Test Drive: 2010 Acura TL SH-AWD 6-Speed Manual

By Kevin Harrison

Isn’t it funny how things can sometimes grow on you? I once hated olives. So much so that the mere mention of the word made me cringe. Picking them off pizza or salads wasn’t good enough either. If olives were in the vicinity of any type of food I was to consume, I would have preferred to stay hungry. These days? Sure, put olives on my nachos, put them in my martini, hell, you can put them in my bed for all I care. They’re great. I’m not sure why all of a sudden I have grown accustomed to them, but I have.

The same can be said for the new Acura TL. I absolutely loathed the redesign when it first came out, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt as pictures usually don’t do justice to most cars. I thought it had a disproportionate robotic like exterior that seemed like it belonged in an episode of ‘What Not To Wear’. Seeing it in person just reinforced my urge to regurgitate whenever I saw it.

But something strange happened. The TL, it seems, isn’t so bad as I once thought. In fact, I’d even go so far as saying that it looks quite good from certain angles. Perhaps this is because Acura has decided to put its massive shield on the front grille of all its products so now the look seems somehow more modern and normal? All I know is, it is definitely a looker and I’m happy to say, for the right reasons.

But the TL needs a lot more than just edgy looks if it hopes to offer a different flavour of sports sedan from its rivals.

First things first, BMW is one of the few manufacturers to offer manual transmission options on most of their lineup, and that includes the bigger 5-series, to which the TL competes. Acura, for some reason, did not immediately offer a 6-speed manual with its redesigned TL until now. This is strange because Honda makes one of the best shifting manual transmissions in the business. The TL’s transmission is no exception as shifts are silky smooth and throws are decently short making the TL 6-speed a very capable performance sedan. The shifter is a bit small, but that will be the least of your worries as you shift at high revs to take advantage of the V6.

It’s a 3.7 litre that produces 305 horsepower and 273 pound feet of torque. The SH-AWD adds weight, so to combat any performance hindering as a result, they added an extra 25 horses over the 3.5 litre used in front wheel drive TL’s. Power is adequate as a result, but it does not feel much quicker than the 3.5 litre. As mentioned, the engine is much more responsive at the top end of the power band. In low RPM’s the TL can feel a bit sluggish, but this is why getting the optional 6 speed on the SH-AWD TL is so important. You can keep it in the higher RPM range. As a result, take-offs aren’t incredibly fast, but fast enough to chirp the wheels 9 times out of 10 when switching into second if you are driving aggressively. Power delivery is fairly smooth and the exhaust note is quite nice as well. In general, you feel as if you have much more control over the large sedan, which should be the case – the TL is trying to be a driver’s car after all.

The SH-AWD is quite good at helping the TL feel stable in the corners. It’s not a full-time AWD system and has a front wheel drive bias which is unfortunate, but the system can still hold its own by boosting power as needed to the outside wheel which may start to loose grip. The system is the same that I tested on the ZDX and is definitely something you want to check off on the option list of the new TL (as is the 6-speed manual). Combined with a firm, yet relatively comfortable suspension and you have a large fairly sure-footed sedan.

The interior is nice, however the feel of the ZDX’s interior felt a bit more posh. That said, the TL’s interior is nicely laid out and has quality rich feeling materials throughout the cabin. Acura is known for being quite tech savvy, but in true Acura form, there is a button overload on both the steering wheel and centre stack which can be extremely distracting from the road. It also gives a bit of a cluttered feel up front.

My tester came with the tech package which will keep most techies happy if the abundance of buttons somehow don’t. It comes with navigation, GPS linked duel-zone climate control, a very nice 440-watt stereo, keyless start with smart entry, updated leather interior and a very cool looking decklid spoiler that features a back-up camera. The back-up camera system is excellent and is one of the better ones I’ve experienced. The seats are quite comfy and offer good support. The rear seats are equally as comfortable, however rear leg room isn’t as much as one would expect given the size of the car itself. They also don’t fold flat, there is only a ski pass through. This is a huge omission in my opinion as offering a $50,000 vehicle without split folding rear seats is a bit like serving the finest caviar to the Queen without giving her a fork.

But that’s a compliment, really. Well, the first part is anyway. Comparing an Acura to caviar is quite high praise and is something that probably hasn’t been done in a long time, if ever. But like caviar, Acura’s new styling direction tends to be an acquired taste and one could be completely forgiven for not quite warming up to the lineup. However the TL is, once you get used to it, quite good. Now that it has a proper transmission finally available, it’s hard not to seriously consider it, when you might not have before.

The TL has officially been added along side the olive to the list of things I used to hate, but have now gotten used to. If you used to hate it, give your taste buds another chance with it, because I guarantee you that this flavour of TL in 6-speed SH-AWD guise is much more palatable.