hey guys, I currently own a 2003 Jetta GLS 1.8 turbo. Sadly, this car has been horrible in terms of reliability and dealership service is equally bad. After this last fiasco (wipers,blinkers,headlights,tailights all go off randomly, even when car is turned off. subsequently dealership refuses to fix it because I have an aftermarket headunit) I have finally decided to sell the car and the new Acura TL is on the top of my list. I would appreciate it greatly if any of you guys can help me out with my decision. Here are a few questions I have:

1. is the car reliable? (small problems, big problems, if any?) I already saw a few threads about early cars having the MIL and other such small issues.
2. is the dealership/service experience relatively painless?
3. what are the differences between the auto and the manual? i would like to get a manual but i might not due to the fact that i do drive in morning traffic alot.

Thanks alot guys, I would really appreciate any additional input you have about this car, hopefully, i can soon be amongst you TL drivers.

 

1. Just read the site. You'll see there are very few people that would say anything less than "awesome" about this car.

2. Depends on your dealer. If you need a recommendation for a dealer in a certain city, post your request. People will help you avoid the bad ones.

3. Can't say. People who are in the city seem to prefer the AT

 

Honda/Acura reliabilty is way above Volkswagon so you can't go wrong with the TL. You will see a lot of issues on the board but remember this is a very small % of vocal people who are very particual about their cars. The average person is loving their TL.

 

1. My impression is that many of the earlier build cars had "bugs" that included memory seat loss, some rattles and, of course, the issue with the crummy Bridgestone tires. My vin is 27XXX and I have the HPTs, and haven't had any issues except for squealing brakes (brembos) and a clicking sound with the brake pedal, which is waiting for a part.

2. Dealership experience was like any other. They were polite, but would charge you $50k for the car if you didn't know better. I'd suggest you shop around and bring the best quote to the dealer you want to buy from and negotiate from there.

3. I was on the fence between auto and manual until I drove them both.....manual is much better fitted to the car IMO.

 

well you and i were in the same boat i had a 98 vr6 jetta nothing but problems i could write paragraphs about that p.o.s. im running late but let me say ive owned hondas before 81 accord 200plus thousand miles and an 80 prelude, i gave it to a friend when it had 300k and he drove it till he gave it to his son....i bought both cars used for very cheap. my jetta had 100g and would cost about 4 to 5 grand to fix well that was it i said time to get another japanese car, ive had mine since jan and love it any problems are my fault such as banging the shit out of my rims...hah hah.. i would go for the manual fuck traffic its worth it!!! you can check out my tl at
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/550993
jjay slvsixspd nav 18"s spoiler 15%tint ect ect
p.s i think some of the problems with the jetta and golfs are they are built in mexico. not germany...

 

yeah man definitely, vw quality has gone down over the years like a smoking airplane. vw of america now is at the bottom of the pile in terms of build quality , lately i've had nothing but problems with this car and with the dealership being so stubborn on trying to actually fix things, i feel i shouldnt have to put myself through this anymore. ive honestly had less than a week of problem free driving this entire YEAR, so im finally gonna get rid of this pos and say a warm hello to acura.

just one more q for you TL guys, the 6spd manual has an LSD and has an option for summer tires right? I would like to have both since socal is usually pretty sunny anyways, and ive realized that the automatic does not come with LSD nor an option for summer tires. are those the only differences? does the auto have brembo brakes like the manual as well or what? Thanks for all your help guys, its greatly appreciated.

 

Yes, the 6MT does have the LSD and the option of summer tires. You may have to wait a little longer for summer tires (perhaps not in your location). The auto does not have the Brembo brakes, and they cannot be added after the fact due to spacing restriction.

I have the 6MT and just wish my Brembo's were not so noisy.

Enjoy,

Don

 

I have an early 3G TL (17xxx) which I recently purchased used. As for problems, there is an annoying rattle in the dash somewhere and the passenger side window won't roll up properly when using the auto feature - it starts to roll up then reverses and goes back down. Also, with the low profile summer tires, I've already made a mess of my rear wheels through general carelessness. Luckily, in a moment of weakness, I let the dealership talk me into the road hazard coverage. The 6MT rocks. This is without a doubt the best shifter in the history of shifters. I thought the 6MT in my previous RSX was sweet, but the TL shifter kicks it up a notch. I drive in Atlanta traffic and it's not so bad.