The Motorweek tv show had a long term update on the 2004 TL. They still liked the car a lot but they pointed out three problems. The first problem was that the rear view mirror wasn't adjusting properly. The second problem was cracking of the leather seats. The third problem was that the Bridgestone tires wore out early. They got a good overall mpg of about 25.

 

25.5 MPG is what they reported. The outside rear view mirror problem involved it only setting to two detents. To avoid this (I've seen this happen on a previous car of mine) exercise your outside mirrors frequently.

The tires wore out early as rvmeush reported. This has to be due to a car or a driver thing. My previous car, a 2002 Altima SE, came stock with the same EL42's as the TL. I removed them at 34,000 miles for a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires which I highly recommend. At that time, the Bridgestones had maybe another 15,000 miles left on them.

So I suspect either a problem with pressure or alignment, or maybe just MotorWeek testers having some fun with the car.

 

My OEM tires were pretty worn at 5200 miles. I had all four replaced and upgraded by Firestone under warranty for $270. Now, there could have been an alignment issue because my dealer said that they do not do alignments, which they definitely should, after the cars come off the trucks. The cars are starpped down so tight nowadays that they really need that alignment!

 

I saw that episode today..did you see the leather? It looked horrible. I can't believe that just skirted past it. Major problem.

 

My EL42's have about 10,600 on them and look pretty good. I haven't had all the problems that others have had , possibly since I got the car in April after the tires were reformulated. I do notice flatspotting though, especially when it is very cold, though it seems to go away as soon as the tires warm up.

I'm actually hoping that they would wear out quicker so I can get the Pilot A/Ss. :-)

 

I couldn't believe that they slid by the cracked leather problem either. I have an '05 with 3300 miles but the side bolster on the driver's seat is already showing much more wear than the rest of the seat. I have no butt wrinkles, though. I think the added seam helps alot. Even Lexol doesn't help the side bolster.

 

They slide by EVERYTHING. The way the host talks, every car seems to be great. I heard him say some vehicle had a RATHER long stopping distance. I'd never seen any vehicle they tested over 130 feet or so and this beast was over 160 feet (60-0 mph). That's not RATHER long, that's PATHETIC long. That's YOU'RE GONNA DIE long. But they just went right by it as if mentioning it in passing.

 

Can anyone post pics of this?

My TL has almost 15k miles on it and the seats look pretty good. However, I do have the infamous "butt print" on the driver's seat.

 

http://www.mpt.org/motorweek/longterm/

It would be cool if someone here could record the story and convert it to a downloadable video like someone did last year for the initial Motorweek road test.


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How did they get that gas mileage? Im lucky to get 21 between fillups.

 

21 mpg is what my TL is averaging in all-city driving.

 

Hum... no pics of the trashed seats. That's what I want to see.

 

I'm averaging 25mpg in combined city and highway driving in my AT.

 

They don't have commercials but the funding has to come from someplace. Donations from manufacturers of the products they test foot the bill. They can't say something is absolute crap, even C&D doesn't do that.

 

When you go to the link, check out the long term diary - the dumb@%%#$ call it the all new 2.5TL.