PetesTL

Well, took my brand new TL to work this morning. As usual, traffic in Chicago streets are a nightmare. As to be expected, heads were turning everywhere to get a glimpse of my car. It was especially fascinating to see other TL drivers swerving and straining their necks to get a better glimpse. What little stretch of open road I find, I tried to "push" the car a little bit--not too hard since there are so few miles on it. Here are my initial impressions. Acceleration and power are pretty decent. Now, this is no 335i but for city streets and highway cruising, it feels plenty powerful. Throttle tip-in is a little on the "aggressive" side. (Very similar behavior to a G35 I test drove recently). As far as throttle response, there is no delay whatsoever.....as soon as you step on the gas, you're gone. Nice surprise.....no torque steer whatsoever. At one nice stretch of road near my house which was pretty clear of traffic, I hit the gas semi-hard, and for one milli-second as the car took off, my TL almost fooled me into thinking it was RWD....kudos to Acura for improving this segment of performance. Handling is pretty decent, too.....even with my relatively "small" 17" wheels and tires. The car tracks precisely and is pretty agile for such a "big" car. Car feels very solid and is almost Lexus-like quiet when cruising (so far, no creaks or rattles). Ride is slightly firm, but very comfortable....soaks up bumps well. I'm thinking bigger wheels and tires will definately give it better handling, but when I think about Chicago's pot-hole ridden streets, I'm hesistant (Besides, I can't afford it right now). As I mentioned previously in another thread, the ELSA music system is a tour-de-force....the clarity and spaciousness of the sound is spectacular....I also love the fact that the NAV system will call out the music tracks and artist by NAME when you search and select it....incredible! (You can also use voice command to search tracks by artist name or name of the song!) Another nice surprise....so far in my brief time with the car, I'm averaging 20 mpg in the city! So that's it for Day 1. All-in-all, I'm very impressed so far. This is a very solid, powerful, quiet, refined, fuel-efficient car loaded with incredible gadgets, all at an attractive price. Can't wait for Day 2!

kabota

Take it out tomorrow and do reverse donuts

S2000 Driver

Pete,

I would be very interested to hear your impressions of playing a DVD-Audio or DTS disc, if you own one, and how that sounds over the ELS music system.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Pete, take alittle road trip and bring it by!

Hugh9269

Thanks PetesTL, nice post!

PetesTL

The car comes with an Acura DVD-A demo disc.....in one word: MINDBLOWING! I owned cars before with Mark Levinson sound systems, Harmon Kardon Logic 7, Bose studio surround, etc....after hearing the ELS in my '09 TL, I can say without a doubt, it is truly one of the best (if not THE best) I have heard yet! Lots of kudos to the sound egineers who desgined this system for the TL....the acoustical quality, clarity, the crispness and the spaciousness of the sound is just phenominal. It's like watching Hi-Def TV for the first time. Regular CD's, OTA, Sat and MP3 stuff sound very good over the ELS, but not to the same amazing level as DVD-A tracks. Now I have to run over to Best Buy to see if they still sell DVD-A stuff.

123456SPEED

DVD-A discs at retail stores is spotty. B Buy still has a few scattered in, no separate stacks like a year ago.
ebay, amazon, or online are best sources. certain sought after discs are $50-100 now (on ebay). few new releases anymore.

elroy

Pete,

There are several places online that still have a good selection in the $20-$30 range. Here's one:

http://store.acousticsounds.com/dvdaudio.cfm

Amazon still has a good selection of DVD-As. There is a good forum on DVD-Audio here:

http://www.quadraphonicquad.com/

Enjoy!

PetesTL

Thank you so much. You guys are great!

pahns5

Good lookin car Pete-

One question. Honda /Acura has always been dinged for road noise. You did say the new TL is almost Lexus quiet. Would you say it is close to a ES350? or does it have a way to go. Most Acura's seem quiet on smooth roads but when you drive on the course concrete they seem to be very noisy. Have you had a chance to test this car on bad pavement?

PetesTL

bad pavement?.....Chicago is home to bad pavement!...My TL has a very smooth and comfortable ride.....most likely due to the relatively "small" 17" wheels/tires with thicker sidewalls. Most bumps are soaked up really well. Most of the time when you're just cruising, this car is indeed very quiet......I would say almost as quiet as a Lexus. I have never driven an ES350 so I can't give an accurate comparison, although I have driven my mom's RX350 before. I think the quiet cabin really helps to bring the best out of the ELS sound system.

kissdarings

Congrats on the new car! Would love to see some pics

Orlando TL

iTrader: (1)

any rattle from the subwoofer?

kissdarings

my bad! I just noticed your other thread with the pics
very nice!!!

PetesTL

No. But if you raise the level up to maximum, it WILL shake the car on tracks with a lot of bass.

neuronbob

Great post! Thank you for the impressions. Keep them coming!