2009 Acura TL

Quiet, full of amenities. A front-drive-based all-wheel-drive car that reaches for rear-drive handling. Decent power from 3.7-liter engine.

The 2009 acura TL's plethora of new and improved gee-whiz gizmos, standard and optional, include ELS Surround Premium audio tuned by Elliot Scheiner, voice-activated real-time navigation/traffic and AcuraLink real-time Doppler radar weather.

Ultimately, the 2009 TL's handling characteristics are nearly as controversial as the car's styling. Depending on your driving style, you'll find it either fluid and fast or artificial feeling.

There's no getting around it: the 2009 Acura TL is a much bulkier car than the midsize luxury sports sedan it replaces. While the 2008 Acura TL looked chiseled and lean, the 2009 TL integrates Acura's controversial "Power Plenum" grille and "emotion advanced" design.

Total cabin volume expands by more than a cubic foot; as intended, the 2009 Acura TL provides noticeably more rear-seat legroom than the outgoing car

The structure proved its stuff in NHTSA and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests, too, earning five stars or top "good" ratings in all crash tests.

For now, the Acura TL Type-S model disappears-but hold your groans. Acura has hardly turned down the wick. Fortified with a high-compression (yes, premium fuel), 3.5-liter VTEC V-6, the base, front-drive 2009 TL now delivers 280 horsepower at 6200 rpm-just six horses shy of the outgoing Type-S. And newly available is the most powerful Acura engine ever: a 3.7-liter V-6, based on the unit in the Acura RL, with VTEC variable timing on the intake and exhaust valves (a first for a SOHC engine) that kicks out 305 horsepower at 6300 rpm and 275 pound-feet of torque at 5000.

Give Acura credit: The automaker isn't doing the milquetoast design thing any more. The face of the redesigned, fourth-generation 2009 Acura TL four-door, sporting an inverted wedge of chrome in its mouth that stands out like a silver front tooth, won't slip down boulevards unseen.

But the newly redesigned model is more luxurious, larger, and, unfortunately, heavier. The 2009 TL is no GT-R killer, or WRX for that matter, but it boasts an impressive list of new Acura engineered developments.

The Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) version of the Acura TL now comes with an enlarged 3.7-liter V6 engine that makes 305 bhp and 273 lb-ft of torque. This is the most powerful production engine that Acura has ever produced, with more horses than even the last NSX.

We commend the Acura engineers for their spring rates, damper valving, swaybar choice, and bushing durometers. Instead of going brain dead commuter soft, they've definitely leaned towards "sport" with the SH-AWD model and we could see this new TL as the daily driver counterpart to the slick-shod Civic autocross car of your average SCC reader.

I drove 270 miles in the 2009 Acura TL. Trip computer indicated 25.5 mpg. I was using the cruise control most of the time, with speeds between 70-75 mph.

The chassis shows magnificent poise. Ride, handling, and steering are superb. The engine is a bit loud for the power produced, and runs on pricey premium fuel. The 5-speed automatic shifts with authority, though. Overall, it feels agile, coordinated, and well planted, except the fact that the front wanders a touch over a rise.