Chicago 2011: Acura TL is the face of change... at least a little bit

Acura has yanked the sheets off of the latest take on its bread-and-butter TL at the 2011 Chicago Auto Show. In the face of much criticism, the Japanese automaker's stylists have set about taking some of the edge off of the sedan's styling with a fresh front fascia that goes some way toward making the vehicle look more like a car and less like Picaso's interpretation of one. The 2012 TL now wears shorter overhangs both front and rear, and the new look includes shedding the chrome trim from around the rear taillamps for a look that's altogether more appetizing than the previous iteration.

A few changes have cropped up under the hood as well. Acura engineers managed to cut engine friction to increase fuel economy, and a new six-speed automatic transmission helps bump the final figures to 20 mpg city and 29 mpg highway. That's an increase of three mpg highway over the five-speed automatic-equipped 2010 model. Fans of the third pedal need not fret, though. Acura says that buyers will still be able to snag their 2012 TL SH-AWD with the same six-speed manual setup that's currently available.

Inside, TL Advance trim now comes with a blind-spot awareness system and ventilated heated and cooled seats, while the TL Tech boasts a 60-gig hard-drive based navigation and entertainment system. Hit the jumpfor the full press blast.