32 — Friday. October 23. 199& — Norih Shore News THE Acura 3.2TL has an all-new body and platform based on the Honda Accord sedan, but the 3.2TL has more more power, more features, and more refinement. sophistivetec: road manners, Acura are IT’S not often that a car is totally redesigned and the price is chopped by 17%, Bur that's what Acura has done with their mid-sized, V6-powered luxury sedan, the 3.2 TL. Last year’s $42,000 price tag has dcopped to $35,000, and the new TL includes more standard equipment than before. How did Acura do it? Through the miracle of plat- form sharing. The new 3.2TL is based on the recently-redesigned Honda Accord sedan plat- form and shores 45% of its components. It’s built on the same assembly line in Marysville, Ohio. Despite their commonali- ty, the 3.2TL and Accord are sufficiently different in character to dispel any suspi- sions that the 3.2TL is just an Accord with a different namepiate. The 3.2TL has complete- ly different sheetmetal, a dif ferent engine, a different interior, a revised suspea- sion, and more features, On the road, it drives with considerably more sophistication and refine- ment than the Accord. Admittedly, the TL's front-end is similar to the Acura CL and the Accord, ps 3.2Z7L pri but this is probably deliber- ate. Many luxury car makers give their entire model line a similar front-end appear- ance. BMW and Audi auro- mohiles are also good examples of plattorm sharing, The 3.270. is positioned between the Integra and the RI. and gan trace its roots back to the 1992 Vigor which had a 2.5-litre tive- cylinder engine. The Vigor was renamed the 2.571. in 1995 and was joined by the si 2.2 TL that same 4 The 2.5TL continued in production up until 1998, but was discontinued for 1999, The 3.2TL has an all-new 225 horsepower 3.2-litre SOHC 24 valve V6 engine with variable valve timing which replaces last year’s Ge 200 horsepower 3.2 engine. The new engine js now mounted transversely mstead of fonsitudinally which helps increase cabin space. The new 3.2-litre engine is now the most powertil standard engine in the “near fuaury” class. Zero to LOO km-h takes just $.2 seconds according, to Acura’s figures. My subjective evaluation of the 3.2TL’s acceleration confirms thar this is a very quick, and competent sedan. Whether starting from a stoplight, merging onto the freeway, or passing at high speed, the 3.2TT.’s cngine responds with surprising vigour (no pan intended). A low-speed Traction Control system (under 40 kin/h) assists traction in 2-litre V6 See Wilson puge 36 turns a AS I learned on Star Trek, two particles of Matter cannot exist in the same space at the same time, unless, of course, the two particles are automobiles in which case they merely coalesce and become a car wreck. Pve noticed this occur- renee OF Near-occurrence Often down on lower Mountain Highway at Main Street in North Van and it usualy invalves or nearly-involves cars turning onto Main trom dift ferent directions but having the same destination. First off, as T wrote a cou: ple of weeks ago, a night tum ts properly and lawfully per- formed from the curb lane and into a curb lane (untess there’s a dual turn dane, but thar’s not the point today’). Many who have driven that Main & Mountain area may have noticed that a right Gin off Mountain, northbound, and onto Main Street's east bound curb-lane puts one smack dab onto the Second Narrows Bridge on-ramp. You know, popping out trom the Lsnnwood Inn or thereabouts and then heading tor Highway D cast. Drivers making this manocuvre but nor wanung the bridge, rather, hoping to head under said bridge and drive towards Deep Cove, need to be in the fei lane. Since there are nvo lanes for this very short eastbound stretch of Main Street, Cove- bound right turners are prone to shooting straight into the left lane and carrying on. To further encourage this straight-shoot approach, the white line separating the pwo lanes is broken/dotted for only a very brief moment before turning ominously solid, which means un-cross- signals the record, drivers turning directly inte the left ine, thus avoiding the Second Narrows and instead heading toward Beep Cove, are actual- Iv doing tro things: A right turn followed abruptly by a lane change tcf. This is all well and geod and really the only way to do it properly and Law fuliy — though many are unaware of the duality of such a singular move — and most talks man- ave just fine. However, southbound dri- sers turning left off lower Mountain and onto Main Street, eastbound, and who want to shoot straight once the Second Narrows on-ramp often find themselves in con- flict with the opposite-facing right turners, which is 2 bum- mer because in this case it is the leit turners who have right of way —- for several reasons — bat aren't always aware of it, nor are some of the right turners aware, Rifling through the mighty Moror Vehicle Act one will find that curb. lane-to-curb- lane fight turn ruie in section 165. Also in that section are the left curn rules (but not the right-of-way rules) which are a litle more torgiving in that drivers are to turn from the left lane into what is basically the “practicable” lane. To wit, you can turn lett from Mountain direetly into the on-ramp fane when it’s practicable; you can not turn See Conlin page 38 a eee ~The all new 1999 9-5 starts at oF 800" _ See them today at Morrey Saab. 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