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Like to just say hello! and that I'm a happy new owner of a 2012 CBP 6MT TL.
Picked the car up yesterday around noon and have been consuming the life out of acurazine since. I'd really like to say that the strong majority of you guys are seriously the most mature and respectful/helpful people I've ever seen on a board, and my experience is from bimmerforums and clublexus. Great tone and a wonderful friendliness. obviously every community on earths going to have their exceptions but man. Keep up the good work everyone.
I picked her up yesterday at Napleton Acura in Elmhurts, IL here are some pics straight off Autotrader where I found her. Year: 2012 Miles: 20,300 CPO 28.9k
But, hopefully in the near future. I'd like to build something of a blend between some of the best inspirations I've seen on this board yet, One goes out to Zaleya... great talent and a tasteful eye for perfection.
Links are provided for due credit: https://acurazine.com/forums/photogr...e-mods-856247/
I'm envisioning aesthetics like Zaleya with a wheels like on the Vossen. or actually, I wanted to ask if anyones ever tried to put M3 CSL Replica Rims on a 4g TL.
Lastly,
This is the only visible "wear" i can find on the TL I picked up yesterday and seems a little unusual to me. Can anyone verify if this is a concern or not? But given we're in Chicago weather, basically everything under the car rusts...
sooo. It's been a wonderful experience so far! I hope to maybe meet some of you soon in the Chicagoland Area. And there's also a great drawn out story as to how I landed on the 6MT TL, but i'll save that for anyone who's really interested enough to ask about it. otherwise. I won't bore you lol.
Nice ride and welcome! Most people will probably agree, sand, primer, paint those calipers and you'll be good to go. Fairly easy mod to do on a day off.
sooo. It's been a wonderful experience so far! I hope to maybe meet some of you soon in the Chicagoland Area. And there's also a great drawn out story as to how I landed on the 6MT TL, but i'll save that for anyone who's really interested enough to ask about it. otherwise. I won't bore you lol.
Welcome! I just got my 13 TL 6MT a little over a month ago after someone rear ended my 08 TL-S and so far I'm really enjoying the 13 TL. Can't wait to see what you do to your car.
@hondatuner.
It was more of a mindblock than anything else, for some reason I didn't think to look at the SH AWD for a manual gearbox. I just assumed they were all automatic for the longest time.
So this search has been going on for about a year now.
My history of cars is as follows.
2003 - 1997 M3 5speed
2006 - 2006 Accord LX v6 coupe
2007 - 2007 IS250AWD
2011 - 2006 Rav4 AWD i4
2014 - 2012 TL SHAWD 6 speed.
The last car I was driving was the rav4 because I got married and my wife wanted the IS250 lol. which was cool because I wanted something I could put an aftermarket stereo into and the Lexus would have been an entire hack job to get a different head unit in there.
To me, the most important aspects that allow me to enjoy my ride is the stereo and the quiet ride, "tomb like silence". So after about a year of driving that tin can rav4 around, I couldn't take it anymore. So I started my car search.
Criteria:
Sedan/ Wagon/ Hatchback
AWD
Manual
Stereo with "thunderous" bass -- lol. it has a massaging elegance to it that I utilize therapeutically post work day.
Luxurious Noise isolation.
And really, the only things I could think of that would fit this mold were the
BMW 3/5 series xDrive w/ clutch
Audi a4/s4 lines w/ clutch
or. Subaru STI/ WRX/ Legacy.
And coming from a history of BMW stick shifts, I really dislike how those shifters feel and after spending some time test driving a4/s4... wagon's I'd like to add which I think are awesome. The gear box feels exactly the same... unprecise and long notchy throws.
So I literally almost settled for a 2012 STI Hatchback... but I really didn't want to go this route cuz with all due respect, STI's plus Lancer Evolutions look kind of like toys and it's just lost some of it's appeal to me at my age.
I then realized that Autotrader had an option to search cars disconnected to Brand or make.
So I just searched all cars in my area, sedan/ wagon/ and Hatchback -- AWD-- and a manual gear box. and low and behold! there was a
2012 SH AWD 6MT with 20,000 miles for 28k certified less than 5 miles from my zipcode...
Having driven Civic Si's and S2000's in the past, I knew Honda and Miata gearboxes were the creme de la creme of snippity snip gear boxes.
So, this was at about 10pm at night surfing through auto Trader, got up the next morning at and headed over to check it out.
Having never been in a 4G TL, I had no idea what the stereo was going to be like or the noise isolation.
To my surprise, the ELS Stereo had enough punch, and the noise isolation was acceptable. Definitely not the best, especially with the 6MT, I always noticed that Manual gear boxes had more whine than some luxury automatics. But I honestly missed clutching through turns from my e36 m3 days.
I thought this was perfect. Honda for the longest time never made anything but FWD manual except for the s2000... I was like man... i wish they just made a s2000 AWD sedan that wasn't a 2 seater...
And I think here it is boys. If you're in the market for a sedan/ wagon AWD manual gear box that doesn't shift like shit... "german makes"...
The 4G AWD 6MT TL is really the only option out there, other than a Subaru or Lancer evolution..
Crazy that one with a pretty decent price tag was less than 5 miles from my place...
Nice, congrats!! I picked up my 2010 SHAWD 6MT in June, and absolutely love it. I volunteer for grocery store runs, coffee runs, lunch runs, and giving broke friends a ride just so I have an excuse to drive it more lol.
lol. already today. i went to jewel to get an ipass. then came home. then went to kohls to try to return something then came home. and Now i just got back from target.. and just came home and I'm basically counting down the minutes until 6:30pm when my wife and I are driving into the city for dinner and a get together... :-) feel like i'm 16 with my first car again.
there's got to be something to be said about the downfalls of your first car being an automatic vs a manual.. like your own actual car when it's just you, left foot and right hand....
Rare pickup you got there, congrats. Head over to your local autozone and grab a caliper paint kit and you can clean those calipers up in an afternoon. Good luck with the paint I had a black tsx and keeping it clean was a nightmare lol
djoulez...Congrats on your TL, welcome to Acurazine and THANK YOU for the kind words said about us, the members that are enthusiast, friends and respectful of each other
Your TL looks in great shape and the rotor/caliper condition is not out of the norm given the climate.
I too would consider the x3/5 or the s4 but the reliability holds me back. My first car was a 95 MT accord sedan. I tried making it look nice but i was in high school so you can imagine i didnt have the funds. I loved it none the less
What did you end up paying for it? did they give you a good interest rate? i ask because i live in the chicagoland area too i may end up holding out for a 12+ MT SHAWD
Enjoy the car. I just picked my 2010 last month also. My calipers were the same and also the hubs on the rotors. I just bought some duplicolor enamel caliper paint and called it a day. The only tough thing for me was grinding down all the rust on the hubs and rotors. Little bit of elbow grease and time (2hrs) and she looked good.
Beautiful! Enjoy, I almost went with black but changed my mind to the graphite luster after remembering all the hours I spent obsessing over my last black car
Beautiful! Enjoy, I almost went with black but changed my mind to the graphite luster after remembering all the hours I spent obsessing over my last black car
Graphite luster is an awesome color, I would have ended up with a graphite luster TL 6MT but it sold 3 days before I was looking to actually purchase!
I wonder if the person who stole this away from me is on this forum...
Oh!! Btw guys. Had my first experience today with the SHAWD kick in... And oh em gee.... Obviously I've been driving cars since I got my permit. But that outside wheel power in kick?? Is... Nothing like I've ever felt before.
I was on a highway on ramp in 3rd talking to my wife on the phone. Gave it a bit of gas and man! Was that a very unique sensation.
First experience in the three days since I've had her. I might take her out in maybe 20 minutes to see if I can do it again.... Just too awesome
Oh!! Btw guys. Had my first experience today with the SHAWD kick in... And oh em gee.... Obviously I've been driving cars since I got my permit. But that outside wheel power in kick?? Is... Nothing like I've ever felt before.
I was on a highway on ramp in 3rd talking to my wife on the phone. Gave it a bit of gas and man! Was that a very unique sensation.
First experience in the three days since I've had her. I might take her out in maybe 20 minutes to see if I can do it again.... Just too awesome
I had the exact same "holy shit that's cool" feeling the first time I turned a corner in 2nd gear under power... feeling the ass of a car rotate from under you takes a little while to get used to lol.
Oh!! Btw guys. Had my first experience today with the SHAWD kick in... And oh em gee.... Obviously I've been driving cars since I got my permit. But that outside wheel power in kick?? Is... Nothing like I've ever felt before.
I was on a highway on ramp in 3rd talking to my wife on the phone. Gave it a bit of gas and man! Was that a very unique sensation.
First experience in the three days since I've had her. I might take her out in maybe 20 minutes to see if I can do it again.... Just too awesome
Haha i hear you man, I've had it for 4 months and I still can't get enough. I did the exact same thing this past weekend, coming down the last quarter of the on ramp... dropped to 2nd gear and went to the red line... THAT is a hell of a feeling. I keep thinking about it.
Additionally, you can REALLY push the SH-AWD... you notice the incredible control, how well it holds on to the road when your back end kicks out a bit because you're going way too fast around a turn... and the way it stabilizes by shifting power... un-fucking-real.
I can't get enough of this car. 2nd gear is too much fun.
So I just brought the car over to my buddy's who's a good friend of mine. He ran his finger along the edges of where all the exterior pieces come together. Like between the front bumper and quarter panel. Rear bumper quarter panel etc. And he's telling me that he's almost positive the front bumper has been replaced. I looked at the carfax and it states everything is clean, lease return etc. but it being a certified pre owned. Does that not I guess "certify" that the car wasn't in bad enough shape or have been in any "incidents" to warrant a front bumper replacement?
So I just brought the car over to my buddy's who's a good friend of mine. He ran his finger along the edges of where all the exterior pieces come together. Like between the front bumper and quarter panel. Rear bumper quarter panel etc. And he's telling me that he's almost positive the front bumper has been replaced. I looked at the carfax and it states everything is clean, lease return etc. but it being a certified pre owned. Does that not I guess "certify" that the car wasn't in bad enough shape or have been in any "incidents" to warrant a front bumper replacement?
I forgot to mention how he came to this conclusion and he showed me. Areas of where the seams come together are very apparently more squished together than others. And again. He is a good friend of mine and not at all being an asshole about it. He's like bumpers are meant to be replaced anyways.
My question revolves more around the worthiness of a certified pre owned designation and what it stands for
I forgot to mention how he came to this conclusion and he showed me. Areas of where the seams come together are very apparently more squished together than others. And again. He is a good friend of mine and not at all being an asshole about it. He's like bumpers are meant to be replaced anyways.
My question revolves more around the worthiness of a certified pre owned designation and what it stands for
I say pull the bumper and see if the VIN matches, in order for a car to be Acura Certified all the VINs should match. There are some shady Acura dealerships out there that probably throw the Acura Certified logo on there without following Acura's guidelines. When I was looking I found a blue certified TL that had curb damaged rims and bumper clips missing, needless to say I did not purchase it. Anyway, if this is the case you may want to contact the dealer to see if they'll do anything for you, if not, I would contact Acura corporate directly.
I say pull the bumper and see if the VIN matches, in order for a car to be Acura Certified all the VINs should match. There are some shady Acura dealerships out there that probably throw the Acura Certified logo on there without following Acura's guidelines. When I was looking I found a blue certified TL that had curb damaged rims and bumper clips missing, needless to say I did not purchase it. Anyway, if this is the case you may want to contact the dealer to see if they'll do anything for you, if not, I would contact Acura corporate directly.
Congrats! Awesome car choice but wrong color though. There are not many cars to choose from when it comes to a sedan with AWD and a manual gearbox. If I haven't gotten such a good deal on the 4G, I would of bought an S5 (even though it's a coupe but still want one lol)
And yes, you will need to take the bumper off to match the VIN. If there is none, then it's been replaced.
Congrats on the pickup OP! Great choice on 6MT and CBP
I've had mine for three years now and still really enjoy driving it. There is nothing like rowing through the gears in a MT. Combine that with the SH-AWD and you'll still enjoy driving this car years down the road (as evidenced by the replies in this thread from fellow 6MT owners).
You're lucky you found one so close! I couldn't afford a brand new one so I had my CPO shipped from over 2,000 miles away! Fortunately it was in a covered truck and the dealership split the cost with me. I will never forget the day she was dropped off. It was a process about two years in the works (getting my financial situation right) so I was so excited to finally have her.
I believe I read somewhere in the past that only 5% of TL production is MT, so we're a rare breed...especially considering how few 'luxury' brands make MT's.
Congrats on the pickup OP! Great choice on 6MT and CBP
I've had mine for three years now and still really enjoy driving it. There is nothing like rowing through the gears in a MT. Combine that with the SH-AWD and you'll still enjoy driving this car years down the road (as evidenced by the replies in this thread from fellow 6MT owners).
You're lucky you found one so close! I couldn't afford a brand new one so I had my CPO shipped from over 2,000 miles away! Fortunately it was in a covered truck and the dealership split the cost with me. I will never forget the day she was dropped off. It was a process about two years in the works (getting my financial situation right) so I was so excited to finally have her.
I believe I read somewhere in the past that only 5% of TL production is MT, so we're a rare breed...especially considering how few 'luxury' brands make MT's.
Congrats again!
Yes, I'm already wondering what my next car will be... hard to find large, luxurious, sporty, AWD and 6MT. Limited options.
holy crap 6mt...... didnt even know it existed screw my RL i want one of those!!! congrats man and also im in chicago hit me up i know exactly that dealer u got your car from..... have fun this forum is awsome!
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You think a paint meter would be enough to warrant asking the dealer to take it off with me present?
I want to avoid the possibilty of the dealer saying, "how do we know you didn't put on another bumper and blame us for it." because I removed the bumper to validate that the VIN does in fact not match.
I was thinking of using a paint meter and if the meter reads a paint difference, I can say that the seams don't feel uniform and the according to the paint meter, these two pieces have been painted at different times. would you mind proving to me that the front bumper's VIN does in fact match.
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You think a paint meter would be enough to warrant asking the dealer to take it off with me present?
I want to avoid the possibilty of the dealer saying, "how do we know you didn't put on another bumper and blame us for it." because I removed the bumper to validate that the VIN does in fact not match.
I was thinking of using a paint meter and if the meter reads a paint difference, I can say that the seams don't feel uniform and the according to the paint meter, these two pieces have been painted at different times. would you mind proving to me that the front bumper's VIN does in fact match.
but I also don't have any experience with paint meters, so I'm only guessing this avenue is a possibility.
09-21-2014, 11:50 AM
There are not many cars to choose from when it comes to a sedan with AWD and a manual gearbox. If I haven't gotten such a good deal on the 4G, I would of bought an S5 (even though it's a coupe but still want one lol)
Yes, I'm already wondering what my next car will be... hard to find large, luxurious, sporty, AWD and 6MT. Limited options.
