2005 Acura RL

With its passenger-car roots planted in the 1970s-vintage Honda Civic, the previous-generation Acura RL struggled for traction in a luxury market dominated by rear-drive, V-8-powered flagships from BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, and Jaguar. Last year's RL had evolved into a sleepy, front-drive, V-6-powered four-door with boulevard dynamics. This fall, Acura will introduce an all-new RL featuring the most powerful engine in Acura's history: a 3.5-liter, 300-horse SOHC V-6. Trumping even the NSX's DOHC 3.0-liter, this sophisticated six-cylinder boosts output a 75 horsepower advantage over the 2004 model and works through a five-speed manumatic transmission with console tap-up/down operation and steering-wheel paddle shifters.

Acura gets around the torque-steer problem inherent in high-output front-drive cars with a breakthrough all-wheel-drive system not-so humbly called Super Handling (SH-AWD). While most AWD systems distribute power front and rear as needed, the SH-AWD platform also routes power between left and right rear wheels mechanically--without using the brakes--to help maintain a neutral balance during aggressive driving.

A more athletic package, the 2005 RL measures 3.0 inches shorter than the 3.5RL, an inch wider, 2.6 inches taller, and has a 4.4-inch-shorter wheelbase. The new RL adds rear-seat head- and legroom at the expense of trunk space.

Technology innovations continue inside, where a clever center-stack-mounted device demonstrates how effective a BMW iDrive-like toggle wheel controller can be. The real control genius is in the key functions represented with traditional buttons for quick, one-touch access. The center stack also boasts a Bose DVD Audio system combined with XM Satellite Radio and a navigation system offering real-time traffic for 20 major metropolitan areas via XM NavTraffic.