For 2002, Acura gives the Type-S treatment to its formerly bland TL sedan. Now you don’t have to buy a coupe to get the 260 horsepower engine, 17” wheels, and sportier interior that have made the CL Type-S so popular. With a price of $31,700, the TL Type-S continues Acura’s “more stuff for less money” strategy. The TL Type-S offers more power and more room for much less money than a BMW 330i or Lexus IS300. Does this make it a genuine bargain among sports sedans? Since this is the category I am personally most interested in, I took an extended test drive to find out.

Acura TL Reliability

Want better reliability information? Want to more clearly know what difference it will make if you buy an Acura TL rather than something else? My website, truedelta.com, will be providing this information in the form of "times in the shop" and "days in the shop" stats.

From these stats you might learn that your first choice, compared to your second choice, is likely to make 2.3 extra trips to the shop in its first five years. You might decide its advantages compensate for this, or you might not. Either way, you'll be able to make a much better informed decision than you can today.

I aim to provide the highest quality information to as many people as possible. Unfortunately, these goals conflict. If I simply give the information away, few will help provide it. So I'm doing the next best thing: those who have been active participants for at least six months will receive free access to this site's reliability information; otherwise this access will cost $24.95. The average time commitment for someone reporting on two cars will be (at most) 15 minutes a year, so you'll essentially receive $100 an hour for doing your share to help everyone make better decisions.

For the details, and to sign up, visit www.truedelta.com.

Styling and Accommodations

I’ve never been a huge fan of the TL’s exterior styling. But maybe it was just the fussy wheels that came with the basic TL its first few years. The Type-S’s larger, thick-spoked wheels bring out the slightly aggressive quality previously hidden in the TL’s angular lines. While the car is still short of striking, in this incarnation I could easily live with it.

The TL’s interior has always been a great place to sit. The driving position is excellent, with the very low dash typical of Hondas. I have never liked the much taller instrument panel found in BMWs and Audis. The front seats are very supportive, with excellent lateral support. The rear seats are just roomy enough for my 5ֽ” frame. A bump on the leading edge of the cushion provides better than average but still not ideal thigh support.

The interior details added by the Type-S—champagne instrument faces, perforations in the leather, and, with the ebony interior, smoke-colored simulated wood—lend a sporty look to the excellent interior of the standard TL. I personally prefer lighter-colored interiors. One problem with this in the Type-S is that the parchment interior has the standard simulated wood. Its shade is far too orange for my taste. And there is a ton of it.

The trunk is at best average in size on paper but appears fairly large and usefully shaped. Unfortunately, the rear seats do not fold down. Only a pass through is provided. I have used the fold down rear seats many times in my own car, and would greatly miss this feature.

On the Road

First, the good part. The engine is magnificent. It feels powerful and sounds great throughout its range. If anything the tuning of the throttle and torque converter are too aggressive, as I chirped the tires at only part throttle a few times. The manual feature of the standard automatic transmission is easy to use, and reacts as quickly as most of these. I used it to hold second or third while aggressively driving the curvy roads in an industrial park. Still, I’d really, really rather have a manual transmission, which would provide a much more direct connection to the engine. Alas, one is not offered, a shock given the fact that Honda once sold most of its cars with manuals.

Update: It seems Acura is going to make a real manual available later in the year in the CL-S, and maybe later in the TL-S. I'll be sure to test it once it's available.

To this point I’m very pleased with the car. Unfortunately, in the areas of ride and handling it has a number of major flaws. Torque steer often rears its ugly head. When accelerating, the front end feels light and the steering gets squirrelly. There are some good aspects of the handling. The tires stick well, and when not accelerating the steering provides good feedback. The stability control does not cut in too early, unlike most such systems. But the TL Type-S remains less than eager to turn in. It lacks the tossable feel present in a BMW 3-Series, or even in my lowly Ford Contour. Strangely enough, I’ve noticed the same problems in the Oldsmobile Aurora and Cadillac Deville. It is possible that channeling a ton or power through the front wheels has its trade-offs. The 2002 Maxima and I30 will be similarly powerful. I’m now eager to see if they will have the same problems.

All of this is nothing compared to the ride. It’s just plain awful, worse than anything I’ve driven in recent memory. The Type-S reacted sharply to just about every imperfection it encountered in the road. I thought my Contour SE, with a very stiff suspension, rode poorly, but driving home from the dealer I suddenly realized that the ride just sounds bad; you hear more than you actually feel while hitting bumps and potholes. In the Acura these were both heard and felt. If anything, the ride resembled that of a 1980s GM sedan with the performance suspension option. Back then, GM thought that a performance suspension had to ride like hell, and those in its sedans did. Given the degree of jittering I sensed, I suspect that the TL’s structure is also more flexible than most in this class, further degrading the ride. Overall, the Type-S’s ride felt inappropriate for this class of car, and perhaps for anything short of an all-out sports car. If this translated to phenomenal handling, it might almost be forgivable, but it doesn’t, so it isn’t. All of the competition rides better, and most of it handles better as well.

Update: Xorg in his own excellent review says that the hard ride I experienced might be caused by overinflated tires. They ship at 40 psi (as is standard practice for all cars--reduces bouncing on the rail car and truck) and sometimes the dealers forget to deflate them to 32 psi. I wouldn't expect this to make that large of a difference, but it would certainly make some difference. You'd think that when I complained about the ride the salespeople would have checked this. But that's assuming they have brains... Only a test drive with a tire gauge would really solve this. At any rate, when you test drive this car be sure to have the tire pressure checked. It might significantly affect your evaluation of the car.

Update 2: I still have not driven a second TL-S, but based on comments from owners in Autoweek and a review in Consumer Reports (Feburary 2002 issue) I suspect that my evaluation was not based on overinflated tires. CR is meticulous about setting tire pressure accurately, yet complained about a "jittery" ride, even on smooth surfaces. They also felt the car did not handle all that well. People see the horsepower and price tag of this car and, consciously or unconsciously, they reject any evidence that this car might have some weaknesses. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Last Words

A 260 horsepower engine and 17” performance tires do not a BMW killer make, even if the price appears to be amazingly low. The basic car, derived from the Accord, is simply not up to this mission. Given the pattern of the car’s faults, I’m beginning to wonder if Honda hired all of those engineers that took early retirement from GM in the early 90s. Flinty ride, torque steer, overly fake wood, flimsy structure, an attempt to cover all of this up with great stats—they’re all here. It’s a shame, because the world really needs a great high performance sedan for around $30,000. Is anyone listening? Till then looks like the best bet is a used 3 or, for less money but also less refinement (sometimes chassis imperfections are fun), a Nissan Maxima.

To learn more about my reliability research and sign up to participate in it, or to perform thorough, up-to-date new car price comparisons, visit www.truedelta.com. A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.
Amount Paid (US$): 31000
Model Year: 2002
Model and Options: TL-S