Zeuser

These are just my personal experiences with the new '04 TL so bear with me. This was a 5AT non-Navi

I was really impressed by the new TL. I can't really find any terrible things to say about it. There were a few quirks that bothered me but the good parts more than make up for the bad parts.

First, the "manual mode" on the 5AT. Strange, really strange. Wouldn't let me downshift to 1st even when I was only doing 30Km/H. then there's the annoying 1st-2nd auto shift. It shifted gears well before I wanted it to. And last was the delay. It's a bit annoying that you upshift and there's a half second delay before it happens. Makes timing the upshifts at near redline a little difficult. The downshifts seemed a little quicker.

The suspension. I took a long sweeper at high speed and there was a bump in the middle. When the TL went over the bump the front end squirmed around a bit when it came back down. I found this a little odd because without the bumps the TL is planted on high speed sweepers. Take a bump however and it gets a little scary.

Braking. Well first of all, huge braking power! My friend's head almost smacked the dash under full braking. But there's a few things I'm a little concerned about. The nose dive. There was lots of nose dive under full braking. Then there was the noise. The ABS system sounded a little strange. It sounded like it was grinding. Not the usual pulsing I've experienced in other cars.

Keep in mind that I've been driving a 1993 del sol with ultra stiff suspension and sticky tires for the last 10 years. Yes, it's time to grow up. But handling wise, I'd take my older modified del sol. But the TL offers so much more that I now have to move onto the good news.

The good news: I love that damn engine! So powerful and yet very silent. You can barely even notice it when it's ideling.

The interrior; well I couldn't find anything wrong with the interrior. It's beautiful. The audio system? A little more power would be nice but the sound quality is extraordinary.

There are so many good thing I have to say about the new TL I could go on and on for hours.

Conclusion: I didn't want to give the keys back. When I walked back into the dealership after my test drive, the sales lady was busy with some other customers. I held onto the keys and just didn't want to give them back. The funny thing is; the customer she was dealing with was a BMW 330 owner, saw his car outside and overheard him say it was his, and he was looking at.... you guessed it, a TL.

So I was very sad to eventually give up the keys to this great machine but the good news is that I'm expecting a call back from my broker on insurance rates and I'm expecting an e-mail from CarCostCanada.com about the best leasing deal in my area.

So yes, I'm hooked! I loved the TL and I'm defintely going for it!

PS: Thanks to everyone here for their posts. I've been reading your posts for a month now and it has really help me choose the TL Premium (base model) over the Maxima 3.5 SE 5 seat. They're exactly the same price here in Canada.

caball88

yeah the automatic TL does not hold first gear even when in sport mode. alot of people have posted threads about this. i bought a 6MT so i will not be able to comment on this as much. as far as the bump is concerned i cannot entirely blame this on fwd but any car going fast into a turn when you hit a bump will lose control a bit. also the tires that are on the car bridgestone el42's are suppose to be just about the worse tire known to man. this may have lead to the traction problem. the nose diving might be because its 60/40 weight distribution. when you slam the brakes almost all the weight goes to the front.

VTEC=happiness

versus the Maxima, the TL will never lose....the TL is a far superior car for similar money. Good luck

digital_b

if you look for bad things they will find you. coming from such a crappy prior ride you should feel like youre in heaven. the tl does not like uneven surfaces period and several reviews state that mid corner turbulence is a problem. if you drive sensibly you will love your tl I think.

Zeuser

Well except for the minor things I stated I really did like the TL. So much so that I've decided to get one.

My statements about the "bad things" were only my personal observations during my test drive that felt a little odd to me. I wasn't looking for the bad stuff. They just happened and I took note.

I'm of the school of thought that the test drive is where you find out all you can about a car. Not just drive it around leisurely. Find out what it can and can't do before you buy. You might get a nasty surprise if you buy the car, get into an emergency situation and discover your car doesn't do what you expected.

Hybrid

Time a shift (mentally, at least) with the manual, and compare to the automatic, from the time you decide you need to shift. Assume it takes the same amount of time to reach the AT lever as it does to simultanously touch the clutch pedal and reach the MT lever. So how much faster is the gear engaged in the manual transmission (clutch down, shift gear, clutch out), if you don't abuse the car by just dumping the clutch. Not too far different than the estimated 1/2 sec. time for the 5AT.

All I'm saying is that the MT isn't instantaneous either. Anyone after a race car shouldn't be buying the TL or most of its competition.

DISRUPTV

the new maxima is a disgrace


especially 2 its roots...horrible

mobilezen

Wow. This is actually a good read. Thanks for the info everyone. If you read my sig...I am still seeking a new car.

Zeuser

Update.

I'm going for it! I'll be getting a '40 TL 5AT Navi. I've got the people at CarCostCanada.com tracking down the best prices for me. They've guaranteed me that I can get the Navi version for the MSRP of a base non-navi model. But they've told me that they're going to work a bit more to get an even lower price.

And the best part? I don't have to do the haggling. For $45, they do it all for me.

So hopefully they'll be calling me soon with the best price they can find and I'll hopefully be driving a brand new '40 TL with Navi soon.

Now my biggest problem is: Colors! I'm thinking silver with black interrior. But white with tan interrior looks really nice too!

I don't think I'll be going for black. My current car is black and I want to drive my car, not spend all my time washing it. The air in Toronto is so filfthy that I wash my car in the morning, don't drive it all day and by the evening there's a layer of dust on it. Uck!

Anyway, hopefully I'll be joining the rest of you as a proud new owner of a TL soon.