Picked up the new Anthracite/Ebony 6MT non-navi with All Season tires on monday. Decided on the Lip Spoiler (thanks for the advice on one of my prev threads). Really love the overall look.

Looks:
Think this car has great lines, is sporty but classy. Love the look with the Lip Spoiler (remains to be seen if I like it $400 more), also like without. Think the car looks better in person than in magazine.

Comfort:
I have a bent for performance oriented cars and had a '01 S4, '01Mazda Millenia S (supercharged) and '01 Porsche C4 and currently have an MDX. This car is unbelievably comfortable. Seat is supremely adjustable and comfortable. The leather is incredibly soft. Way more comfortable than the prev Audis Nappa leather. The seat panel does leave butt marks from my pelvic bones as I am a little guy (145 lbs) and I am not crazy about this but I guess this is the price to pay for comfort. The back seats are amazingly comfortable. Cannot believe how much room they extracted from such a small car. Ergonomics are next to perfect, everything is right where I would want it and logical.

Features: This thing has everything I would want and is intuitive.

Engine: This thing is amazing. It has been over a year since I drove my S4, and may have forgot what it was like to drive something fast (although drive the Porsche pretty regularly). This car is really fast. Feels as fast as the C4/S4 do. Feels way faster than the automatic to me. The power comes on quick, never lets up and is smooth as silk to redline. Is extremely quiet inside. Only downside, and I have driven mostly on damp roads is that the tires easily overpower their traction. I bet this may be vastly improved with summer only tires. Car would be close to perfect for me if it had AWD. Engine also gets like 18-22 mpg and I drive pretty fast. Would get 15 mpg in an M3 driving like I do.

Handling: Car is amazingly agile. The ride is way softer than the S4/C4 yet remains very composed. On off-ramps it remains very level, with little sway. Very composed over bumps. Seems like it may be the perfect compromise between performance and comfort. Even my wife thinks it rides great and she likes a soft lexus or cadillac type ride. Cannot wait to drive it a little harder and explore the edge a little more (safely of course). I have not felt the VSA kick in and traction control/ limited slip is noticable at times but not very intrusive. I feel like I get pretty good performance from this front drive car. Plenty good for public roads. If you can out drive this car on public roads you are going too darn fast.

Breaking: Brembos feel like they stop just fine but I have not done any quick stops since I only have 120 miles and need to seat the pads. Have noticed brake dust already. Thought only those pesky german cars had lots o dust.


Overall: Car is a steal for the price. I love my choice of 6MT over auto. Cannot believe the performance I am getting for the dollar. The performance, comfort, technology, and look hit the nail on the head. I think acura really got close to a perfect equation. We will see how it handles snow. Maybe I will get 18 inch rims with summer tires. Car would be perfect if AWD. Oh well cannot have everything right?

Just some early ramblings

 

Good to hear! Great review.

I can't wait for my 6mt. There's a black on black headed my way.

 

Anthracite/quartz, 4 more seeks? I ordered summer tires. and don't want the expense, noise of 18" wheels and tires. Thanks for the review.

 

<-----also from Cleveland

Where'd you buy from, ventimaj?

Nice review.

 

Didn't know you were from cleveland neuronbob. You seem to be one of the boards better contributors. What's neuronbob stand for anyway?

I bought from Motorcars Acura. Kind of the only place to get one round here. Nice to see another Clevelander here. We ought to have a Cleveland rally sometime. Have not seen another TL on the road yet except my neighbor here in Chagrin Falls 3 houses down got a black/ebony AT.

 

I feel almost exactly the same way about mine, except that its an automatic.

Great review. Thanks.

 

I've had my Silver/Black 6MT almost one week now and I must say that I really love this car! It is faster than I expected (had a '01 Type-R NBP) and stops better than any car I have ever owned. I tested the handling on a 180 on ramp yesterday and noticed what seemed to be the tail steping out. I think this car begges for summer tires (Potenza S-03???). I have the "all season" tires, but hope to get summer tires soon. Does anyone have any suggestions?
So far I have looked at the following:
Potenza S-03 $200ea
Potenza RE-750 $160ea
Yokahama AVS ES100 $110ea
All in 245/40/17

I think a slightly wider tire would fill out the wheel well better.?.?
Has anyone tried this?

 

This might come as a surprise but the Firestone SZ50 is on of the best reviewed UHP summer tire TireRack sells. I found out about the SZ50 on a WRX board where people looking for a quieter, better riding tire than the S-03 are buying it.

Its basically a Bridgestone technology tire for less money.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

 

Thanks SSH. I,ll check it out. What do you think about the wider tire size? Maybe it could help reduce the possibility of damage to the rims.?.?

 

My 6MT/Anthracite/Ebony/non-Navi is in transit currently with a delivery date of early next-week. I did not order the summer tires because they were going to delay me receiving the car by 1 month. Plus I don't know about summer tires in the Southeast, too many ice storms. What I did do is order a set of Pirelli Pzero Nero M&S (235/45WR/17) that the dealer is going to swap out for me when I go to pick up the car next week. All of the reviews that I have seen and the ratings on the tire sites clearly illustrate that the OEM Turanza's take away from the 6MT and I can't sleep at night knowing that might be the case.............

 

People are being hard on the turanzas but I think they are excellent considering they are all weather tires. Like all other 4 season radial they are a compromise. Unless you live in an area where it never snows and it hardly rains these tires are an excellent choice. They are hyper expensive though. After trying very hard, I finally was able to make them loose traction on a wet on ramp. I'm happy to inform that the VSA is so damn good that the only inkling I got of understeer was a flicker of the VSA light I didn't even feel the car slip. Guys this is a seriously fast, entertaining and safe car. BTW a couple of days back I had my first panic stop. Again, I'm happy to inform that the car stops like it were caught on a vise, no wiggles skids are harshness, just a barely decernible brake quiver, simply fantastic!!!!!! Yes there is brake dust but I would clean the rims every day for the confidence that braking power provides. The only better brakes I've ever used were in the 911.

 

245/45ZR17s will fit the TL's 17" rim but I would be carefull about getting a wider tire size because of possible rubbing.

The SZ50 does have a "Rim Guard" lip similar to the one I have on my S-02 PPs--its saved me a few times.

 

I tried before without any luck....

Does anybody KNOW which summer tire comes if you buy from Acura. They say 'Potenza', but there are a lot of them. I would like to know the specific model number.

 

I don't have my 6M '04TL yet...but I understand that the performance tires are Bridgestone Potenza 030. They are not highly rated at Tirerack, but I hope will work OK. I have 040s on my S4 which also have had detractors, but which seem fine to me in normal sprirted driving. Not sure if there is any similarity between the 040 and 030 models.

 

rhaas - that is amusing we are doing the exact same thing on our cars. I have a set of Pzero Nero M+S sitting waiting for the car to show up (6mt/anth/ebony/navi). After driving the 6mt with the stock tires I knew they were a serious limitation to the car. Hopefully the Neros will be better.

 

>>Feels way faster than the automatic to me.

People always say this. I am wondering how you are judging this. Did you have recent experience with the Auto to compare. Did you drive the auto to the extent that you currently drive your manual? This sounds like something manual drivers/owners say to make themselves feel good. I've driven a manual and auto TSX and truthfully they both felt about the same.

 

Potenza RE030's for the summer tire 17" option.

 

Two issues there. One is the perception of acceleration, the other being actual acceleration.

For the TSX, the powerband is so torqueless that I can understand how they feel similarly. If that car had a little more power I probably would have chosen it over the TL. The TSX reminds me of my 1995 Altima.

For most cars, the manual will test around .5 seconds (or more) quicker 0-60, and you can confirm that in any performance car magazine or online database. Manufacturer performance claims also show a similar difference.

I think the difference is the loss of power through the torque converter and the extra weight from the automatic transmission, and may also involve automatics with conservative programming that don't allow you to hold the gear to redline, as well as the differences in the gear and/or final drive ratios themselves.

 

The other really big difference is the 6MT is geared much tighter then the AT so the accelloration will be substantially greater.

 

Not to be a smarta$$, but that is what I was alluding to when I said the differences in the gear ratios.

 

Doh apparently I missed the last sentence of your post. My mistake.

 

No worries, chadr. I don't flame unless absolutely necessary.

The demographics of this forum (at least 3rd Gen, can't speak for the rest) are a little more 'mature' (for lack of a better word) than some of the others I am on, so I hope I don't have to 'correct' a lot of misperceptions about other marques. It is is similar to NSX Prime in that respect.

For example, a few of the BMW forums are full of young kids who hate ricers and love to spout off on that topic. I have to explain to them that there is a difference between Honda racing pedigree and those who put neon glow tubes and double-decker sushi-bar wings on their civics. As an NSX and BMW owner (alas not for long), I am able to move in both words and have the credibility with the BMW kids to address their prejudices.

I also use the same name in all forums, so there is no confusion.

 

I bought from Motorcars, too, my 2nd car from them. I've seen two other TLs...one of my colleagues at work with a nice anthracite, and a nice blue one that I saw a couple of weeks ago while in the Chagrin-Lander traffic circle in the burbs.

"neuronbob"--->neurons--->neurologist.

 

Hey neuronbob...where you work. Ventimaj...Radiologist UHC.