First the good part of a TL-S. I just came back from a long road trip for Thanksgiving. During the trip, I averaged 80 mph and my gas mileage was 35.5 mpg. Before anyone screams that I must have miscalculated, I filled the tank to as full as it would go before I started the trip. 408 miles later I stopped for food and decided to top off the tank again since there was a gas station right there. I still had about 1/3 of a tank left according to the gauge. I filled the tank as full as it could go this time too. The gas needle both times was above the full mark by the same amount and I don't think I could have realistically put any more gas in. The 408 mile figure was from my trip meter which I reset at the beginning of the trip and it agreed perfectly with the mile markers and mileage on the signs during my trip.

I was as surprised as anyone that my mileage was that good. 408 miles on 11.5 gallons of gas is amazing. My Lightning never saw better than 16 on the highway at the same speeds, not that I expected it to.

Now for the bad part. Tomorrow I put my TL-S in the shop to have some trim fixed that has come apart. I'm also having the radio controls fixed (TSB), the transmission, a squeak in the drivers seat, and a problem with the passenger side mirror. All of that on a car with 9K miles. That's on top of the warped rotor problem that I had fixed at 7500 miles (Along w/ the transmission being flushed due to nasty shifting). I expected that the transmission would fail, since the flush was more of a bandaid than anything. The rest of the problems that I have had in 10 months and 9k miles of ownership are far more than any other cars I have owned, foreign or domestic, over entire period of time I owned them.

When my TL-S isn't experiencing a problem, it's a great car, but if I continue to have as many problems as I am having, I won't be back for another Honda/Acura product. I know what Honda's record for reliability is, but I also know that Honda is doing everything in it's power to sweep the transmission problem under the rug, so there's no reason to think that they wouldn't try to hide other less obvious failures.

(Sorry for spelling or grammar errors, I was in a hurry and didn't have time to proofread.)

 

Wow that is GREAT gas mileage... I've never done that in anything I've driven ,not even the tl ,but never really gauged it either .


I thought you had already gotten a new tranny ,guess not ,but hope this one works out better for sure !

Good luck Ripped.

 

Is the squeak in the driver's seat or the seatbelt latch? The seatbelt latch is a pretty common problem. A squirt of WD-40 will solve it permanently.

 

The squeak seems to be coming from the front right of the drivers seat, or the center console, I can't tell which. In fairness, the seat may be because I'm a good size guy that tends to give the seat a workout. (6'8" and 260)

 

Did you get the timing belt tensioner fix yet?

 

I drove about 600 miles to Canada and I got about 34 or 35 mpg also. Was a bit surprise that it was that good.

 

I haven't had any symptoms that would warrant me looking at the timing belt tensioner. The sounds that I'm hearing are definitely from inside the cockpit, not any part of the driveline. It sounds like something is loose or poorly fitted. With luck, I'll be able to reproduce it for the dealer tomorrow.

 

If you guys look at the sticky of the forum section, Bitium has found a cure for our warped rotor problem by adding cooling vents. Here's a link to the post: http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...threadid=66151

 

Sorry you feel that way Ripped. As for myself, I'd like to think that I'm impartial when it comes to manufacturers...but to be honest, this TLS is by far one of my most favorite rides, especially on long trips. I have 52k on the odometer right now, so although we still value your opinion, in my eyes, noone can really experience an automobile untill they've gone through at least 60k miles in it. Unlike some of the members here that comes and goes and treat this forum like a b*tch fest (not you), guys like me will be here for miles and miles to come. See ya at 100k.

 

Yeah I get about 34-35 at 70-75mph, 80-85 cuts me down to about 32. I can beat the snot out of it in the city and never get less that 23 mpg

 

I hope that after this round of repairs, my TL-S will be trouble free. On the long trip I took, the ride was perfect, the seats were relaxing, and I can't argue with almost 36 mpg at 80 miles per hour. Like I said, the car has been great in between repair visits. I haven't called the TL-S a piece of crap, but I do find myself hiding the fact that my 10 month old car is in the shop for warranty repairs (6 of them so far). I don't like the feeling of pretending my car is more reliable than it is because I have never owned a car that made me have to do that, until now.

We'll see how things go. I'll report back in a few thousand miles to let everyone know if all my problems have faded away. *Crosses Fingers*

 

Good luck on your problems , Rip. What kind of problem
are ya having with your passenger side mirror?
Mine makes a buzz sometimes . I think it happens when I
back out of a parking spot and drive away. (Ya know when the
passenger side mirror tilts down when ya put it in reverse ,
then come back up when ya go forward.)
Buzz dosn't happen all the time , and am not sure if this is
causing it.

 

My problem is that the passenger side mirror won't point downward when you put it in reverse and it's not because I don't have the mirror selector in the middle. There seems to be something wrong w/ that feature.

*Edit for update*

It's official now. The service advisor called me at work to tell me that they have ordered a new transmission for my car. That means that I will probably be in the TSX loaner that they gave me until next week Monday.

For anyone collecting statistics on transmission failures, mine started having problems at 6k miles and failed at 9k miles. This was on a 2003 TL-S. I didn't use skip shift and I don't beat on the car, so neither one of those contributed to the transmission's early demise.

 

My driver's side seat squeaks over rough pavement. It seems as if it is coming from somewhere underneath the seat. Do you guys think it's the seatbelt latch problem?

 

sorry dude, but I don't believe that for a second. Beating the snot of the car essentially means you're gunning it almost all the time. No one in their rightful mind will believe that you can essentially get over 300 miles/tank on 100% city driving, and to boot, driving it like a maniac? I basically get 310 miles in the city driving slower then my grandmother. So how do you get 23 MPG driving like a maniac? Define Maniac?