Hey friends, I own a 2005 TL (non-navi) and while it was in for warranty work I was loaned a 2008 TL (non type-S). My personal (05) has 50K miles and the loaner had 1K so I expected some performance difference in favor of the '08 and I did notice it at least felt like it had more "umph". One thing I really notice is the exhaust note sound difference between the two.

Other than redesigned gauges, fog lights at the bottom, turn signals on the mirrors.. what changed from 05 to 08 (especially that may account for the sound difference)?

 

looking at all the years from the 3G, I would say they all look the same. But Id rather have a 05 then a 04. They all look the same.

 

There a number of difference's from year-to-year if you look for them.

csmeance made a really comprehensive list a while back. Search his user name, maybe you'll turn it up.

 

honey, I'm home....

Ways to tell TL's Apart:

A 2004-2006 TL with a 6 speed manual will have huge brake capilers in the front that are black.
A 2004-2006 TL with 5 Speed Automatic has silver small brake capilers all around.
A 2005-2006 TL have an extra line of stitching on the inside
A 2005-2006 TL have the seatbelt anchored to the seat and not the floor
A 2005-2006 TL has a A symbol that is part plastic chrome, the 04 has a full plastic one.
A 2004-2006 TL has solid RED tail-lights
A 2004-2006 TL with Quartz and Ebony interior have Carbon Fiber trim
A 2004-2006 TL with Parchment or Camel interior have ORANGE WOOD trim
A 2004-2006 TL has a 4 spoke steering wheel
A 2004-2006 TL says HONDA ON WINDOWS AND EXTERIOR PARTS
A 2004-2006 TL has FULL AMBER reflectors in the headlights
A 2004-2006 TL has RED rear side markers
A 2004-2006 TL has satin exterior
A 2006 TL has a rectangle indent in the rims to have the TPMS sensor

A 2007-2008 TL has euro blinkers on the side-mirrors
A 2007-2008 TL has Fog lights at the bottom of the bumper with DRL's where the fogs were on the 2004-2006 TL
A 2007-2008 TL has a honeycomb cutout on the rear bumper between the muffler
tips
A 2007-2008 TL has larger grills on the front
A 2007-2008 TL has clear lenses Tail-lights with red parts within
A 2007-2008 TL has a 3 spoke steering wheel
A 2007-2008 TL has ACURA ON THE WINDOWS AND EXTERIOR PARTS
A 2007-2008 TL BASE has fake black wood interior trim
A 2007-2008 TL BASE has a clear middle section of the tail-light


A 2007-2008 TL Base has satin trim on the exterior
A 2007-2008 TL-S has a fake Carbon Fiber interior trim
A 2007-2008 TL-S has half clear, half Amber front reflectors
A 2007-2008 TL-S had grey rear side markers
A 2007-2008 TL-S has Chrome Trim instead of Satin Trim
A 2007-2008 TL-S had Huge Black Capilers in the front, both on AUTO AND MANUAL
A 2007-2008 TL-S has metal racing pedals


A 2007-2008 TL has a 10 spoke 17 inch rim while the 2004-2006 has a 5 spoke star rim
A 2007-2008 TL-S has 17 inch GUNMETAL rims.
A 2007-2008 TL-S has black rear capilers
A 2007-2008 TL-S has gunmetal in the tail-lights
A 2007-2008 TL-S has quad exhaust
A 2007-2008 TL-S has vertical stitching on the door-panels
A 2007-2008 TL-S has TYPE-S embossed into the headrests


Yes, I typed these all up.

 

the smaller things:
2004-2006 TL ALL, the underside of the headrest, and rear arm-rest side (near the door) is vinyl
2007-2008 TL ALL, the underside of the headrest is felt, along with the rear arm rest

2004-2006 TL NAV uses 3.xx version, XM RADIO ONLY
2007-2008 TL NAV uses 4.xx version, XM NAV TRAFFIC, MP3/WMA, AUX, Dobly Prologic 2 added
2007-2008 TL-S ANC added
2004-2006 TL ALL - gauges are black with blue semi-ring, red needles and white, MID in right, PRNDML in left cluster
2007-2008 TL BASE - Gauges have brushed background, blue rings around, white numbers, red needle, MID in center, PRNDML in right cluster
2007-2008 TL-S - Gauges have brushed background, RED rings around, white numbers, red needle, MID in center, PRNDML in right cluster
2004-2006 TL NAV- HFL, Navi buttons in bottom left corner of steering wheel
2007-2008 TL NAV- HFL, NAVI, MID buttons directly on bottom of steering wheel face

2004-2006 TL NON-NAV - radio display and temperature display together in 1 unit, NO COMPASS, Manual Clock adjustment, Blue backlight added either in 2005 or 2006
2007-2008 TL NON-NAV - radio display and temperature display appear to be 2 units, Compass, Manual Clock, white text, no backlight

2004-2006 5AT TL ALL black leather shifter standard
2007-2008 5AT TL BAse, black leather shift knob
2007-2008 5AT TL-S Black Leather with carbon fiber center shift-knob

2004-2006 TL Standard suspension firm, yet soft
2007-2008 TL BASE- Suspension softer than 2004-2006
2007-2008 TL-S - Suspension firmer than 2004-2006, but less then 2004-2008 ASPEC

2004-2006 TL 3.2 ALL engine cover simple plastic with manifold uncovered
2007-2008 TL 3.2 BASE engine cover plastic covering entire manifold with A symbol
2007-2008 TL-S 3.5 Engine cover plastic covering entire manifold with A symbol, 3.5 In red on cover

2004-2006 TL Battery cover clips on
2007-2008 TL ALL battery cover has different attachment system with knob

2004-2006 TL Air box rectangular
2007-2008 TL Air box With cut on one side

2004-2006 TL, Headliner and pillars are grey
2007-2008 TL BASE - Headliner and pillars grey
2007-2008 TL-S- Headliner is ebony along with pillars

2007-2008 TL (ALL) has switchblade keys
2007-2008 BASE TL has regular brakes
2007-2008 TL-S has Brembo Brakes (big black ones with acura on them)

Plus a bunch of other stuff that I can't think of right now..

 

I agree that when I got an '07 & '08 TL as a loaner it seemed to be a bit zippier than mine. I think they're trying to emulate the zest that Nissan has been able to extract out of their V6, their engine always wants to go go go! Whereas my 2006 TL is fast when I punch it, but anything short of that is more smooth than quick.

Interestingly I was loaned an '09 TSX just last week for one day. I couldn't believe how sensitive (zippy) the gas pedal was - the car jerked as soon as I hit the gas. I'm sure part of it is just me used to my TL which takes quite a bit of muscle on the gas pedal to move, but I really do think Acura is continuing to try to get their cars to feel a bit faster.

While I love my Acura in many respects, I don't think they'll ever be able to match the job Nissan has done with their V6.

 

What about 2004-2005 tl's having 270hp??? and 2006-2008 having 255hp?

 

^New EPA ratings? They are the same engine though, so no difference. Type-s is different though...

 

is that how they're able to achieve ULEV status?

 

What u do u mean epa ratings? And why did they measure how much hp was back then compared to know? Were they overating thier engines?

 

Awesome write-up.. really helped out

 

"While I love my Acura in many respects, I don't think they'll ever be able to match the job Nissan has done with their V6."

I agree with you on Nissan's VQ V6. Even when i drove a 245hp V6 altima it felt signifigantly quicker than my car. Very eager engine seems to just leap off the line without even trying.

 

As mentioned above there are a LOT of differences. On the outside starting at the front. Front bumper, headlights, wheels, mirrors, taillights, rear bumper (pretty much everything except except the sheet metal). On the inside all the trim is new, new keyfob and ignition system, gauges, seats, nav with MP3 capability, XM and nav traffic. There are more but thats to name a few.
As far as exhaust sound thats just in your mind. They are same exact engine and same HP rating. The TL's dont even have an exhaust note so not sure how you heard a difference.

James

 

csmeance: What a great list! My only nit-picky suggestion is to add another line in the suspension area of "the smaller things" to address the 04-06 6MT suspension ... somewhere between 04-06 5AT base and 04-06 A-Spec in stiffness.

 

The TL is silent, both the 07 base I drove and my '06 base. Unless you stand behind the car with your ear next to the pipe, there's nothing, especially inside the car.

Hp ratings are exactly the same throughout the years. If you feel a difference it's either because you *want* to feel a difference or the DBW is programmed more aggressively.

 

The horsepower went from 270 to 258 becuase of the new SAE standards on measuring horsepower. It really only affected foregin cars.

 

It affected all cars. The foreign cars had the most inflated numbers so they showed the largest difference with the new standard. I believe the Corvette gained a few hp with the new standards.

 

Just to clarify, the actual output of the engine did NOT change. The different HP reading is from a different (more correct/real world) test method.

The '04 - '08 TL (non-TL-S) is the exact same J32A3 engine in all years.

 

would a 05-06 air bag fit on a 04..

 

There are many air bags in the TL, but if you speaking of the steering wheel bag, I'd say no, that the '05-'06 will not interchange with the '04. The parts numbers are different, and in the used parts exchange listing, '04 is the only replacement.

 

It could just be a mileage difference. If any old car is not maintained correctly it can loose power, run rougher, and sound different.

 

Ummm im pretty sure an 05 TL with only 50K miles is not considered an old car lol.
You make it sound like his car is an old beater.

Anyway, I still dont see how the OP says the cars sounded different. As mentioned in this post before the base Acura TL's have NO exhaust note whatsoever. Weird.

 

Man,that makes me wish that instead of buying my 06 TL Navi AT in May of 2006, I waited until the 07's came out. :-)

I don't think I saw it mentioned above, but there are also reports that Acura added a white noise, sound dampening system to the 07's and newer, in order to combat claims that the TL gave you a lot of road noise.

 

Part numbers are different on the mufflers for the base TL, '04-'06 and '07-'08.

 

Oh, I forgot that starting in 2006, Acura modified the AT's with a torque balancer to cut down on torque steer under hard acceleration.

 

Yes they did but if I remember correctly it was only available on the 07/08 Type S models. Its called Active Noise Cancellation. Some say they notice no difference between a TL with it and a TL without it but who really knows. The data for the system shows a 12db decrease by sending out certain frequencies through the sub to cancel out certain road noise frequencies. There is two microphone type things mounted on my Type S's roof panel in the front and back.

James

 

Hey I was wondering if the 07-08 Tails work in the 04-06. I like the look of the clear better than the solid red, but there's some people that say they're different. It doesn't make sense to me that they would change the cutout for the light in the middle of the bodystyle production.

 

He just means that a newer car with a lot less miles will have more power which is somewhat true. Do the seafoam and it should feel a lot better.

 

Generally in a well mantained car you're not going to see a power loss until way past 100,000 miles. If anything they get faster and faster as they age up to a point. This is assuming there are no problems with the higher mileage car.

 

True but if a car is not well maintained and if it is driven hard from the beginning you could be seeing power loss at 50,000.

 

Lights are all interchangeable from 04 thru 08...

 

The only difference is the headlights the second bulb is not the same as the 04-06 foglight bulb is little to big to fit in the 07-08 headlights....but the tails are the same lights..

 

so the 05 TL has a fog light builtin to the headlight?

 

There's not a whole lot to maintain at 50,000 miles. At that mileage you could drive the heck out of it every day and from a wear point of view there's no way it will lose power that early. Even driven hard, a 50,000 mile car should outperform a brand new car. Performance will level off at a certain point but the decline does not start until very late in the engine's lifespan.

 

yes

 

Newer car = newer engine, newer spark plugs, cleaner air filter, no carbon built up in the exhaust, no slow driving habits recorded on the ECU, suspension isn't worn down, 93 octane (dealer probably throws in some extra octane booster to help sell a new cars :-))...

Just reset the ECU, maybe change the plugs, clean the filter, sea-foam, and throw some 93 octane in there and you just saved yourself $30,000 on a new car... :-)

 

Another difference that I did not see or mention here; the intake manifolds are different between 04-06 and the 07-08 base/Type-S.