWD and high-spec level, TL is certainly full-flavored. Its driving experience is almost as polarizing as its style, but there’s no denying that it offers a lot of sedan for the money – especially compared to those pesky Germans.
In fact, it’s hard to imagine if what BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi offer is worth all that extra cash.
2012 Acura TL SH-AWD Advance base price, $45,085. As tested, $45,970.
Destination, $885.
Words and photos by Andrew Ganz.
Review: 2012 Acura TL SH-AWD
Reviewed by
Andrew Ganz on
November 25
.
Acura tweaks its high-tech TL for 2012. Does this wine get better with age?
By wedging itself somewhere between mainstream brands and traditional European luxury, Acura has carved out a modest but still devoted niche for itself. We used to call Acura the Sharper Image of car brands because of their high-tech nature, but that plan didn’t work well for the shopping mall retailer.
Does Acura still have its magic, or has it lost some of its mojo with a series of oddly-executed designs like beaky front fascias and the misdirected ZDX five-door crossover-thing?
We decided to take a look at what’s arguably the brand’s flagship to decide for certain: The 2012 TL SH-AWD.
What is it?
The fourth generation TL has been on the market since late 2008, but an early-introduction 2012 model gained some styling tweaks to reduce the visual impact of its snout. Along the way, it also grabbed Honda’s latest six-speed automatic transmission, available air conditioned seats and enough sound deadening to drop highway roar by three decibels. Color us interested.
Our tester is the range-topping SH-AWD, which means it has the company’s “super handling†all-wheel-drive in place of standard front-drive motivation, as well as a 25 horsepower boost. An optional Advance package (which isn’t available with a manual transmission) adds a blind spot monitor, 19-inch alloy wheels and the aforementioned ventilated seats.
What’s it up against?
Even at this elevated price and equipment level, TL is still a big step below the cheapest Mercedes-Benz E350 (around $50,000) or BMW 528i (about $47,000). And if you did pony up the extra cash for either of those, you’d still lack all-wheel-drive and a whole list of luxury features.
So we’d say that the TL SH-AWD is a closer rival to the Volvo S80 T6 AWD, the Cadillac CTS AWD and the Saab 9-5 Turbo4 AWD, all of which compete in an excellent, but often overlooked ‘tweener segment full of larger vehicles and cut-rate prices.
Any breakthroughs?
Although the Advance moniker might suggest a bunch of features we’ve never seen before, TL is a little short on wow. Everything you might expect to find is there, including fine leather trim, a good navigation system with a high-resolution display, a proximity entry system and the latest Bluetooth tech.
But aside from an excellent ELS audio system, which can play technically brilliant but rarer than an honest politician DVD audio, there’s not that much that stands out. That stereo system does positively rock, however.
What’s it look like?
TL’s distinctive “can opener†front grille that debuted back in late 2008 is still on board, but the look is a little more refined than before. In fact, perhaps it’s just the fact that we’ve gotten used to seeing TLs coming and going, but we’re starting to find its overall appearance to be rather attractive.
Toned and muscular from every angle, the TL looks like it might pack a honking V8 engine. Flared fenders give way toward the rear to a pair of large integrated exhaust pipes. The shield motif of the front grille carries over to the trunk lid, which unfortunately offers a relatively small opening and a high liftover.
Walk back around the side of the TL and you’ll probably need a little more time to take in this car’s girth. It’s a big’un, as our old friend Al Bundy would say. Stretching about 194 inches from head to toe, the TL is one of the largest cars in this segment. But that’s necessary since bottom-rung TLs are almost priced on top of the company’s TSX.
And on the inside?
Compare the button-heavy TL dashboard to, say, the almost entirely switch-free Lincoln MKS and you’ll find two automakers operating on seemingly entirely different planets.
Frankly, we think the answer lies somewhere between the two, but that’s not to say that the TL didn’t prove to be an excellent place to whittle away the miles – especially now that it’s noticeably quieter than before.
TL’s dashboard is of the dual cowl variety currently en vogue at General Motors, which means that it eschews the more driver-focused arrangement we might have expected. Despite the apparent concession toward the mainstream, TL features all of the other sport-oriented elements expected: a three-spoke steering wheel, clear and simple gauges, well-bolstered sports seats and a pair of paddle shifters. From there, the instrument panel features a myriad of buttons for climate and audio controls, not to mention a stubby “wart†knob for the navigation. After a day or so of acclimation, we found buttons without difficulty, but there’s certainly a small learning curve.
Fire up the TL and the navigation screen defaults to a “lawyer†page that forces the driver to hit “agree†in order to do much of anything. Don’t hit agree and the big screen turns off, which only leaves a thin single-line display for audio and climate controls. Shame on Acura for this oversight; if a lawyer page is necessary, it should only pop up when the driver actually wants to use navigation. Most people don’t need navigation every day, so they don’t need to be told to be careful using it while driving.
At least the infotainment setup is well-designed, if not especially glamorous in its operation. Menus are easy to sort through and the navigation map is of especially high quality. Only a curiously useless (and slow to update) weather page detracts; it will show tomorrow’s forecast only in vague, unspecific terms like “cloudy.†Gee, thanks. But what if a Blue Norther or a Nor’easter is imminent? Panic!
Otherwise, TL’s interior is comfortable and spacious. The front seats feature a touch too much standard lumbar, as is the norm for Honda and Acura vehicles, but the back is commodious for two or three in a pinch. Rear legroom and trunk space are both a bit tight given the TL’s big exterior dimensions, but shoulder room is top notch.
Interior materials range from excellent to merely good, with buttery soft leather contrasting against a bland metallic-look trim splashed throughout the cabin.
But does it go?
Specify all-wheel-drive and you’ll net a 3.7-liter V6 with 305 horsepower in place of the standard front-driver’s 3.5-liter, 280-pony unit. That’s good for a little crisper and broader power, but it combines with the all-wheel motivation to dent fuel economy from an impressive 29 mpg highway on the front-driver to 26 mpg on our tester.
But we were happy to guzzle a little extra fuel. As tested, TL tips the scales at a hair over 4,000 lbs., which actually makes it something of a featherweight given that power is going to all four corners.
With 273 lb-ft. of torque occurring at a fairly high 5,000 rpm, the 3.7-liter V6 needs to be revved to make the most of the available grunt. Fortunately, the new six-speed automatic is more than willing to drop down a gear or two for passing. Paddle shifters add to the sporty feel, although this transmission seemed smart enough that we rarely found ourselves flapping.
SH-AWD sends 90 percent of available power to the front wheels most of the time, but hard cornering can send about 70 percent of the grunt to the rear wheel drives to give the TL a more neutral, planted feel. What makes the system “super†is its ability to turn the outside rear wheel a little faster than the others, which helps the big sedan feel almost alarmingly nimble. An electric rack-and-pinion steering setup is super fast and not especially heavy, although feel is dialed in just enough to give the driver an idea of what’s going on up front. We were mixed on the steering; some drivers felt like its video game-fast feel was sporty, while others suggested that it was a bit unnatural.
But there’s no denying that the TL offers an excellent ride. Even on the 19-inchers on our tester, TL responded well to even the roughest pavement we could find. A double-wishbone setup anchors the front wheels, while the rears use a multi-link. Rebound was exceedingly well-controlled.
During our testing, we didn’t struggle to best the 26 mpg city rating, but strictly urban driving was about par with the 18 mpg EPA figure. For the record, those government types suggest that the TL will net 21 mpg combined.
Why you would buy it:
TL is an intelligent sedan with looks to kill.
Why you wouldn’t:
You’re seeking something a little more elegant and you’re willing to pay for it.
Leftlane’s bottom line
Loaded up with our tester’s SH-AWD and high-spec level, TL is certainly full-flavored. Its driving experience is almost as polarizing as its style, but there’s no denying that it offers a lot of sedan for the money – especially compared to those pesky Germans.
In fact, it’s hard to imagine if what BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi offer is worth all that extra cash.
2012 Acura TL SH-AWD Advance base price, $45,085. As tested, $45,970.
Destination, $885.
Words and photos by Andrew Ganz.
Rating:
