I'm sure that most of you know by now that the TL-S has quite a WIDE turning radius. Well, I thought some of you might find it interesting to see the turning radius of a few other cars according to Consumer Reports:

Acura TL-S - 42 ft.
BMW 330 - 37 ft.
Lexus IS 300 - 38 ft.
Audi A4 Quattro - 37 ft.
BMW 530 - 38 ft.
Honda Odyssey - 40 ft.
Mercury Grand Marquis - 42ft.

Beat my a minivan and tied with a GRAND MARQUIS!! And this is supposed to be a sport-sedan?

I'm getting REALLY tired of BARELY making U-turns. What a joke.

 

yup, i'm scared of making u-turn sometime.

 

i just use the e-brake

 

Didn't notice until after I bought the car. Usually don't make the turn in one shot.

 

I understand... we have a 2003 odyssey w/navi itsnice... and as you say, its turning circle beats our 03 TL-S. I live in Tampa (clearwater actually) and driving IS a nightmare, including doing a U-turn on route 19.

 

Tell me about it!! I moved to Tampa from Cleveland where U-turns were illegal EVERYWHERE. Now that I'm in Tampa where you HAVE to make U-turns on a daily basis just to get to stuff on the other side of the road, I'm downright ANGRY that I bought a TL-S.

 

The TL-S was actually 39.8 feet, so they made it 40 feet, not 42 feet.

I mostly think it's because of the larger stock tire size and suspension setup, and avaible space. Almost all the newer cars have huge turning diameters. The RSX is 38.1 feet, that huge for a tiny car like that.

I live in California, traffic up the a$$...i'm scared to get into car accidents when i make U-turns. The cars in back of me don't expect a TL to make a 3 point and they follow too close.

fsttyms1, hehehe most of use don't know how to drift. I would just like to see a video of a TL making a U-turn with the E-brake. "TL gets into the turning lane, traveling at 35 MPH, he takes his entire car past the center divider, and stomps on his e-brake as he jerks the steering wheel violently to the left, the rear of the car slides 180 degreees across road, marginally missing on comming left turners from the opposite side as he stomps on the gas and deactivates the e-brake. He does this SO FAST that he completed his U-turn before the car in back of him realizes that the light turned green."

 

The 2003 Maxima has it at 40 as well. I think the cars mentioned in the post are in general smaller in size compared to the TL too so that could explain everything.

 

Notice the tighter turning cars are RWD .. wider radii turns go to the Front-drivers....

i hate making u-turns in my maxima... better in the TL-S for some reason...

 

Turning radius doesn't really matter to me. Michigan has their unique "Michigan U-turns", so it's all good.

 

well, I think turning radius is not as dependent on the car size as it is on the setup of the car, ie FWD or RWD. All FWD cars have pretty similar turning radius and all RWD cars have similar turning radius. It is just how big of an angle the car's front wheels can turn to either side. It is painful to make U-turns in our car, but I don't think it is such a shame that we tied with Grand Marquis.

 

Don't forget, the TL is based on a stretched Accord platform. Stretched wheelbase = bigger turning radius. But I agree--it's still one of my few complaints about the car (that and no split rear-folding seats). But I knew it when I bought it so I've learned to live with it.

 

yea i know wat you guys mean the E320 I had before had way better turning radius than my TL

 

I spent the summer of 98 in Farmington Hills when I worked for Compuware. That state has the weirdest way of funneling traffic. Although, I was driving a company issued car -- a Ford Escort Wagon. Hehehe.

 

ME TOO!!! well a 2k2 no navi, but still, when I am piloting that vehicle, I feel it turns like a civic.

What you say is true, although based on my experience with the minivan, being longer and all than the TL-S... hmmmmm.

I think it is more dependant on RWD vs FWD vs AWD...

 

do you really?...how fast do you have to be go9ing to get an effective slide....cause when i use the ebrake in my accord (which is alot easier to use) you have to be going faster then you usually do from a light to get a good enough slide to pull the car 180 degrees

 

My girlfriend (being from Flint, MI) had an 86' Saab 900S and that thing had incredible turning radius. I never took measurments but I bet it was under 27ft. I make a U'y inside of a shoebox!!

Remember those dragsters from the 60's that had to have someone from the pits walk up front to lift the two front tires from almost laying flat on the ground to being upright after making a turn? That's what this thing felt like. Kt was a four cyl. FWD but the engine was not sideways mounted. Accessories belts at the firewall and flywheel at the grill......yep, all backwards.

It had absolutley NO self-centering for the steering when it was moving.

BTW- FYI...Don't ever get a Saab from the 80's with an auto transmission. We had an 86' and an 88'. The trannys WILL go south because of a seal that seperates two chambers of the tranny that keeps two different types of fluid seperated. If that seal goes and the fluids mix....it's toast. $3000 for a rebuilt trans....never got it done. That's costs more than the car is worth. The 88' is still dead in my side yard and we donated the 86'.

 

Hey my FWD, large car Chrysler 300M used to have a smaller turning radius

 

Keep in mind that the TL is a larger car than most of the ones on this list. The TL is actualy 6 inches longer than a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It's going to need a larger turning radius.

 

Come on with the turning radiius. Didn't you read that the turing circle on the Type S was 40 feet and on the normal TL was 36.8 feet.

I been driving a CL type S for 3 yrs and now a TL Type S for 1 month and I live on Long Island, NY and don't have a problem with this.

Is this the only thing you could find wrong with the car is the turning radius. Come on guys, let's get real here and talk about the great things about the car. some of you make me so :yack:

 

the turning radius on the TL is pretty weak...the XJR has the same turning radius :o

 

Well.. Consumer Reports seems to be off. Most of the sites I checked listed the turning radius at 40ft... one (edmunds) listed it at 39.7. Plugging those numbers into your list makes the TL pretty good actually (when you take into consideration its length). I'll tell ya that the Odyssey and Grand Marquis are pretty impressive as well. Also, you should figure on dripping at least the A4, IS300 and the BMW 330 since they are all significantly smaller then the TL.

Acura TL-S - 40 ft. (192.5 ft. long)
BMW 330 - 37 ft. (176.7 ft. long)
Lexus IS 300 - 38 ft. (176.6 ft. long)
Audi A4 Quattro - 37 ft. (179 ft. long)
BMW 530 - 38 ft. (188 ft. long)
Honda Odyssey - 40 ft. (201.2 ft. long)
Mercury Grand Marquis - 42ft. (211.9 ft. long)

I know that when I'm looking at a car and I take it on the test drive one of the things I check is turning radius. The fact that you're "angry" you bought a TL-S is surprising considering it's turning radius is pretty good for a big car... and that you could have tested the radius before you bought the car.

To each their own I guess......

 

what is this ebrake that you people keep talking about? Do you have to have your laptop with you in the car to take advantage of the ebrake? Do you have to send and email in order to ebrake?

 

No need for laptop. As long as your PDA supports EBP - electronic braking protocol - you could use it. Just make sure you have the cable attached securely - some guy lost his connection after engaging ebrake and got rear ended!

And I am guessing you were just joking with your "email to brake" comment.

 

LOL.. great reply

And just in case he's not kidding.. Ebrake is short for the Emergency Brake.

 

Yes I was kidding and being funny. It just looked silly to see "ebrake" being that I'm a computer junkie and everything now aday seems to be "e" this and "e" that.

But yes Strannik good reply....I got a good laugh.

 

It's just that I went from a state where U-turns were COMPLETELY illegal (and unnecessary for the most part) to one where they're MANDATORY to get where you're going. Prior to moving to FL, the turning radius wasn't a big deal. Now, I get scared when making U-turns on narrow roads....something I have to do on a regular basis.

 

Why is there such a difference in the turning radius between the TL-P and TL-S (36.8 ft vs. 39.7 ft)? They are, except for engines and wheel size, the same car. I'm not an auto engineer, so the answer escapes me.

 

You just answered your own question there ... Wheel size is what makes the turning radius bigger.

 

fsttyms1, that's exactly what I'll do in my accord....

but could you show me how you use the e-brake in the TL with your left foot???

 

NSX DREAMER, You use e-brake with ur accord when you make u turns?

 

AcuraTLFan, my office is at a warehouse area, so I basically have a lot of chances to practise U-turn... which I'm too comfortable with my car doing that, when ever I need the to do U-turn quickly, I used e-brake, well, of course, I usually don't do that on dry road since it needs more speed and thus more dangerous on public road.

 

Just tried this out the other night... punch it in reverse out of parking space, once achieved lateral clearance, fully turn wheel to lock without removing foot off accelerator. Once car is about to point in desired direccion, BRAKE, SHIFT, FLOOR IT.... very impressive indeed... I hope the tranny holds up.

 

James Garner (who did his own stunts) used this countless time on his show "The Rockford Files". We used to call it the "Rockford 180".

 

You gots to get dat she-it on da sony bro and bring it on down.

 

Where and why are U-turns illegal? how do you get to stuff on the other side of the road?

 

In New Jersey for the vast majority of roads there is whats called a "Jug handle". What this means is you exit on the right hand side always, and if you wanted to make a left hand turn or a U-Turn, instead of doing it from the left lane, you exit on the right, loop around in a U shape (entering on 1 end of the U and exiting on the other), effectively putting you at the intersecting road, and allowing you to go straight to "go left", or make a left hand turn to make a U-turn.

It sounds weird, but it makes sense once you're used to it. Compared to VA where all of the roads need 4 traffic patterns on their lights (straight for road #1, left hand turn signal for road #1, straight for road #2, left hand turn signal for road #2), with a jughandle, you have 2 traffic patterns, or at most 3 traffic patterns (straight for road #1, straight for road #2, and left hand turn for road #2 -- or straight for road #1, straight/left 1-way for road #2, and straight/left the other way for road #2)

I've grown up in Jersey, so I actually prefer the jug-handle approach (it also prevents you from needing to pay close attention to those people making a U-turn when you're making a right-hand turn).

 

haha
do u know TL-S has a wider turn than a TL-P??

TL-P is 37ft

 

Funny you mention that, 'cause it happened the other night i left the VIDEO STORE, LAME BLOCKBUSTERS. I was not planning on doing it, it kinda just happened. I was very very very very very very very very very pished-off with the manager of the store and as I was leaving, i noticed this prodigious behaivior the car exhibited. I would do it again and film it as you request, but this is my daily driver and I need the tranny to keep up...

 

I'm from Cleveland, and U-turns are illegal everywhere in Ohio as far as I know.

Unlike most of the southern roads I've seen, there are no medians in the roads up north (except for highways of course). Since there are no medians dividing the road, there is no need to go past something and do a U-turn to get to it....you just get in the left lane and turn. Some roads even have a center turning lane for both sides of the road to share (basically where the median would be if there was one).

The ONLY time you would ever need to do a U-turn is if you passed something up and needed to turn around because you missed it the first time. In that case, you have to turn down a side street and turn around.