Used Acura in Rome, Georgia

Through the 2010s the premium segment moved in one direction almost together: smaller turbocharged engines, dual clutch transmissions, and new technology sold as sophistication. Acura mostly stayed put. For years the TL, the V6 version of the TSX and the MDX used naturally aspirated Honda V6 engines and conventional automatics, and the company put its development into materials and equipment instead.

A naturally aspirated V6 behaves predictably. Power arrives in proportion to the pedal rather than in a surge, the engine note stays smooth as it climbs, and a torque converter automatic moves between gears the way it always has, quietly and without event. Where Acura did spend on engineering, it spent on all wheel drive. Super Handling All Wheel Drive, introduced on the RL for 2005, moves power across the rear axle as well as front to rear, and it makes a heavy sedan or a three row crossover change direction more willingly than its weight suggests.

The other half of the approach is the equipment list. Acura has long sold its cars as a short set of packages rather than a long menu of options, so a given model and trim tends to include the leather, the audio and the driver aids as a matter of course. The brand suits somebody who wants a quiet, well finished car that behaves in a familiar way, and who has no interest in the segment's technology race.