dhavleak

Hi everybody,

I'm a future TSX owner (I'm trying real hard to wait for the 2005 model). I had a question about the "Heat-rejecting green-tinted glass" mentioned in the specifications section on the Acura website.

I was wondering -- how effectively does the glass reject heat? I'm trying to decide between the ebony and quartz interiors -- my preference is ebony but I'm concerned about the inside of the car turning into a furnace in summer especially since there aren't any covered parking spots where I work. And though I like the look of a dark tint I'm less than 100% comfortable driving with dark tints at night, so that isn't an option for me.

Can anybody tell me if the glass really does what they claim?
Thanks!

provench

Welcome to the forum ... have a few comments ...

1) Get a sun shade for the front window ... huge difference.
2) I have ebony and live in NC (lots of heat in the summer) and I have once found the ebony seats to be too hot.
3) The A/C in the TSX works fast .... very fast.
4) When you approach the TSX you can press and hold the unlock button and have all 4 windows roll down at the same time as you approach your car ... major heat release.

I am a huge fan of black interiors ... just like the single tone look, and if you are the same way don't let the heat concern get in your way.

P.S. If you get the 6MT watch out for the top of the stick shift though

dhavleak

Hey provench -- thanks for your reply! I am a huge fan of black leather interiors, so I felt good after reading #3 and #4. Which makes me wonder from what distance I can remotely open the windows, but I recall a thread that covered that so I'll look it up..

oh -- great tip about the stick.. My lion-hearted geo prizm's stick has inflicted many a burn mark on my hand in summer -- I hope the aluminium top of the TSX stays at least a bit cooler..

slo007

I'd say zero percent effective. The inside gets so hot the clear plastic in front of the clock cracked one day, when the outside temperature was 110 F. Imagine the temperature inside a black car...

But the A/C works really fast, as mentioned above.

kevin79925

my anthracite cl with ebony seats = burn your ass when it really hot outside.. good thing the ac works quick. i usually open the door start the car and ac then stand outside and chat for 5 min then i leave.

iamhomin

Nope, doesn't work. My CG/Ebony is impossible to sit in when the temperature hits 85 or above.

dhavleak

Damn.. this kinda complicates things for me. I really like white leather too, so quartz is an option, but it isn't offered w/ NPB and I prefer an all-black dash rather than the two-tone. I think I need to pay my dealer a visit on a hot day and jump into a NPB/ebony and a CG/quartz in quick succession to help me decide..

Thanks for all the help, people!!

gfxdave99

I have quartz and like it a lot.

gfxdave99

Oh one more thing, i used to have a black trans am with black leather.. i just put a beach towel over the seat during the HOT HOT months.. yeah kinda ghetto but it works quite well..

I was just reading up on the new cadillac STS (replacement for the seville) and they have standard remote start that will automatically change the climate control settings based on the outside temp.. so if its freezing it will make sure to turn on the defroster etc.. Kinda neat

provench

Hmmm - you guys must have sensitive skin?

slo007 .... ok ... can't say I tested it to 110 :-) But I have had days of 95+ and it is bearable.

randomBboy

i have cg with ebony and yeah it is hot for like a minute. as stated above, the AC works really fast and if you crack the windows and let the extreme heat out it works even faster. It seems no different than my last car as far as heat and that didn't have black leather (for what that is worth)

i would imagine tinted windows and a sunshade would help with the heat drastically too..

b~
ps i am in tampa and it has been rediculously hot here the past week

Carlos8542222

Provench:

You said the following:

" I have ebony and live in NC (lots of heat in the summer) and I have once found the ebony seats to be too hot."

Did you mean you have "yet" to find the seats too hot or that there was one time that the seats were too hot?

I really like the black interior but I live in South Florida with 95+ heat with 100 humidity in the Summer. I am leaning towards getting a color that comes with the parchment interior but will go with the black interior if it is not too much hotter than the parchment.

Also Provench, please talk some more about the AC system in the TSX. How does it compare with other new cars you have had in the past. You have mentioned in the past that you drove an Acura CLS. Did that car also have a black leather interior? And how does the TSX compare with the CLS in terms of the Air conditioning?

xenon

The heat rejecting windows works very well for me. If I roll the windows half down I can definately feel a big difference where the window reflects the rays.

As regards to the AC, the little sunlight sensor makes sure the AC compensates for the heat when the sun is shining.

Ebony.. hmm.. that's really a question of taste. I chose black leather.. they do become rather hot when parked in the sun (remember to grease them regularly!), but they cool down very fast.

JAX TSX

I love the look of the ebony interior and haven't had an unbearable heat problem here in Fla (its been very hot). I think the perforation helps a lot.

I also get to park in a garage at work

sixspeed

The tan leather seats in my wife's Camry get unbearably hot during summer as well. Maybe the ebony seats get a few degrees hotter but I don't think it really makes a difference. The bottom line is leather seats will get hot, even parchment.

I also don't think it's fair to say that the "heat-rejecting" windows in a TSX don't work since nobody is able to make a comparison to bare(non-darkened) windows. They obviously block some light - after all they are tinted a little.
Maybe that's not as much as people would like but then there is always the option of after-market tint.

slo007

Come visit California sometime. It's summer!!

provench

Yes - I did mean "yet" ... in other words I don't find it to be an issue. They get hot in the 90+ days, but they cool off in like 60 seconds. IMHO, this is the case with ANY car when heat gets trapped in the car for long enough with direct sunlight.

Compare A/C to past cars. I guess I wouldn't say it is THAT much better or worse than the CL-S, but better then the G35 that I had for a while. I know it is a bigger interior, but it just took too long to get going.

By the way - if you have not owned a car with perforated seats like the TSX ... again ... more help to disperse the heat. And that works very well.

Like I said ... if you like the ebony, get it ... the heat is the heat.

provench

Heat in CA????

Come back when you get 100% humidity

dhavleak

Could we hear from the folks who have quartz interiors then -- how hot does the inside get when your car is parked in the sun?

Thanks for all the responses!

slack

I have ebony interior and live in Houston. I have covered parking at work so it isn't an issue 5 days a week.

It does get hot on the weekends, but it isn't any hotter than the taupe leather that was in my Integra. Sometimes I think it's less hot, maybe becuase it's a perforated leather.

And the TSX AC works a whole lot better than the Integra ever did.

rescueswimmer

I had a black on black Mustang Cobra. It got pretty damn hot on the seats. After getting the windows tinted 35% nothing to drastic the first time. and a sun shade It made a huge diffrence. Black is the way to go it looks so good. Like the above mentioned if you lay a towel over the seat after you get out of the car you can come back to the car toss the towel on the floor and your seat will be warm but not hot from the direct sunlight.

msmy

yeah, im from houston and i think the heat rejecting glass does help a lot. i had a white 2k1 accord coupe with the 'ivory' leather and it was just as killer because it did not have the preforated leather. I went from a light color car with light interior to a dark car (carbon gray/ebony) with dark interior... but what i just learned is that the sunroof is not temperlite glass, so if i open the shade part i can feel a LOTTTT of heat coming down on my head whereas all the other windows are fine... I say invest in a sunshade + park a certain direction so your seat is not in the sun by the time you get to it after work + tint + dont open the sunroof shade.

captainjack

I live swampy South Florida too.
And I have the black interior.
And I HATE being hot.

But after almost a year, I have no complaints. The remote window lowering really helps and the AC is mondo powerful and quick. The metal shift knob has gotten uncomfortable but not too hot to touch. Before I got the car, I worried it would get so hot it'd be like that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where the fish-lipped Nazi gets the medallion branded into his palm.

kevin79925

any dark interrior is gonna be hot as fawk.. if you park it in the sun. no matter wut kinda windows u got or dark the tint. just less hot.

Foolish Pleasure

I have a SSM/Ebony TSX. It was 90 here in NJ last couple of days and my car sat out in the RR parking lot...no problem with the heat at all in terms of ebony. I was worried about the same thing you were plus the quartz on SSM didnt look as good to me. I would recommend ebony but just keep the dust off it...

briny319

My car doesn't get to hot inside after sitting in the sun, unless I leave the moon roof shade open. I have a SSM/EB

Precision Crafted

I have quartz in my silver TL. My windows are not tinted, the humidity in Kansas is horrible. My '02 TL was black on black with dark tinted windows and found 100+ degrees to be hell. I liked black on black but wanted something different. I find what I have now to be "cooler" with the weather we've have had.

The A/C set on "Auto" rocks with a fan speed blowing at 7.

dhavleak

Hi Everybody & thx for all the replies!

I finally took the plunge and I'm now the proud owner of a NPB/Ebony/6MT TSX as of 3:30pm on Friday. Pics to follow soon in another thread

So now that I have a TSX I want to add my $.02 in case other prospective owners have similar questions..

Well, my previous car was a geo prizm, black exterior with grey cloth upholstery and no window tint and it used to get hot as hell when parked in the sun. Now the TSX should get hotter with black leather, but its actually much cooler than the prizm when parked in the sun for a prolonged time so I assume the heat-rejecting glass must be playing a part. Of course, it does get hot, but like others have said the A/C seems powerful enough to take care of even the hottest situation in seconds. I haven't even had to use the remote windows-down feature yet. Oh, btw -- I live in MI -- but it does get pretty hot here at this time of the year..

Hope this was helpful..