3.5L - 255HP, standard 18" wheels w/ Michelin pilot sport tires, big exhaust tips, HID, and an impressive list of standard accessories that may even beat ours. Sounds sweet enough to me.

 

BUT, its a Chrysler!!!!

 

stay away from Chrysler. Look at the 99TL resale value and the 99 300M resale value. They (Chrysler) depreciate faster than Enron stock

 

Sounds tempting, but stay away from the 300M. They look/sound sweet at first, but Chrysler has problems with their transmissions.

Stick with the TL-S!

 

Victor sez: "Sounds tempting, but stay away from the 300M. They look/sound sweet at first, but Chrysler has problems with their transmissions."

Not exactly a persuasive argument for those of us who have a TL-S but can't drive it because we're waiting for a tranny transplant (12 days and counting ), but your point is taken, however.

 

lol nice plate...
everyone yelled at me when I wanted to get

666 @ TL
(@ being NY symbol)

 

I've only had mine for 2 days....obviously have not experienced any tranny issues. I'm assuming that I will? What's wrong with yours Yoyodyne?

 

My buddy has a 300m and i think its a great car.... I even had a sebring convertible before the TLS and the sebring never gave me problems. It was a lease car so i even beat the crap out of it. No problems.

 

Victor:
Don't panic!
Although the replacement trannies are backordered, which would indicate a big demand (not a good thing), I'm guessing you probably won't have any tranny issues. Thus far it only seems to have affected a bunch of us whose cars were built early in the production run.
Just exactly what the problem is, apparently Acura/Honda isn't saying.
My symptom was that it wouldn't make the 2->3 shift under even moderate acceleration. Others have reported that in advanced cases all the dash warning lights light up as well. Try doing a search here and you should come up with a lot more info.

Oh, and TommyBoiSxty9, I wish that really was my plate.
Alas, it's only me playing with PhotoShop

 

Yoyodyne - your car looks so good its almost OK that you can't drive it. Nice pic!

 

I don't think he can

 

I used to lease a '99 300M for three years and loved that car. I still miss it. Mine had the Performance Handling Group package - better suspension, better brakes, tighter steering. The car cornered flat, was able to fishtail if asked for, was able to do four-wheel drifts, it was also an awesome high speed cruiser. It loved to cruise at 90mph and had very strong acceleration from 40 to 90 or from 90 to 120.

I NEVER had any problems with the transmission or anything else. I did have to replace the engine speed sensors twice, under warranty as they gave wrong info to the tranny. That was a quick fix.
Well, also right at the end of the lease the refrigerant from Air Conditioning leaked out.

Speaking of features, back in 1998, 300M had more standard features than '99 Acura TL and it had more horsepower and torque (253 HP and 255 lbs*ft). My 300M had memory seats (99 TL did not have that), standard 200-something Watt Infinity stereo with 9 speakers or optional 360 Watt Infinity stereo with 11 speakers. Oh - the remote key fob was linked to the seat/mirror/radio station memory (the last radio station listened by me was remembered under my setting while the last radio station listened to by my wife was remembered under her settings)

My beef with Chrysler is that since '99 model, they have not made meaningful updates for 300M, while Acura created TL-S with 260HP, added memory seats, etc.

But I still think 300M is an awesome car and the Special Edition with more power, sport-tuned suspension, bigger wheels, ground effects, HID headlights must be really great.

If I had more money, I sould have both TL-S and 300M Special and alternate driving them.

 

What about the Viper? I know it's a Dodge, but it's still part of the same corporation.

 

I tested a 300M last month and it had a lot of noise and not a lot of go at the higher RPM. I was surprised that it also had a lot of wind noise.

 

The 300M looks sweet, but the problem I have with it is that it doesn't retain its value very well. Trust me....I traded in its cousin, a 2000 Dodge Intrepid (300M is basically an Intrepid with a shorter rear deck and a bigger, better-tuned engine--otherwise the same) to get my TL-P. With just under 40k miles in 2.25 years, I got a bit less than half of what I paid for it from the dealer. This was about what Edmund's and Kelly's said it was worth, so I think the Acura dealer treated me fairly on the trade. A 2000 TL would have fetched around $20-21k at trade-in time, only about a 25% loss of value.

Now if only I'd been able to get a better deal on the TL.....but that's another story for another time.

 

Exacatly!:

 

Probably weights 5,000 pounds. Besides the fact that its supension and body design is still probably from the 40's