Bill97Z

I thought I would post my initial impressions of the car. I really need more time with the car to get a good feel for it though. I still have not decided if I am going to go the TL route,....I go back and forth daily.
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Luckily they didn't have a silver 6 speed in stock so I was able to get out of there easily without a sales hassle. I took a good look at the car, and took a black 05 six speed manual for a test run.

First impressions---->After seeing a decked out TL on the showroom floor with the A-spec kit, the stock ones just didn't look right. They almost had a wimpy stance. The stock 17" wheels look too small for that car. It is screaming for 18's taking in consideration the car's overall size. All in all it had a decent sporty look though, even though it could afford to be lowered about 1/2" - 1." Post test drive comment---->After looking at a lot of differnt cars recently, the stock 17" wheels seem to look ok and fill the wheel wells nice if the car is fitted with the mud guards. I don't know why but they really help the look of the car.

Interior-----> My first impression of it can be summed up in one word...AWESOME! The black interior looks killer and very hi-tech. Every button/knob looks and feels expensive. I was very impressed with the interior. The front seats were comfortable, but the horizontal portion seemed a bit too short.....I guess I am just used to my BMW sport package seats with the extended leg support (man I am gonna miss those). The rear seat leg room was less than I thought for a car of that size but not tight by any means. The rear seats also seemed to be too low to the floor as when your feet were flat on the floor your legs were angled above the seat instead of resting on it. One thing I noticed immediately was a few blind spots due to the pillars, and a small view out of the rear window. All that being said, when I got back to my 3 series for the ride home, the dash looked plain and "dated" compared to what I had just experienced.

The test drive-----> I almost stalled the car out as I lifted the clutch to engage first gear.....it grabs super low!! The shifter is awesome. Short throws and solid positive shifts with minimal "play." The car rode smooth and stable and took the bumps well. It kind of floats over them where as my 3 series (with sport package) kind of "hops" over them. The TL's longer wheelbase definately had a role here. In the cabin with the windows up it was so quiet I couldn't even hear the engine while cruising in 6th gear. I got on the throttle up to redline in 2nd gear a few times and noticed that over 3K RPM's the car really pulled hard. I was impresssed with the acceleration and smoothness of the engine, but the low engaging clutch made it hard to row through the gears smoothly....perhaps it is something to get used to. Handling was better than I expected for a car of that size. I didn't push it hard, but it had minimal lean and felt very stable. I did notice a bit of torque steer but to be honest it made the car feel kind of like the old E36 BMW's that had very low assisted power steering....kind of neat. I didn't push it hard through turns so I have no idea how the front end holds the road in a tight turn when you get on the throttle. That's where I am thinking I will miss my current RWD!

Misc---> I lifted the hood to see the power plant.......and it was a bit of a disappointment. It was mostly covered in plastic dress panels but underneath was not impressive at all...I guess under all the guise it shares a lot in common with honda. Trunk space was decent, although smaller than the previous TL and smaller than I expected. I was bummed to see a "safety dounut" for a spare instead a full size.

All and all i liked the car. I liked the way the car drove although it was much more refined than my bmw with a totally different feel. . I think I can live with the handling and get used to the FWD without much complaint, and I love the powerplant of the 270 HP 3.2L v6.....a considerable difference over my 325i. The interior is just about perfect, but my only complaint is that from the passanger seat the steering column looks a bit clunky. Another note is that I wish the key and key fob were combined instead of being separate pieces to have to carry around. Something else I noticed was that I think the car looks plain with out any fog lights in the lower front face. For some reason they put the fog lights next to the driving lights.....wierd!

I think this car is one of the best value's out there. What kills it a little bit is that in order to suffuce my tastes I would have to spend extra on wheels and an aero kit. I guess I am still on the fence about the styling and the fact that you see 75 yr old grandparents driving them too! The things that keep coming back to mind that I liked and definately stand out are: The shifter, the engine, the sound system, and the interior.

I hope to spend more time with the car soon to get a better impression.

midas69

First let me say I think you wrote a pretty fair review. I too thought when I first looked at it that the TL without the body kit looked wimpy in comparison. But it's all a matter of perspective. 99% of the people that will see you every day in the car have never seen it with the body kit. After having mine for 9 months, I guarantee you that that 99% don't think it looks wimpy.

I do agree about the fog lights. I still don't understand the thinking on that one at all. But the lack of those lights actually helps it be more a sleeper when driving at night, and more importantly, less of a cop magnet.

Other than that, the interior is what really sold me on the TL. Nothing else in it's price range looked as nice inside.

EDIT: Let me add one more thing about the handling. No way it will handle as well as your BMW, moreso compared to a new BMW. But with the VSA, it will let you get pretty stupid without totally losing it.

MR1

Nice balanced review, thanks. Everything that you mentioned has been brought up before. Find the RonJon section for some nice body mods and wheels.

Why are you complaining about having to buy rims when there is such a big price savings on the car??

Who cares who else buys the car? I see plenty of teenage girls and grandparents driving 3 series.

BigTone

very good review. i'm sure the new bmws ride a bit nicer as far as being quiet inside (more vault like). the power of TL kicks butt i love it. handling definitely is good, but its obviously front heavy. i have a few creaks/rattles that come and go in the interior. but the TL is really a great value, sharp looking inside & out. i dont think i could afford a comparable BMW that would offer as much luxury, power, size, fun as the TL (more like a well stocked 5 series). i prefer a TL to the 3 series for that.

mio

It took me 1 week to get used to the FWD~

Sarushibai

HA so true, I think every 20 yr old girl in a sorority has a 3 series, that was prob one of my biggest turn offs to be honest. "So like... bmw thats german right??" - (as she twirls her dyed blonde hair). Not to mention there are a lot of them on the road. To be honest I love the M3 though, wish I had one. Although luxury wise its not there, for obvious reasons.

Legend2TL

Fair and well written review, my brother drove my TL for the first time.
He has owned 5 BMW's and his thoughts was similar to your review.

Brettg

I came from a 2003 VW Passat GLX (german car).
The big (general) difference to me between the German cars and the TL
is the control and display layouts.
While all models differ in handling, power, comfort, the German cars
(based on a few I have driven) seem to be designed to make them
easy to drive and use, with a lot of thought given to allowing you to
pay attention to the road and driving, rather than playing with menues
or looking for hidden buttons and switches.

The Germans think up things like the low temp warning that beeps
at startup and displays a snowflake on the dash to warn you the road
could be icy...the TL hides the outside temp in a menu...
I had the ability to display the time, outside temp, miles on the car,
and the MPG (instant, trip, or long term) all at the same time....without
pushing buttons or going through menu's.


They provide valve stem caps you dont have to remove to add air to the tires,

They light up all the dash vent knobs at night, along with EVERY other
knob, button, control,

They give you a power outlet in the trunk,

They give you a rear sun shade,

They give you a nice audible beep on locking the car,

The radio stays on till the door is opened,

They give you day time running lights,

They give you REAL wood trim, and durable leather,

They allow you to open the doors without unlocking the car (from the inside),

They give you damped grab handles on the inside roof,

They give you 8 way power passengers seats, with 5 heat levels,

Really, there are loads of other nice touches throughout the cars.

What they DONT give you is a trouble free car, all German cars are
down in the bottom 1/4 as far as reliability goes.

I think the Hundai's are rated better than most German cars now,
with only a few like Kia lower....

Brett

F23A4

With Hyundai as Kia's parent company, Kia wont be in that position for long.

ac2001cls

Very nice review. I enjoyed reading since i just purchased my TL last week. Everything you said pretty much sums up the "so called" complaints on this forum. I have to agree with you on the fog light issue! Also why you can't have the fog lights on by themselves w/o the headlights. That kind of sucks to. However, when you do have the fog lights on it definitely makes it seem like it's daytime outside b/c the road is lit up and i mean it covers a wide range of the road as well as off the road. So you can't complain about that.

As far as the a-spec kit? My experience is different, b/c when i first saw the TL and checked it out, none of them already had the a-spec on it. The only TLs i saw with A-spec were the ones here in the photo gallery. So my impressions weren't as strong as your regarding it b/c that's not what sold me inititally on the TL. The only thing i'm thinking about adding as far as the a-spec is the suspension and definitely as you noted, the 18' wheels. Let me ask this, for the ones who didn't have the A-spec at first, however, installed it say months down the road, could people tell the difference in the look, etc...?

ericajackhannahjamie?

Glad you took the TL for a test drive and wrote this wonderful review. Hope to see you as a 3G TL owner in the near future.

mickey3c

The review was fairly accurate, but you were comparing price point and different (new vs old) model more than anything else.

A better comparison would be a new 06 TL and an 06 330. The 325 does not have the multi-stage intake that the 330 (3-stage) and TL (2-stage) have. That and vtec help with that seat of the pants feeling when you get above 3000 rpms.

The new 330 makes it torque at 2750 instead of 3500 as well so I would think that would be a better comparison. Also I imagine you would be spending 8k more. The suspension is more middle of the road on the TL since other than an Aspec, they decided to try for the best of both worlds. Hard to get a one size fits all.

Steel

Absolutely. I average at least one comment a week with the full a-spec package. I get thumbs up, surprisingly not all from young kids.

There is no comparison in sportiness between the a-spec and non, that was the draw for me.

ac2001cls

Thanks Steel... now the BIG question is let me whole about $4k so i can get it for my "Black Beauty"!!! :-)

TL_CLT

Right on about the 325/330 point. Now if only the TL pulled like the M3...

Neumahn

I just bought a SSM/Ebony 5AT Navi last week. The car I was replacing was a 99 BMW 750iL with the V-12. My BMW was a nice car. It defintiely was the type of car that I could go to any restaurant in LA and know I was pretty much in one of the nicest cars there. It was black/black with 18" chrome M-Parallel rims. People all looked and you felt special in it. It had incredible power yet was loaded and comfortable. It was great for the freeways like sitting in a lounge chair. The double thickness glass made it super quiet to where you could actually hear a whisper at 100. The problem was the reliability. My car was a certified preowned car and I bought it with 39k miles on it. It was costing the dealer about $4k a year in replacement items just to keep it on the road. The digital displays went bad regularly ($700). The plastic radiator broke like clockwork every 50k miles. Engine warning lights came on that the dealer could not find a cause for and a brake job was about $1200. Because of the cost of keeping it running (fortunately most of it at the dealer's expense) I quickly sold it as soon as the warantee expired. I am really enjoying my Acura TL now. The silver always looks clean and the electronics are years ahead of the european and american cars. Having owned a Honda in the past I expect the reliability to be siginificantly better that my BMW too.

DMZ

Brett,

You left out one more They give you that you probably didn't realize.

--> They give you Front Fender Side Marker Lights that blink with the turn signals like the rest of the European auto makers

Brettg

Yes, and it also had power folding rear view mirrors!
Great for city parking or tight European garages.
Every where you looked, there was a neat feature on that car....

It was also a tough car, i backed (hard) into a concrete ligh pole mount
(they removed the pole so you could not see it) with no damage, and in the dark
I rode over a concrete kerb (parking lot seperator) that had the wheels
off the ground...no damage at all!

It just always had problems, and the VW dealers are the WORST...

Brett

Mike_TX

Uhhhh ... I don't recall VW - or anyone else - "giving" you any of that stuff. Much of it isn't even standard equipment (heated seats, rear sunshade, etc.), at least on the German cars I've owned. So maybe you're not making a totally accurate comparison.

MR1

Makes no difference....all that stuff might as well be crap if the car can't take me and bring me back without drama.

Ga_Tech_TL

Which bimmers have u owned? The TL is faster than more than half of the bmws out right now. And only the 7series has nicer int touch than the TL. BMW is clearly a fun car to drive but dont have much lux in it

Sarushibai

whoa i am writing this one down. I got in a debate the other day about the 7 series. good input.

Legend2TL

A couple neighbors have that gen Passat also, what really impressed me with that car is the very high quality front suspension. It uses 4 links per corner. Two upper and two lower, they are not "A" arms since all the links have individual ball joints and are physically separate, also the anti-roll bar links has a ball joint, as well as the tie-rod ball joint. This keeps "stiction" (friction term used for suspension systems to a minimum). In addition all the 4 links per corner are made of cast aluminum, unlike the heavy cast iron lower "A" arm on our TL. One of the reasons for the great handling as well as road feel for the Passat.

For my wife's Pilot I can accept the use of cast iron for the lower "A" arm but would have thought Acura could have used aluminum for the TL suspension control arms.