> all TL pictures

Acura's stylists kept the image of a soccer player in mind as they sketched the 2004 TL: a wide, solid stance; tall and lean, with muscular lines; and compact and coiled, tensed, ready to move in any direction with quickness, certainty and precision. This design philosophy may sound forced, or even melodramatic, but a close look at the car's proportions and styling cues gives it credence.

While maintaining approximately the same wheelbase as the 2003 model (a mere 0.2 inches shorter), the 2004 Acura TL has shaved more than half a foot off its overall length. It's an inch and a half wider, riding on tires spread an inch farther apart in front and two inches farther apart in the rear. It's fully three inches taller. Despite all these added increments, it claims one of the lowest coefficients of drag (0.29 Cd) of any sedan of its class sold in the U.S.

The strong, chin-like front end is braced by two, low-mounted openings feeding cooling air to the engine, the minimalist grille serving primarily to frame the Acura badge and trademark polished horizontal bar. Squinting headlights wrap around the front fenders, drawing the eye to the character line that begins in the side light just forward of the front door, integrating the perfectly aligned door handles and running the length of the car to terminate in the rear side-marker lights. Molded rocker panels beneath the doors (with chip-resistant finish) visually widen the car's lower body. Fender flares stretch the body over and wrap snugly around the tires. The tallish greenhouse tapers gracefully inward rising from the beltline, giving geometric balance to the rake of the windshield and backlight. The C-pillar, or sail, flows smoothly down onto the trunk lid, adding substance and solidity to the rear quarters and embellishing the TL's mild, wedge-like profile.

What most other drivers will see of the Acura TL, the back end, looks like, well, a Honda. This isn't necessarily bad, although it does come across as a bit conservative when considered along with the dramatic styling of the rest of the car. The trailing edge of the trunk lid is sharply crested, with a pleasing Kamm-like aero-overhang. Taillights are severely functional. The black surround setting off the rear license plate is a bit loud. But all the body sculpturing produces surface planes generating some exciting shadows, and dual exhausts with squarish tips in matching lower bumper cutouts boost the sporty image, as do tires pushed out to the car's edge.

> all TL pictures

The melding of function with form works extremely well in the Acura TL's comprehensively re-worked interior.

Easy-on-the-eyes, backlit, blue-around-white, LED gauges look out from inside three pods tucked under a hood shading them from noon-time sun. A large, round speedometer sits directly in front of the driver and is centered on the steering column, which is also properly centered on the driver's seat. To the left is a slightly smaller, but no less legible tachometer. The righthand pod contains the fuel and water temperature gauges.

Top most in the center stack is the LCD screen that displays the climate control and audio system settings and selections and, when so optioned, the navigation system's visual aids. With the optional navigation system comes a line of PDA-like buttons and cursor controller arrayed beneath the screen. Bracketing the screen are perpendicular rows of large, finger-friendly buttons for setting driver and front passenger climate control preferences; noteworthy is the presence of an Off switch for when the outside weather begs to be enjoyed. The moonroof switch is located on to the overhead control pod, more intuitive than having it on the dash.

Below is the control head for the sound system, containing the six-disc CD changer and cassette player, the latter useful for books on tape. Large, round knobs adjust volume and tuning/tone/fade/balance. Right-sized station preselect buttons easily pass the fingernail/winter glove test.

The much-touted DVD-Audio 5.1 surround sound system fell short of expectations. Through a couple Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac selections provided by Acura and selected by the system's developer, Grammy Award-winning music producer/engineer Elliott Scheiner, the most discernible difference between the 2-channel CD/DVD system and the 6-channel DVD-A 5.1 system was just that, four more channels. Granted, the sound was physically more surrounding, but it was no fuller or richer. We're not audio experts, but we recall the dimensional depth Dolby added to analog recordings as being a bigger leap forward.

Comfortably bolstered seats brace thighs and shoulders against lateral forces during spirited cornering. Seat bottom cushions could extend a bit more beneath the thighs, but overall are quite supportive without being overly firm. The B-pillars are indented in their forward edges about mid-height to make a little more elbow room for front seat occupants. Oddly, in that the new Acura TL is some three inches taller than the '03, front seat headroom is actually down by more than an inch, while rear seat passengers gain only half an inch. Front and rear legroom varies by less than a half inch.

The trunk space is reduced by almost two cubic feet, and the opening is somewhat smaller, further limiting the size of any individual parcel one might wish to transport. The trunk is fully finished, with an inside pull down, and the goose-neck hinges are encased to avoid threatening fragile contents of grocery bags. Save for the trunk, interior space and dimensions are close enough to those of the BMW 5-Series and the Volvo S60, the two cars Acura expects most buyers to cross-shop, that personal taste will likely influence decisions more.

Storage places abound but lack flexibility. Seatback-mounted magazine racks are solid, hinged affairs, for example, as are the front door-mounted map pockets, meaning they'll hold only magazines and maps and maybe a slim, self-guide tour book. The center console is a deep, bi-level affair, with a power point in the lower level and a notch in the upper tray to accommodate a cell phone cord. The armrest on the front center console adjusts fore and aft.

Interior quality is up to Acura standards. Fit and finish, even in early production cars, was above average. A nice touch is a grained, matte-finish section on the top of the dash over the instrument cluster that will reduce reflective glare off the inside of the windshield on bright, sunny days. A seamless dash masks the presence of the passenger-side front airbag, making for a more elegant and stylish look.