jerry330

Hello All

My Bimmer just got flooded last week. And now I am considering the very attractive Acura TL . the options on this vehicle are hard to resist.

The BMW gave me a lot of headaches, too many to name.

I have read the problems page on this forum, and noticed that most of the complaints stem from rattles, and squeaks.

How severe are these rattles and misterious noises?

And are there any other serious problems that this vehicle has that I should be concerned about before purchasing?

I am considering a used 2004 model for $27500 with about 28000 miles on it. Is that a good price, or should I continue shopping?

Please help!!!

Thanx for all replies

Annsue

Hi, Jerry -
I was the owner of an '05 (AT w/navi) that was really quite an outstanding car. I never really experienced any of the rattles that have been described on these forums and the car was trouble-free. I loved it so much that I just couldn't resist the new TL-S, which I just bought about three weeks ago. I can't speak for the owners of the '04s, which of course were the first of this current design, so I'm sure some of them had a few problems. Good luck with your purchase - I think you might be able to get an '05 for not much more than what they're asking for the '04 you're looking at. Does it have the navigation system? Keep us posted!

easyman1211

which bmw did you own? i have an e46 and it rattles and creaks everywhere!

ankur914

Hey jerry,
I have a 2006 TL with Navi and its a great car! The two main rattles i had were the Center Mount Brake Light Cover rattling when the bass was going and the rear deck rattling when the bass was going. I was easily able to fix both rattles in 20 minutes! The car, other than that, is great. Just recommend that you use Aerospace 303 protectant on your dashboard as soon as you get it. Ive read threads that the 04/05 dashboards fade, so I didnt want to take any chances! Also, Lexol your leather a few times a year since it supposedly cracks easier than other lux cars (may be overkill, but oh wellll!). The cracks on the leather in my car are no more than any other luxury car Ive been in (except for audi's...those damn things have the best leather Ive ever seen!) Remember, this a forum where all the enthusiasts and car-lovers are gonna come. Expect to read a lot of complaints simply because we are wayyyyy too picky about our cars. Basically, the majority of these threads consist of minor problems not related to the heart of the car (i.e. engine, transimission), imho. Hope this helped!

jerry330

I had an 02 330ci. the rattles came from everywhere in the car. Doors, speakers. rear hatch, and seats.

Other problems from my car included a failed widow regulator, very rough idle during cold weather, wich was rumored to be the very expensive VANOS unit.
Druming sound from the front shocks after 30000 miles, wheel bearing failure before 50000 miles-twice. Misfiring cylinders, had to change all coils. ETC...

Don't get me wrong, I loved that car. And I'm sure all cars have issues. i'm just hoping to avoid the major pitfalls.

I just won't get another BMW unless I can afford a 540 or an M3.

Will Y.

You'll see lots of complaints on this forum (esp. here in "problems & fixes"), but most people don't experience rattles and noises. My car is very quiet and has never seen the dealer for any warranty issues.
The price on the 2004 sounds high, even with Navigation; hopefully it's a certified vehicle. You may want to search the main 3G TL forum for used TL prices. Some people have bought new 2006s in the past few months for $28K-30K (not including taxes, etc.).

rimz

welcome to AZ...

my wife and i bought a certified used 2004 TL with 46,000 miles on it for $26,XXX...i'd say you're getting a pretty good deal with that low of miles on it...i haven't really had any problems with squeaking and rattles...i think whatever you keep in your cupholders or panels on the front doors make more noise than the car itself as far as rattling goes...i LOVE driving our TL and do so as often as i can...i definitely plan on getting the 4G design in 2009/2010...

EndofFile

That price seems too high to me. I guess it depends on your area. What state are you in?

ankur914

I Agree.

JD TL-S

iTrader: (1)

Thats WAY TOO expensive for a 2004. More like 21k. As for problems I have had 2 TL's and 1 went in once for a rattle in the rear deck. Otherwise 0 problems. I read alot about European cars. Bad reliability Not what I rote, what I READ

jerry330

I live in Hamilton NJ - And the car I am looking at is certified used from a dealer, and yes it has all the bells and whistles that these cars are supposed to come with ,including NAVI.

It is true that they do come cheaper, i 've seem them as low has $20,000 W/O NAVI with about 45000 miles on them But I am afraid of major issues from cars.

bmaczo6

iTrader: (1)

The price seems a little high.

I have a NBP black 06 6speed with 8,000 miles that I would sell for $28,000.

JD TL-S

iTrader: (1)

I sold a 06 TL Auto NAV MINT 4k miles in DEC 06 for $27,500

csmeance

the price does seem high. I have an 04 TL and it is a wonder. I love driving it everyday and most of the time, never get bored with it. the 04 TL's have just a design flaw that was later changed in 05, the front and rear seats. The leather would stretch to your butt and start to pop up somewhat. TO solve this the acura engineers put in an extra line of stitching. I would suggest that you get an 05 TL which runs about the same price. As for the rattles, they are very minor and can be fixed easily by you or by the dealer. otherwise, the car is perfect and does not give any troubles whatsoever. I wish you the best of luck in your find for a TL or some other car to replace the BMW

HQTL6SPD

Lets trade, i've been loving E46 more than ever before. You want a TL that doesn't rattle, mine doesn't... Maybe its a sign! But seriouly lets talk. I have an 04 about 35k miles. What color, smg or manual, coupe/hardtop? Mine is silver with grey/black interior. PM me if interested.

HQTL6SPD

i wish i had an E46...

SteveP66

I agree - I am one of them.........2006 ASM TL bought November '06 - $28K.

MichaelBenz

iTrader: (2)

That price is too high. Heck...I bought my 05 Navi for 33,500, brand new.

ankur914

06 w/ Navi for 32,200 (b4 TTL). by the way, Sweet Ride M. Benz!

pohljm

seems high..........new 06 w/ navi for 31,100 b4 TTL

Dino the Clown

I highly recomend the TL 6 speed with Navigation

videojock

Too high, I got my 06 TL w Nav for 32.5k in last quarter of 06.

jerry330

THANX!!! for all your replies.

I feel officially welcomed to the ACURA family.

And you were all right! the price was too high. matter of fact the sales rep is now trying to sell it to me for $25,000, after he noticed that I was backing out. $2500 less then what he wanted originaly, And could not sell for any less----

Thank YOU To Everyone For saving me all that money.

I'm going to look at an "04" W/O Navi on friday. If I like it, Then I think I'll Buy it. I'll be traveling 2.5 hours to look at this car.

I negotiated $23,500 over the phone for it they wanted $24,995. Too good to pass up. Hope it's not too good to be true.

It's white with beige interior, and it has a wing. But no NAVI.-- I'll upgrade later.

online it looks very clean inside and out, and from the pictures, the car is in an indoor showroom.

I'll post more info after purchase.

thanx all

mlody

just an FYI - NAVI upgrade is not easy and cheap - if you think you need it, just pass on the car you found and find the one with NAVI. good luck

<<se7en>>

Agree entirely!!

ttribe

Regarding the Navi, I'll echo some of the previous sentiments and also mention that if you don't get the Navi, you lose the Voice Command features in the car (NOT the Handsfee Link for the phone, though). Plus, in my opinion, the '04-06's don't "look right" inside without the touch screen...you have this big space with a couple of smaller screens that scream - YOU DIDN'T BUY THE ONE AND ONLY OPTION FOR THIS CAR! Kind of bothersome...but just my opinion. Best of luck in your search!

Dino the Clown

i agree wait to u find one with NAVI and even better if 6 speed

pohljm

I originally did not want the Navi since.... "I know where I am going!" but the deals were so good on the 06's that for 900 bucks i said what the hell if only for resale value. It was only after I started driving the car did I realize how much other stuff I would have lost w/o the Navi system, I would advise going navi if anything else just for future resale, but you will love it until then.

aznsy

HEY JERRY! found this thread very intrigueing because i just went from a bimmer to acura 3 days ago ;P. I drove my dad's 2002 530i for about 2 years and it was a great car but BMW isnt really known for its reliability. The ABS weirded out on me over small speed bumps(it would kick in and shake the whole car although im goin 5 mph) the lights go out, the car's AC quit after a while, and the sound dampening got worse and worse. BMWs are good cars to lease really, that and the car itself was so low that the front bumper kept scraping against parking stops and eventually almost ended up falling off. The alternator went bad after about 55k miles too.

now.. this being my third day in my acura, i cant really say TOO much about it but first impressions... its an UPGRADE. sound dampening is good, sound system is @ least 3x better. There is rattling issues but that was resolved in another thread
<br>https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/walking-tall-sucks-156520/
<br>https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155272
<br>

Well, i bought my '05 acura fully loaded (nav, bluetooth, black leather int., power everything, etc.) for 27,900 @ a nissan dealership but this car was in GOOD shape. I checked the carfax and it said that the previous owner had taken it in EVERY 3k miles. few minor scratches near the front but besides that, pretty much perfect condition. so i would have to say even for that car your looking @ to be @ 25k is a little high in my opinion. the dealer can go lower. Then again, i had to buy warranty seperate. ur call

Keanu's mrs. T

I have owned an E36 and it was a fabulous handling car, but reliability and cost maintenance drove us away. My in-laws now have an E46 330i which is a great sports sedan, however though reliability hasn't been it's cup of tea. With the many problems including replacing 3 sensors, window inop, power seat inop, and other cosmetic failures these repairs are quite costly! I definitely recommend getting into an Acura TL it is a righteous car with minimal quirks, but the powertrain is bulletproof! My 06 TL had the visits to the dealer to fix a few rattles and a sagging headliner, but at least they were repaired, no harm no foul. BMW has nothing on Acura when it comes to building reliable and cost effective luxury.

aznsy

well yeah, the whole BMW driving experience is great but BMW is definetely not known for its reliability. One thing thats really different between the two (i found out today) is that tackling corners @ high speeds on highways requires a different driving technique in that the acura TL is a bit more responsive and a little too easy to turn so i had to compensate for going in too much then overcompensating that way. then again i was hitting 3 digits on the speedometer > When i did that in the bimmer it didnt have that problem, the steering is sturdy

BTW sidenote to Keanu's Mrs. T, since i couldnt message you im leaving a comment here. your avatar may be offensive to other people on this forum.

hydrazine

Hey all, I'm driving a 2001 E46 330Ci AT .. quite tempted to make the jump to probably a 05/06 TL 6sp. Like to hear some feedback, especially from those who made the jump!

The way I see it:
Pros
- Space of a larger car, practicality of a 4-door
- Manual trans making good use of the 258hp
- Honda/Acura reliability

Cons
- FWD vs RWD (how's the traction jumping from standstill when wet?)
- Smaller window than the coupe
- Some argue that the TSX is built in Japan vs. the TL built in US .. would like some feedback on that

Also, is NAVI the way to go? How much is reasonable pricing for the extended warranty?

Anything else I should know? Thanks!

Pika817

I purchased my 2007 TL-S in November of 06. It was rattle free for the first two months. I initially read the threads about the rattles and was concerned, but then I read other people saying that most people don't have rattles. My brother has bought the same car as me, and his car has developed rattles as well.

Now that the car is 10 months old, here are my findings:

1. Rattle near front guage cluster, from the plastic cover over the speedometer. This one isn't very loud.
2. Rattle near driver seatbelt pillar. Also, not loud as well.
3. Rattle near security light on driver door. Not too loud.
4. Rattle in center console. Not too loud.
5. Subwoofer deck rattle - Rattle with any song with bass. Brought it to the dealer, they said they foamed it. It still rattles. I brought it back and they said that they can't fix it and blamed it on Akon. um... yeah..
6. 3rd Brake light cover rattle. This one gets a bit annoying.
7. Sunroof rattle. Fairly loud, but if the sunroof cover is closed, no problems.
8. Front passenger door rattle. This is by far the most annoying rattle. It's very loud, and I can hear it even with the music turned up to 20. Actually, sound coming from the speakers just seems to make this worse. It seems to be coming from the extendable storage compartment on the door. If I open the compartment, the rattle goes away.

The smaller rattles aren't too annoying by themselves, (except for that one coming from the passenger door- that drives me nuts to the point I always have the compartment open now) but when they all happen together, it really gets on my nerves. Sometimes, I turn the music off to listen to the rattles and imagine it's a concert being sung by a chior of insects and crickets tap dancing in my car in surround sound.

Other build issues I have noticed:
1. door misalignment
2. poor quality leather (yes, I condition and clean once a month). I guess this isn't a build issue. It's more of a materials thing.
3. Weird cotton like material coming out of both my front doors. (WTF is that stuff?)
4. Rubber mat that's supposed to be under the shifter thing (where it says P/D/R/N/1/2, the metal looking cover) was not put in, so about and inch of it is sticking out at one corner. I'm sure the car came like this because the cover is secured very tightly and I can't push it back or pull it out.

I'll be bringing the car to service and seeing if I can get as most of it fixed. I'll keep you guys updated.

hydrazine

hey pika817, nice to see another vancouverite!

thanks for sharing your experience with me .. seems like a lot of the rattles would be common throughout the TL line then .. which dealership do you go to? have you tried out the other ones as well?

sounds like quite a lot of rattling .. do you think having a harsher suspension make it worse? my bimmer's also got a few rattles too .. and it does make the car seem cheap to friends and colleagues.

JD TL-S

iTrader: (1)

I had an 07 TL-S for 7 months and 7500 miles and had 0 issues. 0 rattles. My car must

of been built on a wedsnesday. I always wanted a RWD BMW, and was considering

a 335i Coupe manual sport pkg or the soon to come 135i, BUT reading SO MANY

people who own BMW's and having problems makes me nervous. Hopefully the next

gen TL with RWD or AWD will be awesome???

hydrazine

a while ago an auto magazine reported that acura's management decided the future lineup will be AWD, so your wish is granted!

having owned a bimmer 7 years .. i'd say they're great cars to have for the first 4-5 years .. in the future i'll probably just hold them 4 years instead of owning them long term ..

junktionfet

My '07 TL-S has had a buzz around the navigation screen since the minute I drove off the dealer lot with it. In addition to that, it has developed a harder rattle in the rear windscreen area as well as in the overhead console. None of these rattles really bother me, but they are pronounced enough that a friend of mine noticed them.

The car has developed a new noise that almost sounds like it is coming from the suspension. Roads around here are pretty bad at times, and I've hit a number of bumps that make the suspension produce a knocking or rattle type of noise. I can't tell if it's from the front or rear, but I'm thinking inclined to believe it is the front.

In addition to the other issues I've had (spark knock, notchy transmission, oil consumption) in the span of <7 weeks, I'm not feeling too confident in the quality of the car--certainly not for the money anyway.

My former TSX was also a bit of a crapmobile at first (bad fuel pump, brake booster, electrical gremlins, etc), though its issues were eventually ironed out and it proved to be a marvelous automobile. Lately I've been wishing that I had kept it and never looked at the TL, but oh well--water under the bridge at this point.

Good luck with your purchase. If you decide on the TL, I hope the one you purchase is one of the many that was screwed together correctly. If you get a dud, drop it as soon as you can.

JD TL-S

iTrader: (1)

Thats TOO bad. I didn't have rattles, but the suspension was kind of loud, but no

rattles. I guess some are done correctly. I have heard alot of people complaining

about the IS 250 and 350 having rattle problems, "From a Lexus" YES.

jerry330

Hey all

I did finally purchase a white 06 Tl W/Navi for $26,500. the car had 18,000 miles on it. wooden steering wheel, and shift knob, reverse sensors, blue tooth, And not to mention the interior color that I was looking for. (peanut butter).

It belonged to a college kid (princeton) who needed to get out of his auto financing for financial reasons. After about a week of negotiations, he finally excepted my offer. My credit is good so the loan was simply transfered to my name from his, and I was charge paperwork, and transfer fees of about $1200.

The car is absolutely gorgeous. I love how the details are more visible with the white.

They say good things come to those that wait, and this time, it was true for me.

It's a big relief to finally drive a sound sturdy, quite, and reliable vehicle. After about 4 months, I have 0 issues with this car. I baby the car like nothing else, It's driven maybe three times a week if that. And is kept under car cover.

In fact - I try really hard to listen and look for weird sounds and problem signs. (nothing) The only problem i had with this car, was warped rotors when i first bought it. So I purchase new rotors and pads from the dealer, problem solved. That to me is very minor compared to the past problems with BMW. And a lot cheaper.

No knock on anyone who prefers the german makes, they still are the ones that most car manufacturers compete with when it comes to auto build. But they do need to work on their reliability.

Pika817

Hi Hydrazine,

I bought the car at Richmond Acura, but I originally test drove out in Langley.

Everything on the car is stock, but I don't think the Type S suspension really makes the ride that much stiffer than a stock 06 w/o a-spec suspension. I agree that the rattling makes the car seem cheap. But I'm sure there are ways to fix it. I'm just too lazy.

Oh, and gogogo canucks!