Rob63

After a recent trip to the dealer (King Acura) and asking about 2005 changes, I was informed that the headlights and front bumper would slightly change to reflect a more "aggressive" stance. Also I was told that the wheels would be slightly altered to distinguish the new models. However, as far a performance and features everything was supposed to remain the same. Anyone heard anything like this?

rescueswimmer

What ever you have heard is pure speculation. Nobody knows for sure what is coming. Diffrent wheels is a definite possibility as far as changing the body highly unlikely but not impossible. There should be some deffinite information in the next 2-3 months untill then its all speculation.

Shelly

Heard may offer the new 4WD from the 2005 RL, in which it is standard equipment, in the 2005 TL as an option. Has to compete with the G35, but would have a much more advanced system. Saying that, 4WD in the TL will permit much higher hp than 270, as needed.

rets

Usually, TOV site has most accurate/trustful news/info of Honda/Acura prior to dealers leak any news to their prospective customers. IMHO.

Eduardo

One reason why I peruse their site every couple of days. I am under the opinion that most of the 2005 information has been just about finalized. Remember that spect. sheets and 2005 MY TL catalogue details are being finalized just before going to printers (umm, wonder if there are any 2005 'spy shots').

Pot80h

I'll start packing my digital camera - I was lucky enough to discover 2 pre-release TL's on a test run last summer. In my local supermarket parking lot, of all places! They were disguised, which only piqued my curiosity ("Hey, why does that car have grey tape over it's rear lights? Wait a mo, what IS that?"). The Acura guys did their best to ignore me snooping, but were very pleasant about it

I think the manufacturers like to test them in Death Valley (for heat tolerance), and ship the cars into Vegas. I saw the new Durango and the new Bentley coupe before they came out, too. But of course, I didn't have the camera with me!

deandorsey

there will be NO my05 changes

Bitium

I'm sure you talk to the director of acura too, like someone else in this board did.

You guys are a joke......no one knows. I personally think there will be plenty of changes.

Sherlock

think about life cycle of each model. It's 5 years, used to be 4 years on the Accord platform cars, which the TL is. Think about cost of tooling for the Mfr, and costs of promises of orders to suppliers. The more they can promise, the cheaper the cost. NO-ONE makes a 1 year model of car that can sell for a respectable price. That costs too much in wasted tooling and material.

So, the 05 should be nothing but an 04, MAYBE something like wheels, that's very easy to switch. The SH-AWD, that's a huge platform change, and i would say slim to none of it happening. For one, the rear differential would seriously eat into trunk space and the lump down the middle would eat into cabin cubic/feet ratings. This translates to, yup, less #'s than the sedans it competes with, you think they'll do that ?? NOT.

One think the 99 Accord did over the 98 (first year) accord, was collapsable side mirrors, my 98 didn't have them and they got dogged pretty badly over it. Then the 2000/2001 got the new front facia, the new tail lights, and lots of other stuff, the 6-disc changer, and others.

notice the 2nd gen TL.. 99/00/01 were nearly similar. The 00 finally got the 5AT because it was not ready in time for the 99 (got the 4AT). Then the 02 and 03 got the clear tails and the CL got the Type-S.

They have to save costs over a few years, they would be wasteful to make full platform changes after 1 year unless it was such a huge safety issue as to mandate it.

rescueswimmer

Sherlock,
I agree with you. Just like you said car companies plan on a model for x number of years. Like you said this cuts down on production costs. Just look at a the history of any car company. Unless the car is not selling at all then there is a chance for a whole sale change. Not going to happen on the TL with the sales numbers there getting. The RL coming out this year is Acura's big baby. AWD on the TL would take sales away from the RL they dont want this with its new release, Maybe by 06 but not 05. I hope I'm wrong with that. Acura has to change some stuff to make the 05 more appealing than an 04. They still want that customer to be like "I have to have it, it has !#@#$@" Then off they go trading in the 04 for the 05. I could see some interior changes, not major, new wheels perhaps and maybe a new color combo, and fix any production errors from my04. Oh by the way my sisters roomates cousin, knows a guy who dated the maid of a rep from Acura and he says the 05 will be completely re-designed..............honost truth

Sherlock

LOLSOM.. good one.

I could also see them giving the option of the Traffic as our Navi drive already has the PCMCIA slot to take the traffic card. Other than that, I would't expect much but bug fixes.

SLVR04TL6PD

I believe that all plans for the TL are finalized before the introduction of the model. If there are any problems than they modify it accordingly. So to think that they are just finalizing the 2005 TL sounds absurd to me. Although it just a guess, I think that Acura knows exactly how they want to release the car. The first year is all about looks and getting the people to buy the first model year. The second year might have a few cosmetic changes, but nothing serious. The third year offers more power and maybe something different mechanically. Just look at the previous generation TL to see what I'm talking about.
If the 2005 RL is AWD why would Acura release the TL as an AWD as well. Common sense would tell anyone that the TL as an AWD is a better bang for the buck.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to have the TL with AWD and 300+ hp, but I think it's years away.

-Chad

deandorsey

um NO most of the people on this forum are a joke, and i didn't have to talk to anybody it's called COMMON SENSE. you actually think there's going to be "plenty" of changes on the second m y of a car that was just introduced? has honda/acura ever done this-NO. they made 2 changes to the 99-00 TL different gauge font and the 5spd auto. what changes do you think they'll make??? maybe get rid of blue because it scratches to easily HAHAHA...right

:fingerfawk:

Bitium

I do expect the 06 to have lots of changes......pass down from the RL. Will see, they might even introduced a true a-spec model like the concept with SH-AWD....who knows, maybe a coupe (bring back CL)

Bitium

Is fine to say that you think there will be no changes is your opinion or common sense.

But you were implying like there will be NO changes, like you knew more than others....like I said no one knows.

Don't forget we 99's also have HD navi instead of dvd and according to acura there were over 500 changes from 99 to 00 big or small that was what they claimed. Also added side airbags. New manifold and TB.

I do agree that the 02 TL had a lot more changes from 01 than the 00 did from 99.

But no matter what there still many changes.

TLGator

I have discussed the matter with Michael, Archangel of Heaven. In turn he personally consulted God. The reports I am getting back is that the '05 TL will have some changes, but God won't say what they are. He sometimes enjoys keeping us humans in the dark. So be it.

Pug

Did he give any kind of update on the droopy headliner issue? Thx.

akelley

I would be inclined to say a 4-speed to 5-speed tranny is more than a "slight change". Not to mention the navi went from one region HD based to full country DVD based. I was one of the very unlucky who bought a 99 just a few weeks before the 2000 came out and was told by my dealer, and I quote, "They hardly ever make any major changes in the 2nd year of a new model design...I don't know for sure what the changes will be, but I'm pretty confident in saying you won't be disappointed." Ummm, yeah, whatever. Needless to say, I was not happy. But I take half the blame of course because no one held a gun to my head to buy the 99, but I did feel that the dealer pulled a fast one on me. But I can assure you I won't let that happen this time around. I'm definitely going to wait to be sure there are no major changes to the 05 before either getting that, or getting a sweet deal on 04 model. Or if I'm real patient, waiting to see what the 2005 RL is like

TLme

I bought a first model year vehicle from GM a while ago. I didn't realize until later that the second year model had a lot of changes, although mostly small. The way I found out is because all the parts that failed were very hard to find because of the many changes that GM made.

Crusader_RENAMED

If I was to guess (and of course this is PURE speculation), I would say that the 05 TL will have very minor changes, if any (more than likely just a new color, maybe something like turn signals in the mirrors...) The 06 TL will probably remain the same, and the 07 will probably change (some restyling...introduction of the Type S(AWD). This follows the cycle they have been using on Accords and the previous gen TL.
Accord (98-00) - Minor Changes year by year
Accord (01-02) - Restyled front & rear, new wheels, some new features
Accord (03) - Complete Redesign

TL (99-01) - Minor Changes year by year
TL (02-03) - Restyled front & rear, new wheels, some new features, Type S model
TL (04) - Complete Redesign

MDX (01-03) - Minor changes (more hp)
MDX (04) - Restyled front & rear, new wheels, some new features

Based on what I see (and these are all Accord platform cars), it appears as though there is a trend with how they do things. Based on this I would be inclined to believe the new TL will follow the same trend:

TL (04-06) - Minor Changes
TL (07-08) - Restyled front & rear, new wheels, some new features
TL (09) - Redesign

So I don't think we'll be seeing anything major until the 07 model. Granted not every model has been following this, but for the most part this is pretty much how Honda/Acura has been doing things lately. Generally the only variations are cars that have a longer lifecycle between changes (RL, Integra, NSX). They have been going more years between minor/major changes. It looks like even the RSX has been on a similar cycle, also.

RSX (02-04) - Minor changes
RSX (05) - Restyled front & rear, new wheels (supposedly pretty much confirmed.

EDIT: Didn't even think about the 00 TL getting DVD navigation instead of CD based. I believe that was more of a company-wide change, though. I think it was done to ensure the car would be compatible with all their future navigation updates...I'm pretty sure the entire Honda/Acura navigation line-up uses the same DVD. And the transmission I think was just a "not quite ready" thing.

MyJohnson

Crusader,

Excellent Post!

I'm still waiting for:

1. Onstar
2. SH-AWD
3. Run Flat Tires
4. Tire Pressure Monitoring System
5. Fold down Rear Seats
6. MP3 play/display ID capability
7. Ipod Ready Alpine interface AI-NET (on-screen stereo unit controls ipod) with cabling/charging in lower console
8. SACD capability
9. NAVI with traffic alerts a la 2005 RL.
10. HUD for Navi
11. Night vision HUD
12. Active/Responsive Headlights, as in the BMW 530
13. External keypad
14. Rear window auto shade and rear side pull-up manual shades as in the old 740 (or sienna minivan!)
15. More tire choices (wider, larger) at minimal cost to include 18” wheels
16. Integrated Key/remote with folding key, as in the Volvo or VW (or SAAB).
17. Apparently better leather, better padding with no ‘butt print’ that lingers
18. Fully automatically adjustable passenger seat
19. Ventilated seats with cooling
20. Heated steering wheel and seats
21. Daytime running lights
22. Real Fog Lights (not integrated)
23. Auto on/off headlights (but I think they’re already programmable in the TL)
24. External Trunk button to open trunk from outside ( BMW 6 series used emblem touch as trunk opener)
25. Turn signals in mirrors
26. Dimming external mirrors (like Z4)
27. side LED blinks with turn signal ( thought this was required in Europe?)
28. Lights that light up curb when apply turn signal
29. “Moleskin = felt” in the windows for tinting instead of hard plastic “wiper” in door well.
30. Navi with instant mpg and large compass display and better trip computer, traffic alerts
31. No dimming internal mirror (manual option)
32. extra little change holders, since there are slots for them in the side pouches
33. Play DVD in Navi when parked with TV Tuner
34. back up camera instead of just ‘beep’ but also with voice.
35. Better rubber that doesn’t develop “flat spots” when in the cold overnight with better wet grip
36. Dual sun visors on driver and passenger sides (easy and cheap option)
37. DVD ent center in rear with LCD’s that have covers in headrest with controls and loading in the rear.
38. Hybrid Motor for better fuel economy
39. 18” rims as stock
40. A-spec as a factory option for $2500.
41. Bluetooth phone to come with as a "gift" from Acura!

But then I wake up and the dreams over. I have to clean the sheets!

Ok, Ok, I'll say it ------ :phatyo: :sneer: :noob: