2009 Acura TL

Give Acura credit: The automaker isn't doing the milquetoast design thing any more. The face of the redesigned, fourth-generation 2009 Acura TL four-door, sporting an inverted wedge of chrome in its mouth that stands out like a silver front tooth, won't slip down boulevards unseen. Nor will motorists driving behind miss the wide "V" of chrome where trunklid meets bodywork. You'll notice this new "emotion advanced" TL, all right.

Whether you cheer or spew raspberries, though, may well determine the fate of this hugely important Acura (in 2005, the well-received third-gen TL became America's best-selling luxury sedan and helped push the company's annual sales over the 200,000 mark for the first time). Thus far, the opinions around the MT water cooler have been...it would be charitable to call them "mixed."

Acura has done much tinkering under the skin, too. TL buyers, a loyal lot, expressed two primary wants for the new model: more rear-seat room and more performance. Though those objectives are seemingly at odds, Acura has delivered on both fronts-and more.

Wheelbase is up 1.4 inches, width grows nearly two inches, and overall length climbs by a whopping six inches. Yet overall weight, thanks to liberal use of high-strength steel plus aluminum for the hood and some suspension bits, climbs only modestly. Total cabin volume expands by more than a cubic foot; as intended, the new TL provides noticeably more rear-seat legroom than the outgoing car (Acura also claims the TL is the only car in its class that can fit a full-size family picnic cooler in the trunk). The structure proved its stuff in NHTSA and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tests, too, earning five stars or top "good" ratings in all crash tests.