I picked up a 2004 TL in February 2004 and have just over 2K miles on it, but it has had numerous problems and I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced any of them. I've read about the vibration and memory seat issues and mine shares those problems, but it has others which I didn't notice anyone else mentioning.

My power steering pump sprung a leak at a little over 1200 miles and it had to be replaced. (It is really sad to have people stare at your new car wondering why it is SO loud and annoying.)

I've also had a hesitation at times when I initially hit the brakes (not ABS kicking in, but rather the brakes not grabbing for a second or so) - this makes me nervous!

The non-nav display will sometimes show PHONE even when I'm not on the phone, but listening to DVD-As or radio, and this means I can't see the real information I want to see.

My mileage has only been 16-18 mpg with about 70% of the miles being highway.

The paint has a foot long flaw in the base coat on the middle of the hood. I noticed this at the dealer, but was otherwise so happy to get the car that I overlooked it at the time. Guess I'll learn not to accept flaws the next time ... they only increase over time.

Given the other well discussed problems and my seemingly unique problems, I'm thinking that I didn't pick the right vehicle to buy this time.

Anyhow ... has anyone else been extremely unhappy with their new TL purchase? I've owned only Acuras since 1989 and this is the first bad experience. I've never had this much trouble in the first month of driving a new car.

 

I haven't heard of a power steering pump problem on the TL. All the problems I've had with this car have been minor; mine is an early-build model.

I hope you can work these issues out with your dealer, and fast.

 

Thanks! I'm trying to get the dealer to work with me, but if I don't get a good response within the next week or so, the car might become trade bait.

What is considered an early-build and how do I read the VIN to determine it? My VIN begins with 19UU if that helps.

 

You look at the last 5 numbers; "early build" is the first couple thousand (I think). Mine is 00168x. I purchased mine at the beginning of October 2003. Some on this board have <00999.

 

Oops, I was looking at the wrong end. Mine ends in 15xxx, so I guess I wasn't an early build model at least.

Thanks!

 

is it a possible lemon? i feel bad for your experience. it seems really flawed if you only get high teens gas mileage. i'm sure you've discussed this with your dealer. Mention royalty (having owned acuras in the past). my friend reffering to mitsu said he could get 3k off the Evo 8's 5k dealer mark up because of royalty. try it with your Acura situation. he could just be talking, but it might help.

-mischa

 

I don't know if you do this... but
it mentions in the manual not to over-steer the steering wheel to it's maximum possition or it will damage the steering mechanism.

the phone on the screen could be a malfunction, or pressing the handsfree cancel button for too long, will activate the HFL diagnostic. it may not be this.

 

TL has a history of bad quality. Nothing new here unfortunately.

 

I had several problems with mine just one week after I got it. If you do a search, you'd find my message I sent to the dealership with 14 issues.

Mine's not an early VIN either. So it seems to be a quality issue from the assembly plant (Ohio).

Just make sure they PDI'd your car and then take it back to warranty everything else.

It's somewhat disheartening, I know, to have these issues on a Honda/Acura.

 

Sounds like back luck to me. I've had zero problems with my TL....

 

I think its bad luck. I had the same thing on my A4 a few years back. I only have a few thousand miles on it and one day the power stearing just gave out. I had a hard time driving it to the dealer. When a part goes out like that very early on in the ownership you can chalk it up to just a failed part and not a indication of future problems.

 

My TL has 3k miles. I have to say that the initial quality is not very impressive. In addition to the seat memory and vibration issues, I've got rattles in the dash/door, poor fit of interior parts, and a large paint defect on the hood. Not what I expected from Acura. My previous car (96 A4) was much higher build quality.

 

Perhaps they're tightening up things as they go along? My VIN is 29xxx and I have not experienced any of those problems. So far (keeping my fingers crossed...'bout to crack 1k miles) I've had a totally enjoyable experience with the TL. I just can't keep from smiling every time I climb in!