bfogarty

I am really starting to appreciate the TL. At first the minor vibration drove me a little crazy. With my 2005 TL I realize it is the exhaust reasonance coming through the steering wheel and the floor board. What bothered me at first was that I felt it made the car feel a little cheap like I was driving an old truck. Now that I realize that the engine is very smooth and the vibration is just a consequence of the exhaust I am starting to like the "noise." My son has liked it from the start-I think I must have been driving Toyota products for too long-so quiet and smooth. At ant rate, I am finding the TL to be a great vehicle-handles great-has strong acceleration when you need it-has great audio and NAV and after 3,000 miles I have not had one problem except the minor vibration issue from the exhaust. Lastly, my 2004 Honda Pilot just saved my wife from major injury or death, so I am feeling pretty good about Hondas. Someone ran a red light at more than 50 miles an hour in an SUV and hit her head on. (She was crossing an intersection that was at a weird angle). The Pilot was a total loss and she will have a new Pilot shortly. I have 7 vehicles in the family and 4 of them are Hondas. It is amazing the strides some automakers have made with the structures of their vehicles. Kudos to Honda.

crazymjb

No doubt Honda makes great cars, but they seem like the low budget colledge kid car. Which, if you are materialistic like me, can be annoying. And that is why we have Acura. which I have always liked. And even better, they are "American" Congradulations on having no problems. What kind of operating stress have you been putting it under?

bfogarty

I have not driven the vehicle hard-as I know some members do. In fact, I think part of the problem with the Tl is that it likes to be driven harder than I have an opprtunity to drive it. There are just too many cars on the road today and unless you have a track so much of a vehicle's prowess is lost. I had a Porsche in the 70's and I had a lot of opportunities to run it, now it is vey tough.

crazymjb

I live in MA and everything is as crowded as hell. This summer(my dad will hopefully have the car by then) we are gonna go up to maine to go rafting and go down to jersey to go the new six flags(these are the 2 "road trips" I know of so far. Hopefully some of the way there we will have a chance to go fast. I doubt my dad would ever break 100 though. In FL we were able to cruise at 95 for about 10 minutes in our rental malibu, he wouldnt go the extra 5 dust to bother me. As soon as I get my licence im gonna see how fast this thing goes(responsibly of coarse, may look for a closed coarse).

mickey3c

95 in a malibu... !!! Be careful when you decide to see how fast the TL is.. It is fast enough but no EVO or STI.

I see 80 on a regular basis in ma.. You know 495 from northern (andover area) to route 3. People are drafting each other on the way to work at 6:30 AM. Hell just staying on the left requires you to do 75. The TL with the crappy stock tires are not that safe at that speed. At best it is a entry level performance tire.

leeherman

I just hit 3,300 miles too, so I'll add my comments here rather than starting a new thread.

Thankfully, I don't have too many comments. I've had no rattles, seat "buttprints", falling headliner, or any of the other flaws that have been reported here. I stuck with the EL42s, so I have to deal with the cool weather flat-spotting, but otherwise, the tires are OK. I don't drive the car in the snow, and haven't driven it much in the rain, so I might think differently if I had. The 50 MPH/1500 RPM resonanation is there but not particularly problamatic.

I haven't felt the urge to "improve" my car. The navigation system is great, I'm happy with the sound system as-is, it looks and drives fine without bigger wheels, spoilers, body kits, fog lights, neon, etc. The car was generally well designed and assembled, and has the level of quality I'd expect of a Honda, Acura, Toyota or Lexus. There may be faster, better handling, more comfortable, etc, vehicles out there, but I can't think of any that offer all of the qualities and amenities of the third generation TL at anywhere near the TL's price.

My only regret is that the TL is basically my weekend "nice weather" car, and it's been sitting in my garage for a few weeks awaiting a good rain storm to get rid of the snow, salt and sand on the Long Island roads. I hope to use the car in the coming weekend.

Regards,