The new Consumer Reports annual auto issue just came out, and the Acura brand is now rated nowhere near the top, way down the list with Chevrolet and Ford. In fact, not only are they thumbs down on the new TLX, but it's NOT even on the recommended buy list either. The Accord got rated far superior for build quality and reliability and IS on their recommended buy list. Acura still seems to think their shit doesn't stink and that they're gonna make it on their name. The ILX got practically the lowest ratings in its class! After all, that car is nothing more than a glorified Civic tuned to run on premium. Meanwhile, Mazda, BMW, Toyota, Lexus, Porche, Honda, and Subaru got top honors. Sad what's happened to Acura.

Ran into a guy yesterday with a '16 TLX who swore the '03 TL he previously had was far superior and probably the best car he ever owned.
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As much as I agree that Acura has definitely taken a few steps back, I don't think you can take anything in consumer reports too seriously.

 

Who listens to consumer reports any more?

 

I do, though not quite 100%. However, considering how Acura is handling the '04/5/6 Nav clock issue these days, I'd tend to take Consumer Reports at their word over ACS.
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People who don't like getting ripped off.

 

Consumer Reports 10 Top Picks of 2021

Toyota Corolla
Mazda CX-30
Subaru Forester
Toyota Prius
Toyota Camry
Subaru Outback
Kia Telluride
Honda Ridgeline
Lexus RX
Tesla Model 3

 

Seems like Toyota gave the manufacturers of that list more incentive than Honda this year.

 

When Acura gave me a 2020 TLX as a loaner, I couldn't give it back to them any quicker. Such a disappointing vehicle and everything felt so damn cheap inside with excessive movement on misc parts.

 

You can still get ripped off if you listen to Consumer Reports.

 

But it's a lot less likely. Did I miss something, why would we not listen to CR?

 

Toyota doesn't surprise me, but Subaru made top 10 with two cars? Did I missed the news and they finally fixed their CVTs? Or are those reports not include any reliability info?

 

Reliability info was included in there fur sure!

 

Do you have access to CR? How many "reliability" points does subaru have compared to prius or camry?

 

CR reliability reports are based on subscriber interview data.

Do I read everything in CR and use that as my 100% fact? Absolutely not. Do I read it and take into account some of the data points? Absolutely yes. They have some value for sure, but like any other publication, they have strengths and weaknesses in their rankings and recommendations. Did I buy a car off of their recommended list? Nope....not much on their list is a lot of fun.

 

Maybe, but remember, they don't take any advertising so their reviews are completely unbiased. With all the traffic now in metropolitan areas, getting a 'fun' car can't be all it's cracked up to be anymore.

 

I have habitually ignored CR, even to the extent of buying things the recommended against. Back in 2002 I had just put an order in for a European Delivery 530i 5-Speed with the Premium, Sport, Audio, and Xenon packages when CR came out with a glowing review of the 530i saying something like "it was the highest rated car they'd ever evaluated"; I almost cancelled my order.

 

What happened to the beemer?

 

It was probably the best car I've ever owned (or leased in this case), however, as the lease end was coming up I took a contract which required me to drive between 150 and 200 miles per day (depending upon which site I was required to visit) plus "dad duties" schlepping between soccer games and ballet classes. As much as I would have loved to have kept the BMW, piling those kinds of miles on the car was unreasonable, especially as we had a perfectly serviceable "spare" vehicle just sitting around. The 530i went back at lease end and our old minivan got pressed into service, ultimately racking up over 100,000 additional miles in just the next 30 months.

 

If I had to replace my 2008 Acura TL with 113,000 miles on it I would find a used 2008 Acura TL. In ten years if I have to replace it maybe I switch to Toyota or Lexus? Maybe in ten years Acura will have it together again? They took the best selling car and trashed it. They are down-leveling taking the V6 out as base on RDX and TL. Fit and finish in the newer cars does not seem anywhere near as solid any more. ???

 

Drove a new loaner 2021 TLX advance for two weeks. Nothing special. Nice car, but way too big and heavy feeling, interior was average and the engine sounded raspy.

 

Yeah, we know nothing else available on the market matches the smoothness and quality of your Accord.

 

It’s not bad. TL is built off of it

 

Everybody else understands that, just not him.

 

Poor MM.

Hows the carwash manager gig going? You seen snoop dogg yet?

 

I live in the burbs, work from home, and have two kids. 90% of my driving these days is within 5 miles of the house doing boring kid stuff. As long as my car isn't a turd on acceleration, can take the on/off ramps at decent speeds, and stable on the highway...it is as much "fun" as I will have these days until the kids get a bit older. Driving my V60 vs my wife's Terrain reminds me of exactly why I didn't want a SUV. Her Terrain is technically faster, but it is a tall, sloppy pig when not going in a straight line.

 

I've always felt that Consumer Reports' reliability ratings are worth reviewing, but when it comes to selecting a vehicle I would like to drive I would not rely on their commentary because their focus is simply different from mine.

With that said, I drove an ILX loaner car a couple of weeks ago and I didn't much care for the experience. I vastly prefer both my '04 TL and my wife's 2015 TLX. While I find the TL with its 6MT more enjoyable to drive, I will readily concede that for long road trips the TLX is a great car and in some ways is a better long-distance cruiser than the TL is.

 

LOLz, them's fighting words.

I'm having a difficult time wrapping my brain around how the TLX could possibly be a better road car than a 3G TL 6MT.

 

Yes, please unpack this idea. 💡

 

Less NVH, quitter, more compliant ride, better sound system and more features, etc. I’m having a difficult time wrapping my brain around how the 3G TL 6MT would be a better “long-distance cruiser”.

 

Dam bro you have a stable of cars

 

LOL, not a fan of quiet and compliant, so we definitely differ there. Features? Meh, there isn't a feature newer cars have I need, want, or desire. Better sound system? Okay, you got me on one.

 

I was referring to overall for purposes of a long drive, not for day-to-day driving or for spirited drives in the mountains. Things like diving from the DC area to St. Louis or Florida. On a long highway trip like that, on boring roads I’ve travelled hundreds of times, the TLX's ride is overall better than the TL's, the fuel economy is astounding (we’ve gone over 500 miles on a tank more than once; best I’ve ever managed in my TL was 455), and things like the adaptive cruise control and the lane-keeping make for an easier drive for the driver.

The TLX has some downsides, of course: No manual transmission. (Last week I was driving it and my left foot tried to hit the clutch. Oops.) Too many touchscreens—it’s hard to control the stereo without looking at the screen. Voice control requires two presses on the button instead of one (don’t know why). Biggest issue for me: While I love the adaptive cruise control and use it even in local driving (mostly to keep my speed down on certain roads), it doesn’t do nearly as well on hills as the TL's does. If I set the TL's cruise control at 75 mph, it holds 75, even down all but the very worst of hills. The TLX's doesn’t—it constantly picks up speed going downhill even with the cruise set, and downshifting with the paddles doesn't help slow it. (This even happens on a 35-mph street in our neighborhood. The cruise will have the TLX going 45 by the bottom.) Trying to control the speed in the mountains is a challenge.

The big thing for me: The TLX is a very nice car. Whenever I get back into my TL, though, I feel like I'm home.

 

Wow, I'm surprised your best highway mileage in your TL is so low; a couple of years ago I hit 540 on a tank and was only able to put in 14.8 gallons in when I filled up; I could easily have hit 600. Regarding the touch screen thing, my wife's Mazda has all that stuff and to me they are a hazard in that they constantly require you to take your eyes off the road; the "button for everything" approach of the TL, while cluttered, is, at least for me, a much safer cockpit to operate in.

 

I might have been able to go further than 455 on that trip, but I was in an unfamiliar area when the tank was reading low and so I wasn't willing to take a chance, which I'm sure any reasonable person can understand. That sort of thing has usually been the limiting factor for how far I make it on a tank in any car: Once I'm starting to get low on gas, if I'm about to be heading through an area with fewer gas stations (say, if I'm in the Fort Myers or Naples area and I'm about to have to cross the Everglades where the only gas station is that extremely expensive one the Indian tribe runs), I'm going to fill up. Or if I'm going to need gas and I know it costs more in the next state (Pennsylvania has a very high gas tax), I'll usually fill up before entering that state. (Same thing applies to trips to Canada: Always fill up at the last gas station in the USA before crossing the border because it's so much more expensive in Canada.) So that has factored in quite a few times over the years.

I definitely agree with you about preferring buttons. A tactile button helps you do things without looking away. I also prefer the DVD-Audio changer in the TL to using my iPod via the connector in the TLX (or ripping CDs to its hard drive) because scrolling through the list of artists or albums while driving isn't a particularly safe thing to do. (Incidentally, regarding looking away, I do like how on the TLX the radio station display is duplicated in the center of the instrument pod when you change between preset stations.)

We drove two TLXs before my wife decided which one she wanted: One with the dual-clutch transmission and the inline four, the other the V-6 Advance package with the AWD. The latter car more or less sold itself and that's what she decided to get.

 

@1995hoo, I hear you on the Canada thing; I've done the Ontario run between Buffalo and Port Huron any number of times and always stop for gas shortly before hitting the Canadian border.