mpiazza227

Hi all!!!
Im new to this site, I recently purchased a 2009 TL base w tech package. This is my first car that I have spent a substantial amount of money on, an upgrade from a 1996 Accord.
I love the car, as well as everyone else that has had the chance to drive it.
I feel as though I have some issues, because I have had the car two weeks and I feel that Im not able to enjoy it because of the flaws that I find in the car (minor leather and body). I drives me absolutely nuts to the point where I want my beat up Accord back. Every additional thing that find I seem to obssess over. I have to keep telling myself that its a used car!!!!
Anyone else go through this????

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

sure, but you bought a used car knowing that it had those two imperfections....
Get over it.

03tLsNBP

iTrader: (9)

learn how to fix the flaws


thats what im doing with my 8 year old TL-S haha.

Acura2010

I feel your pain man....imagine buying a NEW car. I bought mine new almost a year ago, and i keep thinking it's new, but really it's got 25,000km on it. Not so new anymore. And recently i've noticed a scratch. And it's black. Imagine how I feel!!!!! Certain things, your gonna have to be able to let go. In the end it, is a car, and its a depreciating peice of metal. Don't loose sleep over it. I'm a very picky and obsessed guy over my cars, but i've learned that there is nothing you can do. So just look past it, and enjoy it.

Glashub

I spent 5 years protecting my 05 TL. I never parked near other cars, etc. It still ended up with too many nicks, scratches and chips tp count. Touch up seemed to make the small one more noticable. I have 2010 with 220 miles and it already has 5 chips in the windshield, one in the grill and 2 on the chrome. My point being. Accept it. You can't control it. Shite happens.

jasonwdp10

I am going through something similar but my situation is..

#1 I bought a base model after my SHAWD was totaled by some lady to save $ and maintenance cost
#2 The first day i brought my car to work, some idiot opened their door onto my door handle and it chipped off the paint leaving a black mark. Note to self, never get a white car ever again.
#3 I'm EXTREMELY unhappy with the FWD's handling, torque steer, and wheel slippage. It rained yesterday and the wheels were slipping and pissing me off like crazy.
#4 I actually just do not like the way this TL was built. I began doubts about the care once the "newness" wore off. Now I see or have found tons of problems.
#5 I was really thinking about trading up for a 2012 TL SHAWD, but now i realized that, no matter what changes are made, I will not like this TL due to a few things, such as:
-Trunk - the trunk is small and awkwardly shaped, i think I may be in the market for a small SUV or Hatch type vehicle.
-Rear seat hump - The rear seat hump makes it very uncomfortable for the 5th person in the car. They should have made the rear bench flatter.
-Armrest/center console - For a car this size, this must be the worse useage of space ever. It has the same storage capacity as my civic, and the armrest slideout does not have a passthrough. The armrest itself is fixed and the "U" shape makes it very uncomfortable
-Long front overhang - It's so long and relatively low that I hit my steep driveway every once in awhile.
#6 I backed into a parked car while trying to get out of a narrow garage area where the car was blocking me. Yes I have the camera but I looked away for just 1 second and got too close. A friggin proximity sensor would have helped even though it was my fault, but it doesn't come with any package and cost a lot to buy and install.

I've already lost so much $ on it for buying it new. I bought it for $37k, now it is worth $32k OR LESS when i go to kbb private seller. All the little problems became magnified after I realized how much this car actually cost to maintain (and gas), and how much I am losing. Coupled with the fact that I'm beginning not to like it for various reasons. I hope to get rid of it soon.

Glashub

^^^^
You have some valid points. Truth be told if there was no AWD, I'd be driving a Genesis right now.

crxb

why did you buy another ?

Morrissey25

iTrader: (4)

Man... You sound absolutely miserable

jasonwdp10

There are a lot of factors that went into why I bought another TL, here are just a few of them.

-when i bought my SHAWD, i was extremely happy to get a new car. It was the first new car I bought for myself. I bought it because my brother needed my civic, and since my parents bought me the civic, I was obligated to give him the car. I wanted to upgrade my vehicle, namely, speed and refinement, I got exactly that from either TL.
-after the accident, I was a bit shocked, I've never been in such a bad accident. A lady essentially tboned me because she made an illegal turn WITHOUT LOOKING. I was buried with insurance and work paperwork for the incident, but needed another car quick.

This is when I thought to myself, man, $41,000 is a lot of money, maybe I should not get something so expensive and just get something that is still nice, reliable, new, and an upgrade. My choices at the time, were: Infiniti G37, Lexus IS350, Acura TL Base, Acura TSX V6. I did not consider the accord coupe or sedan due to VCM. Also, the accord coupe doesn't have a power passenger seat.

I called lexus and they would not budge at all, very firm with the IS350 pricing, I'd be paying $45k for an IS350 with premium plus + nav.. i mean.. not even memory seats? I'd have to upgrade to the luxury pkg which sent the price shooting to $50,000 and removed any negotiating ability I had. Though they said they could do invoice for the very slow IS250, which i despise.

Which brought me down to the Base TL, TSX V6, and the Infiniti G37 sedan. I foolishly left out the SHAWD due to pricing and maintence costs (larger tires, larger engine/worse gas mileage, rear differential fluid), and did not consider it's fun factor. I may have been able to haggle a bit more since sales were still dismal at the time. (also, if i waited another month, i could have gotten the 0.9% interest)

In Los Angeles, you'll rarely get a test drive that goes for more than a few blocks. I'm sure you can bug the salesman enough to do so, but it's common practice for test drives to be quick n short, just going around a few blocks. Not like the stories where i hear people taking the car overnight or w/e. I wouldn't buy a car with more than 30 miles. (both my TL's had single digit miles when i bought them)

I drove the G37, and loved it's speed/sportiness, but its nav/electronics worked in strange ways, and the interior was a clear step below the TL. I can say that I liked both the aluminum and the wood trim options. Also, compared to the TL, the G37s' interior was a bit cramped. It felt closer to my civic in interior room, where the TL felt more like an accord or camry.

I didn't even test drive the TSX V6 Tech since it was the same price as the Base TL Tech, but with less room and less features. Pointless IMO.

Lastly, I went back to drive the Base TL, and during the brief test drive, it really did not feel much different than the SHAWD. The roads, even "bad" roads near the dealer are smooth and flat. It was difficult to judge the suspension based on that. Also, since I was driving on a business/residential mix for blocks, I was unable to guage the handling of the Base vs the SHAWD. Though, the base model clearly felt faster when accelerating than the SHAWD, even though actual speeds may have been different. So from the test drive, i gathered that it was a more refined, and slightly less sporty version of the TL, which would still be a huge upgrade from my civic.

One of the drawbacks of the car, FWD, I really only felt in the last few months (due to rain), especially the traction. In the rain, I basically need to drive like a granny because the front wheels slip pretty often. I remembered just flooring the throttle rain or shine in my SHAWD.

I think that If I did not need a car for awhile, I may have been able to make a better judgement, but mainly due to time constraints, I bought the TL again, and "saved" $4,000 by buying the base model over the SHAWD model. At the time, I thought that, even if i sold the base, I could put the $4,000 i saved from not getting the SHAWD towards the next car I wanted. I didn't, however, take in to account the huge drop in value that would happen during a new cars first year. I was too rushed and stressed at the time having to deal with 2 insurance companies, work, and body shops, etc, and could not think straight. So I ended up losing $5,000 anyways.

Now that I think about it, I should have just leased a car for 2 years since there wasn't much on the market in my price range that seemed to fit me. Either way, what's done is done. Right, now, I'm trying to figure out the best way to avoid more losses. I just got the registration fee and insurance bills, and they more than doubled since I had my civic. I haven't needed to replace the tires yet, but all I can think now is that I want to stop losing $ and either get another car that I really want, or get a used car with slightly cheaper maintenance and not worry about it's value dropping like crazy right when i buy it.

JM2010 SH-AWD

The best way to avoid taking a hit on a new car, any new car, is to hold onto it for awhile. Having a new car get totaled, like happened to you, really sucks. You just paid 40K, but the insurance company won't give you the replacement cost b/c all new cars, especially luxury cars, take a big hit in depreciation. (It happened to me once when my wife's three-month old Integra was totalled by a dump truck. Luckily, I was able to negotiate a resolution with the trucking company that allowed me to replace the Integra with no out of pocket expense (and a little left over, actually)).

Acuras and Hondas (and Infinitis and Lexuses) generally hold their value very, very well. If you hang onto your car for a few years your $$/year depreciation will even out and you'll come out way ahead of many other cars you could have purchased. But if you choose to sell it after a year or so, there's no avoiding the fact that you're going to suffer a substantial depreciation loss (again).

Best of luck.

Glashub

@jasonwdp10. You did what I often do....obsess on details like rear fluid costs while neglecting to thing about depreciation, etc. Welcome to the human race where we are all restless, irritable, and discontented. Here's the way I look at it because I get buyers remorse sometimes too...it's better than any other car I've owned defects and all & it's not the last car I'll own or bad deal I'll do. On the other hand if I change my perspectibve, I have to admit, I've gotten many more good deals than most. Mostly through blind luck too.

crxb

okay Jason - I see how you got where you are now - sorry

I guess w/ such big purchases - you have to be able to drive it more than just around the block

In my case I was driving a 3G TL - got a 4G FWD loaner once
so I had the FWD 4G overnight - and one of the 1st things I looked for - was did it have the torque steer like my 3G?

the tech got me interested

I was able test drive a SH-AWD model -(an not just a short drive)

speaking of short test drives - I was able to "test drive" at an event - the new Nissan Leaf - the drive was interesting as my 1st electric car - but would I buy the car just from that drive? NO - the drive was only a short (not much more than around the block) 10min and never over 35 mph

At the other end of test drives - in 2008 I did a bmw event (Susan B C) where you just waited your turn and they just about threw the keys at you and said see yah -
- so there I am driving a brand new 6MT BMW M3! - with no one but myself in the car - same for the Z3, and 135, and 335 - amazing driving experience!

cjTL

iTrader: (2)

Get your car professionally detailed and it will look new.

jspagna1

Good advise and very true. I keep my cars for a few years because of that very reason. Then when I see something that I really like I go for it and don't take a bath.

Litt

The nice thing about leasing a car is that if you find any flaws, they won't be your problem forever.

All things must pass.

If the 2012's rock I could take a hit to get the AWD.

KeithL

I agree, if there were no AWD I woudl not have been in a 09 AWD nor would I be looking to come back to Acura. I would likely be in a A4 or S60. I actually like the TSX over the FWD 4G TL.

KeithL

Agreed! After 7 months with my M37 Infiniti Electronics are driving me nuts. They suck so bad and their bluetooth MIC quality is so bad people hate calling me in the car, and I know my buddies G37 is worse. One thing I have learned is I was spoiled by Acura. I left the TL becasue I was no digging the styling, but realize the Acura build quality is far better than Infiniti and now as I test drive other cars (A4, S60) I am paying more attention to the ergonomics and electronics as mush as styling, ride and build. I'm hoping I like the 2012 AWD becasue I really want to come back to Acura, hell I woudl settle on a TSX over some other makes beacuse I believe Acura build quality and electronics are that much better.

docboy

+1

A4, S4, or 335xi 6MT here. In fact, I'm leaning towards trying out a German brand in the future. Porsche!

CousinJoey

+1

compewterbleu

One German brand truly intrigues me, Porsche. Audi use too and to a point still interest me with certain models. BMW....hmm a few things they are set to produce, but then their is their maintenance concerns and how they conduct them.