I drove this past weekend from Portland to the Bay Area in CA. I must say that the TL is one awesome car to drive over long distances. A bit easier than my 03 BMW 330i was. I used four tanks of gas for the trip. In both directions, filling up in Weed, CA. The first leg down I got 27mpg. Second led was 29mpg. Third leg back home was 28 mpg and final leg home was 30 mpg. I think the mpgs will keep improving as more miles accumulate. In May 2002, I drove my 02 TL from Portland to Binghamton, NY to Dallas, TX and back home to Portland. I believe I had about 8,000 miles on the car at the time. I averaged between 33 and 36 mpgs. So hopefully, we can expect the same to happen with the 04s.

With the exception of the seat issue, I don't have any of the annoyances that some others seem to have. No squeaks or rattles anywhere. Can't tell you the difference between the 17" and 18" since I only drove the 17" during the test drive. But the 18" wheels handled great. No need to slow down for the 50 mph curves in the mountains north of Lake Shasta. I kept my speed at about 6-8 mph over the speed limit (OR is only 65mph).:yack:

My only gripe was when I ran into fog in the mountains; the white fog lights suck. Can't wait to get the Polarg 9006 Pure Yellow 55W Headlight Light Bulbs I ordered. I'll take before and after pics when they get here and post them. Hopefully by the end of this week.

Didn't get a chance to test out the XM radio too much as I listened to audio books during the drive.

 

Thanks for the review. I'm thinking of taking a long December drive from Cleveland to Colorado to see my parents, and this sort of information is nice to know.

 

The Lake Shasta and Siskiyou areas are the only interesting areas from a driving point of view on that route!

-r