I would like to know if Acura acknowleges this website?
Do they know how many members we have?
If not, how do we establish a relationship with them?

Before I discovered this website, I had lots of unanswered questions and issues with my CL. Unlike the other more popular Honda's, mechanical and performance parts/info doesnt just fall from the sky into our hands. Everytime I meet a CL owner outside I let them know about the site.

I also just wanted to commend this site keeping us connected.

 

I couldn't agree more. This site rocks for getting info on my car. Amazingly, I had NO idea these cars had any transmission problems. I almost fell out of my f*cking chair when I saw how big of an issue it was, and had never received any info about it.

I haven't seen any manufacturers of anything ever jump on an independant web forum, whether it's cars, electronics / home theater stuff, whatever.

 

acura or any manufacturer will never acknowledge a forum devoted to cars cos the bad/problematic aspects of the cars are put forth also on here.

If all this site did was PRAISE about how nice the car is and if everyone gangbanged it all the time (which SOME of the ppl here want ) then acura would be passin out flyers to ppl about it.

But of course they dont their customer to be knowledgable about ANYTHING so they can rip us dumbasses off as they wished everytime something went wrong.

So the entire purpose of this site is to be KNOWLEDGABLE about our cars.... and YES, that includes the problems too

 

I don't think Acura would acknowledge this forum, or any other, because the board informs people about the good and the many bads concerning the car. Seriously, do you think they would acknowledge an Acura forum with a setion titled Frequent Topics: Transmission Problems.

 

Acknowledge...probably not. But do they read it?...possibly. If I was a car manufacturer, I'd probably surf the web and see what people were saying about my product. There's actually a lot of FREE customer data here if you can sift through the crap.

 

They may not register as members, but I’m sure Honda / Acura has people in the public relations dept that come here from time to time.

My other favorite Internet hangout is the Home Theater Forum www.hometheaterforum.com and there are quite a few studio reps that frequent over there.
When I was out in California on several VIP studio tours, we met people who say 50% of their time is spent searching online Forums.
They look for feedback on their company’s DVD releases so they can determine what we like to buy.

Hi Acura…. Thanks for listening to us and releasing the 6-Speed

Shawn S

 

BMW NA follows the boards at: http://www.roadfly.org/bmw/

The customer relations dweebs occassionally suggest you give them a call if you have a problem with your car. Too bad calling them gets you a "see your dealer" suggestion every time.

I suspect Acura is keeping an eye on us too.

 

Naw, we're the red headed step child.

 

shaHn doesn't know what he's talking about, you may want to disregard his post entirely, sounds like he's just mad about something else. There are literally hundreds of forums where people get on the newsgroup/forum from the manufacturer/vendor/company and participate and get beat up regularly regardless of the praise or not. Every product has problems and that's NOT going to be the determining factor as to whether a Company decides to support and promote their product online. Acura would never hand out flyers about ACL no sooner than they would hand out flyers about the WSJ, no matter the praise. They have to have agreements, like they do with C&D, and then they're on board, good or bad. You don't see them cut relations with R&T when the CL gets put down, do you?

In the beginning this forum was nothing but praise. No Acura participation. You can create a new forum and call it IluvmyAcura.com and I bet you never hear from them. No matter a tranny issue/forum, that's ridiculous. ACL works very well...without Acura's active participation.

The truth of the matter is Acura cannot act because of liability reasons. The same reason why I can't go out on the Sprint newsgroups and participate. First we don't have the resources to answer questions, take and implement feedback, respond to comments, etc. Officially acknowledging means if someone asks a question, you need to respond; else you don't have good customer service; you don't value your customers. Unless you have some type of agreement with the forum that you are "off the record", then that might work but surely some of the other forum members might not agree with that and thus try to hold Acura to an "on the record" or some higher status.

Second, who is suppose to get on here? People in public relations don't know anything about cars. Why would they read on here, they can't answer anything relevant. Maybe the CL team lead(s), or one of the engineers? Who? At Sprint I would hate to see some financial analyst or store sales person or IT person who didn't know much about phones get on there, say they work at Sprint, and then give out the wrong info.

Third, lawsuits. Look at what Acura said about the tranny. They didn't respond to my question, so they are ignoring me. They are trying to "get rid of me" by telling me to go to my dealership? What kind of advice is that? I hate Main Street Acura, but what is Acura suppose to do about that? Who are these people online? Maybe it's just a non-owner (he's actually from over at bmwforum.org just making trouble over here) making trouble for Acura. What about confidentiality? Can Toyota just check the websites for the official Acura info? Maybe they can ask questions and get competitive info online, how easy is that?

Everybody wants to sue. We have too many criminals on this board, engaging in unauthorized activity for Acura to become involved and somehow tie Acura to the racing, the running from police, the high-speed driving, the drugs, etc. Even without a ramblings, the Car Talk is full of illegal activity (me included) with warranty fraud, odometer fraud, insurance fraud, contract and lease fraud, parts modifications and tampering, NOS, breaking into the car computer, selling stolen parts on ebay, tires that don't fit, green/blue/red illegal lights, accidents and causing accidents, you name it. There's too many people looking to sue and in small claims court, it's actually very easy so why provide statements and evidence in writing and leave yourself open to those out there looking for personal financial gain, new cars, and other selfish reason other than the car itself? Actually when that first person does have a tranny lock up and get serious hurt, can they say that I told Acura repeatedly online at ACL that there was a problem and that I might get hurt and they ignored me. I want $100 million.

No big company has found a good way to interact online with it's customers in a forum that they didn't start themselves. It doesn't work....yet. Now is not the time. They do read here...possible every day. They do learn and they do implement and respond...I know I do for Sprint....just not online. Too many challenges. Better to be off the record for right now.

Sorry for being so long.

 

Long post kensteele but well made points.

A large corporate entity like Honda/Acura could not partipate due to (obvious) issues of legality and politics. End of story.

 

so very true

dont forget they also have better things to do like making $$$ and taking some swings at the golf course

Personally i think they dont give a rats ass about this forum. Maybe their are a few "lurkers" but who knows...

sidemarker

 

"The eyes of the world are always upon you"....

I wouldn't be suprised if some Acura personal browse (lurk on) the forum now and then.

I think that the CL forum is a great resource for information, and anyone at Acura could learn alot about the CL (and CL owners) here. They would also see what non-acura cars interest the members and get a good guage on what CL owners think about the competitions offerings (G35coupe, etc, etc).

You have to understand that the sport coupe market is a niche market (it's small). Any advantage you can gain over the competition in a niche market can pay off in big dividens (and even bigger sales).

What better long term "test" group could you have then actual CL owners to guage how your product is doing?

Hey ACURA, if you're reading this, how about putting the J32A drivetrain in a RWD coupe!!

 

Acura would never acknowledge us...but I'm sure there are people who hop on and read to get an idea what we complain about and what they can do for the people in the future...somewhere they need ideas for future designs.

But for myself, it was a great place to start in my car search. It really helped me to weigh the pros and cons of my car purchase and to know what type of things I may be getting into (tranny, rattles, etc). But being an informed consumer has it's payoffs. Thanks guys for letting me know of this great car...even though it's not totally problem free (what car is? especially for anal and whiny people like us that complain about every little thing wrong)...and I have a lot of fun with it.

Okay, back to work now....

 

Acura most definitely reads this site... and we also influence many things...

Take the 2003 CL for example....

* WE bitched about the lack of a manual... we got one.
* WE bitched about the stupid road lamps... they were removed.
* WE bitched about lack of "standard" luxury car features.... OnStar added.
* WE bitched about the tranny problems... LA Times wrote an article b/c of EricL.... Acura responds with Tranny Warranty.

You get the idea.... Those are just a few examples of stuff that has come from this site. We have a bigger say then you think. However, like Ken Steele and Sidemarker indicated... there are many, many reasons why they can't directly respond on the board....

 

who knows if acura reads this forum, i doubt it has that much effect.

Car and Driver, motor trend and other magazins all wrote articles about the lack of manual and tranny problems, not saying that they dont listen to consumers, but they pay attention to the dumb one more because they are the type that soley read reviews and make their decisions from their.

 

Hi Acura, thanks for f*king us over with the Auto Trannies!!!:sqntfawk: :sqntfawk: :sqntfawk:

 

:stupid"

 

Those are some Good Points.

Well, regardless if Acura ever publically acknowledges us or not, atleast we are well connected and it'll be harder to get info past us (such as the LA Times Tranny Article).

Acura.. if you're listening, reputations are made AND BROKEN by consumers word of mouth. The same way we made you, we can break you. You can keep trying to get new customers but dont forget about us. Because It will eventually catch up with you.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.