Vehicle: 2004 Acura EL Premium with 4-speed automatic
Price as tested: CDN$24100

Performance: The EL is powered by a 1.7L SOHC VTEC 16-valve engine that bumps out 127 hp and 114 lb/ft of torque, the same engine that found in Civic Si sedan and coupe. This engine is adequate for daily driving but insufficient when pushed. Its maximum torque of 114 lb/ft @ 4800 rpm really force you to push the throttle aggressively in order to squeeze every bit of performance. Its downright noisy in high rpm considered its under the premium Acura nameplate. The 4-speed auto tranny with fuzzy logic control, however, learns the driver’s behaviour quickly by adapting to the right shift point. That’s the saving grace to EL’s lack of performance.

Handling: Unlike its Civic silibing, EL comes with sports suspension. Despite that, EL’s handling and ride balance till suffers from Civic’s poor compromise. While the ride is hard and can feel every bit of washboard pavement, the handling doesn’t provide enough sharpness and stiffness to justify the rough ride. The achilles heel is its high COG. When Honda wanted to create a rear flat floor for more legroom in Civic/EL, they had to make the car higher to occupy that execution. The result is the car rolls through corners and feel floaty on highway speeds. Not to mentioned its steering is lack of feedback and vague, although its response is adequate. There are tons of body rolls while the understeer characteristics is excessive.

Brakes: The 4-wheel discs with ABS provides better than average brake feel. Unlike Civic with rear drums, EL comes standard with all discs and ABS.

Interior: Features like leather seats, semi-auto climate control, faux wood trim and nicer use of plastic are what seperate an EL from Civic. On than that, you still found the same hard plastic and blend design as its Civic silibing. The interior is free of rattles and cracks which is very well-made. On the other hand, there are plenty of rear legroom thanks to its flat floor.

The trunk has decent space with low liftover and split fold-down rear seats, however, its instrusive trunk hinges would crashed into anything underneath.

Conclusion: If you value Acura’s service and additional features are worth the premium over the equivalent Civic, EL is certainly a good value. The problem is there are many attractive competitors which offer better performance and dynamics, that makes you wonder whether the Acura emblem really worths it!

OVERALL VERDICT FOR 2004 ACURA EL PREMIUM
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Performance: 2/5
Handling and ride/fun-to-drive: 2/5
Interior/ergonomics/user-friendliness: 3.5/5
Fit-and-finish/build quality: 3.75/5
Cargo/accessibility/layout: 4/5
Value-for-money: 3/5

Overall rating: 2.5/5