Check out this review from consumerreports.org: Highs: Powertrain, fuel economy, handling, quietness, fit and finish, value. Lows: Turning circle, rear seat doesn't fold.The Acura TL provides an excellent blend of comfort, convenience, and sportiness. It delivers taut, agile handling and is among the quickest and most fuel-efficient in its class. We also liked the impressive interior, comfortable ride, and quiet cabin. Although it provides excellent handling, the TL doesn't match the overall driving experience of some European sports sedans.THE DRIVING EXPERIENCEThe TL's firm ride is well-controlled, with good isolation from bumps. The highway ride is steady, and the cabin is very quiet. The wide turning circle is one of the few negatives. The Acura feels taut and responsive in cornering, with well-contained body lean. The nicely weighted steering is communicative and quick. In emergency-handling tests, the TL demonstrated good tire grip and cornering balance, and it proved secure in our avoidance maneuver, where it posted a quick 52.5-mph. Powered by a smooth 258-hp, 3.2-liter V6, the TL is noticeably quicker than many of its competitors. Even with such high horsepower, the car was largely devoid of torque steer, a tendency for the front wheels to briefly pull the vehicle off its intended line under strong acceleration (common in front-wheel-drive cars). The engine is coupled with a smooth and responsive five-speed automatic transmission. The TL gets a respectable 23 mpg overall. Braking was very good. The standard HID low-beam headlights have a sharp cutoff that can be annoying to the driver and oncoming traffic. High-beam distance is good.INSIDE THE CABINThe interior is impressive, with precise fit and flawless execution. Outward visibility was excellent for all drivers behind the tilt and telescoping steering wheel. The firm, comfortable front seats provide good support. The roomy rear bench has ample leg and head room, but it is a bit low. Three adults will fit with moderate side contact. Access is easy. Controls are well-placed and readable, with most lit at night. Minor gripes include a long reach to the defogger controls and obscured mirror controls. Cabin storage space is good. There are two sturdy cup holders in both the front and rear. Unlike some competing models, such as the Saab 9-5 and Volvo S60, the rear seatback does not fold to expand trunk space.SAFETY NOTESStandard side-impact air bags in front and head-protection curtain-style air bags that protect front and rear occupants supplement required front air bags and seatbelts in the TL. Front occupant's seatbelts are equipped with adjustable anchors to help improve the fit and pretensioners to reduce belt slack in the event of a crash. Sensors in the front seatbelt buckles detect belt usage and will reduce the front air bag threshold slightly lower if the belts are not being used. The front passenger seat also comes with a weight sensor, which will disable the air bag if the seat holds less than 65 pounds. To reduce the risk of injury from the side-impact air bags in front, particularly for children, sensors in the passenger seat also detect when a child or adult is leaning sideways into the path of deployment of the side air bag and disable the air bag accordingly. Both front and rear occupants have three-point seatbelts. Adjustable and locking head restraints in the front and rear outboard seat positions are tall enough even when fully lowered to adequately reduce rearward head travel in a rear impact, but the rear center seat has no restraint. The front head restraints also tilt to help provide the best position. Driving with kids: Some rear-facing infant seats may have too much tilt in the rear seats when installed using the seatbelts. Front-facing seats should prove secure. There are three tether strap anchors on the rear parcel shelf, but the outboard anchors can be difficult to access as they are in close proximity to the head restraints. LATCH anchors in the two outboard rear seats are recessed between the seatback and cushion making them awkward to access for attaching and detaching LATCH equipped seats.RELIABILITYWe expect reliability to be much better than average, according to our latest subscriber survey.
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29 Aug 2007, 10:04 am
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