Base price: $38,940
0-to-60-mph time: 5.5 sec
Quarter-mile time: 14.1 sec @ 101 mph
The TL is within a couple dealer-installed options of $40,000, so if you’re not willing to engage the salesman in a 12-hour game of Battleship or spend three weeks tracking down a TL Type-S in California sans chrome wheels, you might spend a bit more. The TL is rather expensive for a front-driver, so it’s a good thing it employs the architecture well.
The Type-S gets several goodies beyond the base model, such as Brembo brakes, a more-aggressive suspension setup, and if you order the manual transmission (necessary to run similar acceleration numbers), a mechanical limited-slip differential. This last piece is entirely essential, regardless of what Saab thinks, when asking the front wheels to brake, steer, and turn 256 pound-feet of torque into more than tire smoke. Running that much twist through a limited-slip diff to the front wheels means you’ll want both hands firmly on the wheel when tromping the go pedal at lower speeds, lest you flatten pedestrians and street signs unfortunate enough to be caught in the weaving path carved by the torque steer.
More important here, the Type-S gains 28 horsepower over the base car, for a total of 286. Interestingly, fuel economy swells along with engine displacement, which grows from 3.2 to 3.5 liters. It’s worth noting that this engine, from a company known for producing some of the most-efficient, highest-specific-output engines extant, creates the least power per liter of the three Japanese 3.5-liter V-6s here (the two others produce 306 horsepower), although it does return slightly better gas mileage, owing in part to more efficient front-wheel drive. The TL is based on the Accordchassis, which is all-new for 2008, so expect a new TL in 2009.
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan
BASE PRICE: $38,940
ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 24-valve V-6, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 212 cu in, 3471cc
Power (SAE net): 286 bhp @ 6200 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 256 lb-ft @ 5000 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed manual
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 107.9 in
Length: 189.8 in
Width: 72.2 in
Height: 56.7 in
Curb weight: 3515 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 5.5 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 13.9 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 25.8 sec
Street start, 5–60 mph: 5.8 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 14.1 sec @ 101 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 150 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 163 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.93 g
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway driving: 18/27 mpg
http://www.caranddriver.com/feature...08-30000-to-40000-2008-acura-tl-type-s-page-5
