draph

...has anyone heard of a deal on an ordered car with only a 3.5 week turn around time? I placed a deposit on 2/22. Car came in 3/17. They claimed they put my order in that day. This dealership has been stocking MTs. They only come in four colors all with tech and only real option is HPT or not (which could be swapped out at the dealership), so I'd be less surprised if they just tagged one of the already inbound cars with my name.

On the one hand, it's cool I'm getting my new car so fast. On the other hand, my 335 lease isn't up until May. I ordered in Feb under the 60-day TAT optimistic presumption that was fed to me during my shopping days, assuming I'd get it in late April with a couple week overlap in case it took longer than forecasted. Now I'm going to have to garage the TL while I get my money's worth out of the remainder of my 335 lease (i know, I know boo hoo it's such a hardship to have to drive an old clunker 2007 335 6MT while a shiny new 2010 TL SHAWD 6MT sits in the garage). I'll feel better if the dealer cash drops significantly from the current 2250 as the spring buying season heats up - I suspect it could still increase, however...given the trends.

crxb

the 335 is a great driver's car. drove the the 335 and the M3 in 2008 - fantastic cars to drive. it was hard to drive my 2004 TL after driving the 335 for an extended test drive. did your 335 have any HPFP failures? after I drove the SH-AWD TL I had a car with handling I could enjoy / and not $50k with navi/tech like a 335 at the time could quickly price.

draph

My 335 is still on the original HPFP after almost 40k miles, but I got a letter from BMW obligating themselves to provide a free installed replacement if/when it ever died. I had to replace one fuel injector under warranty (was told it would be an $1100 repair out of warranty). The car also burns about a quart in 7500 miles and lost a gallon of coolant from a totally sealed system (even the overflow reservoir is sealed) in less than 30,000 miles. These things didn't give me a warm fuzzy about buying the car at the end of its lease. I will miss that big, flat torque curve, though; but not the open differential. The TL has noticeably less power/torque to the wheels across the full rev range, IMHO, but SH-AWD puts the power down better. The trade-offs between BMW and Acura are obvious and pretty well-discussed in these forums, but I think I can live with them and be happy.

draph

One trade-off worth noting that doesn't bother me at all: I'm assuming I'm going to trade about an equal number of people who automatically assumed I was an image-oriented pompous jerk for a group of people who will automatically assume my sense of aesthetics is questionable. ;-)

KeithL

3 weeks from order to delivery tells me this car was not built for your order. It was liekly in their allocation already or they reallocated it via and inbound dealer swap. Almos tany car maker I ever talked to about "ordering a car" where they had to build my specific car is usually 8-12 week lead time.

007Acura

Congrats!! sounds like acura is getting smart by having these 6mt's readily available. Post pics of both the bimmer and the tl when you get it

George Knighton

As soon as I saw you were writing about a 335, I was going to post bitching about that. :-)

You have to buy an M to get an LSD.

I think that a supercharged 300 HP motor is just too much for a small car like the 335. It really needs an LSD, IMHO.

The 335 is a very nice driving car, I agree. But on the track or in the hands of an enthusiast, or even when you are just trying to make a turn through an intersection as quickly as possible, the lack of an LSD shows up as a design flaw.