XcvX

I currently drive a 1999 BMW 328i which was the first model year of the e46 generation 3 series. I've noticed that having a first model year car has its drawbacks as things breakdown and they tend to change up a lot after the first year. Do you think it would be wise to wait until 2005 to look into getting a TL...does anyone know when to expect the 2005's arrival. Thanks for all your opinions.

Scott

greenseed

I think that by the time the cars are just starting to be built on the line that the majority of the problems are already fixed. I'd speculate that they build about 100 or so pre-production cars to get tool fitment right, etc.

What some of the owners are dealing with now are some ancillary issues which probably didn’t show up during early testing. Which would be true of most things. So I think that mechanically they have everything down right (or 99.8% or so) at first build. The rest is either bad decisions (with respect to the OEM tires) or "software" code updates.

I'd speculate that anything that's controlled by the ECU and including the NAV system and software can be easily upgraded to fix any "software" bugs.

So the 2005's could be better from a "software" aspect. And perhaps they'd be wearing new tires, but the basic build of these cars will not change.

The rest are TSB's and if Acura did its homework right, there shouldnt be too many of thoes.

Your BMW on the other hand is an entirely diffrent beast. The German cars have been known to have quality issues, and I know (in as far as VW is concerned) that they seem to make semi-major modifications to the car in 1/2 year runs. So what you end up with a is for example is a 2004 car and a 2004.5 car. The 2005 car is a 2004.5 with some other upgrades or fixes.

Vffr1

My feeling is that with todays technology, it's not as big as an issue as it was back in the day. Also, they will continue to upgrade/update cars know matter, I want to start enjoying my car this year, life is short.

Lastly, if someone really has the money to buy one of these cars, would they actually sit on the sidelines waiting for them to fix the tire or memory seat issue? I think not...

Mike Smeey,

Antracite/Ebony/Navi/5AT

need4spd

Greenseed, I agree with you 100%

No need to wait till 2005 for the car, if you are concerned about the tires, negotiate that in to the contract that you want XX tires.

Too bad I had an early buy before we all figured out the tires were bad (they are used on other cars without the vibration issue).

rets

I agree with Vffr1,

Life is limited, you won't know what else you will get in 05. If you have money and like to have the new car, buy it when you think it's right.

The first year model is not always bad as other ppl said. I don't regret to have 04TL. As many ppl in this forum, we did the research and pre-ordered this vehicle in summer and got the car in the first month. We're the real FIRST year model owners.

You may know lots of defects in the early built has been updated or fixed. The car you're buying tomorrow is actually not first year model anymore.

It's the first year advanced-model. Enjoy whatever you're driving.

gregory28

Yep. The only universal problem is the seat memory issue, and many people complain about the tires.

Seat memory issue is a very minor annoyance IMHO. This is something that will eventually be fixed.

Don't accept the OEM tires and negotiate new ones on your purchase is very good advice from need4spd