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’04 Acura TL shouts power and performance

There are certain cars — notably two-seat sports cars — that, when inside them, make you feel as if you were wearing the automobile.

The Acura NSX comes to mind. So does the Mazda Miata, the Dodge Viper, the Chevrolet Corvette.

This is not, however, a common sensation in a sedan.

Yet that is exactly the case with the redesigned 2004 Acura TL, a must-drive for those shopping in the near-luxury sedan market, and especially for those looking for not-so-subtle power and looks.

From the grip of its firm, perforated leather bucket seats to the elegant way the dash wraps around both driver and front seat passenger and flows to the doors and back, the car does, indeed, cocoon its occupants in the great luxury of rich leather, real aluminum, and faux wood/graphite trim. Further, its colorfully lit gauges add hints of performance, and its electronics, while a bit complicated in some areas, are state of the art.

This remake of the 1996 original features, from the outside, a wider and taller stance than in the past, rising hood-to-rear in an aggressive wedge that is sharply defined by a high door sill. Adding to the look of power is the fact that the car has been shortened by about four inches, with its wheels pushed closer to front and rear bumpers, eliminating excess overhang. This sharp body sits atop what is mostly a Honda Accord chassis.

And while it is, indeed, a much more aggressive-looking car than its predecessor, it is also much more aggressive under the hood. Gone is the base TL with its 225-horsepower engine. Gone, as well, is the Type S with its 260 horsepower. Standard on all TLs is a 24-valve, aluminum head/block V-6 that delivers 270 horsepower to the basso burble of its exhaust.

And for the first time, a manual transmission is available for the TL, a six-speed, as tested.

This proved a mechanical delight with its relatively short throws and crisp ranging up and down the gears. And Acura, recognizing that those who opt for the six-speed manual over the five-speed automatic are more likely to be aggressive drivers, fits the manual with standard limited slip differential and four-piston Brembo brakes with discs more than a foot in diameter.

You get traction control, ABS, and, for those quick starts and sudden stops under various load conditions, electronic brake distribution, which calculates brake pressure front and rear depending on weight disbursement. So long, nose dives. See ya, backward pitches.

On the road, it is a whisper-quiet, smooth car. Acceleration in third gear, even at higher speeds, will set you back in the seat. Pulling out to pass, even in fifth, is a quick, seamless transition. The suspension — double wishbone upfront, a multilink rear setup — seems both soft and firm at the same time. It absorbs the ruts and bumps of back-country roads with virtually no chatter or shimmy. Yet it sits hard and flat in tight corners and rapid lane changes.

And in the midst of this elegant, powerful ride comes all of that electronic wizardry. An eight-speaker sound system, with six-disc CD changer, is standard equipment. So is XM satellite radio, which allows one to stay tuned to a single station virtually nationwide.

Yet the niftiest touch — and you will see this spreading through other automotive lineups — is the Bluetooth-enabled communications system. Simply, Bluetooth is a system that “recognizes” your cellphone (it must be Bluetooth-compatible) as soon as you enter the car.

If you are talking on the phone as you enter, a push of a wheel-mounted “talk” button transfers your conversation to microphone/speakers mounted in the car. If you want to make calls while driving, turn on the phone, use command buttons, and reach out with your calls using a voice-activated system that can store up to 50 names and dial their telephone numbers based on that command.

This and the sound system are two fine bits of standard equipment in a car priced in the low $30,000s. The only optional equipment is a navigation system at $2,000.