cjTL

iTrader: (2)

I like the 2012 body kit more. Looks more substantial.

ParaSurfer1979

I think nit looks like mdx. Looks good to me. What a nice looking car. HUGE improvement. I still however like RL's lines best.

potmilkz

i just want those headlights and that lip.. i wonder if that lip fits our 09-11 bumper.. seems like it should fit.. can anyone confirm this?

winstrolvtec

I think just because of the fact that it's now changed it will become more "accepted" and for a lot of people (not all) that is the key to buying one but IMO if one really prefers the look of new one, the resemblence is strong enough and ques very similar that they still could have got the earlier one.

The beak elimination and shrunken grill are good things, maybe the best styling changes but at the same time, to me the front end looks more animated now. I also feel the rear is cleaner looking but appears too high off the ground and maybe too small for overall exterior dimensions. I also hate the loss of the quad exhaust tips and prefer the current 18's instead, although both probably suite the refresh better and Acura did need to change rims, doesn't make sense to leave them. Still need to see it in person to confirm everything though.

Overall it's much more appealing package and toned down it should be more acceptable but the biggest improvements to the car have less to do with styling IMO and I think those other revisions will help it more than the design change but then again, I don't find anything wrong the current version, so I may be coming from a different perspective.

A few observations while looking at the TOV pics, I noticed the door latch to open and close is metal now or chrome finished at least, the door handle remains the same.

Maybe it's the pics but the aluminum trim doesn't appear to have the texture, grain or the design in it that the current one does. It seems more like your typical flat brushed aluminum which should help the opinions that the current looking trim is plastic or cheap looking.

Didn't notice any black or dark pillars or headliner in the interior photos which may or may not mean anything. Again maybe just the photo, but the rear seats looks like they are now positioned at 45 degrees. That would help the rear head room and common middle seat hump issue, although I am not really a fan of that type of rear seat position but all in all, lots of positive changes.

4dr4bangrAccord

Looks better.

potmilkz

might be true,

but from this pic..



i see pillars are still the same color.. maybe cuz interior is white?

but then again the link you showed us has white interior as well.

guess we will never know till we see the actual car.

potmilkz

but one thing they should have done and everyone should agree with me...

they should have made the rear seats foldable....

potmilkz

so far the changes i see is

grill
headlights
front bumper
no more chrome handles
rear tail lights are red chrome
rear bumper
rear trim piece is smaller
rear reflectors
exhaust change
interior seems to be the same
heated/cooled seats
higher resolution Navi Screen
60gb hard drive
Blind Spot Info System
6 speed auto trans
Song by Voice System


only thing is there is no more dot matrix on silver trim... (from what i can see)

Adourdomo

Why would they get rid of the chrome door handles??? SMH that was one of the things I liked about the 09-11

ostrich

Oh boy, the base TL still has those 17" wheels which are way too small for a vehicle of this size....

Otherwise, I like what they have done to the front. I don't think that it's necessarily better, but it's different from before and much more acceptable to many. I still like my aggressive 2010 grille, but this one is definitely going to attract more buyers.

The rear is a different story though. I am not sure if I like the now blunted angle in the rear trim piece. I need to see it in person to decide.

I am VERY intrigued though by the gas mileage improvement!!! Does that apply to the SH-AWD model too?

BTW. I watched the interviews and I am not sure if it was wise for the designers to talk about it as if the last design was a failure.... hmm.....

NJ SHAWD

If I was going to trade in a a new 4G, I would wait until the 2012's were in the dealership and get a terrific deal on an 11. Yes it was polarizing to some, but now it's vanilla.

Mr Marco

Yes, it is not necessary to make the entire rear wall solid steel. If the opening was only 18"x24" we would own more stuff from Ikea. As it is now you can put five 1"x6"x6' pieces of oak back there and that's it!

xrays

Personally, I have to say, I think the new 2012 TL nose looks stupid.
They have made the new TL's front end look like the RL's. Yuck!

jasonwdp10

That's one of the (many) reasons i may hold off on buying this car. Not that I haul large objects all the time, but the times I did, I realized how this trunk is too small for a vehicle this large. Simple things like 2 pieces of large luggage have the hardest time fitting.

I hope for acura to release a car like the TL, but as a 5 door, and not the ZDX. Who would want that mammoth 4400LB vehicle that has less utility than an RDX?

TSX69

If I am not mistaken, chrome handles were only on the Tech Pkg cars, so hopefully that remains or they bumped it up to the Advance Pkg ...

Linmk2

While the '12 does address the issue of the 09-11 TL styling being too "bold". I too agree it is not as distinguished. I especially don't care for the rear of the 2012. You see too much of the underpinnings. One of the things I liked about the current TL was the fact the it had a certain look. The '12 somehow looks to "me too". I do applaud the 6 speed and the ventilated seats. The '12 is said to have a more silent ride. I find my '11 to be hushed at highway speeds. I have no issues with interior noise. Since I just leased my 2011 in October, I'm going to have to be happy with my purchase for a number of years. So far I've been pleased Perhaps when my lease is up the new TL will have a proper tilt steering wheel.

BLACKURA_NY

iTrader: (6)

i like. i liked my 06, 08, 09, love my 2010... and ill probably buy a 2013 in a year or so.



LOVE
New headlights

HATE
New exhaust on SHAWD

VTEC Racer

The 4th gen TL already was at 3rd gen mpg (18/26). It has now surpassed it with the MMC.

J.A.S.

Forgive me if this is a double post, autoblog has several photos from today's auto show. They give a better view of the actual car than the computer images. I like my 2009 TL but I like this one even better.

http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2012-acura-tl-0/#3862408

eluzion

I actually prefer the more aggressive 2009-2011 design. I do, however, wish I had the 6spd auto.

4G Express

Meh

Kandiru

Right on, non-fold rear seats and AWD bumps in the trunk. One has to question the thinking behind this.

KeithL

Here is my guess, and purely uneducatde one... The TL sales have been low and my guess is the TL margins were nto as good as they coudl have been since they were always deep discounting them, so to save a few bucks here and there they did away with some subtle differences between the trim levels to get better economies of scale, this way they hedge their investments. If the sales stay flat they have better streamlined parts and they can milk the 4G for 2.5 more years until the 5G. I am a little disspointed in things liek the quad tips and the differences the AWD brooght and the total lack of a Type-S is a big dissapointment, I mean look at Hyundai, they are doing an R-Spec Genesis, clearly the Sports model demand is there.

Ac Man

Good improvements but not enough to make me wanna trade in my '09. I'll wait for the 5G instead!

halls120

Well, the waiting is over. While I love my 04 TL w/MT, it's getting up there, and it's time for a change. I can't wait for 5G - besides, they might screw it up even further.

I'm not a huge fan of the beak, but if wanted an Avalon, I'd buy an Avalon. Looks like a 2011 SH-AWD 6MT will be in my parking spot sometime this month.

ostrich

Is it just an optical illusion or is the front overhang really shorter now with the new bumper?

crxb

I think BMW did much the same as acura did w/ the 5 series - only they waited until a whole model change and not a mid cycle cg like acura just did w/ the TL Sometimes when I see the last gen 5 series - think it has a more cutting edge look than the new 2011 5 series

I'l wait until I see the 2012 TL in person b4 I decide if I like the 09-11 or the 2011 look better

Direct injection I agree - honda/acura needs to catch up here - done right it gives increased performance and mpg - done wrong - you get reliability issues that some of the german makes are having issues with

This 4G maybe the highest HP TL - the 5 gen maybe forced due to increased mph requirements to be a much different car.

nanos

yeah i'm still glad i have a 2010 model. The new lip for the 2012 looks too much and never really liked the ones that wrapped over the top of the front inlets. But man I wish I had the new 2012 mileage. WOW

BDoggPrelude

Too little, too late IMO. Ventilated seats should have been introduced on the 09 model and you shouldn't have to pay for the top package to get them. I actually prefer the old design in some respects. At least it was bold. The new grill just makes it look that much more like half the other cars on the road. The lower grills are too cluttered now. I do like the rear end more though. It doesn't look as cluttered on the lower end. I know all of you guys like the dual tips on the current SH-AWD but I think they look cheap. The single tips are much sleaker looking to me. In general, Honda's wheels are spinning and they're going nowhere.

miketala

The interior trim looks different - more like carbon fiber.

Compare:

Here's 2012, go to the 41 second spot:
http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=958530

Here's from the 2011
http://www.acura.com/PhotoGallery.as...ideos#/image31

Bearcat94

It's shorter. They mentioned it during the press conference.

pickler

i think it looks great. I am considering trading in my rdx this april for a 2012 TL. I really like the idea of a 6AT fitted to a 3.7L VTEC engine. The front looks 10x better to me and the car just seems smaller not as bulky as before. more like the tsx. thanks acura! i love itttt

Eli

Also apparently there is some more sound deadening material (lower wind/road noise).

03tLsNBP

iTrader: (9)

i like the new design a lot more than the 09-11...


...but i wouldnt even straight trade my 8 year old 2G for it.

Hapa DC5

Thank goodness. It's not perfect, but I have a feeling the enhancements inside and out will help boost sales of the TL. Looks a great deal better.

The car drives great, now it's closer to looking like it performs.

Litt

Before the big reveal I really hoped for a grill change like what they did, and for the 6 speed auto. Acura really delivered on both fronts.

H&R

I like the changes. The grille is not great, but FAR better than the initial one. The quad exhaust pipes were kinda poser style, duals are what it needs. Not bad overall.

ll_22

wow, surprised by the # of positive responses but I don't think this patch "refinement" works that well as a whole.

The front end now looks confused to me, too busy and the lines don't flow together well. It's one thing to change the TSX's grille because it's a relativvely minor change but to make the grille smaller on the TL there is a entire swatch of non-metal body-colored panel that looks just a bit off as one would expect and addes too many gaps around the grille/headlight element in a non-cohesive way.

I like using the line crease to break up the vertical feel but don't like the new lower bumper design, what's with that curved chrome piece? The turn signal and foglight and the air intake grille look like 3 separate pieces now.

The bag end I think is an improvement, somewhat BMW-5 like with the smaller reflectors. Probably could have done away with the chrome piece but at least now it is angled different so appears smaller? Air diffuser nice, again though the plastic surgery effort just doesn't look natural to the original design language.

The internal changes, long overdue. But have to say the exterior changes would prevent me to upgrade from 2009 if I had to right now. Am I in the minority with this opinion??

Jazzyjag20

So the complaints have been addressed about the grille. Is this enough for new buyers to purchase an Acura now over some other make? Most on here already have or had a TL. We know the issue of the grille. If I was just looking for a new vehicle in 2012 and deciding between Acura, Lexus, etc. is the grille change enough to push me over the top? Don't really know. I do know for the features Acura offers at its price point, it's a much better value. I recently purchased a low mileage certified 2009 at a great price. No buyers remorse here! FYI, I like the bolder grille.

cjTL

iTrader: (2)

I agree with all statements except for the grille one. I think both grilles look kind of awkward, but the 2012 one looks better fitted. The 09-11 grille extended up over the headlights, and that really made it look huge and awkward. Yeah the 2012 grille is a bit small, but its much lower on the front of the car and as they said in their release, makes the hood look longer. I showed my dad some pics of the 2012 TL (he HATES the 09-11 TL front end) and his exact words were "Wow. They somehow salvaged the design. I like it." This car will appeal to a much broader spectrum of buyers now, thankfully.

But I agree, the trim piece in the lower bumper is kinda...weird. I'd probably paint it black or something.