Acura TL Baltimore MD

Prefer something sneaky, yet luxurious, for the daily commute? It's been said that the 1999-2003 Acura TL, especially in 260-bhp Type-S guise, is something of a Q-ship. Dusting off our World War I history books for a moment, we're reminded that the term was coined to describe a British countermeasure to German U-boats that were choking their shipping lanes. An ordinary merchant vessel was fortified with hidden guns and torpedoes, then loaded with wooden caskets, cork — anything for buoyancy — so it could survive (or at least limp through) a submarine's attack. The U-boat, torpedoes away and sensing a kill, would surface to finish its business at close range with its deck gun. Surprise! The harmless-looking Q-ship would then unload its ordnance on Das Boot, sending its periscope down for the final time.

And so it is with the TL, stalking the unsuspecting with performance that belies a tidy, if not especially aggressive exterior shape...an ordinary merchant vessel for the road with a little something extra under the hood.

That's well and good, but many of us like some stylistic fervor to go with the acceleration and creature comforts. Here the 2004 Acura TL scores big, with rakish lines that drew near-unanimous praise around the R&T offices. Plus, its 270-bhp 3.2-liter V-6 gives the base car all the performance of last year's Type-S model. To sweeten the deal, the new TL comes packed to the gunwales with a couple of automotive firsts as standard equipment: a premium sound system that plays DVD audio and DTS discs as well as CDs, and a Bluetooth wireless link to transfer calls from so-equipped cell phones to the car's hands-free, voice-controlled system. XM satellite radio is also standard, along with an included 3-month trial subscription. All this, in addition to all the technologies we tend to take for granted these days, such as anti-lock brakes, traction control and yaw control.

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