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.

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