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Hello everyone this is essentially my goodbye email to the forum. I’ve been a proud owner of my 2009 TL SH-AWD since I bought it as a certified preowned car back in 2012 with under 20,000 miles on it. Ever since then I’ve been an avid member of this forum constantly reading about Acuras and researching fun ways to fix up my car which has included quite a few modifications including the full body kit spacers shocks springs and a custom grill.
well I have enjoyed my car for almost a decade the time has come for me to move on to something bigger and better. When I bought this car I was almost 40 I am now almost 50 and finances have allowed me to buy something a little nicer. I have always loved how well my Acura performed the handling is unreal for a car as heavy as it is ,but I always wanted something with more power.
I have three kids and as a result decided whatever I purchased was going to be a four-door sedan, but a high-performance one. I currently have a BMW X5 as my primary family vehicle and as a result have attended some dealer events where I was able to drive an M5 an M4 and even an M2 all back to back. After those test drives I loved the M5 but that was out of my price range and decided a used M3 would be the perfect car - super sporty lots of power and backseats. Although, when I started looking at them more seriously I realized while they have backseats , they are slightly small and given how focused they are on performance it wouldn’t necessarily be the most practical daily driver family car.
given how much I like the M5 I started looking at it’s a little brother the M550i. While it is not a full-blown M car it is an M performance model with way more under the hood than a regular five series.
I test drove one and as soon as I drove it I knew it was the car for me I research them heavily test drove almost 10 of them and ended up scoring an amazing deal on a majorly heavily option car. The one I ended up getting is a gorgeous Mediterranean blue over upgraded nappa leather. It has low miles and is a certified preowned car so I have peace of mind for several years. These cars have so much technology and luxury it’s mine boggling the car has full leather interior of full leather – it even has an upgraded alcantara headliner and massagers in both front seats. Front and rear heated seats, adaptive cruise control lane keeping assist, it even has a heated steering wheel.
if you don’t know much about this car it’s in between the 540 and the M5. It has a TwinTurbo V8 rated at 460 hp although Dyno testing shows that BMW under rates it and it’s producing over 500 hp at the crank. It’s all wheel drive.. so the launches are unreal the car is 0 to 60 in under four seconds and a quarter mile in about 12 flat. I have no plans to tune it , but it is capable of being tuned and those guys are doing a quarter-mile times in the 11s.
I wish I could take you guys along for a test drive with me the acceleration at low speeds is literally brutal the car blasts off and accelerates nonstop - multiple passengers have literally blurted out the following during a ride “holy shit!!” 😜
It’s hard to describe the car unless you drive it . it has multiple drive modes comfort mode sport mode and sport plus mode . when you put the car in comfort the exhaust is closed it’s quiet the shifts are so smooth you cannot feel the transmission shift and the adaptive dampers are on a soft setting and you’re basically in a very comfortable soft and quiet luxury car . It’s the ideal car to drive around with your family or commute in.
if you put the car in sport plus mode the exhaust flaps open the car develops a deep noisy V-8 burble, the boost increases , and when you accelerate the shifts are so violent that it feels like a dual clutch transmission shoving you in the back every shift. The car is so firm in sport plus mode it would be unbearable on a daily basis. It really is two cars and one Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde exactly what I was wanting!
is is a comfortable sedate family car when you want it to be, and at the push of a button it turns into a nasty as hell super sedan. To think that the M5 has over 100 additional horsepower is mind-boggling.
I attached some photos of the new ride as well as my beloved Acura. The Acura is not going far , my 19-year-old son is excited to get it as his new car - so the car is no longer mine but it’s not leaving the household and my son will be taking care of it. maybe he will stop in here from time to time. I don’t think the car modification and speed bug has hit him but it might. 😜
thanks to everyone here who has been a resource to me over the years helping me decide what I should and should not do to my car. For those of you new to the forum it’s a great resource on how to fix up your car and how to maintain it. The fourth generation TL is an awesome car and underappreciated! with the right tasteful modifications they are very sporty and aggressive looking and relatively fast and honestly the handling with AWD is on another level. I miss having the super handling all wheel drive... i’m still getting used to my new car and it’s hard to say at this point if my BMW car could actually handle as well as my Acura.
thanks again enjoy the pics and enjoy your Acuras. If you are like me and you are always lusting after a faster and fancier ride - keep working hard pursue your dreams and whatever your profession is in life - if you work at it long enough and hard enough - bigger better things will come your way.
03-19-2021, 07:59 PM
