2010 Acura TL

The 2010 Acura TL is a sporty sedan that's great fun to drive, but it doesn't exactly bend over backward to accommodate families. It's more of a "make-it-work" car rather than one that simply works. I was willing to accommodate the TL's lack of family-friendliness because it was so much fun to drive, but in the end of my test drive I was happy to move on.

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My test car, which was the higher trim level, cost $42,385; the base model has an MSRP of $35,105.

With its Super Handling All-Wheel Drive, the TL clings to the road while the V-6 engine launches you down it. It's quick and quietly powerful without being obnoxious. I had a great time touring around my mountainous hometown, revisiting curvier roads just for fun. The TL walks that fine line between youthful exuberance and mature wisdom, as far as the driving goes. The ride is sporty and firm, but not hard, so the TL handles most bumps without causing my chiropractor to flinch.

What caused me to flinch and not give the TL my full approval is its funky design and the grudging amount of storage inside. The exterior of the TL is bold and fresh from the front and side, but just ugly from the rear, almost laughably so. While there's room for a family of four, play dates and kids in the carpool are less welcome. The TL isn't anti-family — it can work as a family car — but it takes more work than I care to put into most things.

EXTERIOR

In the past, some have said Acura's lineup lacked style. Acura upped the bold factor with a redesign in 2009. I like the TL's profile, with its bold shoulder, sculpted lines and contoured chrome around the windows and on the door handles.

The front view is less appealing but not off-putting. The TL's face has Acura's familiar five-point grille. It doesn't even look like a grille, but more like something designed for space. The xenon headlights are narrow and slanted and come on automatically when it gets dark outside. I love not having to think about turning on the headlights. The smallish side mirrors have integrated turn signals and tilt down when the TL is in Reverse.

It's from the rear that the TL looks ridiculous. The rear looks more like a face than the front does. With the taillights set high on the outside corners like eyes, it reminds me of a grinning Cheshire cat. The oversize Acura badge in the rear's center looks like a nose and a strip of metal at the trunk's bottom gives it a smile. The chrome-tipped quad exhaust does nothing to distract from that stupid grin. It wasn't just me who had problems with this car's rear. I fielded comment after comment about the back of the TL, and most of them included the word "ugly."

On the upside, the TL's exterior is functional, with doors that are easy for little ones to manage and close with a solid-sounding "thump." There's plenty of headroom in the front and back.

My test car had a 305-horsepower, 3.7-liter V-6 engine that made driving exciting. A five-speed automatic transmission is standard, and a six-speed manual is available. It uses premium gas and gets an EPA-estimated 17/25 mpg city/highway. The base model with front-wheel drive has a smaller V-6 engine that makes 280 hp and uses a five-speed automatic transmission. It gets slightly better gas mileage of 18/26 mpg.