chaiwala

Ah, from that statement I can only conclude one of two things. First, she didn't test drive the car thoroughly or second, she bought the BMW X5 for the snob appeal, more so to impress her friends and relatives.

P.S. I have a few friends that like the "snob" appeal too and their first question to me was why would you trade in a A6 for an ugly TL. These same people test drove the TL and were blown away by its features and driving habits but would not be "caught" owning one. Yep, I am ashamed to call them my friends sometimes!

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

Do they still have the 318 in other parts of the world? I just saw a E60 520i yesterday here in Hong Kong...lol..with..15 or 16" rims....haha

mr.Honda F1

Stylish people dose not by G ordinary people dose

Sonor Kid 2

Here in Chicago the dealers seem to have plenty of inventory, 40+ cars at a minimum with numerous places that I checked with, not really sure what that means though.
Acura had some nice incentives out of the blocks for the release of a new model which helped a great deal but I just don't see things improving from here for Acura unless we see big incentives in the near future or some changes to the 5 speed tranny and the front end.
BMW is set to release a refreshed 3 series soon and the some of the new American models from Buick and Ford along with the release of what looks to be a great looking coupe from Cadillac in the new CTS isn't going to help.
The CTS sedan seems to be catching the TL sales as it stands and I personally think Audi and Infiniti will continue to do well.

YetiTL

Acura should hire you, yous eem to have a better understanding of things than some of the management it seems.

Making fun, reliable and performant small cars with load of tech goodies AND good looking! Stop bloating your models year after year! Oups sorry, OFF-TOPIC!

ncelk

Let's face it, the look of the current TL is killing it as far as sales.

LessisBestmakingendsmeet

So enthusiasts prefer FWD? That makes no sense. We have female TL owners here for instance, so its a female car? Awful logic.

Its clear the cars in this segment sell for different reasons. Some people prefer the smaller dimensions of a 3 series or IS. Some want a bigger car for the same price like a TL, ES or Buick.

jangkai

My uncle bought it for her because he wanted to try something different. She's now happily back in a new RX350 and he drives the X5. I understand what you mean though. I told my friend that he should consider the new Kia Forte when looking at the Civic, and he looked at me like 'who buys a kia?'

I don't understand what you're saying. I was just stating that many females around me who don't know much about cars prefer to drive easily drivable cars such as the Lexus due to their light/ease of steering. There wasn't any logic involved. You make no sense

weiwei107

TL suffered for a few reasons in my opinion:

1- The beautiful Front Grill which I fell in love with but many dislikes.

2- Poor allocation of inventory along with early 2009 production termination

3- Less variant models. NO coupe, No convertible...etc.

Acura TL in everyway is a more superior car than the G. Not only does it have better technology, better build quality, it is more sophisticated. Trust me, I have only owned my 2010 TL for a week, I wish I have owned it for years...it is that good.

Hondasforme

I couldn’t agree more. While I would like to see the TL be a great success for Honda/Acura, I like the fact they’re not so common place right now. I think of it like the NSX, they never caught on like they should have. But when you saw someone driving one, you knew that person knew exactly what they were up to….. Same for us, a few, select breed of people with discerning taste. A group I’m proud to be in

hubbard53

just got the 09 TL SHAWD / TECH for my wife, and just like in 05, teh TL made more sense over the other competitors we looked at (g37, BMW, A5). For example, after we added some exterior featuers (underbody spoilers) we were about 43k on the TL - the g37 convertible would have been around 53k. It just didnt make sense to pay that much more for a fancy altima (i really dont know how much the g37 shares with the altima but i had to convince my wife somehow to not like the g37)

and the 3-series , once you add all the creature comforts, you are in the high 40's for a car that every 4th person on the block owns.

We were close on the A5 - but once again, for similar price we would have got the v4 turbo - would have been in the high 40's for a v6.

I dunno, seems acura is out-marketed by Lexus, BMW, and Infinity. They are seen as more luxurious and 'elite' whereas sometimes acura is considered to be an 'expensive honda'

ssim3

Your TL is closer to an expensive Accord than the G37 is to an Altima.

winstrolvtec

The level of distinction is no better or worse in either but an Acura rarely runs nearly that much and when it does you get their best mid sized sedan among top luxury form, not an entry coupe that barely beats Nissan standards.

ssim3

TL & Accord are based on same fwd platform, G is RWD Altima FWD.

winstrolvtec

Since when is platform the only way to determine distinction, especially in the way described here? The G is still based on a Nissan, it's no different.

PetesTL

The G desperately needs a new dash and cabin design....it's practically a carbon-copy of the Maxima's....speaking of which, the Maxima actually offers more options like a Panorama roof than the Infiniti......go figure.

venom550pm

the maxima has ventilated drivers seat too, the g doesn't.

YetiTL

While I know nothing about how to plan a cabin for a car, it might make sense for Infiniti not to offer that kind of stuff if we consider in what segment the G is compared to where the Maxima stands. More performance stuff for the G but cheaper cabin and less option. Less performance stuff for the Maxima but more options.

I might be wrong though...but Infiniti probably did this in order to maximize its profit margin.

When is the G MMC? We should see major improvements then, same as the M that will arrive in 2010...

dtc5

Nissan can put the ventilated seats, panorama roofs, and power rear sunshade in the Maxima because it is top of the line for a “Nissan”. The G is the entry grade car for “Infiniti” so Nissan has to reserve some options for the M. you pay extra $$$ for the luxury brand and the cost to build a RWD.

venom550pm

i believe the MMC for the G has already happened, went from a g35 to g37, but i could be wrong....

cp3117

So what your trying to say is that the Acura offers much better value over other brands niche vehicles that Acura doesnt even offer?

You do realize that there is about a $7K difference between the G sedan and the G37 Convertable and about a $3K diff between the A4 and the A5 and more if a Convertable.

maybe it didnt make that much sense comparing a TL to more niche models but if you had compared apples to apples you probably wouldnt have seen that much of a difference.

As far as Acura's being "expensive honda's".....Well its hard to sometimes think otherwise when Acura exec's even think the same way.

SpicyMikey

Yep. And Caddy is an expensive Chevy, Infiniti is an expensive Nissan, Lexus is an expensive Toyota, etc. I guess you could even say a 750Li is just an expensive stripped down 328 with letherette. Acura's are made by Honda. To me that's a plus because Honda makes very good cars. I fail to see the negative in that

SpicyMikey

By the way, I do agree rebadging the RL and TSX from the Honda Legend and Accord is a negative for the brand. That must be stopped for the brand to be taken seriously by those who watch the industry. Other than that, cross sharing parts across brands does not make a car any less worthy of my respect. Almost everyone does it to some extend or another.

cp3117

I agree that Honda makes good cars just like other manufactures, I was just referring to the posters comparison. My neighbor on the block bought a new Camry this week and i guess its a good value too if he wants to compare it to a 335i convertible

IMO this is what gives Acura such a bad brand image, especially when these Honda Legend and Euro Accord's offer more than the Acura models. Personally, most Acura products compete equally with premium models from Nissan, Toyota, VW etc rather than the tier 1 brands.

Honda should bring these models that they sell in other parts of the world and sell them here in NA so that it has a more complete line up to compete with other parent company premium models. Then they should scrap the Acura name and develop a new brand to compete with BMW, Audi, Lexus etc with all models AWD/RWD, Coupes, Convertibles, various drivetrain options etc etc.

If they then advertised/Marketed it properly then they would probably achieve their tier 1 goal and the Honda line would sell even more products in NA.

This would cost a large amount of money though and is very aggressive and we all know Honda lately doesnt know which direction it wants to go.

fsttyms1

The dealer by me cant get rid of the TL. Their lot is full.

SpicyMikey

LOL, well that would be a bad comparison regardless of badge. A underpowered FWD sedan with mushy suspension and numb steering, against a little rocket RWD sedan with highly tuned steering and suspension. Not fair.

But I'd argue that an MDX (for example) is BETTER on average than an X5, has comparable handling abilities, similar quality materials, and it costs $20k less than the X5 when optioned up the same. Why? Some of it's due to the currency advantage Asia has over Europe. But most is due to manufacturing advantages Honda has over BMW. When I can get a loaded up MDX for $45k and a comparable X5 for $65k, the fact that the MDX shares some parts with the Accord and offers no factory installed options, doesn't feel so bad anymore

BLACKURA_NY

iTrader: (6)

Acura IS an expensive honda... as every luxury other brand is more elite then the other...

IMO, Acura wins HANDS DOWN in every category, except power...

I would rather have a fancy Honda Accord (TL) then a Fancy Nissan Altima (G35)

Colin

It would be interesting to see what the distribution of models is. With the number of trim and color combinations, it's possible to have 50 TLs in stock and still lose a customer cause you don't have what they want. I know in our case, we have 11 base and 5 base AWD on hand. I think we needed more FWD Tech cause we only have 3. IMO, the base TL is the culprit. It skews the inventory numbers and (again IMO) they over built this model.

BLACKURA_NY

iTrader: (6)

I am just making these numbers up... but it can probably give you an idea of production percentages


I would say

40% FWD No Tech
25% FWD Tech
15% AWD Tech
15% AWD No Tech
2.5% AWD 6Spd Tech
2.5% AWD 6Spd No-Tech


There is somewhere, where you can find the exact numbers of how many were produced of each color/model/trim combo

I remember the 2003 CL-S 6Spd White w/ Navigation.... Acura only made 15 that year.... I always loved the car, and a member on here was selling one

Colin

No, I wasn't talking about production percentages. I was talking about the distribution of various models on fsttyms1's dealer's lot. He said, "The dealer by me cant get rid of the TL. Their lot is full." and I'm wondering, full of what model?

BLACKURA_NY

iTrader: (6)

ohhhh...

depending on location.... but most likely FWD's...

Apparently, SH-AWD's are a rare find these days

Colin

I'll take that a step further and postulate that they're mostly base FWDs. IMO, Acura missed on the feature/content/price equation for this model.

Sonor Kid 2

Dealer near me has 3 2009 SH-AWD TL's.

bagbklyn

I'm just guessing here but the closer you are to the factory I think the more stock you would have vs the coastal states.

Colin

Again, are they Base or Tech. I'll bet they're base models same as us.

SpicyMikey

That's probably a bad assumption. At least I'd hope it is for those poor dealers on the coasts

Haelous

Four here. Two 2009 Non-Tech, and Two 2010 Tech.

They're out there, you may just have to go the distance to get one.

SpicyMikey

Dealer near me only has a few 2009's left. But he also just got a few 2010's this week. According to their website.

winstrolvtec

Those cars may push the limits of what a non luxury model is or is not but it's a fact that Acura competes better against the so called Tier 1 brands than any non luxury brands top or premium models. Regardless of ones personal placement Acura is actually a luxury division with cars in segments that are marketed and compete against other luxury segments even if they are rebadged products. That says a lot all by itself and what it means is that the foreign Honda product is at or near the standards of many competitors luxury makes. Just like there is the perception of Acura being a fancy Honda there is perception in actually buying a luxury brand vs a premium non luxury model not actually being a luxury car.

These non luxury premium models are really no better than the normal NA Honda models, yes some of them offer more features that come from or resemble their luxury division but that's because they have a hard time competing with the Honda models to begin with, it's called compensation.

You are overlooking the many standards that an Acura provides and then try to dismiss it as a luxury brand when it does many things better than so called Tier 1 labeled vehicles can. Reliability, safety, resale, value, affordability, and a very effective luxury and sport balanced product without much compromise.

And they should appoint you CEO or president. They already compete and have made a movement to further align their product for marketing and segment placement. We have yet to see the results or the further incorporation of SH-AWD in new models and the new transmissions. They really don't need to abandon the rebadged products, they just need to give it an Acura identity, like the TSX V6. Add an SH TSX, a V8 or higher output naturally aspired V6, like they used to, to the lineup and they are good. They haven't even scratched the surface of what SH is capable of, adding rear bias is easy and they have already worked that out, it's just not in production. The foundation is there, they need to add a few pieces, not scrap the brand.

And the only major brands that get to say they are indepedently developed and not fancy versions of anything are Porsche, BMW and MB. Not Audi, Lexus, or Infiniti, either.

Haelous

Agreed, and even then. Porsche Cayenne & VW Touareg. MB R-Class and Chrysler Pacifica.