I'm a new owner of a TL (red/ebony w/navi). My last car was a 97 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP. While I love my new TL, there are a few things that I miss from my Grand Prix, heads up display being the biggest thing. Why don't more cars have this great feature???

As long as we are on the topic I also miss my headlights not turning on and off automatically, and, on the TL, the music shutting off as soon as you turn the car off. (Pontiac stays on for 10 minutes, or until you open the door.)

Comments from the crowd?

 

You won't be able to get all-in-one vehicles for now or for this price. No car is perfect equiped everything you want plus the satisfying styling, interior and perforumance.

I don't mind having HUD on my car.

My old car has power telesscoped & tilted steering wheel since 94, and some ppl's old car has auto-leveling headlight and more goodies. Someone even can say his rear seat on the old car is foldable.

If you go to 04 Pontiac, will it give you all our 04TL has provided to you? Nope.

Be happy with what you have now.

 

I can't really imagine a vehicle with a whole lot more than our TLs. The only things I would have liked would have been the fold-down seat and maybe adjustable pedals. That said, I'm very happy with the car and can do without those two things.

Regards,

 

I can't believe you are comparing your 1997 Pontiac to our 2004 TL's. What a difference. HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!!! Shouldn't have even been used in the same sentence.

 

My comments are:

I've never wanted HUD, wouldn't pay for it. A buddy has it on his Corvette and likes it, but it's a don't care feature for me.

I want my radio to shut off when I shut off the car. This feature of GM cars annoys me. I guess I'm not the person who turns their car off and then sits there listening to the radio until a good breaking point.

Mike

 

HUD..That's the most annoying feature I have ever seen in a car,If you think it's cool,Time for you to turn your TL back in and go get a car more suitable to your tastes..an 87 IROC

 

HUDS are a good thing...It's a handy feature to have and use

 

I have the HUD in my Corvette and I like it a lot. I wish my TL had this feature. However, the HUD probably adds quite a bit to the cost and it does leave a big ugly hole in the dashboard.

There are two other neat features on the Corvette related to the speedometer. First, it only has a single set of numbers. You press a button to switch between English and Metric. When you push the button, the needle on the speedometer adjusts. An indicator displays MPH or KPH.

Second, the gauge is progressive. From 0-100 MPH, each major division line indicates 10 MPH. This section has semi-major divisions at each 5 mph and faint lines for every MPH. From 100-200 MPH, each major division line indicates 20 MPH. This section has the semi-major divisions each 10 mph, but not the faint lines.

The TL's speedometer is difficult to read. In my part of the world, common speed limits are 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, and 70. The TL doesn't mark any of these. Instead, they highlight 20, 40, 60, and 80. These are speed limits that aren't frequently seen.

 

I agree with the rest, for the price that you paid, you're getting quite a big value. If you wanted the HUD, the new 6 series has it.

 

forgive my ignorance, but whats in a hud??i know it stands for heads up display.

is it like the compass and stuff?

 

The one's I tried were annoying, I thought it did just the opposite of what it was intended for,for me I seemed to not focus on the road but on the HUD,even when I moved the display around.I guess to each his own but I'm glad that Honda/Acura does not have one.And TL fan I was jk about the iroc..should have been TA..

 

Head-Up Display projects important travel information into your line of vision beyond the windshield.

http://www.osram-os.com/news/news-BM...?lan=eng&id=64

http://www.compoundsemiconductor.net...s/news/8/3/4/1


Some HUDs only show you speed or odometer-like info, and major indicators.

New ones would add Navi direction/temp/AC info/phone/auido info, they ain't showing everything or clutter up your windshield, and you could select which you like to see and HUD will project it there.

For example, if you turn on Navi and HUD tell you how far to make turns and show you all the next direction, etc.


The main idea is to let you look staight. (BMW also develops Head-Up Display For F1 driver's helmet. Miniature)

 

I was actually offered Defi gauges HUD from the person I sold my old HID lights to from the eclipse forums.

He was offering me Defi HUDs VSD
http://www.defi-shop.com/product/basis/basis_top.html



Wonder if I should hit him up for some.

 

Heads Up Display

 

I have HUD in my current Corvette, and in my previous. The main people who don't care for it are those who have never had it. You'd be amazed at how quickly you become addicted to it.

For those of you say quit complaining, I dissagree with you. The forum is the perfect place to tell Acura what we want in our cars. If enough people want something, why not give it to us. I think we are all smart enough to know that it costs money. I don't think the original poster expects it for free.

I also completely agree that Acura needs to get with the program and give us fully automatic headlights. I can't remember the last car I had without auto headlights until the TL.

 

Amen!

Thanks for your input jjsC5.

 

Yes...we will keep Acura on the ball...

 

thankx rets

 

did anybody ever get the defi link hud?

or any other hud?

 

once again several months later.. i must try to revive this thread... lol

anybody installed the HUD? better yet, anybody even care to do it?

 

I am quite excited to hear that aftermarket HUD's are an option. When I bought the TL, I traded my '99 GTP. Most of the GTP was easy to get over. I still miss the HUD today.

I agree with those who are addicted to them. I was so used to it, that I almost spent another $10K on a BMW 5-series because of the HUD. I really didn't want to give it up. Granted the TL offers more than that in benefits, especially compared to a 5 year old Pontiac. However, we like what we like.

I love my TL A-Spec, but I loved my HUD, too.

I'm going to call the above link, and check them out.

 

Sounds like a neat feature to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'd buy it.

I agree... sharing opinions, suggestions, ideas is what this Forum is about. I'm sure the folks at Acura are listening.

 

and honda/acura does browse acurazine.com

 

Acura has used HUD in sevearl concept cars. The only production models with it though are the cars sold in Japan.

There are a LOT of things that Acuras are missing in the states but can be had in Japan or Europe. Why are some things missing? The bean counters. Yep, HUD is on the 5 Series as an option and not a cheap one at that. Acura is on the kick of "bang for the buck". They attempt to give you a bunch of techno stuff for a decent price compaired with the competition. Look at the RL. Heated and Cooled seats else where in the world, EXCEPT in the US. The JDM Accord (our TSX) has a lane departure system and seat belts/ air bags that "stand" ready when sensors determine that an accident cannot be avoided. Plus Honda has their own "Night Vision" system but not here.

So I'd say that Acura is well aware of the HUD and other items "wish list" but is comes down to building the cars to a price point. Now if Acura started doing what M-B is going to start doing again, then we will all have our wishes. Now, will we all be willing to pay the price for our wishes?

 

Good points. I personally would be willing to spend extra for the night vision feature and the HUD. Of course, it all depends how much extra it will cost. If it is the same (I think $1000) as the BMW, I would pay for the HUD.

On the other hand, I kind of like how Acura only allows us to choose navi or not, manual or auto, and the color combo. It makes it easier to get ahold of the car we want without waiting forever to order it. I would have been willing to give up the a-spec for features like the HUD - and possibly add the a-spec later (that of course doesnt apply to most people as only a few have gotten the aspec)

Of course, now I own the car, and I plan on keeping it for a few years (hopefully 6) and maybe at that time these features will be standard in whatever car I am looking at, and probably even better things that I will want.

As for now, I would like to have HUD put in the car, but I don't really want to mess with the electronics of the car much more than I have, but it will be something I will consider.

 

I think HUD's are for frustrated fighter jocks - personally, I do not need my speed indicated for anyone to view. That is why I passed on it on my Corvettes.

The Pontiac NEEDS a HUD - the rest of its driving dynamics are so cruddy, it must detract from that fact.

 

wow, a 97 pontiac has this feature??? no offence....

 

yes a 97 pontiac has the feature... i think it is an awesome feature and i would love it...

oh well

 

I must agree that my '99 GTP was not nearly the car the TL is, and did not handle nearly as well even with the money I spent on springs, wheels, tires, etc... I bought an A-Spec TL, and it is really no comparason (obviously) in driveability.

However, Pontiac did a really nice job dressing up the rather nice looking Grand Prix body style into a really fun car to drive (GTP), and a really cheap one to mod. Mine had dyno'd over 300 HP without the spray for comparatively little money. I never dyno'd it with the bottle.

I got some funny looks at the Acura dealership. The appraiser said "in 24 years in the car business, this is the first one I've appraised with a working nitrous system." Strangly enough, they wanted all of that stuff left in. I'm sure my 1/2 full bottle was empty that evening.

I would pay to have HUD and some other stuff not available in the states (JDM?). The base 5-series is pretty affordable. But when you fix it up with goodies ... damn! Acura has jammed a lot of standards into the TL's that DO set it above the rest, IMHO. I would like to have a few more options though. There are a lot of TL owners like me who are never satisfied with seeing another TL just like mine (take my wife's Explorer. There are 7 at every light)

 

I would much prefer the center-mounted gauge cluster a la Saturn Ion. That way everyone in the vehicle can focus on how slow we're going and not on the crappyness of the car (the Ion, not the TL).

Really, I guess HUD would be a nice feature but it's not anything I'd pay extra for. As long as I could turn it off if it got too annoying it would be ok.

 

the last aircraft i flew for a living made extensive use of hud technology.

and i've always been fascinated by the technology of 'focus set at infinity' and determining pilot (or driver) eye-level.

it seems that i recall cadillac having a hud at some point. and i thought that someone was working on one for night driving which used heat as a target- you could see body heat of animals, cars, people etc. i just don't know how they'd project it.

that bmw hud shown earlier was nice- with what looked like good features.

 

HUD would be good for me, too.

 

Another thing to consider is that with a HUD you cannot wear polarized sunglasses (it disappears). Found this out with the Corvette when I did one of those GM drive events.

 

 

I believe it was Cadillac that had the FLIR (Forward Looking Infra-Red) integrated with the HUD as a option that would show a animal/person.

I used to work in defence industry, all the ex-military pilots I worked with really appreciated HUD's and the amount of data/info they would display.

I test-drove a C5 Vette at a GM event with a HUD, it was neat but not a must-have for myself.

 

How well can one see the HUD when driving into direct sunlight? It is definatly a cool feature, and I would pay 1k more for it, the only problem is getting a little too distracted(well, at least you can see the road unlike the navi). Nightvision would be great!

 

I only want HUD if they also equip the car with stinger missles to blow annoying slow cars out of my way

 

does anyone know of some AFTERMARKET HEADS UP DISPLAY CONSOLES?

 

i found this...http://store.yahoo.com/sports-imports/diheupdita.html

 

Seriously....if it had that ability, I'd pay about $8k more for it.