I finally had enough with my 2004 Acura TL A-Spec 6 spd. This past weekend, we went our seperate ways. No more butt print issues, dash rattles, rear deck rattles, headliner rattles, seatbelt tensioner rattles, engine "ticking sounds", FWD torque steer, front brake noises, etc. But most important, no more worries with the interior water leak that had my rear bottom seat cushion to be soaked. That was the final straw! I suggest everyone lift up their rear seat cushion after the car has been in the rain!

I picked up my 2006 Honda Ridgeline RTL Navi moonroof this past weekend. It's more pratical for my situation with the family. Lets hope there are not as many first year issues with this Honda product. Or at least no interior water leaks!

 

Sorry to hear about your TL. Congrats on the Ridgeline, good luck with it!

 

Did you sell your tl or trade it in?

 

Congrats on your new purchase, I'm curious about it's gas mileage.

I think some of you guys nitpick the car too much IMHO.

 

Well the water on the backseat is unnaceptable. That said, however, I would NEVER buy a first year build. My parents have in the past and it seems like they are way worse in quality than the next year.

 

i like how so many TL owners are polite enough to chime in to say good bye...

have fun with your ridgeline.

 

I guarantee the ridgeline seats will wear worse than the tl’s…I sat in one at the ny auto show and the the thigh bolster was already worn from people getting in and out, because it it so high, your leg drags across it when you get out…and believe me, the rattles will come…but it is an awesome ride! good luck and post some pics

 

I agree that water in the rear seats is unacceptable. Good luck with the Ridgeline!

 

After all your problems with your '04 TL I'm surprised you went with another first model year vehicle, but anyways good luck with the Ridgeline, it's a great-looking truck

 

What the hell do you think the NEW 2006 Ridgeline is?

 

^that's why youngTL doesn't have a Ridgeline...

 

What is this water in the back seat, that sounds like something that should be covered under warranty?

Michael

 

Yah a water leak is not acceptable, good luck with the Ridgeline those are pretty decent looking.

 

Im sorry you had so many problems with your TL. But a ridgeline??? That would be the last pickup I'd buy. But I am glad you are happy.

 

Thank you. I was being misinterpreted.

 

Hello HUGE gas bills

 

i think the ridgeline looks pretty pimp, and if you take a close look at it, its pretty versatile. THAT is the first truck ive ever considered beacuse it was made by honda. japanese quality..... i wonder where its built.... US or japan? i know toyota makes trucks too but still.... i like the honda brand better

 

I was impressed with it in concept, but I still like my TL. Good luck with the truck.

 

I believe it's built in the US at the Ohio plant. A friend worked on QC at the vendor of the headliner.

Mike

 

The water in the back seat is due water wicking through a tube underneath the seat. The tube insulates a wheel sensor traveling from the rear right wheel, and underneath the seat. When it is raining, the water kicked up by the tires and the elements, travels up the tube and into the right rear seat. Additionally, if there is salt on the roads, the salt will wick up the seatbelts. It is a simple "seal" job for the dealership once they figure it out.

It took them two times to figure it out in my case. But no water problems now. It was a warranty issue and now its gone.

Back on topic: Good luck with the Ridgeline.

 

Do you know how many fat ass people have sat in an auto show vehicle? It would boggle the mind. A dude from work bought one a couple of weeks ago, aside from some ghetto 22's he put on it, it's a nice...ugh truck.

 

These are the only 2 pimp worthy pickups.

and of coarse


THere are other badass trucks, but these are the only two that are actually pimp worthy.

 

meh x 2

If I have to drive something huge that handles like crap, it's gonna be more useful than those poser-mobiles. For starters, it'll have an 8 foot bed.

Mike

 

hmm..a GM & a Ford. you still got a lot to learn, crazymjb.

 

What's he got a lot to learn about????

Besides the Cadi and Linc the only left out option would be the Hummer, but then again its not really a truck per say....

Given the topic, IE "pimp'n"... His assessment is right on - I can see that even at my age....

 

The SUT isn't a truck, but the Escalade EXT is?

GM sucks ass, and Ford is even worse. The XL Denali in the family (basically the same as the Escalade, mind you) is a shitbox. It's nice, but in the end, it's just a nice shitbox. So many problems...

 

So you went and got a first year model, not to mention the first truck Honda has ever built. Uhh, good luck. I like Honda and all, but it seems to me like you're asking for trouble.

 

To bad.... Yeah know I did almost the same thing last year with my TSX. I had front brake pulsation so bad and the dealer just kept giving me the run around and wouldnt really address the problem. Not one dealer but two! Needless to say, after a long talk with myself I was fed up and got rid of it. Got something else (first year run-GM product) and wished that I would of kept it the TSX...... Good luck with the Ridgeline its a nice looking truck.....

 

Why do you call it a shit box? I have one sitting in our garage and for the most part it has been a great vehicle?

 

I think the Frontline is built at the Honda Alabama Manufacturing facility where large vehicle are built (Odyssey, Pilot, MDX?).

 

I concur...

It's quite ironic, humorous, yet overall understandable given their typical posts.

"Some" spend so much time defending Acura and stating "it's a car it's bound to have issues",, but turn around and say how bad another make/model is due to similar issues...

I've had numerous GM products, so have my parents. I currently own a 2001 Z71 4WD Suburban and my father drives a 2004 Denali. I've got ~60K on the Sub and dads got 30K already on his. All I have done is changed the oil and replaced the tires, less for dad.. Sure they accumulate a few rattles but christ, quite a lot of interior to deal with.. And like my TL, I have fixed them all.

As with everything, I could care less what someone else has to say about something I own. I like and enjoy it and thats it. Same reason I could care less if someone called the TL a "$h!tbox".. It's a mentality thing.

In my mind the same goes for them, "so much to learn".

Cheers

 

Thanks KJSmitty. I thought iof the H1 SUT, but thats more badass then pimp. BTW, you dont buy a pickup because it handles well. Even though american cars arent the most reliable, those japanese pickups make me laugh, they should stick to cars. The rigline is 1/2 ton, you can put that much in a TL.

 

ok, as far as "pimping" goes, i suppose you can go with those two "trucks."

Pure Adrenaline calls the Denali a shitbox because: it rattles & squeaks more than one can handle. dealerships cannot (or won't?) fix anything that's wrong with it... even when the problems can be duplicated. The NAV on the car is a joke, a tiny little screen with user-interface that's just horrible (but since it's a GM, it's understandable). The CAT/exhaust smells & PINGS, which according to the dealerships, GM claims it to be normal and will not replace under warranty. And speaking of warranty, 36k/3 year warranty on a 55k car (65K+ w/ caddy sheet metals and badges) just doesn't show the company's confidence in the car's reliability. The entire Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade/H2 line cannot go offroading, thus essentially being just "large" cars. And being a large car as it is, it lacks features such as sliding second row seating, and fold-flat third row seating. And mind you, the third row seating is only fit for children and midgets - and we unfortunately do not have any children nor midgets in our family, thus the third row seat is virtually unusable. There is no roll-over protection, and the A pillar will crumble more easily than my TL, or my last car, 3G Eclipse GT - this, combined with its soft steering, is a major safety issue... should the need arise for a quick maneuver at a high speed, you are likely to flip/roll, only to have the A pillars come crushing down on you (and the car's 5500 lb weight). I suppose the On* will chime in and ask if you need assistance, so that's good (ah, the peace of mind the On* brings is priceless). The only thing I like about the Denali is its classy styling, the 6.0 liter beast, and hmm... i dunno, there's a couple more, but can't remember atm. Oh, did i mention the 13/15 EPA rating? All these things are pertinent to Escalade, as they are the same "trucks."

 

KJSmitty --

You could never be more wrong about me. You think I'm defending Acura and talking shit about other brands? Obviously you're talking out of your ass when you don't even know me.

I have my own, valid, reasons to call our XL Denali a shitbox. I don't have to justify my reasons to you, but ndx2 summed it up pretty well. I call my TL-S a shitbox, too. But the Denali takes it to a whole another level with the shitty GMC dealership service, utter incompetence of their service staff, horrible build quality, etc, etc. The Denali cladding came misaligned from the factory. I mean, come on. You might as well have put them upside down on one side. The door doesn't close all the way in the front passenger seat, dash rattles, repairs have been attempted with no success (and they left the service tag underneath the dashboard, and I noticed it through the vents when I picked up the car. They had to tear it apart again to get it out. Incompetent morons.), navigation failure, radio failure, rattle abound, blah blah blah. That's about half the problems. So don't question me when I call it a shitbox. I guess you got lucky with yours, but we haven't been as fortunate with ours.

Out of all the cars I've had in the past, one car I have TRULY loved was my '97 Tahoe LT. So don't even go talking shit about how I bash other brands. I would love to have that car again. It served me well with no problems whatsoever, although I beat the shit out of it in my young stupid days.

kthxbye

 

Right - you buy it to be useful for hauling things, and take the crappy handling as a compromise. But when you buy a truck that has highly compromised utility (less hauling flexibility than a minivan, for instance) and still take all the crappy handling/bad mileage/sloth-like acceleration/wallowing jittery ride/etc., then you're buying a compromised truck partly to just be seen driving something that looks like a truck instead of a car or minivan.

Hence "posermobile".

Mike

 

Sorry I must concur. They are both shit trucks for sport-star wannabes. They offer neither perfomance, practicality or luxury. The ridgline is a vehicle that does everything well if not brilliantly. Those Luxo trucks do everything poorly except maybe towing, at a premium price, therefore they are the definition of a shit box

 

THANK YOU

 

Since we seem to have forgotten what we started out discussing, and this thread is going downhill fast, it's time to close it.

You might want to repost in the Ramblings or Car Talk forum.