CL6

MB Tex lasts hundreds of thousands of miles and millions of asses in E Class taxi cabs in Europe. It's ventilated but in the Summer, with shorts on in a black seat you will get the dreaded ass crack sweat. Personally, I'd never get a car w/out leather but I swear I've only seen 3 C Classes in almost 2 years with leather and 2 of those were Key to the Cure cars. I'm amazed at how many questions Acura/Honda customers would ask me about the cars vs. Benz customers.

Colin

Are you saying there are Tier 1 and Tier 2 customers?

'06 Anthracite TL

Hey now. Don't go bringing facts into this mess!

CL6

Hmmm I don't know. Negative people would say Benz customers are idiots who put their money down so they can drive the silver star while Acura customers are highly informed and detail-oriented. All I know is one crowd is easier to sell to than the other.

Colin

Here's an anecdotal story from our local Jag dealer. Years ago when Jag was bought by Ford and they wanted to expand their market share with the X series (I think it was X) our service manager was talking to their manager.

He was complaining about all these 'first time' Jag owners and what "cry babies" they are. They would whine and complain when their cars broke. When it took weeks for parts to arrive. When the repaired parts needed fixing again.

He was reminiscing about those older XJ customers who would leave their cars for weeks on end without any complaints.....

npolite

I guess everyone's forgetting that the Integra was offered with cloth seats. I for one would like if they offered the TSX in cloth her in the states. There is no way a Acura/Honda vinyl side bolsters will look better 5 years down the road over a cloth seat.

LukeaTron

My 04 is right there and it looks fantastic. I've even got the parchment leather. It holds up just fine.

Colin

Only the sides of the side bolsters are vinyl. The faces are leather. And contrary to popular belief, cloth also wears over time, especially the lighter colors.

CL6

the cloth seats in the rsx looked like something bad from Europe in the 80s.

npolite

Yes I know this...just mentioning that it doesn't hold up well. True that cloth also wears but nowhere near as bad as the vinyl. Now the cloth used on the newest Hondas...that's another story...I already see wear on my sister's 08 and it's not even 2 years old yet. They have made the seats much harder now and I'm not sure if this is causing it or it's a cheaper material.

Colin

Just checking

BTW, to the OP. At most autoshows, manufacturers do not get to select their booth location. It depends on the size of the booth you order, and when you signed up. The show organizers then assign you a spot.

CL6

Somehow I never saw Lexus, BMW, or Mercedes-Benz at bad show locations in SF or next to Chevy. At the last SF autoshow Acura was near Mercedes-Benz and away from Honda and the lawnmowers but next to Chevy. Still, it was their best placement in the 6 years I've been working the show.

Colin

At our show, the locations never seem to change. GM is always the largest and right in the middle where you enter. Toyota and Nissan behind them and the rest on the periphery.

CL6

In S.F. some vendors change. A few years ago Acura was in this room with Honda on one side and lawn mowers and outboard engines in the middle. I think they've realized having a good location is important. 2008's location was a huge improvement if only because they were near BMW and MB.

Type34

I've been going to the LA Auto Show for over 15 years now and considering it (and the Detroit show) are the North America International Auto Shows, usually Ford/GM/Chrysler have the best concepts and fanfare (given it's their home turf). I would imagine a Toronto Auto Show is somewhat similar given its close proximity to the states.

That being said, it would be to Acura's advantage to be near where the action is...hel!, I'd want to anywhere near the unvieling of the production Camaro...from a buzz standpoint, this can only be a positive...example: the Chevy space at the '09 Chicago show had a replica of Transformers II Bumblebee:

Miamicarfan

After driving my 2005 TSX with tan leather interior for 4 years now, i don't think i can ever get another car without leather. I have becomed spoiled.

AATSX

I did not say I think less of Honda/Acura because they were beside Ford, i just assumed it would around a better crowd, closer to Infiniti which was beside Nissan Volkswagen... or Lexus which was right between MB and BMW. Its just a respect thing when i saw it beside Ford, Mazda and right at the entrance. I didnt like the way it was presented thats all.

Now there was a tech package at the show but the one that attracts the eye first was a silver TSX32,000 with no leather just cloth. I am not hating, if i hated it i would not be on some site called Acurazine, im just saying that I expected better representation from Acura/Honda to show off TL, TSX more in a nicer fashion. My friends are not into cars as i am, so they are just average people who know whats hot and whats not based on media and word of mouth like average people. When i was bragging about Acura to them they listened and when they saw it they said its decent or ok, obviously people can be stubborn (but they are not assholes lol) but they said it looks like average car nothing special. Now multiply my friends into thousands of people who walked in with same reaction, it doesnt help Acura's cause. ESPECIALLY WHEN ACURA AND ITS LOVERS WANT TO PUT IN SAME CLASS AND CATEGORY AS MB, BMS, LEXUS, AUDI....(etc)...........

thats all. I didn't expect this thread to make it so far really. It had so many views so i know lot of people thought it was pointless, but i just wanted to share and it turned into decent discussion i guess. Maybe it is overated i dont know, but i still love the cars, i still love infiniti, i think they are very nice cars, I just Acura proves people wrong in a good sense.

catch everyone later

Colin

As I said earlier
Honestly, it does not matter where you are in the main hall of an auto show. Everybody walks around and see everything, placement is way overrated

levistar

Was at our local car show this weekend. Acura had a base TSX with the cloth seats and a TSX Tech. BTW. It was the worst show I've seen in years. Very plain. No big displays,no concept cars,no scantily clad models, only one car was no a turn table and it was a '10 Mazda 3

Itchytoe

If I could have purchased my TSX with cloth I would have. I've never really been a fan of leather seats. They make me sweaty in the summer, which is 11 of the 12 months here in southwest Louisiana.

AATSX

Thats the same impression i got...

CL6

That's why you need a car with A/C in the seats!

blakura

Cloth is better than leatherette unless you're planning on pretending to have leather when you don't, in that case leatherette is a better option, but isn't that a little shallow?

CL6

Tell that to someone who has kids that spill shit all over their seats or animals that shed.

(Cj)

tsxcisa

Dude: You just insulted my car ...the TSX on display (I was there the first day of the show) was a silver base model with black interior. I picked up the exact same model on Dec. 31st. Personally, I prefer cloth seats!

tsxcisa

I'm sure that the model with cloth seats is the least expensive model right? Maybe in these troubled times, they wanted to show that getting into the brand wasn't so expensive? When I used to plan our cars for our local show, I always took a 5mt cloth RSX to show that they were affordable. Of course we'd also take a Type-S to show the other side. I hope they had a more upscale TSX there too.[/quote]

Colin - you were right on. In addtion to the base model with cloth seats, they also had a fully loaded TSX at the Toronto auto show.

CL6

When will Honda understand you don't move luxury cars by removing content? Can anyone say non-Navi RL for starters? Keep the leather and just offer a financial incentive like a lowered rate, cash back, or a reduced money factor. Honda just doesn't know how to run Acura and it shows.

dom

You have to be able to advertise a low price. "The Acura TSX starting at $32,900" sounds much better than "starting at $38,900". Every manufacturer does this. This hope is to get customers into the showroom and up sell them on the more expensive models.

The Canadian market and its customers are much different than the US. Its really apples and oranges. Think Acura CSX, MB B Class and the BMW 323. All models not offered in the US.

'06 Anthracite TL

I'd say it's that "removing content" vs. "making content optional" is nothing more than semantics. Every lease ad I see for the big Euro brands (MB, BMW, Audi) quotes a very basic car with no options other than an automati (where that isn't standard). Searching dealer inventories shows cars that are lacking many of the available options. How is this any different than Acura offering a TSX with cloth or an RL w/o navi? Aren't the companies trying to generate traffic by demonstrating that the cost of entry is less than might be imagined? How many MB models come with navi standard?