Lots of rain here in the NE today and I had my first driving experience with the TL in heavy rain. I must say it handled great. On I-83 at 75mph it felt like it was stapled to the road. The truck traffic and wind gusts didn't move me an inch. I was very impressed. Granted, my car before this was a '03 GTI and was thrown about a bit easier.

The one thing I noticed during the heavy wiper use was that the wiper stalk is setup exactly the opposite of every other Honda I have owned ('87 Accord, '90 Civic, '91 Accord, '97 Civic, '99 Accord). You could say I ran through a few used Hondas in college and after. Usually, a tap down on the stalk will give you a single "mist" wipe, and all the way up is the highest speed. The TL is the opposite. Has the wiper stalk always been setup this way in Acuras?

JZ

 

1 move on the stalk give the intermittent mode (which you can set the speed setting through the rotating switch like the foglight), then followed by medium then fast.

 

No, I had the 2003 TL last and it had the same stalk as my 98 accord. I do not know if the 2004 accord has this new design.

I still have to fiddle with it. The brights are reversed also: pull for quick burst, push for lock (no toggle-click for lock)

 

My previous car was a hatchback (RSX) and I hate the fact that I don't have a rear wiper. At high speeds it's ok, but when driving local roads the visibility out the rear is horrible, I guess this is something I will have to get used to.

 

The wipers on my RSX worked just like they do in my TL. I do however miss the rear wiper on the RSX...

 

i like the "self clearing" feature of my 98 accord and this TL.. at speeds of 45mph or above, the rear glass cleans itself of water due to air current, kinda cool. I do miss having a rear wiper like on my good ole CRX.

 

Amen. Driving at 10-20 mph out from Philly a few weeks ago in that big storm we had, the rear window kept getting completely snow covered.

The fact the rear defroster automatically shuts itself off after 10 or 15 minutes only exacerbated the problem--I'd look in the rear-view mirror, find rear-vision blocked by snow, then notice the defroster had timed out.

It then would take about 10 minutes for it to melt the snow that had collected, it would shut off, and the problem would start all over again.

Anyone know of an adjustment to keep the rear defroster from automatically shutting off?