donkeykang

So in about a month or so I'm expecting to buy a TL and I don't mean to be rude or anything but I'm starting to not see what the big deal about the TL is. Yeah OK good luxury features and performance wise it is pretty good but to me it seems like it pales in comparison to many other cars. I guess after looking more deeply into the TL I kind of wonder why so many people love the TL. I didn't know that a V6 Accord was up to par with the performance level of a TL so yeah...my plan for the TL was to work and earn money to boost it's performance little by little...but I'm wondering if that will all be worth it? Aghh sorry I guess I'm ranting I'm just confused is all. I had my heart set on the TL and I've been working hard to get the money and I just totalled my 93 Legend in an accident so meh.

Help. Restore my confidence in the TL...plz...

carcar

You're 17 and in the market for a TL?? Most people spend their whole life to work up to a new TL!!!

Second of all, wrong thing to say in this forum. Fair warning.

However, within the next 12 hours, people will set you straight!!!

It's simply the best vehicle for $35,000 or less. PERIOD!!!!! Performance, luxury, standard features, reliability, quality. And if you're having trouble with comparing it to the Accord, ask anyone and they will tell you how VERY different the two are.

carcar

Norse396

At 17 I can think of better options than buying a 30 something's type car...

ali_enterprises

You got me their.

Oh wait good performance, beautiful interior and exterior, good features, great car to mod because it is not part of the tuner norm at least in my area it isnt. Oh yea who can forget the fun factor when driving the TL.

xlilbluux

im 16, i dont know why but i like the TL a lot unlike my other friends that want an evo, a sti, a rx8, and a s2000. maybe you should consider those cars at this age? otherwise here are my reason for TL

its different from my friends
navi to show off (if you get it)
the dual climate control (i dont know why but i think thats the coolest thing there)
the blue lights
voice controlled stuff
quietness (i like the sounds of turbo cars but they tend to get annoying after a while)

o yeah i dont have the TL yet but thats what i really want :P, hopefully my school grades will help me get the car .

RTDyer

So ask your mommy to buy you something else.

WDP-Acura TL

Geez, you dont sound like you want a TL. Get something else then. Maybe a STi, Honda Civic, Si, etc.. a car that suits you well The ones who own a TL love the car a lot. Especially me. My first Honda product can the car hasnt giving me and headaches since the 1st day of driving it off the lot.

xlilbluux

hahahahahhahahahahhaha, thats a good one, wait....
my mom is buying my car too -_-.

varanelli

Wow, 16 and 17 year olds deciding between a TL, S2000, STi, Evo, etc. Sounds like a tough life. I'm probably a little envious. I worked at that age but could NEVER have afforded cars like these.

aGenKa

i think acura products have a wide audience. given the price of the tl, it is obviously targeted at a older crowd then the rsx, tsx, and the old integra, but because of these cars i think a lot of young kids like tls as well. partially due to the acura image and the sleek lines of the tl exterior. my mom is buying my car too....flame away

but honestly, you don't need such a big car at 16, personally i thikn you would be better off w/ a smaller car. and if performance is your main goal there are many other cars that perform better for around the same price range. tho i think the tl has an unbeatable mix of features at a great value, which is prolly the answer you gonna get from people here

good luck in your car search

donkeykang

well everyone my parents are only putting up half and i still have to cover the insurance. yeh i actually work hard to make my money and i'm in the work of starting up my own business right now so uh yeah...i wouldn't talk. in no way am i trying to downgrade the TL in anyway I just lost path as to the original reason why I started aiming at the goal of the TL. i will be keeping the TL long-term so yeah I'm thinking it would be a good long lasting car to have through graduate level studies...

bfogarty

Why at 17 would you put that kind of money into a car unless you have some rich parents doing it for you. Even then, they should be putting the money in an account that will earn money for you. Your goal at this stage should be to accumulate assets that will throw off money so that at 40 or 50 you don't have to worry about being under the control of someone else. Having a great car is nice, but it is not an investment. I see it all the time. Guys with very expensive cars that they can't afford. I will earn over $300,000 this year and I drive Camrys and Accords. The TL will be my up-grade gift to myself. I spend money on alot of things and I am in no way cheap. I had a Porsche at 21 and a hell of a lot of debt at 30. Take it from someone who been through job elimination. It's nice to have money in the bank, so you don't have to worry about it. Good luck.

leo221

17 years old looking for tl? two possible reasons
1. your are a white dude with a rich dad.
2. you are asian. knows how to manage money, even getting only 12 bucks an hour on part time, you are still able to buy a tl.

which one are you? i m asian.

golfingguru

Dude, you're 17....drop 24K on an Impreza and use the remaining 11K for college.

aGenKa

2 should be changed to you are asian with a rich dad and knows how to manage money, even getting only 12 bucks an hour on part time, you are still able to buy a tl.

most asians who didn't come on a boat are pretty well off and are pretty spoiled by their parents, for example in the form of a nice car...as cars are a status of symbol, especially in asia

asian guys really like tls a lot, at least from my experience...again due to partially to acura image and sleek exterior

haha golf i wish college only costed 11k

kyle-wdp

If a 17 year old invests 2000 per year into a retirement account for 10 years and then never invests another dime the rest of his life he will have a little over a million dolllars on his 67th birthday. Not bad for a 20,000 dollar investment. I wish I was seventeen. I would drive a piece of crap and do that. Oh wait when I was 17 I did have a crappy van.

Mike_TX

Look, I'll accept that this is a legit post. I can see how someone can get revved up on the TL, then come here and see all the bitching and get turned off. You guys who have the car are "sold" (in more ways than one), so a lot of you will fly to the defense of the car. But there's lots of good iron out there today, and it ain't as clear-cut to some of us as it is to you who have plunked down all those sheckles and need to justify it.

The TL's a killer car, no doubt, but so are several other cars in the same general price range. Maybe this guy needs to spend some time with a G35 or WRX or something, and decide whether the TL is for him or not. Doubt is sometimes a healthy thing, so don't beat him up for having it.

Mike

aGenKa

it is extremely hard to tell a 17 yr old to not spend 20,000 if he has it, even older "wiser" people who have extra money lying around usually make some kind of an impulse purchase. human nature?

donkeykang is your last name kang? if so there's a lot of great first name combinations

m favorites:
free kang
mexi kang
joe kang
burger kang
king kang
suh kang

all in jest

golfingguru

I agree with Mike...the TL is not the only great car out there and to a large extent beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I know a lot of people who own everything from Buicks to BMWs who swear by their cars. This guy should check out the TL; however, it's likely that there are other cars out there such as the WRX, Evo, RX-8, etc that may be more appropriate for a 17 year old.

Of course, he's still a lucky bastard to be looking at TL's at that age....I drove an 1985 Dodge Aries when I was 17....try picking up chicks in that!

PA-TL

You guys have said it all...I'm not going to say a word, except to say look at my list of cars before I got my TL

• ’64 Willy Jeep CJ-5 (used 100,000 mi) (Brown/Tan) (age 17)
• ’67 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme (used 60,000 mi) (White/Black) (age 18)
• ’62 Ford Thunderbird (used 50,000 mi) (Turquoise/Turquoise)(age 18)
• ’71 Chevy Caprice Classic (used 120,000 mi) (Rust/Black) (age 19)
• ’77 Subaru 2dr something or other (used 70,000 mi) (Tan/Tan)(age 20)
• ’79 BMW 733i (used 80,000 miles) (Blue/Black)(age 25)
• ’81 BMW 528e (used 67,000 miles) (Charcoal/Burgundy)(age 26)
• ’89 Ford Taurus SHO (new!) (Red/Grey) (age 28)
• ’91 Chrysler Conquest Turbo (used 1,700 miles)(Silver/Burgundy) (age 30)
• ’93 Jeep Grand Cherokee (new) (Green/Grey) (age 33)
• ’97 Infiniti I30t (new) (Gold/Parchment) (age 36)
• ’04 Acura TL (new) (SSM/Ebony)(age 42)

V6Lover

Man.........I didnt even have a car until my 2nd year in college and it was a beater celica at that, drove that thing to the ground for 7 years. Like one of the previous posters, you should put that 20K or whatever into an investment account and watch your money grow. Compound interest is your friend, when you are young.

If you do that, by the time you are 30 something, you will be laughing at all your buddies, when you have $$$$ and they are worried about being outsourced, losing their jobs, deep in debt, etc...

Always pay yourself first....delayed gratification is worth the wait.

EggrollXpress61

Get out of this forum.....NOW! lol jay kay. Im also 17 now. I love every pushpin in Estelle (my TL). But people, lets not make this into another "Your such and such an age, thus you cannot drive car X because Im upset that under the circumstances (Wealthy family. hard Working person, Extra $$ on hand, Family vehicle etc) you drive a car that I can only now afford as I am going over the hill and I am only making this post because I envy being able to afford a TL when i was your age" thread...ok? I hate those, lol. thanks! btw TL rocks all!

EggrollXpress61

lol, bet U could fit more chicks in the van than in the TL though

GaleForce

Wow, you guys seem to have no problem attacking people younger than you because they're fortunate enough to get nice things from their parents. Chances are, any 17 year old getting a TL (including myself) isn't going to have to worry about paying for college. If they did, they wouldn't be getting an expensive car.

Aegir

Sounds like you've worked hard to save up, and you've impressed your parents enough with your initiative that they are pitching in to help. Congratulations - I'm guessing a graduation or some other gift? Anyway, it sounds like it's something special and deserving of a special car - the kind you remember forever and maybe keep forever too. Sorry, but if that's the case the TL doesn't fit the bill. Keep looking, maybe at some car shows for something classic. Good luck.

EggrollXpress61

My parents also see it in this paradigm. I however see it in another. The generation previous to ours learned diffrent values. I can say for the most part that most of todays youth sees accumulating all that money until your 50 diffrently. Maybe the paradigm shift comes with maturity as one ages. Hence, your porsche at 21. i guess this does show all generations could also have had this mindset. I however, still do feel a little bit that if you dont use it while your young, it wont get any better when your older. However, Whenever I do have this "you only are youthful once, so live it to the max" mindset, I do on the other hand value the worth of a hard earned dollar which keeps me from blowing my money all at once. I do admit, that I sometimes have some pitfalls and some mistakes. I try my best though most of the time. looking back on it now, I turned down an M3 a couple months ago to invest in the stock market. Although an M3 would be nice, having the assurance that you could buy more of an m3 now with the money youve saved/invested feels VERY nice. Im actually planning on not buying a new car till I am out of college and using my "m3 funds" as funds to buy my house when Im in college. Now THAT will be nice . Just my . Sorry to go all Dr.Phil on yall there for a second, lol

EggrollXpress61

If you want to work on preformance lilttle by little, buy a used supra on Ebay like my cousin did for $12,000. hes workin on it now, havent seen it yet (lives in Seattle) but hear its hella nice.

missmyprelude

Do yourself a favor and spend some $$ on a performance driving course or two. I've seen and heard of far too many 17 somethings killing themselves or others in high-powered cars because they really don't know how to drive. No offense, but experience means a lot. And the experience you can get at some performance driving schools is priceless. You learn a lot more in a controlled environment in a shorter period of time than you could ever learn by yourself on the street.

Off my soapbox.

donkeykang

ok to answer, im asian. can we please get back to the subject please. no need to question my reasons for the TL. this being a TL enthusiast forum i just wanted to know why everyone loves the TL. haha geez

missmyprelude

In 50 years, that million dollars might even buy you a pretty nice car. Don't bet on it buying much else. Yeah, I know, I'm exaggerating a bit...

PossibleTL

Hey everyone, i find this topic very interesting as far as being too young or "old" enuff to get the new TL. I'll be 22 this month on the 26th. And i currently have a 2001 Acura 3.2CL TypeS. And i've been inquiring about the TL simply because i NEED a bigger car. My fiance is expecting come the latter part of October for those of you on here that don't know. I know some do b/c i've posted threads about the space in the backseat, etc... I mean a lot of people ask me now, what am i doing with the car i have now? But i'm like the same reason why the next person my age is driving a 3/5 series BMW, either b/c they can afford it or there parents got it for them. In my case, i can afford it. So that's basically what it boils down to. Oh and rest assured i will have the new TL come the end of Sept. or early Oct. And i will be more than happy to post pics, etc...

leo221

just like my guess, you are my asian bro. have you test drive it yet? that will restore your confidence with in no time.

jrecufan

Frankly, I'm a bit baffled as to why everyone here is giving you investment advice too. I'm sure there are enough people in your life who already do that for you at your age.

Anyway, I'll answer your question with a little history of my own.

I love my TL because:
- it's the most luxurious car I've ever owned
- it's the best performing car I've ever owned
- it's the fastest car I've ever owned
- it is whisper quiet inside
- love the smooth ride
- HUGE cool factor - many heads turn when they see it
- excellent safety features
- quality beyond compare

I have owned 5 cars before this one. My first was a Chevy Citation (I'll spare you the "that's all I could afford when I was in college" sermon you've already gotten here). The next 4 were all Honda Accords ('87 Accord LXi, '90 Accord EX, '98 Accord EX, 2000 Accord EX).

You have to find a car that has the value in it that you need and want. For me, that means a quality car that will last, along with some bells and whistles, a good sound system and cool styling. The Accord, for the most part, fit all of those needs. But I got the itch for something new recently and found the TL and fell in love. Plus, I had decided I didn't want Accord #5 and wasn't sold on the styling. But I love Honda quality and knew that Acura would be even better. So that's why I chose it.

As far as performance, I'm not sure why you compare the Accord V6 to the TL. There is no comparison. And personally, when I first went to test drive the Acura, I thought there wouldn't be a huge difference between it and my EX, but I was SO wrong (see my first list of why it's so good).

I can't convince you to get it - you need to do that yourself. Just know that I am more satisfied than I thought I could be. Plus, it is one really hot looking car!!!!!

Above all, find something you're going to enjoy.

SitAndMeditate

I love the TL because it's an excellent change up coming from a sports car. The ride is much more luxurious and comfortable, yet it still has things like 6MT, brembos, and a somewhat sporty ride. The navigation system is simply awesome. The shifter is butter smooth. It's really really quiet inside. It looks good to me, yet it is more pedestrian and less gaudy, I like it that there are fewer people who notice and try to pick a race. It's much cheaper to insure, register, and maintain. 17 inch tires rule, no more $250 performance tires. Looking forward to bullet proof reliability.

1SICKLEX

Yeah, if I was 17, I'd get something more fun that I could modify....Even if u get a TL your a lucky dude.

cdkruaya

Myself:

-'94 Mazda MX-3 (New)(89 hp) 4 banger parents bought me new for around 12k (age 16!)
-'03 Acura TL (New) 8 years later with 6 years of college under my belt.
-'04 Acura TL (New) Man I sure am glad I stayed in School

apwalsh

It's my personal opinion that being given things by your parents has a negative effect on kids. Get food grades and I'll buy you a car, etc. Now these kids are expecting rewards everytime they do things they are supposed to do, even if their parents are dead, and they live with their aunt who has 20 children, and a $5 an hour job.

Of it will not have this effect on everyone, so I am not saying you are anyone else here is like that. I'm saying that this happens MOST of the time, and we are raising a nation of children with warped values that could someday be running this country.

Liquid _Courage

[QUOTE=bfogarty]I will earn over $300,000 this year and I drive Camrys and Accords. QUOTE]
Um, are you hiring?

donkeykang

I took the MT 04 TL for a test drive...I couldn't breathe...wow

the clutch is extremely light but yeah...most likely going to end up with AT anyways...

WOW...what a test drive...

kosh2258

I don't know, you tell me.

When I buy a vehicle I do it because it fits my needs/wants at the time. I don't buy it because somebody said I should or because some car magazine wet their pants over it from excitement at that particular moment.

It's your money, so to speak, so if you like it buy it. If you're not certain you do like it then perhaps you need to do some more research, test driving, and scouting out of the choices available before you decide. Test drives are the important thing. When you find a vehicle you really like, and can afford, you'll know it when you drive it.