- sedan 126,502
- Boulder, CO
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- autoshopper.com
- sedan 126,502 gasoline automatic
2004 acura tl review this car review is specific to this model, not the actual vehicle for sale. Acura raises the bar for mid-size luxury sedans. introductionacura is reinventing itself. The originator of the japanese-brand luxury car is no longer the leader in the market subsegment, and hasn't been for some time. It bristles with new safety and emissions technology and new features, a few of them nothing less than industry firsts. the interior has been modernized. The exterior styling marks a fresh departure from the car maker's traditionally conservative design motifs. All but one of the options on last year's list have been moved to the standard column. Horsepower and torque are up, and markedly so. A new transmission is available. And there's only one version, instead of two. not much more could be different, or much better. Type-s intenders should not be dismayed, however, as honda's luxury car division has endowed the new tl with the essential features and capabilities of the type-s. Topping this list is a stereo system that redefines the overused term premium. Not content with a multi-speaker, externally power-amplified, dvd/cd/cassette/am/fm/xm satellite radio system, acura has added a technology known as dvd-audio 5. 1. Dvds recorded with this technology triple the channels in traditional stereo and virtual (electronically synthesized) surround sound systems, from two to six. The hope is to do for digital recordings what dolby did for analog tapes. This more discrete surround sound is common in recording studio gear and has only recently begun appearing in home entertainment systems. Leather is standard and not only trims the seats and door panels, but also wraps the shift knob and steering wheel. Even lowly carpeted floor mats are standard. the latest generation of occupant safety developments, including seat-mounted, side-impact and full-cabin, side curtain airbags, are included at no extra cost. Frontal airbags are dual stage and dual threshold, meaning they deploy at different rates depending on the severity of the crash and whether the front seat occupants are belted in. The side-impact airbag sensors note the seat occupant's height and position to minimize potential injury to out-of-place and smaller-stature individuals. The only disappointment, especially from honda, is the omission of a head restraint for the center rear passenger. xenon high intensity discharge headlights brighten the road ahead of every '04 tl. The greenhouse is that in more than stylist terminology, using green-tinted glass to block some of the sun's heat. A dual-zone, dual-mode, air conditioner automatically does the rest of the job, managing interior temperatures with air cleansed by a micron filter. acura's navigation system 2000) is the only major option offered (at least initially) for the 2004 tl. The system features voice recognition of 293 verbal commands, including adjustments to the stereo and climate control system and selection of more than 7 million points of interest (restaurants, lodging, airports, shopping malls, etc.). All this information is also accessible through a dash-mounted touch screen and assorted knobs and switches. Using time of day and direction of travel, this calculates the sun's position relative to the car to adjust side-to-side interior temperatures to maintain desired settings. high performance tires are optional 200) with the 6-speed manual transmission. also available, though not initially, is a sport suspension package called a-spec. This includes firmer springs and shock absorbers, unique 18-inch wheels wearing z-rated yokohama tires, aero/ground effects body pieces, special steering wheel, upgraded brake pads for cars with the automatic transmission and bragging-rights body badges. walkaroundacura's stylists kept the image of a soccer player in mind as they sketched the 2004 tl: a wide, solid stance; tall and lean, with muscular lines; and compact and coiled, tensed, ready to move in any direction with quickness, certainty and precision. This design philosophy may sound forced, or even melodramatic, but a close look at the car's proportions and styling cues gives it credence. while maintaining approximately the same wheelbase as the '03 model (a mere 0. 2 inches shorter), the '04 tl has shaved more than half a foot off its overall length. It's an inch and a half wider, riding on tires spread an inch farther apart in front and two inches farther apart in the rear. It's fully three inches taller. Despite all these added increments, it claims one of the lowest coefficients of drag (0. 29 cd) of any sedan of its class sold in the u. S. the strong, chin-like front end is braced by two, low-mounted openings feeding cooling air to the engine, the minimalist grille serving primarily to frame the acura badge and trademark polished horizontal bar. Squinting headlights wrap around the front fenders, drawing the eye to the character line that begins in the side light just forward of the front door, integrating the perfectly aligned door handles and running the length of the car to terminate in the rear side-marker lights. Molded rocker panels beneath the doors (with chip-resistant finish) visually widen the car's lower body. Fender flares stretch the body over and wrap snugly around the tires. The tallish greenhouse tapers gracefully inward rising from the beltline, giving geometric balance to the rake of the windshield and backlight. The c-pillar, or sail, flows smoothly down onto the trunk lid, adding substance and solidity to the rear quarters and embellishing the tl's mild, wedge-like profile. what most other drivers will see of the tl, the back end, looks like, well, a honda. This isn't necessarily bad, although it does come across as a bit conservative when considered along with the dramatic styling of the rest of the car. The trailing edge of the trunk lid is sharply crested, with a pleasing kamm-like aero-overhang. Taillights are severely functional. The black surround setting off the rear license plate is a bit loud. But all the body sculpturing produces surface planes generating some exciting shadows, and dual exhausts with squarish tips in matching lower bumper cutouts boost the sporty image, as do tires pushed out to the car's edge. interiorthe melding of function with form works extremely well in the acura tl's comprehensively re-worked interior. easy-on-the-eyes, backlit, blue-around-white, led gauges look out from inside three pods tucked under a hood shading them from noon-time sun. A large, round speedometer sits directly in front of the driver and is centered on the steering column, which is also properly centered on the driver's seat. To the left is a slightly smaller, but no less legible tachometer. The righthand pod contains the fuel and water temperature gauges. top most in the center stack is the lcd screen that displays the climate control and audio system settings and selections and, when so optioned, the navigation system's visual aids. With the optional navigation system comes a line of pda-like buttons and cursor controller arrayed beneath the screen. Bracketing the screen are perpendicular rows of large, finger-friendly buttons for setting driver and front passenger climate control preferences; noteworthy is the presence of an off switch for when the outside weather begs to be enjoyed. The moonroof switch is located on to the overhead control pod, more intuitive than having it on the dash. below is the control head for the sound system, containing the six-disc cd changer and cassette player, the latter useful for books on tape. Large, round knobs adjust volume and tuning/tone/fade/balance. Right-sized station preselect buttons easily pass the fingernail/winter glove test. the much-touted dvd-audio 5. 1 surround sound system fell short of expectations. Granted, the sound was physically more surrounding, but it was no fuller or richer. We're not audio experts, but we recall the dimensional depth dolby added to analog recordings as being a bigger leap forward. comfortably bolstered seats brace thighs and shoulders against lateral forces during spirited cornering. Seat bottom cushions could extend a bit more beneath the thighs, but overall are quite supportive without being overly firm. The b-pillars are indented in their forward edges about mid-height to make a little more elbow room for front seat occupants. Oddly, in that the new tl is some three inches taller than the '03, front seat headroom is actually down by more than an inch, while rear seat passengers gain only half an inch. AM/FM✔ Tachometer✔ Climate Control✔ CD Changer✔ Navigation System✔ Sunroof/Moonroof✔ Bluetooth
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