I came across at least one poster here who waited a month to get his Acura TL? made in Japan the way he wanted it rather than search for one already sitting on a dealer lot in the USA. I forget his particular combination of interior and exterior colors.

I'm curious whether others have tried to do this and if they asked for color combinations that were not normally available. For example umber leather is only available with black or bronze AWD TLs. Say I were ask the dealer to do a factory order for red or blue with the umber leather. Are Acura dealers able to do this. Of course they prefer to sell what they already have or can obtain quickly. What was your experience?

I ordered a "custom" GMC pickup a while back and it took about two months to arrive from the Indiana factory. I had no problem getting exactly the color combination I wanted, plus various individual options and they even de-badged the rear end (an unlisted item).

 

I don't think there are any TLs here in the U.S. that are actually made in Japan. I'm pretty certain they're all made in Marysville, OH (same place they make the Accord).

Given that, you'd think that special ordering wouldn't be that big of a deal (I live in OH and inquired about that, myself). But, out of the 3 dealers I contacted before buying mine, none of them said they could "special order" a TL. They all offered to do a search and a dealer trade. But, no special order.

BTW, the umber interior also comes in WDP.

I know the dealer I bought from says he orders cars from the factory once every couple of months. He usually gets the regular colors.....almost all of them with ebony interior. I got his one unusual one (Taupe interior) with CBP. But, he said he only ordered it to see how quickly it would move.

Turns out, it was very quick. I bought it 2 days after it was delivered off the truck from the factory.

Dealers order what they feel will move the quickest. Apparently, the exterior colors of WDP, PMM, and PM are the colors he moves the most of, as those are the ones that populate most of his inventory. He's got some CBP, BRP, but even those are sparse on his lot. He said he's had one request for Borealis Blue, and no requests for MBB, so he doesn't order those. He did have one Grigio on the lot, but they use that as a service loaner. He ordered an MBB with umber in '09, but said it sat on the lot for awhile, so he doesn't order them any more.

Different parts of the country I'm sure have different preferences, though.

If you find a dealer who's willing to order one for you, they'll probably just put it in with their next factory order, to be shipped with whenever they get their regular shipments. Don't know how long that would take, though.

BTW, I've toured the Marysville, OH plant. And, I've toured the Corvette factory in Georgetown, KY. Hands down, the Honda/Acura plant was the more impressive of the two. It was cleaner. The employees seemed much more careful in their job. And, inspections were more numerous, too.

 

Correct. They haven't made the TL in Japan in a very, very long time. It's been made in Marysville, OH since around 1999.

But to answer the posters' question, it's all about what the dealer what's to do. With the TL's there are not a lot of "options" like on GM cars. Where you can get one with/without heated seats, etc... You get it all or nothing.

So for the most part, a dealer isn't going to want to order a low selling car, when they can trade with another dealer and get one off their lot. But, if they don't have what you want (CBP/Umber seems to be a rare combo), and they can't find it and really want to make the sale, they should be able to order it.

 

The problem that will quickly approach now is how many build cycles are left in the 2010 model year. My guess is somewhere around June they will cut off any 2010 orders and maybe sooner if the inventory is still high. And my guess is the orders for April may be closed by now or very soon. Last year at this time it was impossible to order a car without a 2-3+ month minimum wait.

 

We wanted a silver exterior tech with taupe interior. All the dealership had was silver w/black interior so they were trying to push that on us. But we were sticking to our guns. . . . Luckily the dealership was able to trade from another dealership in LA (I live in SF). Unfortunately it adds to the invoice cost for transport. It also had some extra options on it we didn't want so we paid extra to remove them. All in all it was $200 more and 6 day wait. But worth it for a uncommon colorway.

I asked what the details were in custom ordering and the dealership said it could take a while. But the worst part is that the pricing is a bit more and also we might not have gotten the 1.9% financing.

 

Dealers order cars once a month. This is typically for the following months production with deliveries in the month after. So I always advise people that there will be a two or three month wait for a car to arrive.

How many cars the dealership may order are dictated by the factory. They use a formula that takes into account how many cars you have in stock (by model) and the rate at which you are selling them. So for example, if you have 50 TL's In-stock and are selling 15 a month you may be allocated 10 units. You can "spend" those units anyway you wish to fill an any special requests or color/trim "holes" in the inventory. However, you can not order a color combination that is not on the build list.

 

Thanks Graphic Guy, Petec, Keith, & Colin. So I gather that if the Acura build & price webpages offer a particular combination then it can be ordered from a cooperative dealer if one is patient. Colin, it sounds like you work at a dealership and you are saying a combination like RBP with Umber leather is not possible.

It is my spouse who likes the umber leather because it was like the seat color in her old Peugot 504 and she is campaigning for BRP because our Volvo has a wine red exterior color. I'd be OK with anything but an all-ebony interior.

To maintain harmony I can agree to her color choices and she defers to my choices in other areas like the actual model and performance choices.

I'm in no rush...so a 2011 model might do just as well. I have not ruled out the TSX, RDX or ZDX yet. Heck, a G37 or the rumored G25 or BMW X1 is still on the list. The first Acura dealer visit is next month. The only current Acura I have spotted in our area has been a white AWD MDX. Zillions of Hondas and one Acura.

 

You're welcome. The first thing the dealer is going to try to do is to find one from another dealer that fits your parameters, and try to do a dealer swap.

The umber interior only comes with MBM, CBP, GRIGIO and WDP exterior. Umber is a bit hard to locate, but they're out there.

You can't get the Umber interior in BRP.

However, first thing I'd do is to decide on the car you want, first. There's quite a difference in the ones you're looking at (especially between and SUV and a sports sedan).

Whatever you choose, good luck in your search.

 

As a newbie I'm curious about which Acura models besides the TL are assembled in Marysville Ohio and which models are assembled in Japan?

GraphicGuy...I'm not quite ready to narrow it down to Acura until I have examined similar models up close and test driven them. Driving every day on a dirt road to reach the paved roads makes one a bit nervous about low slung sport sedans. Acura sedans are listed as having around 6" ground clearance which seems better than the typical 4-5 inches for similar sedans. Porsches do not fare well around here. When our roads are really a mess (big potholes) I drive our GMC 4WD pickup to work.

 

TL + RDX are Marysville (though engines are from Anna, OH)
RL + TSX are Sayama
MDX + ZDX are Ontario
**I'm 99% sure that all transmissions are made in Japan

And yes, any color combinations not listed are not available. In this fashion, I hesitate to call it a "custom order" as it implies something it's not. Factory Order seems more appropriate.

 

Does it really matter where the TL is built? Acura has been building the TL in Marysville for years. Great plant. Yeah, some of the parts come from Japan, but these are solid, carefully built cars.

 

Yup, you're right on the transmissions, they do come from japan.