On Friday, members of the automotive press gathered at the Royal Park Hotel in Rochester, Michigan, where Acura introduced their full 2008 model line. While there were no significant changes to the existing model lineup, officials talked about Acura’s future as a brand while giving us the chance to drive all of their current models.

One of the main focus points of the event was Acura’s Super Handling (SH) all-wheel-drive system, standard on the RL, MDX, and RDX. We were able to experience the SH setup at the Waterford Hills race track just a short distance from the hotel. Acura executives explained that the track time was in order because everyone knows how well all-wheel-drive works in wet and wintry conditions, but few people have really put it to the test on dry roads.

Acura gave us the opportunity to drive TSX and TL Type-S to the track, where rows of their crossovers and large sedans were housed. Our impressions? We are impressed by the ability of the SH all-wheel-drive to keep all four tires firmly planted, even in extreme driving situations. We had no problem throwing the MDX, Acura’s heaviest vehicle, into ess-turns at speeds well above sixty miles-per-hour. The RDX felt surprisingly nimble as we ran it through the course, and the RL felt like a smaller, more sporting car throughout our testing. Of course, none of these vehicles proved to be astonishingly fast, but we still were able to push them to credibly high speeds. We would have liked to take Acura's TL Type-S and TSX on the track, but alas, we had to stick to standard street driving.

Look for an updated version of Acura’s SH drive on the upcoming NSX successor. We would like to see this state-of-the-art all-wheel-drive become a part of the TL and TSX lineups, as well.

Click the images below to open a high-resolution gallery from Acura's full-line event.