2005 Acura RL Program #2405

Acura has made a strong sales comeback in recent years with the MDX sport-ute, and TL and TSX luxury sport sedans. All succeeded by offered buyers something different. But Acura’s flagship 4-door, the RL, still drives in the shadow of big luxury sedans from Lexus, Infiniti, and even the domestics. Well, for 2005, that may change with an all new RL. It dares to be different at all four corners.

As a luxury brand, Acura has always been something of an industry maverick. When the market zigs, they zag. Or turn, as is the case for the all-new 2005 Acura RL. Rather than come up with some innovative comfort feature—they already have plenty of those—or even the long rumored V-8, this time they are banking on superior handling and traction to give them an edge over rivals like Lexus and Infiniti.

Every RL comes standard with a new all-wheel drive system that is modestly called Super Handling All-Wheel Drive, or SH-AWD. In a typical all-wheel drive car, when cornering under power, torque is directed to the inside rear wheel. This promotes understeer. Thus, it’s nearly impossible for an all-wheel drive car to handle as well as a two-wheel drive car. Acura’s SH-AWD uses an elaborate rear differential, with twin clutch packs, to direct extra torque to the outside rear wheel. The over driving of the outside rear wheel produces a yaw moment that pivots the car into the corner, thus reducing understeer. SH-AWD takes its cues, not just from wheel slippage, but from the RL’s standard stability system.

On wet and sloppy roads, the SH-AWD works much like other all-wheel drive systems with traction control. The nominal 70/30 front to rear torque split can be reversed, with any one of the rear tires capable of getting all of the available power. But it is dry road handling that makes the all-wheel drive RL so unique and enjoyable. Without being reckless, we just couldn’t force the RL out of its smoother cornering lines. The words safe, secure, and solid played over and over again around every bend.

It also helps if you have very responsive speed-sensitive steering, big all-wheel disc ABS brakes, and 300-horsepower. While no V-8, the RL’s new 3.5-liter single-cam V-6, now with variable valve timing, also rates 260 pound-feet of torque. It is the most powerful engine yet from Acura.

The automatic transmission jumps from 4 to 5 gears, and adds manual-mode paddle-style shifters a la NSX. When it’s all put to proper pavement, 0 to 60 can be dispatched in 6.5 seconds. That’s comparable to the V-8 powered Lexus LS430 and Infiniti Q45.

But hot dogging it down a strip of asphalt is one thing. What about the 99.9% of the time the RL will play more sedate luxury purveyor? Is the new car a real player in that contest? Well, it certainly is by appearances. While still properly conservative in styling, the former RL’s squared off dimensions have been carefully smoothed, with a lower hood-line, flush glass, and shorter rear deck. While a few inches were shaved off length and wheelbase, it gains in width and height, and tire size grows from 16 to 17-inches with inflation pressure monitoring. Not only are XENON high intensity headlights standard, but so too is Acura’s first Active Front Lighting System. As the car turns, AFS swivels the beams into the corner.

Inside, the new RL also puts a more modern spin on elegance and unquestioned luxury and safety. Side and curtain airbags are standard. Real maple trim sweeps past three huge gauge pods, to a wide center stack that houses a large ‘‘Interface Dial’’ that provides joystick control of dual-zone climate, 10-speaker Bose stereo, communications, and navigation. The standard NAV system sits dash top with a large 8-inch screen that is also voice activated.

The power adjusting seats are wide, very supportive, with heat standard. Despite a shorter overall length, front and rear leg room are up. And while the new RL is sleek, rear head room increased as well. While the rear seat is fixed, there is a small pass-through to the wide trunk, which measures an ample 13.1 cubic feet.

Prices for the new RL have not been released, but we don’t expect them to vary much from the $46,000 sticker of the current car. And that does buy you a lot more luxury car, albeit one where its best advantages are things you experience rather than see. Still, adding standard all-wheel drive and hi-tech handling to a flagship luxury sedan does put the 2005 Acura RL ahead of its rivals in areas important to hardcore drivers, and shows that Acura’s agile thinking can never be counted out.