Are the complaints about Rattles, etc. legit?

Other than the fwd, and the fact that I see a ton of them on the road, I haven't noticed these problems, when I've driven them (about 10 hours of total driving).

Are the people posting these complaints from other forums (G35, etc)? What gives?

Consumer Reports rates this car exstremely high. Sure, other car mags and reviews have labled the fwd, a fatal flaw, among other road manners, but I've seen nothing but the highest praise for the car's refinement. This is an ACURA, not a Chevy, or Ford.

It doesn't handle like a BMW, and it's not as solid as a porsche'. BUT it's also not a $40K plus car.

Please let me know, if there are some REAL issues w/ this vehicle, beyond the fwd. I may be buying tomorrow.

Also, one of you guys has a G35 & a TL, if you could only have one, which would you pick? Are they both AT, MT? Which?

Thanks!!!!!

-Downtown

 

Most of people here probably considered at G35, as I did. G35 failed to impress me when I test drove a TL & a G35 back to back.

Nevermind most of the complaints... I have none. Well, one; the damn tires.

You've already realized this is not a 40k+ car, so I'm sure you'll be completely happy with the TL. If possible, get the 6MT. G'luck.

 

What's wrong w/ the tires? Is it just the summer tires only? What's up?

I've heard this from both TL's and G35's.

Oh, and I'll be getting the 6MT, no worries

 

On a forum, all you will hear is complaints. Not everyone has the problem, maybe a tiny percentage of the population do. Think about how many TL owners are out there and how many are registered here, and then how many complain on this site. My car is fine, no rattles, no problems, no complaints.

 

What's wrong with the tires? They fail to grip at times. In a way, it's a good thing since it keeps me from taking the corners fast... but it also means I can't drive the car to its full potential. Also, they seem to vibrate a lil at high speeds. The tires I have and am referring to are the Bridgestone Turanza EL42's (all seasons).

 

I have had early problems. Both Consumer Reports and JDPower essentially gave it a grade of "C" for reliability. I think the number of complaints on this board illustrate that they got it right.

 

Visit any car forum, most of the discussions will be about problems. Every car will have some soft of problems. Each car will be different off the assembly line, its just the way things are. Even 100K plus BMW 7 series' have problems. You can't escape it, some level of humar error will exist.

 

Downtown, if you have had good vibes from your TL, post them. It's refreshing to see the positive side from time to time. My TL will be a year old on Monday and so far, I've got no complaints, well, one small rattle to which I'm oblivious to. Everytime I wanted upgrade, something unforseeable comes up which takes precedence over the car. That's life and that's the way it goes. One more comment....I love the car and I love driving it.

 

My 3GTL AT was just great before 5 months when I've stared to get rattles and lately a strange vibration at around 50mph. I know that no car is perfect however the expectations increase in proportion with the price of the car. If I wanted these types of problems I could've bought a Neon or Kia for a lot less!!
I am starting to regret that I got this car and for sure my next car will not be an Acura!

 

i have nothing but positive things to say about my new tl... i have noticed issues like the driver headlight being lower which was explained on this forum to be normal... also the braking issue on uneven roads... but as far as noise i.e. rattles, i usually have the sound system turned up and could not hear those anyway... the sound system is awesome... xm radio is really cool if you have never had it before...

its like anything in this world, if you look hard enough and long enough you will find problems and that is with anything...

the tires however are a different story... the bridgestone turanza tires that came on my car do not impress me at all... bridgestones only seem to ride well after they warm up for awhile on the road... vibrations you feel say between 50 and 55 mph are your tires not the car... when my bridgestones wear out i can't wait to get better tires... thats my 2 cents...

 

I love our TL.

I got a 33,5000 car and got my money's worth.

My father'law has a A4, and they have rattles and problems too. They have had brake problems, and had have to repack the wheel bearings on a 50,000 car... That was a big turnoff for me. One side went, and now the other side needs the wheel bearings fixed. So much for Audi quality.

Mercedes and BMW don't have high reliabity ratings, so try to make your comments in context.

And maybe these EL tire are noisy, but tires are selected because they will last and have decent ride quality, they are not picking tires that just last 9,000 miles.

 

I hate my TL and wish I didn't buy it. I expect more. Wait and get the Lexus IS. This TL -- and especially Acura dealers -- really can't play in this league. It's just awful -- the rattles, i had to get new rotors (and fight for them), the paint doesn't match, the bluetooth is terrible, the dealers are jerks (2x for good measure!), I am very disappointed in this car.....plain and simple.

 

Good luck with the IS. I've heard that car shouldn't even be badged with the Lexus name due to it's problems (from reading forums and from friends who've owned them). I have no problems with my TL either and am very happy.

 

"Complaints? Why so many?"

My Knee-jerk reaction was what did you expect in the "Problems & Fixes" area? however, I think the rattle "problem" is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. Some cars may never develope the interior squeaks and rattles, some will and the noise will go un-noticed because the owner has the audio system on all the time and it drowns it out. Maybe those owners in more stable climates have less interior noise issues than those in more extreme areas.

As far as the amount of problems detailed in the posts...maybe Acura owners are more likely to surf the web and post on forums.

I have the squeaks and rattles (and some other issues) and it is a problem. It would be a problem no matter what the make or model of the car or truck. I like the TL, but if I had to do it all over again, I would probably look at the BMW 3 series a little closer....I'm not saying I would buy the 3, but at least I wouldn't be second guessing myself now.

 

rstark -- thanks for the warning on the IS. Funny, I did look for a forum to double check that! The new one doesn't come out until October, so I have the TL for a while....it's just that I expect more from a $35k car....but what puts it over the edge is the terrible dealer network....and I've tried 3 -- Acura of Pasadena, Acura of Santa Monica (the worst), then a new one, Acura of Glendale (with a lot of the same folks from Pasadena). I've owned a two 3 series, one 5 series and a Toyota 4Runner. The Acura dealer wasn't even as good as the Toyota dealer.

 

I personally have sort of a daily interection with 3 TL's (mine(04) , my bosses(05) and my neighbours(04) ) and I dont have most of the problems mentioned on the forum except for a door rattle which was fixed and the third brake light issue which was also fixed...I think people are just Anal with small glitches that come with a car and bitch about every little thing...

 

I'm originally from up around there, and I checked around dealers there when buying my TL. Acura of Downey (who I ended up buying from) and Acura of Tustin were the two nicest dealers I encountered. If the G35 interior space and quality had been as comfortable and nice as the TL I would have bought from the Infiniti dealer in Monrovia. Infiniti of Tustin was extremely pushy and almost arrogant in the sales pitch. Dealers really vary wildly. Lexus in Tustin ignored me for quite a while (I was looking at the IS, MUCH too small) and Mitsubishi in Tustin wouldn't even let me touch an Evo.

Getting back to the original topic, I have about 7K miles on a 3 month old TL, with absolutely no problems and nothing in the way of vibrations or rattles. Nothing regular anyways, occasionally there's a very faint sound coming from the driver side pillar or something to the left above/near my head, but it goes away quicker than I can even locate it.

 

You're wrong. The fact that you don't have problems with your TL does not make people Anal as you stated.
How would you react if your car is a concert of rattles or you'd have to fight your dealer to get a new set of brake rotors after 10K miles.
Just so you know, I have 10k+ on my 2005 TL and approx 90% of mileage is driven on hwy. My car started to vibrate if I hit the brakes at 60 mph.
My dealer said the rear brake rotors are gone.....after only 10K!
I would never recommend this car.

 

Amen! I am having the same experience...

 

As I mentioned I am in daily interaction with 3 TL's so its just not only mine...

I do understand you personal issue with the brake but DUDE you cannot just blame the whole Model or the Brand being crappy!!! My issue (and the anal reference) is that with every little issue people come to drastic conclusions....No car manufacturer is flawless, you had issue with the brake (what is the percentage of this issue occuring?) i mean one issue on one individual car does not make hell break loose...

 

I'm sorry but....
1. Malfunctioning bluetooth
2. warped rotors that I had to fight the dealer to fix (me and others, I now know)
3. Rattles -- not just dash -- we're talking like strange bearing noises from the engine that the dealer aknowledges -- yet can't correct
4. The third brake cover needed to be replaced (this was not a biggee...but nontheless)
5. Paint discoloration
those are just mine...the car has 24k miles on it. It costs be $33k and change. I'm sorry, this thing is not up to snuff. Yes, no car is perfect, but combine these items with jerky dealers...and bye-bye Acura. And, I'm lucky -- my company pays for most of my car -- so trading it in soon won't hurt that bad.

 

1. Malfunctioning bluetooth - Never had an issue, paired up the Sony t608 with Sprint and works great.

2. warped rotors that I had to fight the dealer to fix me and others, I now know
- Never had that issue, I have 16 K on my car.

3. Rattles -- not just dash -- we're talking like strange bearing noises from the engine that the dealer aknowledges -- yet can't correct - Never had any issue except the door rattle which was fixed by the dealer.

4. The third brake cover needed to be replaced (this was not a biggee...but nontheless)- Had that and replaced by dealer, as you said No biggie

5. Paint discoloration - I exactly dont know if you mean the difference in the body paint and the bumper paint difference (expecailly visible in AM) but other then that dont have any other paint issue.

That is exactly my point, you just mentioned all these issues you had whereas there may be a far more people who DONT have this issues or have successfully resolved...

 

The brakes and rattles issue are pretty common. It looks to me that Acura TL is plagued by the same pattern of problems and what really bothers me is that we payed so much money and forced to deal with these type of problems.
In my book 2005 TL is the worst car I ever had. Here is a list of problems for my 6 months old TL:
- brakes problems
-shitty paint.
-rattles
-driveline vibration.
-butt prints

Dude, these problems should never be part of a near-luxury sedan!
No wonder J.D Power and Assoc. rated this year Acura overall quality as being behind Lexus and BMW and even....Hyunday!

 

scrb09, just let 'em complain. makes no difference to me, or other TL owners. they had some bad luck, and that's too bad. their excessive complaint (i.e. posting the same thing in multiple threads) is getting a bit annoying, but oh well, they can do whatever pleases them.

hope you guys have a better luck with your next cars.

 

I guess people put their expectations a little too high for this car. As far as experiences, I've never had a really bad one. The quality (compared to GM, Chrysler and don't forget Ford) is definitely much better and as far as I'm concerned worth the money I paid for it.

IMO squeaks and rattles are relative to where you drive and how your drive the car. My tires are inflated above the factory specs and as I expected, I would have much more pronounced interior noises and rattles. Just don't expect Lexus or BMW to be much better. A friend's M/B S500 had more rattles, squeaks and tons of imperfections and that is "supposed to be" an $80,000 car. And an Audi???, thank gosh for the internet....

If you think the problems you identified are non-existent with a Lexus, I hope you would read reviews about Lexus models in their user groups. They have as much tranny and brake issues as the TL have.

I also believe that part of the satisfaction with ANY car is how they are treated by the dealer and how the dealer would handle customer problems and complaints. I know TL and RSX owners in my area share concerns about their car (most likely bought from the same dealership) but had different opinions when I sent them to my selling dealer since they were well taken care of.

-brakes problems- IMO are inherent on any FF car (My mom's Altima and Maxima has much worse rotor warping problems) most likely from the front weight bias.

And I believe that a manufacturer like Honda addresses known issues with their cars and rectifies them on later model releases (at least that was the case on my 03 TL-S as I didn't have as much problems as earlier ones apparently did).

Knowing this, I'd take a closer look at the FINAL model TL of the 3rd Gen and if Honda does what they normally did, I'd be signing on the dotted line for that Anthracite 6MT.

And if not..............then life would still be nice............ with a G35 M6 Sport Coupe.

 

To scrb09 -- this is pgriherd -- dude, your response doesn't mean shit. I'm glad you didn't have as many problems as I had. I had those problems. You didn't. Enjoy your TL. I'm not enjoying mine. I'll get over it....you get over the fact that your ego is so friggin' tied to a CAR that you can't handle it if someone has a similar vehicle -- yet isn't pleased.

Enjoy your TL....it's a nice car....after all, I did buy one; it wasn't until after I owned it that it sent down hill. Chill.

 

pgriherd, well, it seems you have issues but not everyone is experiencing them. I would suggest to either get your dealer to fix them or move on to another car (I've owned a G35 6MT Coupe that was nice, but didn't like the ergonomics of the interior and the seats always hurt my back, other than those issues, it was a fine car).

It doesn't sound like you will ever be happy with the TL with the attitude you already have. I have already posted in other threads that I have no issues with my 6MT '04 TL and am very happy with it.

 

whatever dude, you still are not getting my point; but fuck it, not going to waste my time...keep bitching.
Go over my posts and try to understand what I am saying...if you dont get it dont bother.