I also have a 3rd Gen TL, had it in to Acura for timing belt service and they gave me a 12 TL SH-AWD to play with overnight- it also happened to sleet really badly overnight and i had to drive in that to the office the next day. I'll tell you what, that car's performance is spot on. Lots of power, and SH-AWD was really impressive in the slippery stuff. I also really liked the interior. Really solid driving car and an improvement over my 04 in every way (8 years of progress counts for something) EXCEPT the exterior styling. Blech.
If only I didn't have to look at the outside of it... Hideous.
P
I agree on all accounts. I test drove one as I really wanted AWD (not crazy about 2005+ RL, though I think they look better then this thing). It drove great, tech package was much improved over my 05 and the SH-AWD was as good as was hoping.
With all that said exterior styling is at least 50% of the equation. I will never buy a car that I don't find visually intriguing, no matter how great it is.
Edmunds posted a inside line article comparing 2010 Tl to 08 Audi S4, and a BMW 335 (both i and xi). Cant find the article but did find snippets. The TL was actually rated # 1, but I can't begin to explain how much more I'd prefer to own an s4 or 335 (and the included maintinence problems) over the TL. Acura design is lost...
"1st Place: While the 2010 Acura TL SH-AWD 6MT might not have the horsepower to keep up on the straight with any of these other sport sedans, it works best by far in the corners and made up time over its competition in speed at the apex and at the exit. At nearly every corner, the SH-AWD was so astute and intelligent that you could literally slap the go pedal to the carpet and let the all-wheel drive sort out how best to put the power to good use. And yes, these optional 245/40ZR19 Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires (the largest and stickiest of any of the tires in the entire group) really help, but it was in combination with the SH-AWD where the rubber really made a difference. This car carves the corners.
second place was 2008 Audi S4 - edited out of article I found, sorry.
3rd Place: The BMW 335i maintains its composure even when driven extremely hard, yet it feels surprisingly slow and out of place compared to the TL and S4. Of course, putting power down with just the rear wheels means the front wheels almost needed to be straight before the throttle could go all the way to the floor. The throttle response from its twin-turbo 300-hp inline-6 is only happy and snappy in the upper rpm range, and the steering feels indirect and slow in comparison. Great brakes, but this wasn't enough to make up the 2.7-second gap to the TL. It's just too slow to react.
4th Place: Hoping the BMW 335xi's all-wheel drive would allow the 3 Series to put its 300 hp to better use, we discovered that it only further snubbed the responses of the sedan. The steering became less direct, the throttle response grew worse and the understeer became more pronounced. The added weight of the car was obvious, especially in a high-speed corner with an apex at the crest of a hill."
. 4 years later and they still haven't come close earning my $$$. 
