mlody

I got a brand new TL few weeks ago and have noticed a huge gap once I open both front doors. Can someone comment on this? Is this normal? where is Honda quality? Thanks for any input


LEFT SIDE

RIGHT SIDE

yohan81718

Honda quality??? You see them right in front of your eyes, bro.

Hapa DC5

Yeah I would assume it's normal since you don't see it unless the doors are swung open and are looking for flaws.

acealka

My car is 1.5 months old and has the same quality issue. In addition to your pictures, please check the pictures of my car:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146787

Lots of people have tried to convince me that for $32,000 US it’s OK quality. This is wrong thinking guys.

Hapa DC5

Acura delivers a lot of value for what you spend. I am 100% positive Honda can build a better assembled car than a Lexus or MB, but with those improvements the TL will NOT retail for the same price as it is now. Production costs will no doubt increase. You're expecting too much out of the car...

Then, if Acura chooses to improve the quality and increase the price the next thing you or people who have the same issues you do with these vehicles will complain about is Acura no longer being the value it was.

subinf

Yep. Mine looks like that also

acealka

Then, my next car will be Lexus.

Hapa DC5

Sorry to break it to you, but if you spend enough time with that car there will plenty to pick apart at. Believe me, I know you want the most for your money. We all work hard for what we have I just think that for 32k this is an excellent buy.

When you take pictures of mis-aligned interior/exterior panels or gaps you don't see except when the door is wide open it makes me wonder why you guys bought these cars? I wouldn't have bought the car if these were issues to me.

CobraGuy

My car is exactly the same way...and it's near new. But here's what you do. Grab the dash and push the lower part back into place. It will slide right into place. Unfortunately, it will not stay there. I'm going to fix it myself one of these days I have the energy to pull the seats out of the car. (Can't work under the dash with them there...to hard on my back!)

JDM5lugHatch

Yep! My driver side looked a lot worse than yours though. However, my passanger side looked like it lined up almost perfect.

Kracker

My 06 looks just like that.

RVC

My 06' dosen't look like that. No gap.

mlody

My bumper is fine, but I also have missaligned panels inside just like yours

Kracker

I have an 05... regardless it looks just like that.

mlody

Has anyone tried to talk to a dealer about fixing these gaps? Any success stories??

Adobeman

It's there to allow travel and absorb energy in a frontal impact.



(j/k)

AsianTL

Too much gap, mine are half of that distance.

Try to pull out the molding toward you or the gap, It might help closing the gap a
little better. The design of cover is bad and out of tolerance (undersize). The cover should be minus zero and plus 1/8" tolerance.

enigmaos

iTrader: (4)

that's not Honda Japan's quality. that's Honda USA's quality. if TL were built in Japan, you wouldn't see as many flaws.

Honda USA quality = domestics quality (for the most part)

Jetmaker

Wow, that's devastating. I would march right down to the dealer and raise hell over that huge oversight in quality. If I got no satisfaction there I would drive over to the lexus dealer, eat several thousand dollars in depreciation, pay several thousand more in higher price, and finally get a car with acceptable wide-open door gaps.

mlody

I am going to see my dealer this coming Tuesday. We will see. No matter what, I am not in a financial position to waste $10000 just because the gap. I hope I will resolve this issue without paying a dime.

CobraGuy

No...the dash itself is loose. Not sure how it's mounted. But if you push the dash back into place, it will go right where it belongs. It just won't stay there. We need to see how it's attached and fix that.

pimpin-tl

So when did you get a 06? lol!

I think you meant 05.

phil17

i would have NEVER noticed this if it wasn't for this thread. ahhhh. oh well, my 06 has the same gap, it's dead quiet and has no rattles so i really don't care. heck if i push and shove that piece around i'm sure a rattle will surface so why bother

Jesstzn

I came from a 03 VW Passat that retails for a lot less than the TL and the quality in interior panel and body panel fit is far beyond the TL as is the leather quality ... And it had pretty well every feature the TL has outside of the HP.

So it can be done .. they just don't do it in an American built car.

Hapa DC5

If the Passat was all that and a bag of chips for a lot less then why did you buy the TL?

Personally, the Passat wasn't even a consideration when I was looking for a new vehicle. As safe as VWs are and the fact its "quality in interior panel and body panel fit is far beyond the TL as is the leather quality..." they still have electrical gremlins and other reliability issues. I believe they are well built vehicles for the most part (interior speaking) and I think the new GTI is sexy as hell, these cars are just not for me.

The TL is damn fine car that is built well (may not be the best or close to the best, but for the money it's great in my opinion) it just seems you guys are looking for reasons to put down the car you currently own and it boggles my mind.

Every car, I repeat EVERY car (even the foreign built ones) will have flaws in fit and finish if you look hard enough that includes the beloved VWs, Lexus', BMWs, etc........

Some of the issues that have been raised in this forum are absurd and I know you can agree if you are level headed. While some make plenty of sense such as the buzzing/rattles, people here are removing plastic panels from their cars to show unpainted metal that is normally covered, taking pictures of the bottom side of their dashes to expose gaps. These are things no one would see or even care to notice.

I think that is a bit over the top, but to each his own...

Jesstzn

If you scroll up .. the thread was to do with fit and finish ... one of the reasons I didn't go back to the VW was logistics .. the nearest dealer was 3.5 hours away .. the other was then new design of the signature grill I think is ugly .. I have fought rattles and plastic creaks in the TL from day one and this is a 3rd year of this generation of TL. The the Passat after 3 years was still rattle and creak free outside of the one common dash noise which the dealer promptly took care of.

I think before you crap on the Passat in general .. own one first ...

Hapa DC5

LoL where did I "crap" on your former vehicle? "If you scroll up .." I actually sang its praises by saying they are well built for the most part and they are safe. I still wouldn't own one, I have no interest owning one. The car is not appealing to me.

So you have had issues with this car since day one, did you test drive the car? Did you hear those rattles? I can't understand why you went ahead with a 30k+ purchase and put more money into modifying it if you had these issues and its build quality isn't up to your standards. Maybe that is stuff you can deal with and just want to vent on the forums.

Guess what? I have some of the same issues you do, rattles/buzzes, etc. Honestly, the buzzing and rattles are annoying, but a gap on the dash that I don't see or a panel that is covered by plastic that I remove to see if it is painted or not is drawing the line. It is still just a car made by humans and machines I'm not expecting it to be flawless for 32K. For what I wanted to spend this is best car for my money and I will stick by that statement.

Jesstzn

Yes I did test drive the TL .. a couple of them and no they didn't have rattles that showed up in the test drives .. I ordered a TL and it came in .. and within 30 miles the common rattles were showing up and the poor leather quality wasn't evident until I had the car a couple of months. Thats when the wear started to show.

And no I don't come to forums to vent .. I didn't start the thread .. just confirmed what the starter had posted and brought up a point that better quality doesn't have to come at a higher price when it comes to fit and finish. Other manufacturers do it.

pimpin-tl

My Leather on the TL is better quality and softer than my G35 or my Audi A4. And its holding up fine after about 5 months now.

mlody

I went to the dealer last night to talk about the gaps I have, and guess what? All 2006 TL’s we checked had the same gap???? I checked only one 04 and it did not have the gap. I wonder if anything changed as far as manufacturing that would cause the gap to appear on 2006 model year. I am not going to do anything since it is not bugging me that at all, but I still have to address the subwoofer rattle one of these days.

CobraGuy

Did you try to push it back into place?????? I've mentioned twice now that my car has the exact same gap, but it moves right back into place. It just doesn't stay there. One day I'll fix that myself. If it's just loose like mine, it can be fixed!

mlody

I tried to push it, but it is not going anywhere, it only flexes a bit, nothing else