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| 2005 Acura Tl Review | |||
| Whether you're about to spend $40K on a brand new car, or half that on a used car, it is always important to learn as much as you can about the used car. Read these car reviews to learn about all aspects of the vehicle. Each of the usedcar reviews cover interior and exterior features, options, road tests, and more. | |||
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Introduction
| Road Test
| Inside & Out
| Other Thoughts
| Last Word
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| Inside & Out | |||
After years of constant growth, the latest TL actually shrunk for once and now measures shorter in length than the first Vigor. But there's more room now thanks to better space allocation and the TL's engine sitting east-west instead of north-south. The smaller dimensions help it feel more lithe on the road, and you just know you're looking the part with all those sharp lines. Those angled dual exhaust pipes look cool. To the stylists: good job on creating Acura's most stunning sedan ever.Though a tad less roomy than the Accord, the TL has enough space to maintain mid-size status. Adults occupying the back will find adequate room in all directions (the TL's tall, wide body helps) though a low seat cushion. Note the missing head restraint in the center. The fronts are of course great, the driver has two-position memory, and there's been a pretty noticeable upgrade in leather quality (or at least softness) on this generation. As with the outside, the TL's interior marks a success in fulfilling the conflicting design goals of distinctive design and Acura familiarity. The steering wheel is shared in the family, but with such a convenient design, that's the best part. It tilts and telescopes manually, but it's easier that way. The LED blue/red/white gauges are crisp and legible, the consoles and cupholders work well, the seatback pockets are adjustable (that's new), and for a change, Acura left the clock up high where you can see it. The simplified trip computer lives in the instrument cluster instead of the navigation screen, which I found more convenient. The column-mounted ignition calls for too much wrist twisting, though, and the rapid BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP Honda chime is timelessly annoying. Unlike Acura's MDX, all vital systems get their own buttons, and the layout makes good sense: touch-screen navigation in the middle, dual-zone climate controls on the left and right, stereo below. That stereo makes Acura a pioneer in bringing the "500 times greater resolution" of DVD Audio to the automotive universe. Through the 7.1 speakers (two in the front doors, two dash tweeters, two in the back deck, a front-center speaker, and a back deck subwoofer), the six separate channels of DVD Audio let you hear individual instruments coming from all around you, creating a more inspiring listening experience. I'm not sold on channel separation making a quantum leap difference in music (you can't call it more "realistic" as you can with movies), but the unit does sound awesome, possibly even more so than the top-of-the-line Acura RL's. The likely reason is that Acura turned to a real company, Panasonic, instead of wiring the TL with the usual Bose crap. One problem: unlike the RL's, this TL doesn't accept MP3s; Acura's stated reason being that MP3s are not high-quality enough to be worthy of playback in such a magnificent system. (Then explain that cassette player, wise guy.) In sum, the stereo sounds great, but the attitudes of its creators could use some fine-tuning. The navigation system is standard Acura fare. There's the occasional goof like a non-constant scrolling speed and a directory that, after performing a search for "Round Table Pizza," makes you choose between one list of "Restaurants" and another list of "Eating Places." Acura also slanders an entire nation by classifying Pizza Hut as "Italian food." Otherwise, it's one of the easiest to use, and unlike many others, Acura lets you use it all you want while driving. Strangely, this system seldom prompts you for voice commands even though the TL is wired for auditory commands (and Bluetooth-compatible cell phones), and you can't adjust the frequency of the guidance mode's voice reminders as in other Acuras. Back at the hind end of the car is a 12.5 cubic foot trunk, which is right around average. The seatback doesn't fold down (there is a trunk pass-through portal that skis will fit through), no doubt to keep TL's structure as stiff as possible for performance reasons. |
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