New Car Review: 2012 Acura TL




The 2012 Acura TL front view.

I am not a fan of plastic surgery. Too many botched jobs out there reminding us every day that the nose wasn't really that big or other bits weren't really that small. In the case of the 2012 Acura TL, however, I'm prepared to say that sometimes a nose job is really what the patient needed.

In case you don't remember the 2009, 2010 and 2011 TL, here's the "before" picture:




The 2009-2011 Acura TL front view.

If you think it's not so wonderful in pictures, trust me...that's a flattering angle. A change was needed...and now, we have one. The TL is, as it was before 2009, a conventionally handsome sport sedan.

Acura ZDX Review (UPDATED 4/16/10 5:40 PM PST With Recall Information)

Fastbacks are an acquired taste...and even then, there's an element of scale that seems to work best. Smaller being better. The 1965 Mustang worked. The much larger 1965 Rambler Marlin, to my way of thinking, didn't. 

While BMW's supposedly adding a fastback to the 3-series in 2013, the current crop of fastbacks are larger cars...four-doors at that...and, well...I think I've made myself clear.

                             

Acura would like us to think that the ZDX breaks new ground between sedan and crossover. That's a pretty slim territory, and a station wagon is what would fill it. One based on the outstanding 2010 TL-SH AWD sedan (review coming soon...I liked it much more than the supposedly identical 2009 and we'll explore why) would be perfect. It would carry more, have better rear and side visibility and handle better than the awkwardly proportioned and heavier ZDX.

Acura TL SH-AWD (with Technology Package) Review

There must be a car in there somewhere. Darned if I can find it.

Acura has apparently shifted somewhere along the way from being the near-luxury division of Honda (maker of wonderful vehicles like the original Acura Legend) to being the technology division of Honda...a company that already has entirely too much of a fascination with tiny backlit buttons everywhere it can fit them.

On the Hondas, it's just this side of annoying...because, well...because there's a Honda in there...bringing with it value, reliability and generally attractive cars. And the Honda price point keeps the tech from getting out of control.

But the new Acura TL? First, the redesign has taken a lithe, sleek sedan and turned it into a blocky, angular mess. If they could argue that all those angles confound photo radar, that might be an excuse...but they're not.

Second, it performs well...but not memorably.

And third...the tech. Too much stuff. My first clue? The owner's manual is more than 600 pages long. And there's a separate nav system manual (I neglected to count those pages, but I see that you can get it online as a .pdf...in that form, it's 172 pages.

Oh, yeah...and it's $42,995.

I respect Honda and its products (as a Civic owner for 14 years). But Acura's taken a wrong turn...and I hope its corporate nav system can plot a new route.