The Finalists - 2009 Acura TL - 2009 Motor Trend Car of the Year

2009 Acura TL

What They Did Right: 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.

Room For Improvement: Looking at it. Or navigating our way through the complex center-stack switchgear.

IT'S THE LUXURY sedan with the most overdone mishmash of lines and curious design cues since the BMW 5 Series, an overreaction to the criticism that its predecessor looked too vanilla-anonymous. That sheetmetal, that schnoz, that over-busy center stack masks the fact that the Mk IV Acura TL with super-handling all-wheel-drive (SH-AWD) is a sporty, dynamic luxury sedan.

Like its predecessors, all new TLs start out well equipped, although Acura offers a front-drive version with a 280-horsepower, 3.5-liter V-6, its suspension set up for "traditional" buyers. The awkwardly named TL SH-AWD comes with a new 305-horsepower, 3.7-liter V-6. Its suspension is tuned and dampened to be sportier, and its all-wheel-drive system uses a complex torque-vectoring rear differential to help steer the car quickly around corners. Honda's Advanced Compatibility Engineering body structure and a new electric power steering system with light, but good feel and feedback are among the TL's new features. Both TL and TL SH-AWD come with five-speed automatics. A six-speed manual will be available for the 2010 SH-AWD.

The 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. Whew. Impressive from inside the car. Most staffers are equally impressed with the SH-AWD's handling dynamics. "Comfy when you want it to be, sporty when you need it to be," Reynolds says, adding that it's "rather quiet in here."

"Superb performance on winding track," Markus says. He likes the way the SH-AWD can be felt to tuck in the rear end and push the car around the corners. Editor-in-chief MacKenzie disagrees. He's found it somewhat unsettled on the road course and far short of the BMW-like dynamics to which it aspires.

Ultimately, the new 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. This split manifested itself when voting for the car; it made the first cut to be one of our 10 finalists, but it had little support as we discussed the cars for our ultimate vote.
- Todd Lassa