Boston.com / Cars

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On the road, it is a whisper-quiet, smooth car. Acceleration in third gear, even at higher speeds, will set you back in the seat. Pulling out to pass, even in fifth, is a quick, seamless transition. The suspension -- double wishbone upfront, a multilink rear setup -- seems both soft and firm at the same time. It absorbs the ruts and bumps of back-country roads with virtually no chatter or shimmy. Yet it sits hard and flat in tight corners and rapid lane changes.

2004 Acura TL
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And in the midst of this elegant, powerful ride comes all of that electronic wizardry. An eight-speaker sound system, with six-disc CD changer, is standard equipment. So is XM satellite radio, which allows one to stay tuned to a single station virtually nationwide.

Yet the niftiest touch -- and you will see this spreading through other automotive lineups -- is the Bluetooth-enabled communications system. Simply, Bluetooth is a system that "recognizes" your cellphone (it must be Bluetooth-compatible) as soon as you enter the car.

If you are talking on the phone as you enter, a push of a wheel-mounted "talk" button transfers your conversation to microphone/speakers mounted in the car. If you want to make calls while driving, turn on the phone, use command buttons, and reach out with your calls using a voice-activated system that can store up to 50 names and dial their telephone numbers based on that command.

This and the sound system are two fine bits of standard equipment in a car priced in the low $30,000s. The only optional equipment is a navigation system at $2,000.