AcuracerX

This isn't really about our TL - S, but I'm up in Canada on a little R and R and for the first time, I saw several Honda Accords, with Acura badges and 1.8EL on their backsides!! What's with that?? The Accord in the US, is an Acura in British Columbia?? I know my co-workers tease me that I'm driving an overpriced Honda, but there goes the proof!! Oh, but none of them want to run with me!!

DJ Iceman

I don't suppose any of your coworkers drives overpriced Toyotas (Lexus), Nissans (Inifniti), or Volkswagens (Audi), do they?

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'98 Primrose Mist Metallix Acura 3.0CL Premium
'00 Dakar Yellow II BMW M Roadster

RX-72ATL-S

Man that bugs me. Can you get a honda with heated seats, or navigation. How about programmed power seats,or Sport Shift? Can you get automatic climate control with a honda, 260hp, or a better warranty or service plan. I would say not. Therefore the extra money, isn't neccessarily for the F@#$ing badge, but for what you get with that badge.

bbjones

Heck, I'm happy about all those Honda parts in my TL-S. Honda knows how to make things reliably.

One of the biggest attractions for me to the TL-S was the combination of performance and reliability. As far as I could see, no other car that performs as well or better than a TL-S has anywhere near the reliability (at any price.) Go to intellichoice and look at the maintenance costs of some of the other vehicles discussed around here.

As for whether your TL-S is just an overpriced Accord, well, that's easy. Go down to your local Honda dealer this Saturday, and test drive the best Accord they have. It will feel like you are driving your Grandma's car.


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2002 Acura TL Type-S Dark Emerald Pearl
1986 Pontiac Fiero SE V6
1994 Ford Explorer 4x4

JTang

The Acura 1.8EL is a Canada-specific car. It's not like the Tl. In fact, I read that it's the Civic platform. Don't worry, it's not a car like our TLs

hunter001

I think the Honda Civic EX in the US, is sold as the Acura 1.8EL(or is it 1.7EL?)....but the Civic I believe uses a 1.7L engine (2001 model year onwards)...



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2000 Naples Gold 3.2TL/Navi - Factory Stock but with up-graded tires

Guest

The car you speak of is an Acura version of the 4 door civic. It comes with Acura badging, better tires and leather interior. Hope this helps.

RX-72ATL-S

I knew my statement might come back and bite me. The last honda I owned was in 94(Civic EX). Those options weren't availible.
I've heard the Accord was going to be upscaled, but going to be and now are two different things. And as far as the Odyssey...I haven't even look in the direction of one so I wouldn't know.
I just get tired of people making those statements about upscale cars. It's like you said Lexus, Audi, Infinity, it's all the same. I think it's their way of making themselves feel better with their purchase knowing they wanted the upscaled car.

mikester

I only know because we are looking at an Odyssey for my wife. Nice thing is, the Odyssey is getting a lot of the goodies from the MDX. They are built on the same platform and are both very good and popular vehicles.

I don't think most of those things you mentioned are available (yet) on an Acord, which is only a couple thousand less than a TL when you get it fully loaded.

Guest

At the risk of offending many, Hondas and Acuras are the same. In fact, the Honda Accord and the Acura TL are both manufactured at the same plant (Marysville, OH), on the same line, and by the same employees. It is not uncommon for a Honda Accord to be followed by an Acura TL on the assembly line, and vice versa. In the assembly plant, there is no distinction between Acura branded vehicles and Honda branded vehicles. The only real distinctions are between particular models.

Stating that an Acura is merely an overpriced Honda is, however, not accurate. That is like calling an Accord an overpriced Civic. Or calling a Honda Accord EX V6 an overpriced Accord. The Acura brand is just another series of cars (that happen to be more upscale than their Honda-branded bretheren) manufactured by Honda of America Manufacturing.

The TL is an entirely distinct model from the Accord. Yes, they share certain parts and have many similarities but they are distinctly different. Whether the additional features available on the Acura branded vehicles are value-added is entirely a matter of opinion. (I happen to think the TLS is well worth the additional cost)


P.S. The Accord EX V6 does have automatic climate control and a decent 200 hp engine (not 260 but respectable for the type of car it is meant to be)

AKRY

It's Acura 1.7EL, which shares components with Civic.

Chassis/Component-sharing is very common amoung car makers now. If it's a good chassis, I wouldn't mind it's shared with other models.

Andy Kuo

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'92 Mercedes-Benz 400SE
Pearl Grey/Black

'02 Acura TL-S
Satin Silver/Ebony, w/out NAV

oracion

Are you sure that that's not the ELs? The EL is available in Canada only.

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2002 Satin Silver TL-S Nav

mikester

Let's see:

- Odyssey has a navigation system option

- Odyssey has automatic climate control

- Odyssey is rumored to be getting the 240 HP engine from the MDX

- They are adding leather seats to the Odyssey this fall - wouldn't surprise me if they add heated seats and/or memory seats as well.

- SportShift is available on the Prelude (it actually had it first).

I agree though, there are no Honda's that have all these features on the same car, but they do share features a lot between Honda/Acura. Look at an Acord V6 some time - I think a lot of the switches and trim pieces will look very familiar to you.

So yes, it is basically a Honda, but I wouldn't say it's overpriced, considering all the extra features, longer warranty, better performance, and overall just a nicer level of trim. And, no different from Toyota/Lexus, Nissan/Infinity, etc.