The following are my impressions of the new TL-S and Comptech performance parts.

The Purchase:
After months of negotiating with dealers, getting the run-around and generally being highly dissatisfied with the whole Acura experience, I finally picked up my new Aegean Blue TL-S w/ Navi from Park Avenue Acura on July 2nd. I can’t say enough good things about these guys. My salesman, Paul Epstein, was able to track down the color I wanted in a matter of two days, match the best price that I was given elsewhere, and had the car ready for me within two more days. Since I was flying out from Milwaukee, WI to buy the car, I absolutely HAD to have a quick turn-around. Wayne Gruen and his crack mechanic Yens (sp?) masterfully installed my Comptech parts, body kit, nose mask and spoiler. Park Ave. also threw in floor mats and wheel locks. They don’t put any advertising decals or badges on the car, and even gave me a “Powered by Comptech” license plate frame. I am quite pleased with the service I received, and highly recommend Park Avenue Acura to anyone east of the Mississippi.

The Parts:
I have the Comptech springs, headers, exhaust and air filter (in lieu of a new CAI). Since I do not have experience with the TL-P or stock TL-S, I cannot compare performance to stock. My goal was to buy a sports car with good interior space, luxury features, a navigation system, good handling and great acceleration. I could not be happier with my purchase. There is always a trade-off between increased performance and a cushy, quiet ride. If you want plush, stick with the TL-P. If you want improved performance, move up to the TL-S. If you still crave more performance, you just may be enthusiast-enough to step up to Comptech.

The springs are stiff and the exhaust is loud, but that’s what I wanted. The exhaust is absolutely intimidating. It looks great, and rumbles under mild acceleration at low RPMs. It sounds a bit like a motorcycle. The springs provide a rough ride, but the car corners with very little body-roll, if any. The phase “like it’s on rails” comes to mind. The headers, exhaust and air filter add over 40 hp at the crank (from my research) and the acceleration reminds me of my old turbo-charged ’89 Mazda MX-6 GT. Probably better, and with a lot less torque steer. If my MPG numbers are any indication, there is no appreciable loss of gas mileage with these mods.

The Drive:
950 miles in 12 hours. I didn’t think I could sit in a car that long, but it was fun, and the seats were comfortable and supportive. Even with stops for gas, etc. I still averaged 79 MPH. I now have 1,175 miles on the car and my fuel mileage has been as follows:

1st tank; 379 miles, 14 gallons, 27.1 MPG. (95% highway).
2nd tank; 408 miles, 13.3 gallons, 30.6 MPG (100% highway).
3rd tank; 360 miles, 14 gallons, 25.7 MPG (80% highway).

I-80 through western NJ and eastern PA is the nicest interstate I’ve ever driven on. The Appalachian Mountains are beautiful. I wouldn’t call them twisties, but the sweeping downhill turns do offer some gauge of performance. One turn had a warning sign posting 45 MPH. I took it at 90. Give credit to the springs.

While I did gun the engine many times, I only had one “race” during the whole drive. I passed a crotch rocket going about 80 MPH. When traffic cleared, I punched it and took off. The biker kept up with me, but at 110 MPH I stopped accelerating. He passed me on the right, and then let me catch up. We gave each other the thumbs-up, and he took off. One of these days I’ll take it up to 140.

The Navi system worked like a charm. I took the wrong on-ramp almost immediately after leaving the dealer, and the system had me back on track with hardly any lost time. When I needed a hotel in central Illinois, it brought up a list with telephone numbers and addresses. That was a bonus I didn’t expect. It’s like carrying a national telephone directory in your trunk.

The stereo is more than adequate for my style of listening. It has a better CD player than the Pioneer 12-disk changer in my Explorer. I know this because I have one CD that skips in the Pioneer, but played flawlessly in the Acura. How in the world did I live without steering wheel audio control all these years? My only complaint is that the steering wheel controls are not lit.

I could go on and on about the pluses and minuses of the car, but the bottom line is that it is everything I hoped it would be. I do have a complaint about the seating and peddle position for a 6’-3” driver, but considering I put in 950 miles in one sitting, the complaint is relatively minor.

Well, I guess I better get caught up with all of the posts I’ve missed in the last week!

 

Damn nice post. Sounds like you should be in good shape for a while.

It really is nice getting the car out on a long run. It sounds like a cliche, but it really is a very comfortable seat for a long drive. You do not appreciate it unless you do it.

Good luck with the ride!

:-jon

 

No worries about the break-in period, R Man?

That's a lot of miles at high speed for the first 1K...

 

Wow.....loved reading this story. Never thought about buying a car 950 miles from home! Sounds like you had a very good trip, all the power to ya. Give credit to Park Ave Acura, they must be sooooo good they got a customer come all the way from Wisconsin! R man, very good luck to you with your new ride!!

 

good luck with the new car, excellent story- i use park ave acura for service and personally couldnt be any happier. I hope to see more stories like this

 

79mph average, a race up to 110mph, and then you took a curving road at 90mph, didn't you worry about break-in?

 

That's hell of a buying experience

Enjoy the car!

 

during the breakin the speeds are really supposed to vary, no steady highway driving and definitely no racing...

Oh well, he can possibly put an end to the possible "myth" I guess.

Nice story. That's a hell of a drive to get something done to the car, but sounds like it was worth it.

 

I’ve been away from the computer for awhile, so I couldn’t reply to any of the comments made to my original message.

Break in – Wayne at Park Avenue basically told me that as long as I varied my speed, and boy did I, that break in wouldn’t be a problem. I only V-Teched the engine a few times. Most acceleration was simply rolling on the throttle.

Comptech Springs – I stated that the springs gave me a rough ride. My bad. I asked Wayne before I left the dealership if he had lowered my tire pressure. I had my gauge with me. He said yes, so I didn’t check it. Well, low and behold, after nearly 1,500 miles in one week I checked the pressure: 40 psi all around. I lowered it to 32 psi and the ride is completely different. If you’re considering springs, get ‘em.

The Seats – I think the seats are very comfortable, and fit me like a glove. They held me in place during my radical turns, and even the stuff in the passenger seat stayed in place. The problem is with the peddle locations in relation to the steering wheel. My long legs are pretty cramped in there. I’ll mess around with the seating position some more and see what happens.

All in all it was a hell of a trip. My gas mileage was much better than I would have expected considering how fast I was driving.

 

I have a new TL-S with 500 miles. There have been about 20 times in this mileage the the engine skipped or bumped for a second. I thought it was gas for the first two fillups but the problem continues from time to time. Anyone have the same?
I will go the the dealer but I am sure it would not do this then.

 

Abhair - I would suggest starting a new topic regarding your question. This topic is over a year old and is likely to slip to the bottom again.

 

Congrats R Man and kudos to PAA too!

 

Very inspirational post. PAA does it again. Glad that I only live 20 miles away from PAA. They are the best!

 

Nice post. Very informative. One thing though. Your TLS is waaaaaay quicker than your old Mazda. The GT Turbos were only good for 0-60 in the low to mid 7s. Your Comptech TLS should be good for about 6 sec to 60. I used to love the MX6 GT. I drove one of those once and thought that it was a rocket. If memory serves me correctly, it was good for sprint times stated above. It's amazing what time and driving progressively faster cars will do to you. It seems like only yesterday that my 90 Integra felt fast.

 

I know the original post is ancient (over a year old), but the story is so compelling I had to reply. That is simply the best purchase story and experience I've read on this board. I honestly wish I'd had the time to drive to PAA (7-8 hour drive for me) to buy my Acura as my local dealerships don't even come close to the experience described by site members. I probably would've gotten a much lower price as well--I paid sticker because TLs were leaving the local Acura dealerships quickly at the time I bought my car.

I hope R-man is still enjoying his car.