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2005 Acura 3.5 RL Premium Full-Size Sedan

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Description: Premium Mid-Size Sedan
Base MSRP Range: $48,165 - $48,900
Invoice Price Range: $42,882 - $43,536
Where built: Japan

Acura, a line of performance and luxury vehicles derived from Honda of Japan, delivers a diverse menu of models to the class of 2005. Leading the line is Acura's elegant full-size flagship 3.5RL sedan, which emerges in a second-generation design packing a powerful new engine and an intelligent all-wheel-drive (AWD) system which disburses the engine's torque not only to wheels fore and aft, but left or right too to maneuver like a sticky race car.

Acura upgrades its full-size flagship with a new design that matches European machines in sophisticated mechanical hardware and lavish cabin appointments yet shows a smooth exterior with understated styling.

The unit-body structure, incorporating Acura's new advanced compatibility engineering (ACE) body surrounding the passenger compartment, is composed of high-tensile steel and aluminum.

Muscle comes from a new 3.5-liter aluminum V6 engine that runs up to 300 hp and connects to a five-speed Sequential SportShift automatic transmission with paddle shifters on the steering wheel. And the AWD mechanism -- labeled Super Handling All-Wheel-Drive (SH-AWD) -- can direct up to 70 percent of the engine's muscle to a single rear wheel to help maintain traction on slippery pavement.

The new RL also carries an adaptive front lighting system (AFS) with xenon high intensity discharge (HID) headlights, Acura's keyless access system, and four-wheel disc brakes with anti-lock brake system (ABS) and traction control through a vehicle stability assist (VSA) device. Leather and hardwood trim the five-seat cabin, while standard equipment extends to a moonroof and power everything plus a DVD-audio system with XM satellite radio service, OnStar telecommunications and a Bluetooth-based hands-free phone interface.