dwhitten

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2004/acur...ightbanner.1.*

Z Factor

Thank you

Hybrid

Thanks for the link.

I was curious about this navi system quote:
"As a safety precaution, one can only operate the system when the car is stopped — a good idea generally, as we don't think a driver should be messing with a touchscreen keyboard while driving. But what if a passenger acting as co-pilot were available to run the nav system? On second thought, here in America, where "common" sense is actually uncommon, perhaps Acura thought it best to play it safe."

I haven't used every nav. feature while underway, but I wasn't aware of anything that required the car to be stopped to function. Is their info incorrect?

Modeler

Yes, it's incorrect. I use the NAVI while driving all the time. Maybe the boot-up disclaimer says that one shouldn't do it, but I never even read that disclaimer.

AcurRacer

I certainly haven't noticed commands I cannot perform while driving... and I have tried too many. At one point my wife suggested that they tie the touch screen to the presence of a passenger. No passenger...no touch screen! I'm glad she doesn't work for Acura.

They also said that the: "climate and audio functions (in greater detail, to boot) can be displayed in the nav screen"

Climate functions on the nav screen?

neuronbob

Thanks for the link. That's a great review, though I wish they had done a full test on the 5AT! (sulks in a corner for a minute)

Their braking distance almost matches that obtained by Motorweek. The 0-60 time reflects that they (admittedly) had some trouble with the clutch. They needed more practice, I guess.

1/2 of the second opinions were positive as well, though the Ed-in-chief's opinion brings to mind the debate we have here occasionally about whether the TL is worth thousands more than the Accord; he feels it is not. Bull$hit, I say! But to each, his own, let him put a BMW and an Accord in his garage.

princed

Again, we have excellent braking numbers from a publication that received a TL equpped with the HPT option. Car and Driver and Motor Trend's abysmal numbers were measured on cars equipped with Turanzas. I still can't get over the fact that the Turanzas add 15-20% to the 60-0 stopping distance!

Interesting...

princed

You know, I agree that the Accord and TL are completely different beasts, and I had no trouble paying the extra thousands for the TL, but when Honda comes out with the hybrid Accord w/ 240+hp plus IMA and VCM (30+mpg in combined city/highway!), I'm going to cry (I didn't know this car would be released when I bought my TL ).

Right now, I feel that many, many people will feel justified in paying 6-8k more for the TL, but in late 04 when the Accord becomes more powerful than the TL with far better fuel economy, the decision is going to be a lot harder...

Modeler

I sent the editor an e-mail about the NAVI-while-driving issue, but I didn't mention this second one about climate control information on the NAVI.

Vffr1

What is HPT?

Thanks!

neuronbob

HPT=High Performance Tire upgrade

dwhitten

High Performance Tires

JonDeutsch

Response from Edmunds re: the NAVI functionality

After investigating this, we discovered that the car we drove (a
pre-production vehicle) had a glitch in the nav. system that wouldn't allow us to program the system while underway.

Indeed, Acuras do allow operation of the system while the car is in motion and we have made the appropriate change to that road test.

John DiPietro
Road Test Editor
Edmunds.com

rets

It's very irresponsible article. They should confirm this prior to their posting. Since this is so WEIRD feature, not many cars have, they should make sure it's what Acura wanna have.

Modeler

I got the same response to my correction!