2007 TL Type S

[owequitit]

Here are are couple links to some photos.

A slightly revised look.

http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=598035

http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/08/...ura-tl-type-s/

AUTOWEEK ARTICLE

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl.../FREE/60808002

AUTOWEEK PICS

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...=808002&Ref=PH

Not too shabby. I like some of the new styling elements, but not others. All in all it was a decent update of a great looking car.

Finally a TL-S with a six speed. Powered by a 286HP 3.5L J35, it should prove pretty quick...

Don't know about torque steer though. That wasn't the previous TL's strong suit, even though some suspension recalibration would certainly help at least a little.

[JaK FRoSTWhiTE]

286hp?

They should have squeezed 14 more hp out of that bad boy.
Making it a 300hp v6!
That would have been pretty insane.

Loving the look, just not feeling the wheels.
They kinda look like those ugly Accessory wheels nobody buys.

Whos competing against this model TL?

[1993sE]

bad ass but i would expect a bigger hp boost....id rather see over 300hp for the TL type s but meh the wheels ae hawt as helll

[Gemini]

loving the car and wheels! Should be faster tho...

[gloryaccordy]

Damn near 300HP from a 3.2L SOHC V6??? Whoa!!!

Damn near 300HP through the front wheels? Bleh. And I've grown tired of the TL's "striking new look" already. This car takes the term "all-motor" to entirely new heights. That said though it's reasonably priced and good for what it is.

[owequitit]

It is actually a 3.5L...

I am sure the 3.2 had some headroom in it, but I think they were doing the typically un-Honda thing and ladeling on more TQ vs more HP.

I agree on the 286HP thing... I think they want to keep the RL as the most powerful, at least until the new NSX debuts.

[deckeda]

Too much power for FWD. I predict torque steer unless Acura or owners do a GM trick like on the Bonneville V8 and put wider tires upfront (talk about a kludge, but whatever).

Surely they could have added the RL's AWD-SH and amortized the cost somewhat.

Which one of you 5-luggers is gonna be first to rock the new rims?

[ACC0RD22]

I agree on the 186HP thing... I think they want to keep the RL as the most powerful, at least until the new NSX debuts.

agreed, making it a 300 hp car really puts it in RL territory, and could hurt sales, especially considering how expensive the RL is.

[gloryaccordy]

The RL is beautiful though, the TL...not so much. It is, in essence, a Japanese Bonneville; I don't get how they can market it as a competitor to something like the 5-series. Like I said on another forum, this car would have been schweet with the 6-speed and SH-AWD...it would be like the M5 vs. the 745i...but as it is it just seems superfluous.

[KillerCam282]

The TL comes factory rated at 270 now, available with a 6 speed manual, 5 speed auto. The Type S isn't much of an upgrade at all. Not to mention, torque steer is prevelent now...one of the many reasons why I passed up on it after my test drive.

[owequitit]

The TL comes factory rated at 270 now, available with a 6 speed manual, 5 speed auto. The Type S isn't much of an upgrade at all. Not to mention, torque steer is prevelent now...one of the many reasons why I passed up on it after my test drive.

The TL is actually rated at 258HP under the SAE revisions which actually makes it a 28HP upgrade, not to mention the almost 25lb/ft of torque at a lower RPM... That is an 11% upgrade in HP and a 10% upgrade in torque. Besides, it is all about area under the curve. Honda typically chooses revs, but in this case they chose displacement and torque. I guess we will see how that works out.

As far as torque steer, there are ways to engineer around it to some extent, but I do tend to agree that we have pretty much reached the limit of FWD. Besides, technology has mitigated some of the former supreme benefits of FWD. (VSA, TCS, etc etc.) Any more, the only real advantage is packaging efficiency.

According to Acura, one of the reasons that torque steer is so prevalent in the TL currently, was because of the calibration of the LSD. Hopefully, they will improve the harshness of it, which may help at least some.

Deckeda: They couldn't just slap SH-AWD in there because the chassis doesn't have the accomdations for it. The RL chassis was designed for it from the beginning, and the TL would have required a ground up redo to accomodate for it.

If TOV's sources are accurate, then I can speculate a few things about Acura in the not too distant future.

1) A V8 engine. Cutting edge as usual, it has been rumored to be about 4.4-4.6Liters in displacement and make up to 450HP. I don't know what the final outputs will be, and those are all speculartory at this point, but they will be substantial, and the engine will form the basis of a family that will cover the next gen Ridgeline, and the next Gen RL at the least. Takeo Fukui has mentioned the development, so that much is true, but he didn't say much else.

2) It is strongly rumored that Honda is currently developing an FR platform that will allow it to make use of that monster V8, will allow a larger proliferation of models, and will remove the FWD handicap of some of its more expensive models (i.e. Acura). I don't know that Acura will abandon FWD completely, but in my mind it would make sense to have RWD/SH-AWD based Acura, and FWD SH-AWD based Honda.

3) A V-10 engine. This has been confirmed by Takeo Fukui himself several times, and will be the engine to power the next NSX. Imagine if they build a version that can be MR mounted and a version that can be FR mounted. RL Type S perhaps?

Honda is an inherently conservative company, they are not dumb. They tend to ride the current technology, in some respects, as long as they can, but they do ultimately have the abilility and desire to innovate quickly if need be. Their consistent growth both sales wise and financially has proven that to be a sound strategy. It is smart business to ride technology as long as possible. Just like sharing platforms, engines, etc this helps ammortize development costs.

JaK, the TL currently competes against "near luxury" cars, which I am not sure what shares the same category other than the ES300.

The real world competitors are generally the G35, IS250/350, The A4, MB C-class, BMW 3 Series ETC.

IMO, RWD in the hands of the average driver is overrated. In many cases it feels faster, but I have seen many cases in the real world where it just isn't. It may have a tactile advantage in extreme cases, but most drivers are unwilling to or unable to get there.

[NutBucket]

The TL comes factory rated at 270 now, available with a 6 speed manual, 5 speed auto. The Type S isn't much of an upgrade at all. Not to mention, torque steer is prevelent now...one of the many reasons why I passed up on it after my test drive.

Agreed. I didn't even bother with a test drive because of it.

[KillerCam282]

When did they revise the numbers on the TL? I could have sworn I saw a commercial that boasted 270hp. Not disputing your numbers at all. I googled it and got the same.

One of my collegues at work has an 03 Type-S. He told me that they just increased the power to 270 and just eliminated the Type-S. This came after we saw an " 05 TL Type-S". That of course had the RSX Type S badge...(rice comes in all flavors).

Its kinda weird that they decided to make one now, three whole years after the model change.

[oneoffaccord]

Here are are couple links to some photos.

A slightly revised look.

http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=598035

http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/08/...ura-tl-type-s/

AUTOWEEK ARTICLE

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl.../FREE/60808002

AUTOWEEK PICS

http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...=808002&Ref=PH

Not too shabby. I like some of the new styling elements, but not others. All in all it was a decent update of a great looking car.

Finally a TL-S with a six speed. Powered by a 286HP 3.5L J35, it should prove pretty quick...







Don't know about torque steer though. That wasn't the previous TL's strong suit, even though some suspension recalibration would certainly help at least a little.

the current tl-s is 6spd. 270hp j32

[owequitit]

When did they revise the numbers on the TL? I could have sworn I saw a commercial that boasted 270hp. Not disputing your numbers at all. I googled it and got the same.

One of my collegues at work has an 03 Type-S. He told me that they just increased the power to 270 and just eliminated the Type-S. This came after we saw an " 05 TL Type-S". That of course had the RSX Type S badge...(rice comes in all flavors).

Its kinda weird that they decided to make one now, three whole years after the model change.

They changed it with the SAE J1349 revision. The actual revision is dated 8/04, but I think the process started for the 2006 model year vehicles, the first of which was obiously the Civic, and then the TSX, Accord, TL, RL, Ridgeline, Odyssey etc. By some of Honda's quoted estimations, the Accord, Ridgeline and Odyssey would have carried HP ratings of about 255 under the old SAE system, and the RL was 300, the 06 TSX would have been 210HP under the old system instead of 205 with a revision.

I do believe the second Gen TL-S debuted about 2 years into the product cycle. I am sure they waited to time the debut of the Type S to bolster the product sales at the most opportune time, and they were selling so fast for the first 3 years that it didn't matter.

They did basically make the 04,05,and 06 TL 10HP stronger than the 2nd Gen Type-S.