One of the best features of the TL is that it is very stable at high speeds. The TL encourages its driver to bend it around fast sweeping turns. It is an easy car to drive fast, one that inspires confidence, rather than that uncomfortable tightening in your stomach. Like most front-drive cars, the TL understeers -- the front tires slide before the rear tires -- when driven past its cornering limits. This makes for easy, predictable handling, but limits its cornering performance for highly skilled drivers.

The TL doesn't have the hard, precise edge of a BMW. The steering is very light at low speed, which makes it easy to handle in the crowded parking lots where many of us spend far too much of our time. Yet on the open road, the steering offers enough feedback that you don't feel like you're sitting at the controls of a video game.

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 performance. 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.

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. 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 awkward. 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.