If you want a super sedan your social-climber neighbors don't already own (and if your block really doesn't need another silver BMW 5 Series or black Mercedes E-Class), make a beeline for the incredible Acura RL. It features Super Handling All-Wheel Drive, a handling and safety technology generically called torque vectoring, that is likely to show up on competing cars over the next couple years.

The best part of the RL used to be that one price bought everything you needed for technology, performance, and safety. Just choose a color, decide if you want backup sonar and an iPod adapter added by the dealer, and you were done. But dealers forced Acura to make the technology components extra-cost add-ons, which means that now you have to hunt around for the right car. Fully equipped, you're paying $53,870.

While the RL is Acura's biggest car and the pinnacle of Acura's product line, it's really a midsize sedan with a V6 engine. It's more of a competitor to the Lexus ES350 than to the LS460 , and if you try to put good-size adults in the back seat, it's not even that. And styling is so nondescript, neighbors may think your RL is the new Honda Accord, or some kind of Nissan. That may be why Acura sold just 11,501 RLs last year, roughly one for every five mid-size BMWs or Mercedes sold in the same time frame.

Think of those 11,501 as among the most technically astute of car-buyers, ones who appreciate 290 hp no matter how many cylinders (six) and transmissions speeds (five, with a paddle shifter), and wanted to be the first with torque vectoring. You're going to hear a lot about torque vectoring—especially when Audi, king of all-wheel-drive, adds it to the Quattro stable of features. Acura has had torque vectoring since 2005, when the current generation RL came to market.

What is torque vectoring? You probably know that the outside wheel of a car carves a bigger arc around a turn than the inside wheel does, and the driveshaft differential compensates for that. You may also know that weight shifts to the outside in a turn, to the rear under acceleration, to the front under braking—and every which way when you spin the car.

With torque vectoring, Acura works with the laws of physics and actively forces power to the wheels that need it most. If you're making a sweeping left hander on U.S. 1 along the California coast as you admire the Pacific Ocean, or you're just trying to make a left-hand turn on a rainy suburban street with traffic approaching, SH-AWD forces a bit more power to the outside (right) wheels, particularly the right rear wheel. The result: you get through the turn a bit faster and with more vehicle stability. I drove an RL and other SH-AWD Acuras recently in snow and ice and was impressed by the additional margin of safety it provides in bad conditions, and the extra performance in good conditions.

Acura makes torque vectoring work through the use of multiple sensors and two extra clutches, one for each rear wheel, that meter power by the millisecond. The outside rear wheel can be overdriven by as much as 5 percent, creating what's called a yaw effect. SH-AWD rewards good drivers and bails out bad ones. A few automakers (BMW) use a form of torque vectoring by individually braking the wheels.

You need to check two options boxes to get the best the RL has to offer: the technology package and the CMBS/PAX package. The technology package ($3,620) comprises a first-class Alpine navigation system with voice recognition, a database that even includes Zagat restaurant ratings, real-time traffic reports, steerable front xenon headlights, and GPS-based climate control.

Acura calls real-time traffic a "satellite communication system," but all that means is that the traffic reports (one-way) are fed via the car's XM satellite receiver rather than via terrestrial radio. And the GPS-based climate control system means simply the air conditioner knows which side of the car is getting more sun, and directs a bit more cooling over there. Every car should have this (but doesn't), just as every car with a GPS system should used it to set the car's clock automatically.

CMBS/PAX ($3,800) adds adaptive cruise control, collision mitigation braking system, and special Michelin PAX run-flat tires. ACC you know about already: A radar or laser unit watches traffic ahead and adjusts your car's speed to maintain a steady following distance. If the car ahead slows, your RL slows, too. If the car ahead slows suddenly, CMBS takes over, sounds an alert (regardless of ACC being active) to warn the driver, sounds more alerts, and then if it appears a collision is unavoidable, tugs home the seat belts and brakes as hard as possible. If it can't avoid a collision, CMBS mitigates the force of impact. Better to rear-end another car at a 15-mph differential than a 50-mph differential. And PAX is a Michelin-proprietary run-flat tire system with a stiff inner liner to keep flat-tire-cars moving; the downside is a higher tire cost and limited sources of supply.

The RL is so well equipped, you only need to add an iPod adapter ($214) and, if desired, backup sonar ($614 plus installation). The music adapter makes sense; the backup sonar is overpriced, especially since you likely already have a backup camera as part of the tech package.

As you'd expect from a $50,000 car, the Acura RL is just right for all-day cruising, with great audio and comfortable seats. About the only problem with the cockpit is that even though Acura uses a cockpit controller mounted midway up the console, dozens of buttons lurk nearby. When you drive the RL, you wonder why the button functions couldn't have been handled by the controller—just as when you drive a BMW with just big open expanses of dashboard, you wish for a few more buttons. Still, I believe Acura could do a better job of making them less overwhelming.

On long trips, some of the things you'll appreciate without even knowing are the GPS-based climate control and the noise-canceling audio system. The RL listens for road noise intruding into the cockpit and plays back an inverse signal to neutralize some (not all) of the road noise.

Even if we don't say it out loud, part of why we buy a BMW, Cadillac, Lexus, or Mercedes is because it sends an upscale message to neighbors, business associates, and the people we're hoping to date. An Acura RL won't help you much in that department. But if you want a car simply because it's a great car with great technology, few do it as well as an RL. Over the next year, as more two-year RL leases expire along with the first of three-year leases, you may find outstanding used-car deals on an RL, too. New or used, the Acura RL is one of the world's great cars. And also one of its best kept secrets.

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$45,780.00 - $53,200.00

EPA rating: 18 mpg city, 26 highway

An awesome, high-tech luxury/sport sedan that doesn't get the credit it deserves. But there's a reason: four-fifths sizing and uninspired styling.

Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD), torque-vectoring powertrain that provides extra power to the wheels that need it while the car's cornering or on slippery roads. Good navigation, traffic reports, and two kinds of active cruise control and braking.

Cockpit controller needs dozens of adjacent buttons and knobs. Smallish rear seat. "What car is this again?" styling.