I'm trying to decide whether I want a Type S. I currently have an FJ Cruiser and miss having a car. I have found a few Type S that I really like. I have driven Jetta turbo's that I have liked pretty well. I am trying to gather all the pro/cons of Type S. I would appreciate any input.

 

ALL PRO's, your going from a Toyota to an Acura.

HUGE PRO, the back up camera on the TL-s is WAYYYYY better/bigger than the backup camera on the FJ (assuming u have that feature).
FJ's dont have NAVI, TL-S does. FJ does not have HID head lights, TL-S does.

 

I do have the back-up camera which sucks. It is on the mirror and about 3X3". Not good, but better than nothing. HID lights would be nice. I know there is no comparison between the FJ. I have never driven an Acura. What about interior build quality?? Are there lots of creaks, cracks and rattles?

 

I found one a Silver one for around $20K with 56,000 miles. Is this a pretty good price?? Any problems that I should look for??

 

Pretty good price for a Type S.

Look for signs of an accident and see if it's salvaged.

 

Carfax is clean and it is about 4K below KBB for retail. I just want a nicely performing car that performs well out of the box that will hold its value for a few years..

 

Mines got some rattles that I'm slowly fixing. The rear deck rattles but it was an easy fix, check the forum for the DIY. I've got another bad one from the front passenger door that I'll look into when the weather warms up. The car handles great except for the torque steer, looks awesome, is really quick, gets great mileage on the freeway (28mpg at 90mph), is really quiet at speed, and has a great looking interior. It's a great highway car. I drove from Boston to Idaho in three days and was perfectly comfortable the whole time, great seats. City mileage sucks if you beat on it but that's true of any car that has any horsepower. Overall I'm completely happy with my 07 Type-S 6MT and will be even happier when I get rid of that door rattle!

 

Those are all things I am looking for. I have modded the crap out of my Jeep, then my Jetta and now my FJ which I am going to take a huge bath on. However, I really need to have some speed with better mileage and less road noise. The FJ is a great truck, but I never really take it off road. I need something that handles nice and l love the looks of the Type S, especially the wheels. I don't want to mod it in anyway except maybe some stickier tires.

 

I would like the 6MT, but they are very hard to find.

 

Pros:

- Not an FJ
- Not a Jetta
- It IS a TL Type-S


Cons:

 

I am more concerned with the cons. I definitely know it is a much different driving experience than my FJ or Jetta GLI. I really like the fact that the interior has so many options and the performance is really good. I don't want to fix a bunch of known issues with the Type S if there are any.

 

I was kidding. Mostly.

The TL-S is a great car overall. Not too many issues, but there are a few from time-to-time.

Dusty front brakes if using OE pads. Pads may wear faster than you're used too if you brake aggressively.

Some rattles. Fixes for most of them.

Occasional reports of pinging in warm weather and/or under load.

Occasional reports of noisy rear shocks. There's a TSB for that.

6MT has a notchy 3rd gear that may pop out of gear. Fix with GM Synchromesh FM fluid.

Maybe a couple of other small things. Not much really.

 

Good luck with not wanting to mod it! If you didn't wanna do that than you shouldn't have joined the forem, it'll make you wanna! Anyway, Welcome!

 

Welcome to AZ!! The TL-S is a great car. Best I've owned and I've had a few over the years. Good mileage for it's weight/size. Has all the bells and creature features built into one car and other makers nickle and dime you over, such as HID lights, bluetooth, navi, etc. Wait until you test drive it, you'll be sold!!

 

welcome to az ... the fj as u said is a great truck with its offroad capabilities, i'm sure u know toyota's legendary history with its off roading.

anyway when it comes to the tl in particular the type s ... there are no major cons. there are a few things such as rattles, and creaks inside the car. but im sure if it drives u crazy it would not be a hard fix ... also the leather sucks in the tl, it shows its age very quick, so that would be another thing i would look out for.

other than that the car is great, i love the drive, gas mileage, and it looks drop dead sexy! ... if the cars you are looking into have been well serviced they will take care of u, thats true of almost any japanese car, but honda in particular.

goodluck with your car search

 

I have to date owned 3 TL's lol. A 2007 base with nav, a 2007 Type S automatic, and now just bought a 2008 Tl Type S 6spd manual. All 3 of my TL's have been wonderful issue free cars. The reason I sold the original 2007 base TL was because after purchasing I found out it had been in an accident and was no longer happy with it and everyday after purchasing that car I was kicking myself for not getting a Type S. So I traded it for the 07 auto Type S. Great car! Overall excellent driving cars. They are roomy, comfortable, quick, amazing interior and exterior styling, and lastly good on gas.
Now on to the 08 Type S 6mt....one word.....amazing!!! If you go 6spd route plan to either wait forever to find one or have to travel out of state to get one...I had to travel, but it was worth it.

I dont think you will have any regrets with the TL no matter which one you get.

 

I am sure I will want to, but with the Jeep it needed bigger tires and lift which leads to other driveline mods. The JEtta needed to be chipped to bring out full potential of the car. The FJ really needed to all the same things as the Jeep, but more armor. My Jetta really didn't get great gas mileage and the FJ is worthless for that reason. I always wanted a Type S, but never wanted to spend $40K. NOw they are half that and I figure an owner of a Type S will usually take better care of it than say a used Jetta.

 

I was originally looking at a base TL. How much difference in performance is the S over the base??

 

Am I the only one that thinks the Carbon Bronze Pearl looks good??

 

How many miles is too many when looking at a Type S??

 

i love the carbon bronze pearl ... one of the best colors made for the tl

 

Do they make White Type S??

 

Yeah...

 

Is 88K miles too many to start with? What type of services or problems arise at that mileage?

 

88k miles is fine. hondas push 250k all day if you treat them right.

you'll have a 105k service, which runs about $1k in parts/labor.

 

The only cons for me are the following:

-The interior garnish trim is a faux-carbon fiber instead of a nice brushed aluminum like the non Type-S models.
-Minor squeaks, which are fixable if you check out the Garage on this forum.
-The dashboard clock font looks kind of outdated. Also, the A/C system isn't integrated into the navigation. Infiniti does that but not Acura.

Overall, I bought my 2008 Type-S and I don't regret it at all. I wasn't a forum member prior to my purchase so I wasn't biased either. There are so many PROs to the Type-S and I'm sure everybody will mention them.


By the way, I got a Kinetic Blue Pearl with 24k miles for $26k in Los Angeles. That's just to give you a price perspective.

 

I would like to find a 6MT, so I may hold out for one of those. Right now, selling the mods off the FJ will be the priority. Hopefully I can do that quickly. The colors I would go for would be in order: white, carbon bronze pearl, silver, blue and black. I would prefer to never have a black car again. Too much upkeep and shows way too many flaws. The carbon bronze pearl is really growing on me.

 

The rims on the type S are soft and can get curb rash very easy, also over the winter I hit some pot holes in NYC and now have 3 bent rims so thats something else to try and check on other then that its the best car I have ever owned. Oh and WDP is the best Type S color

 

All rims get curb rash easily if you hit a curb. So since I'm not a moron and don't hit curbs I should be ok. I'm definitely not saying you are a moron if you have hit a curb, but I know I have never hit one.

 

no I don't hit curbs but all of the type s's i looked at had major curb rash and some were fixed very badly. all I'm saying is take a close look at the rims before you buy.

 

It would be a deal killer to have rashed rims. I love the Type S rims so they have to be perfect on all 4. Thanks for the info!!

 

Yup infact I use exactly the curb rash thing when searching for a used car. I know this may sound goofy but I believe a car that has no curb rash generally was owned by someone who is more careful and overall takes care of their car more. I searched for a while for a 6mt Type S and every single friggin car had curb rash up the ass. Its like what do these people do drive on curbs all day wtf?!? Anyway, I finally came across one out of state and when they sent me pictures showing not a single piece of curb rash on any wheel I knew this one was worth looking into. Sure enough I bought it and the car is amazing (see my thread that has pics). I have owned like 14 cars never once rashed up a wheel.

James

 

Another CON I forgot to mention. Headroom in back is tight for six footers. I was spoiled with my old Maxima without moonroof. For shorter people it's fine though.

 

your post just made me more stuiped

 

Type-S is fully loaded as a standard. the only options are the aspec lip kit and maybe aspec rims. The fact that brembos can on a TL really got me excited for it. I am grateful Acura made it this way instead of having to pay extra for each additional feature. Also another color exclusive to a type-S would be Moroccan red pearl. give it a look, you might like it. I wanted the white exterior with black and gray seats but i couldnt find one at the time so i settled for the beige but it has grown on me because i love the beige and black look.

A big con for me was the brake dust from the oem pads and the weak subwoofer. im not a pro to audio parts but i think the sub could have been better quality. i also wished we had the sunglass holder up top like most other cars.

dont trust carfax, from personal experience. my carfax said it was clean but when i took the bumper off clearly that bumper support was dented in. My car drives fine and theres absolutely no problems. my car came with mint type-s wheels and i curbed it because the street i parked on was tight and i didnt want to get side swiped or anything by other drivers. it was only my first week with the car too! sadly i learned that our side mirrors tilt down when u set it in reverse a week after.

 

Someone please correct me if im wrong but im pretty sure Moroccan Red pearl is available on the base cars for 07 and 08. The only color exclusive to the Type S would be Kinetic Blue Pearl.

James

 

I keep looking at the 2008 TL and it seems they are all around 50K miles. Doesn't that seem like a lot for a car that is 3 years old??

 

Morocan Red Pearl was a Type-S exclusive!

 

Or not.


http://www.hondanews.com/channels/ac...-body?query=TL

 

I found a carbon bronze pearl TL-S for $23K with 50K miles on it. I am working on a deal that will hopefully come in a little lower. I am wondering how this paint will hold up to scratches, etc. I am never buying a black vehicle again because I can't stand the scratches that inevitably come with regular washing, etc.