Well, after 20 months into my 36 month lease on a 2008 TL base I decided now was as good a time as any to trade out into a new vehicle.
I had a lease with 20K miles a year built into the contract, now at almost 40K the car was in need of tires and brakes.
As it was I owed $25,700 on the pay off, going to different dealers I was being offered anywhere from $23,500 to $25,200 to trade the car in so I was pleasantly surprised.
I was told that used car values are way up right now due to shortages which was part of the reason I was being offered so much in trade, so if anybody is looking to trade their TL in now is the time.
This is where things become difficult as I love my 3G TL, I tried to like the 4G and in some respects it's a nice car but I just can't get past the front and back of the car as they completely turn me off.
The new TL lacks a competitve tranny to begin with and performance wise is bland at best as far as I'm concerned, the SH AWD model is better in this respect but still just average in my opinion.
I considered and drove many vehicles from BMW, Mercedes, Infiniti and Lexus as some were nice but not much in the way of great incentives to buy.
Went to Audi and turned in a completely different direction, bought a close out new 2008 Audi A4 convertible.
Love the 2.0T engine as it has tons of torque and has a great 6 speed tranny, much better than the 4 cylinder TSX overall and still gets very good mileage.
This is a totally different car than the 3G TL, it has every option with the exception of Quattro which actually felt a bit sluggish compared to the front wheel drive version.
Sticker was $44,490 and I was able to purchase it for $33,300, car had 24 miles on it. They are discontinuing the A4 convertible after this year and going to an A5 version at an even higher sticker price.
Love the new A4 sedan as well but wanted to go a different route this time and so far it's been fun, especially when the top is down.
Either way I still have my beautiful 2001 CL below so I'll still be around for a while, hopefully Acura takes a different direction with the new TL.
I'll post some pics later.

 

Congrats! Can't go wrong with an Audi. What Benzes did you test drive? My mom has an 08 C350...I love that car.

Pics of the new ride?

 

Congrats .... my bro just got a A5 & he loves it ... he's been driving exclusively Lexus & now he's raving about A5's perf. & amenities ..

 

Yeah,couple friends have the a5, it's a sexy car congrats!

 

Sorry you had to leave the TL. Congrats on your new A4. Have fun but be safe. You didn't consider the S2000?

 

Congrats on the Audi!

 

Congrats on the Audi... I agree on the ugly front and rear of the new TL.

I came from a Passat ( basically an Audi ) and you will be happy with the quality and fit/finish. And there is still options I miss from the Passat. You will also notice the Audi leather is a way better too.

 

Thanks for the congats, the Audi is well put togehter and definitely fun to drive.
I just couldn't come up with a car that I really liked without spending $40K plus which was the problem in test driving the C series Benz and the BMW 3 series.
The incentives to buy a 2008 or 2009 A4 convertible are huge since they are moving to the A5 platform, A4 is still a very nice car especially for the money.
I wish Acura had a new product I felt compelled to buy or even Honda for that matter, the Accord V6 coupe was the only thing that came close.
The TSX and TL just don't do it for me, although I would definitely pick the TSX if I had to choose.
I actually considered buying a 2008 TL type S believe it or not, just decided something different would be the way to go for a while.
I hope Acura sees the error in their current design and makes some changes, otherwise they will continue to lose market share.

 

to the op, if i had to sell my type s now, i wouldn't know which car to buy. Lexus is350, bmw 335i benz c350 is def over 40K which is beyond my figures. The only thing that can come close to TL type s is the infiniti g37. But there are way too many g37 or g35s out in the street.

 

IS350, 335i, C350 and G37/G35's interior space are actually smaller than 3G TL's

I test drove these cars, yes, 335i has the best handling, IS350 and G37 has many features like TL, but all of them are too small for me.

So, I'm with you, don't know what would my next car be...

Sad to see Acura's designing FUGLY cars, new 4G TL is just like a tank, heavy, and heavy, I had 4G TL SH-AWD for 2 weeks, and did not like it at all... 3.7L and just merely 300 HP? and 5-speed Auto? No Manual?

What do you guys think?

 

Congrats on the new ride!!

 

Congrats. I'm not a convertible guy but all of audi's new models look gorgeous.

If I was to get rid of my tl its for an e92 or a g37. Thats about it lol.

 

Congrats on the purchase. I had a A4 3.0 Quattro 2 cars ago and really enjoyed it, unfortunately i was in the shop at least once a month and the engine blew 2 weeks after I sold it(completely stock btw). Thankfully it was still under warranty, hopefully you have a much better experience though

 

Yea my boy has an A4 like 06 model s-line and thank god its a lease, its in the damn shop every month but he does get some sick a6 and a8 loaners. He seriously got a damn lemon but atleast audi service is good. A tree broke his window one night and at 2am audi came to fix the window in his driveway. Pretty awesome if you ask me.

 

Wow that is some amazing service!

OP congrats on the A4 they are beautiful and fun to drive!

 

never test drove 335i. Is350 i have. The cars pretty quick and has almost all the features that 3GTL has except for the speed and the auto start. I hate the G37 interior. It looks so damn cheap. NEver test drove the4g tl awd. How is it? is it that bad? Some say the 4gTL shawd is quicker than our tl type s.

 

Congrats, great pick up.

 

The 3G Type S is the fastest stock Acura I've ever driven, the 4G SH-AWD isn't as quick, the 4G base felt quicker to me actually.
My 2001 CL is the fastest Acura I've ever driven, it consistently runs 14.2 in the quarter, I've run close to 14 flat a few times with almost perfect starts.

 

4g sh-awd feels slower than 4g base? has more torque and hp. someone from the forum said the 4g sh-awd feels faster than 3g type s. i think it was blackacura

 

There's no way the 4G SH-AWD is faster than the 3G Type S, too much extra weight and not a significant increase in HP, my test drive confirmed this.

 

so i can go head to head with stock 4g TL sh-awd. nice~!another reason why our TL-s doesn't feel outdated

 

nah, the other way around. he said that his 3g-s was faster than his new 4g-awd

 

great deal awesome find.

 

def thinkin the 135i for the next car or once the mini coupe comes out I will prob jump on that...

 

maybe i misread blackacuras post. well his 3g type s was pretty quick considering an auto. I think he even mentioned about him taking on 335i. so whats the 1/4mile and 0-60 for 4g TL sh-awd

 

 

Did you get the S-Line package? A friend of mine just got this car and loves it! Congrats

 

I will post some pics, had to take the car in for a few things so I have to wait until I get it back.
I didn't get the Sline package, my car has every option with the exception of Sline and Quattro.
Quattro with the 2.0T just felt too sluggish and there were no Sline packages available.

 

i would say my next car would be the audi a5 or s5. i cant think of any nicely designed cars.