I have been very critical of Audi the past few weeks for their bold claim of having the fastest car in the segment. Perhaps I can restore a little faith this week with the Audi fan base by coming to Audi’s defense, in particular the S4’s defense.
Acura is pretty proud of their newest offering, the 2009 TL. Acura is so proud in fact that although the 2009 TL is just arriving, they have already invited journalist to drive the 2010 TL, in this case the SH-AWD model with 6-speed manual transmission.
If judged only from a spec sheet, the 2010 TL SH-AWD reads like an enthusiasts wish list, powerful V6 engine, slick shifting transmission, a chassis set up for sporty driving along with an interior of high quality materials.
Of course there are the looks, but we have beat that horse enough, we will leave the final styling judgment up to you.
And then there are the targets, the cars Acura has set its aim on in an effort to show just how far the new TL has progressed. And Acura is not being shy in bringing the BMW 335i & 335ix, Infiniti G35s and the Audi S4 to a track just to show how good the new TL SH-AWD is.
Pretty bold of Acura you might think, but therein lies the problem.
Acura’s 2010 TL SH-AWD is pitted against a 2008 Audi S4, and wins. The S4 is a great car, but it is on its way out to be replaced with an entirely new S4. I certainly wasn’t the only person to notice the flaw to Acura’s comparison; readers JRobUSC and Michal1980 both picked up on it as well.
The credibility starts to fade when you consider the winning car is competing against a model range being completely replaced by Audi, and another competitor has a larger sized engine in the pipeline for model year 2009 (G37).
So whom should Acura have placed their sites on? Certainly including the BMW 335i & 335iX are good choices, for now the 2009 Audi A4 3.2 Quattro should be included. The Infiniti G37 as well, but since it is not for sale yet obtaining one could be difficult, but the 2010 TL SH-AWD isn’t available yet either. The Lexus IS350 should certainly get an invite as well, a car noticeably absent from this test.
I think a rematch is in order, this time with the all-new or updated offerings from the competitors. If Acura wants to establish itself as a credible player as a sports sedan, it has to take on the best of the competition, not models that are 2 model years old. And since Acura chose to compete against the S4, I think it only fair to take the all new S4 and line it up side by side with the TL SH-AWD and see who actually wins.
Is Acura out of line for the logic used in comparing the new TL SH-AWD, or do you think they should be given a pass?
I don't have a problem with Acura setting their sites high, but fair is fair and in this case fair woudl be comparing the TL SH-AWD against the all new S4, and letting the chips fall where they may.
Go ahead, tell me I am wrong...