tasdisr

I know this has probably been asked already, but here goes. I am considering
trading my 03 types for a new TL. Not sure if I should purchase an 04 or wait
for 05 model. I cannot foresee many changes or additions except maybe a few more
color choices and a higher price. The dealer has an 04 Anthracite with ebony interior
and Nav being built on the 23rd of July. I know if I wait my trade in will be worth
less. Thanks in advance for any input.

ensley696

If you want the car, go for it. Just make sure your not up side down on the 03, might cost you a little more than you want to spend.

Tripp11

Personally, I love that color combo and the Nav is just an added bonus. If you can get the deal that you want on that car, I would take it. As others have stated on the board, of course opinions vary, I don't foresee any major changes with the '05 and I think merely color changes are in order.

If it were me, and that was the color combo I wanted and I could have the car in 30 days or less - I would take it.

Bitium

Wait

Greg G

I am picking up my TL today and went though a similar drill. I needed some work done on my old car so that was the deciding factor for me. My guess for changes is that the Nav will include integrated traffic reports via XM (may be able to upgrade the 04 with a new DVD) and better tires (at least I would hope). Another factor in buying now was that they are finally budging from MSRP. I got mine for like $1900 under. Also, if you want the Nav it might be hard to find. Or it might be standard . Who knows! Good luck in making your decision!

-Greg

tasdisr

Well, I told the dealer to put my name on the Anthracite/ebony/w/nav that he
has coming at the end of July. I don't foresee too many changes on the 05 and
I would think that fixes for early problems have been incorporated over the course
of the production year.

caball88

yeah i don't see any changes really for 05 either, maybe a new color or two. if you trade the 03 in sooner will you get a better price for it? if so then i would get the 04 now and get the ball rolling.

tasdisr

I am going to go with an 04 instead of waiting for the 05's. I can't see any major changes to the car except price. My 03 was purchased in 02 so it is about 2 and a half years old. I was planning on keeping it longer, but the new TL is such a huge improvement over the previous generation and I feel most problems have been corrected as the model year progressed. This is a great forum to get feedback!!

varanelli

I think that's a good decision. You're probably not going to miss too much with the '05.

fast-tl

It's always difficuly to tell. With the 2nd gen there were significatn changes between the '99 and '00: added side airbags, went from 4-speed to 5-speed trans, different typeface on the instrument cluster, changed alram alert from horn to electronic beep. Soo....don't presume that too much won't change. Since I plan on an '05, I'd be elated to pay my XM subscription to also have the traffic conditions integrated with the Navi. That's the biggest change I'm hoping for.

fast-tl

I forgot to add that the '99 had the hard drive Navi and the '00 changed to a DVD-based system. I guess we'll see...

zexi

05... I have heard about 10hp, more and other cosmetic changes to the inside.

roadman

The '05 TL may or may not have any changes but other competitors may. If you do not need a new car now wait the 2 or 3 months and see what the competition has done to match the TL

tasdisr

As far as competitors, I am not that impressed by the Infiniti G35 or the Lexus IS300
oe ES330. The G35 is nice, but I prefer fwd. Neither of the Lexus models mentioned do
much for me. As far as the Acura, I have been very impressed by my Type-S, and bought it even after reading about transmission problems and all the other complaints
that people had. The salemen at the dealer has always treated me well and their service
dept has been excellent. I have looked at Saab and the Volvo s40 and s60 just to see what else is out there, but I always come back to the Acura.

Aegir

If you're willing to wait a couple months, I'd get the 05 for no reason other than it will be a model year newer. Price will likely be about the same, maybe a bit higher. Trade in value won't change much over a few months.

ed99

05 all the way since the 05 model is just around the corner. 04 model was a guinee pig year so I would believe 05 will probably be better in terms of rattles/better tires/a few more extra std options compare to the 04.

¿GotJazz?

I can hardly wait 'til the 05TLs come out! Can't wait! Can't wait! Can't wait! Can't wait!

That way we can start dealing with the "Should I wait until the 06TLs?" crowd (87.27% of which are currently in the "Should I wait until the 05TLs?" crowd).

I'm really curious what anybody on this board could possibly say (to somebody who has already shown their total lack of decision making skills) that would convince them to move one way or the other. We don't have any more real data than they do about models that haven't been released yet.

Sigh ...

Pig year? Geee. This is the best designed car I have ever owned, with less problems, too. The complaints that you hear about on this board are only a percentage of the total number of owners.

Also, I'm sure that Acura has let all of the existing '04 problems just go totally unaddressed until the '05 models come out. They haven't done anything to fix memory seating, glove compartment rattles, etc., since the '05TLs are only a year away from release. Why bother?

Sheesh.

JBM

I had the same issue. I was all set and placed my name down for an 04 that would be build in the beginning of August, but then changed to the first 05 that the dealer would receive.

I'm not saying that my decision is the best one or has the most valid reasons, but here is why.

Acura/Honda historically has made changes to their lines from year to year, even in brand new body types. Whether it'ss just minor cosmetic (tail light design changes) or major (side air bags, 4 speed to 5 speed). There are enough rumors out there about the changes in the 05 that even if 1 of them were true, I know that I would be excited to have that change (new key fobs, traffic based navi, owner recognition system ala Lexus, new tires, revamped tail lights). In interviews with Honda engineers and directors of the TL project, they have discussed the "dropped ball" for the TL in terms of some of the quality issues; seeing that they recognize these issues would seem to imply that the 05 will have a great deal of focus on quality (not to say that Acura has poor quality, because they have always had great quality control). That being said, all first year production cars have issues and usually those issues are addressed and corrected fully in the 2nd year. Finally, the big reason (or at least a major reason) reviewers and people on this forum have liked this car is the amount of advanced technology available in such a good price point. Technology is unforutnately time dependent, the next iteration is always more advanced that the previous. I would suspect that Acura realizes part of the appeal of the car is the advanced techy geek stuff, and with that they will advance the 05.

Just my 2 cents.

P.S. Love this forum.

JBM

MyJohnson

The only tech advance I wish they would add is integrated ipod (ai-net) into the touch screen. Place the ipod in the center console and connect it to its power/audio cable and its immediately recognized with the standard ipod interface appearing on the nav touch screen. This is the kind of tech advance they should add to 'keep up'.

BMW now has, at least, ipod integration, even if not so sleek.

tasdisr

Thank you to everyone for your feedback and opinions. All of you have given me
a lot to think about when finalizing my decision today. Lack of decision making skills?
Maybe, but purchasing a car is not a decision to make lightly. It is a major expense
and if waiting a few months makes more sense, so be it. If the dealer will drop
his price on the 04 the decision will be much easier. If I was considering this closer
to the beginning of the model year it would be a no brainer and I would have purchased
the TL already, but being so close to the release of the 05's has made me think this
decision over more.

tasdisr

I have decided to wait for the 05's to come out. The salesman said information
will probably start coming out in August. Color choices and equipment will be known
first and pricing just before release. He said that Acura normally does not increase
pricing much unless there is an all-new model change such as the 2004 tl.
He said he will contact me as soon as information is available.

¿GotJazz?

Man, that ¿GotJazz? character really torques me off sometimes. What sort of drivel is he writng at 4:48 A.M. anyways? That dude should try and get some sleep instead of ranting in the middle of the morning!

Sorry, 'bout that tasdisr! I have seen so many of these "04TL vs. 05TL" postings that were totally pointless. Nothing was accomplished, except lot of folks got to check their scattered chicken bones to predict what was going to be on the 05TL. And believe me that a month or so after the 05TLs start getting sold, somebody is going to start posting whether they should "wait for the 06TL".

I guess I now have a bit of a short fuse when it comes to this subject ... I'm not usually this snippy.

Anyways, about the only really new and potentially useful feature that may appear on the 05TL is the real-time traffic display on the Navi. I say "potentially useful" for the following reasons:

(1) XM Radio's traffic information is only marginally useful as it stands right now. While it is really nice that I can get the traffic info seconds after getting in my car, the data isn't updated frequently enough to be really useful. From what I can tell, Phoenix's traffic info is only updated once (or maybe twice) an hour, even durng the "rush hours". I can usually get more recent and usable traffic info from the locally broadcast stations.

(2) I suspect that there will be an additional charge above XM's normal monthly rate, and you probably have to buy basic XM to get it. XM already is moderately pricey at $10 / month. Will it be worth the extra money over just tuning into the existing traffic broadcast stations?

BTW, I sent this response to you a few days ago, and after I hit the "Submit Reply" button, I got a pop-up message from the one of the mods that the TL Forum was being taken down for a software update. The first response never got posted.

Cheers!

tasdisr

¿GotJazz?, no offense taken. I appreciate all the comments that are received. I agree that changes
will be minimal if any for the 05's. I figured I had waited this long a little longer will not hurt. Real time traffic info for the Navi system, is not that big of a deal to me. The decision did give me a chance to go out and check out other vehicles, such as the G35 Sedan and Volvo S40 and S60.
In the end though I always come back to the TL. My current TL has been trouble free and the dealer
has always done a great job to satisfy my needs. When my saleman contacts me about the 05's
I wil pick my color and place an order.

akelley

Anyone think I should wait for '10 model year, or just jump for a '04?

Eduardo

Rumour has it that the 2010 TL will be AWD. I'd wait.

EmuMessenger

I'd wait, the 2010 model will have auto up/down on the trunk.

tasdisr

The push seems to be on at the dealers to move the 04's. One dealer called and said the only change
on the 05's is a new color of red and a hefty price increase, but he could probaly cut a deal on a non-navi 04. Of course he could not tell me what kind of deal unless I went to the dealership.

Eduardo

I received an email from a local dealership with the same message: buy now at minus $500.00 MSRP to avoid hefty 2005MY price increase (yawn!). I am waiting for information about the 2005 TL's (not much from what it appears) and then will make my decision (2005 TL or a 2004 BWM 330 xi).

jackal2001

I looked at the TL, 300xi, G35x.
The bmw was nice, but for the price, you get nothing! I mean interior wise. No bells and whistles, nadda.
The G35x was a very nice smooth ride. Personally I test drove one with the camel interior and that turned me off right away. Maybe if I had drove one with the black interior I would feel different. I didn't like the pop up navi that looked really hard to read.
TL, great styling, interior looks out of this world, plus you get tons of cool stuff like bluetooth, voice rec, navi, etc.

Personally I am one of very few that are waiting for the '06 TL. I am hoping that AWD will be an option for that year. I can save more money that way too. Besides my current car has only 17,000 mile on it anyway. I will get rid of it in '06 for a TL before the warranty goes up.

By the way, some people I know have bmws and one said they had to pay $212 for a new battery, because they are special. That is too expensive for stupid car parts from germany.

Eduardo

True, the TL's interior is amazingly beautiful!!! I love it!!! That's why I feel torn about my decision. TL is value for your money; but also I wonder how long the material's that Acura used will stand up to daily use (the leather inserts; paint issues, some of the scratching that member's here sometimes complain about, etcetera).

Since I need an autombile (I've been without one since Feb. of this year---in Lost Angeles, no less!!!) and will probably buy one when I come back from Japan mid-September; I'll see what the 2005 TL has to offer. I wish I could wait for a AWD TL but a AWD BMW 330 xi may have to 'do'. Besides, I must say while the TL LOOKS beautiful the BWM DRIVES beautiful. The steering/handling on a 2004 TL was to 'loose' for my tastes. True, I will have to pay extra for options that are standard on a TL but thats the negative of buying from a 'luxury' brand (3 series do have dealer incentives and 1.99 % APR as the new 3 series will arrive mid-2005-hopefully it will balance out, cost-wise, to a new 2005 TL).