Recently I took to the road for a few days in a $45,085 Acura TL
SH-AWD Advance for 2012, followed by a $39,335 TL Tech, which is the
front–drive version. While both trim levels include Tech features such as hard
drive navigation system with voice recognition, rear camera, real time traffic,
push button start, keyless entry, yada, yada, yada, the Advance features
include blind spot information system, cooled seats, a must have set of 19”
rims and more. Truth be told, both cars showed me a good time.

 Acura has
mastered the art of comfort, with smart features that make sense. But given the
choice between the two trim levels, oh, hands down, I’m choosing the power and
glory of the SH-AWD Advance at 18 city/26 highway mpg, over the 20 city/29
highway Tech—everyday! The reason? Performance!

Being on the road in sport
driving mode with the snap, pop and precision of the SH-AWD and all 305 horses
under the hood is a thrill made especially for us refined men. On the more
humorous side I am reminded of a commercial from years back when the husband
would beam from ear to ear each time his nagging wife asked him to run an
errand. It wasn’t about her at all. It was about the thrill of behind the wheel
of a hot whip!

If you read the auto trades, you may be amazed by the number
of old heads who were either offended or simply not impressed with TL’s
exterior design in 2011. The front fascia—the grill in particular, seemed to
“weally wub dem da wong way,” in the words of cartoon character Elmer Fudd. But
for that same model year, the TL—a performance luxury sedan,
received the 2011 ALG Residual Value Award for Best Near Luxury Car. That’s a
recognition awarded to the vehicle in each industry segment predicted to retain
the highest percentage of original purchase price after a conventional
three-year period. Then again, maybe there was some street cred’ to what the
old folks had to say. Based on  year to
date new car sales in the USA through March of 2011 and again through 2012, TL
showed a 2% gain of units sold in 2012 (8,417 versus 8,034 units up to the
first quarter of 2011).

For a fan like me who started out with a Honda Accord in the
early 90’s, graduating to an Acura Legend after the Honda was totaled, the TL—a
top selling model for the Acura brand, can do no wrong in my eyes. In fact
since the 2008 introduction of the current generation, each year’s minor
refreshments have been like fine wine—getting only better with time! In fact
my only pet peeve about the TL and Acura in general, has been the five-speed
transmission thing!

Seriously, what up with that, Acura, in an era where the
finest of the fine and fancy whips to hit the playing field are now at eight
transmissions speeds? Okay, so the brand is a little slow on the draw with the
introduction of a six-speed transmission, which finally came in model year
2012. But by no means has the TL ever been a slouch!

As for the interior stack of the TL and Acura in general,
which some see as convoluted, the real issue here is a matter of simplicity.
Unlike many of the German engineered vehicles where one button serves many
functions, Acura seems to like the idea of WYSIWYG, whereas—what you see is
what you get! In other words, each button does exactly what it says—nothing
more, nothing less. That’s simplicity.

Again I say as I have always said , Acura is one hell of
value and a superfluous performer on the playing field!