Paragon Acura

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Walk Around

The Acura TL has a dramatic creased-and-folded look, almost as if it had been extruded from some amazing high-tech machine. Designed in the U.S., it has nothing in common with the soporific, soap-like shapes that you might remember from Japanese-brand near-luxury cars of the past. It's signature is a beveled front fascia matched with a wide, impressive stance, and there's an attention-grabbing gutter at the beltline. For all this visual aggression, the TL's bodywork has a surprisingly sleek coefficient of aerodynamic drag at 0.29 Cd.

For 2007, Acura has made the TL slightly more formal than before with a larger grille, a new-style cluster for the high-intensity- discharge headlights, and a new front fascia element that now incorporates the foglights. There's also more chrome trim. New mirrors incorporate turn-signal lights.

The 2007 TL Type-S, meanwhile, looks more aggressive thanks to a unique front fascia, additional bits of aerodynamic trim, four exhaust tips peaking out from the rear bumper, and trim in black chrome.

Overall dimensions lie between the rear-wheel-drive Infiniti G35 and the all-wheel-drive Audi A6. Although it has a wheelbase that's a couple inches shorter than either, the TL offers 97.9 cubic feet of interior passenger volume. It has much the same measurements in front-seat leg- and head- and shoulder-room as its competition from Infiniti and Audi, yet the TL offers more legroom in the back seats.

The TL's 60-degree V6 engines are truly works of art. As you'd expect from Honda-derived engineering, they have a surprising number of features to maximize both power and efficiency. A relatively tall 11:1 compression ratio helps deliver crisp throttle response, while forged connecting rods and a forged crankshaft add strength and durability. The SOHC cylinder head has four valves for each cylinder, and variable valve timing improves torque at low rpm without compromising horsepower at peak rpm. A drive-by-wire throttle control helps deliver both excellent throttle response and good fuel efficiency.

In keeping with its aspirations as a sports sedan, the TL has a sophisticated suspension layout. Unlike most front-wheel-drive cars, its independent front suspension uses wishbone-style, upper- and lower control arms with coil-over gas-charged dampers, furnishing for optimum geometry for wheel control and heightened sensitivity to bumps. The five-link independent rear suspension has special geometry to improve stability under braking, a worthwhile measure in a nose-heavy, front-wheel-drive car like this one.

The standard TL has large, 300-mm front disc brakes with single-piston calipers, while the type-S gets additional stopping power from 310-mm front discs with Brembo-built four-piston calipers. In addition, the S-Type also has special steering hardware to improve on-center feel, increase steering effort at high speed, and damp bumpy road inputs.

Bridgestone 235/45R-17 all-season tries are specified for the standard TL. When the TL is ordered with the optional navigation system upgraded Michelin tires are specified. These Michelin tires are also standard equipment for the TL S-type, while high-performance 235/45R-17 Bridgestone Potenza RE-030 tires are available.

Acura also continues to offer its high-performance A-Spec suspension kit for the TL, which maximizes road performance with special dampers and springs that lower the ride height an inch, big 18-inch wheels with 235/40ZR-18 Yokohama AVS ES100 tires, high-performance brake pads, and a kit of aerodynamic trim pieces.

Interior

2007 Acura TL

In keeping with Acura's heritage of functional Japanese efficiency, the TL's interior emphasizes practicality and useful features rather than sumptuous luxury. At the same time, a sure sense of graceful design and the use of impeccable materials make the TL's cabin appealing.

The TL's interior has a clean, spare look, and its open, uncluttered feel makes this a relaxing place to spend your travel time. Leather upholstery is standard, and it meets a high standard of quality, though it's a little firm and cold. The interior of the standard TL mixes leather, aluminum brightwork and wood trim in an effectively sophisticated presentation, while the TL S-type incorporates carbon fiber in place of wood.

Acura puts a lot of emphasis on human-factor engineering, and the TL's interior has a special goodness as a result. The driving position gives you a commanding view, with the extraordinary panoramic visibility that is the hallmark of Honda engineering. The thick rim of the tilt/telescope-adjustable steering wheel fills your hand, while the switch gear is easy to find and simple to understand. Anyone can take the driving position in the TL and feel immediately at home.

An eight-way power-adjustable driver's seat is standard, as is a four-way power-adjustable passenger seat. The configuration of the front seats is inspired by the best high-performance designs, with supportive hip bolsters and an elaborately shaped seat back that supports your back and shoulders without being constrictive, plus new high-damping foam cushions. The rear seat is comfortable, although it's clear that Acura has provided a fairly short seat squab as a means of getting a lengthy measurement of legroom.

The instrument binnacle is protected from glare by a pronounced hood over three instrument pods, and the back-lit LED read-outs against new spun-metal faces are easy to see. The instruments of the standard TL use blue ambient lighting, while those of the S-Type feature red light.

Aside from instrument lighting, the S-Type's interior is detailed with lots of high-performance cues. These include carbon-fiber appearance rim, more prominent and supportive seat bolsters, stainless-steel pedal covers, and color-contrast stitching for the leather upholstery of the steering wheel, seats, and door panels.

The Acura TL's sophisticated ergonomics enable you to take advantage of its equally sophisticated electronic convenience features without confusion. The center stack between the two front seats uses switches, knobs and electronic buttons for the ventilation, audio and navigations systems in a way that prevents a nightmare of electronic confusion.

Topmost in the center stack is the LCD screen that displays the climate control and audio settings as well as the optional navigation system. With the navigation system comes a line of PDA-like buttons and a central, cursor-style controller arrayed beneath the screen. Bracketing the screen are perpendicular rows of large, finger-friendly buttons for setting climate preferences for the dual-zone air-conditioning system. It's also simple to adjust the interior temperature or change the force of the ventilation fan because the climate control can be operated by physical buttons instead of just the touch-screen inputs.

Acura continues to offer the most user-friendly on-board navigation system that we've ever experienced. It's easy to program and it gives clear and accurate descriptions both visibly and audibly. The large LCD display uses attractive, easy-to-understand graphics, and the combination of context-sensitive screen menus and external hard buttons simplifies operation. Still, you have to call up a screen menu to change radio stations. The voice-recognition system can recognize nearly 300 verbal commands, including adjustments to the audio and climate controls, and the DVD-based navigation system offers a selection of more than 7 million points of in

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