boltjames

Just put the first 50 miles on my TL AT/Navi and couldn't believe my eyes.....Acura must have made a running change to their interior fabric / leather because there isn't a hint of orange in my Anthracite/Camel interior. I stared and stared. In the bright sun and in the shade of the dealership. No orange.

To make sure I wasn't seeing things, I had the dealer bring round the demo car that I test-drove that made me nervous about the overly orange tint to begin with. The demo car was about five months old and 100% definitely has that orange tang. Put my new one and the demo side-by-side and turned my head back and forth.....there's a difference.

So, one of three things is going on:

1. I got a lucky, non-orange camel.

2. Over time, demo cars turn orange.

3. Acura heard some feedback and made a subtle, but noticable, change in the leather and fabric headliner in the car.

Woo hoo! I'm citrus free!

BJ

vtechbrain

Mine isn't orange either. VIN 2500. I think it has to do with how it looks under fluorecent lights.

boltjames

I think it's more than fluorescent lights vtechbrain......I viewed the A/B comparison in the outside shade and in the outside bright sunlight and there is a 100% noticable difference in camel's between the X months old demo and my brand new Antrhacite. No doubt Acura made a change with their supplier. Can't notice it that much in the leather BUT the headliner is 100% more beige now, and it was the headliner that was making me lose sleep over whether I had bought a car that people would laugh at instead of admire. Wrong. Bigtime

Ron A

Also could be due to the fact that different dye lots will have a different tint. That's why they tell you when you buy carpet, floor tiles, anything tinted or painted, to get enough so it will all match when you are done.

Nodoze2004

Please don't tell me that, I just ordered mine with Ebony because I thought the camel was entirely too orange.....

Can you post some pics?? I may have to change my order now

kilrb

LMAO!! Great description! Congratulations!

TLGator

boltjames - Congrats man! You and I have a very cool color combo!

I knew you'd find the Camel to your liking.

boltjames

Thanks Gator (and friends). The car is fabulous. I'll try to get some pics up soon for those who asked; in the short term, just imagine the Parchment a little darker. Looks more like a Kraft Caramel candy than a baseball mit (if that makes any sense).

Well, my day of fun is now over. Tonight at 5:01 my TL goes into hell as the Daddymobile. Car seats, tethers, LATCH, drool, footprints, kick marks on the seatbacks, scratches in the aluminum trim, handprints on the windows. Didn't even get to pick up one measely trophy babe at the Dunkin' Donuts. Oh well.....there's always weekends!

BJ

Ken1997TL

Rumor is, Acura changed it. They make very minor material changes when needed during model years. Example, the TSX got a different colored keyring light. I think it went from green to blue or vice versa.

boltjames

Damn, and I thought I had the world's only Antracite/Parchment model and a sure collector's item to fetch over $100,000 on eBay

PhilB

I hope you're right. I want anthracite with wood trim, but the orange (err, camel) was just too much.

-phil

BLEXV6

Excellent, because when I saw one of the first camel interiors at the dealership I thought I was going to puke. The orangy colour was overwhelming. This colour I have seen in the Murano as well.

TLGator

I agree with the comment about Acura sometimes changing colors slightly mid-year.

When I first decided to lease the '01 CL, I decided to go with the blue even though I found it a little dark and slightly violet for my tastes. A co-worker had it so I saw the color every day, but of the available colors it was still the most appealing to me.

Lo and behold I go to test drive one in April and I'm certain when I see it that the blue is a deeper blue, slightly lighter in color and lacking the violet overtone. I end up getting the car, park it next to my buddy's, and we both agree the color is slightly different.

Then the dealer puts the spoiler on (they had to order it) and it doesn't match! The spoiler is the darker blue, and it's such a subtle difference the people at the dealership didn't even notice it when they installed it. But when I show it to them in the sunshine, they see the difference.

After much confusion over a couple of weeks, the dealer finds out retrospectively that Acura changed the blue slightly mid-year for the '01 CL, changed the name (mine was Eternal Blue Pearl, the other one had a different name I don't recall now) and assigned a different product number. Acura did not send the dealers any kind of communication about this until after the fact.

I did eventually get the matching spoiler. Like boltjames I was really happy because I got a color I liked better.

Now Acura is still calling the Camel in the '04 TL Camel, but given my experience it certainly seems possible they adjusted the color mid-year. It's also possible the dealers might not have a clue because Acura might have failed to tell them anything.

berlinrl

I agree with camel interior color change . . . please see my
post from yesterday, 'leather interior color variation'. I had
the same reaction as BLEXV6 to the original camel I saw. The color seems to have been 'tamed down' now.