Picked up my (wife's) TL SH-AWD today
#1
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
Picked up my (wife's) TL SH-AWD today
I'm starting a new thread to show my new TL, as if you don't know what they look like
I'll also use this thread to post my thoughts on the car. I picked it up late this morning. As ya'll know, it's really my wife's new car, but shes at work today so I'm playing with it.
A couple of early observations. I could not believe that you cannot upload MP3's from a disc or USB to the HDD. Let me repeat - I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT! I could on my CTS. The dealer said it's because they don't want to encourage pirating. What a crock. So the only way to load to the HDD is about 15 minutes an album. Totally stupid.
Second, how many times do you guys hit the knob (what do they call the knob?) when you put the car in park? I'm two-for-two in changing the radio station when I put it in park.
I'll also be making some comments as I go comparing it to my Lexus GS350. Probably a little premature, but so far I'll say I think the TL Stereo is better in the TL than the Mark Levinson in the Lexus. The Lexus feels a little quicker - as much as anything it just feels more responsive in both the engine and transmission than the Acura. But it's not a big difference, and I'd bet that in a side-by-side full on race they would be extremely close. I've learned over the years that seat of the pants can be deceiving.
Here are some pics - I'm well versed in
I'll also use this thread to post my thoughts on the car. I picked it up late this morning. As ya'll know, it's really my wife's new car, but shes at work today so I'm playing with it.
A couple of early observations. I could not believe that you cannot upload MP3's from a disc or USB to the HDD. Let me repeat - I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT! I could on my CTS. The dealer said it's because they don't want to encourage pirating. What a crock. So the only way to load to the HDD is about 15 minutes an album. Totally stupid.
Second, how many times do you guys hit the knob (what do they call the knob?) when you put the car in park? I'm two-for-two in changing the radio station when I put it in park.
I'll also be making some comments as I go comparing it to my Lexus GS350. Probably a little premature, but so far I'll say I think the TL Stereo is better in the TL than the Mark Levinson in the Lexus. The Lexus feels a little quicker - as much as anything it just feels more responsive in both the engine and transmission than the Acura. But it's not a big difference, and I'd bet that in a side-by-side full on race they would be extremely close. I've learned over the years that seat of the pants can be deceiving.
Here are some pics - I'm well versed in
#3
Drifting
Schweet! Now where have I seen that car before . About the quickness or lack thereof vs your Lexus, once the TL loosens up a bit the quickness may improve.
#4
אני עומד עם ישראל
Nice stable you have there.... Congrats on the purchase.
#6
Congrats on your purchase....Mine arrived last evening and will pick it up a week from today so I am looking forward to test driving it too. I will say that is sad that you cannot upload from your MP3, in fact, its pathetic really if that is the case. So let me get this straight, how can I get my MP3 (from USB or player) uploaded into the hard drive?
Secondly, I LOVE the color and Stew will attest to this as I am a huge fan of his, and love yours too Treblig. Mine is the SH-AWD (BWP) with Tech package but didn't take the cooled seats...I know I will get flamed but prefer the 18" wheels.
Finally, that is quite the collection of cars you have there!
Enjoy the wife enjoys the ride too.
Secondly, I LOVE the color and Stew will attest to this as I am a huge fan of his, and love yours too Treblig. Mine is the SH-AWD (BWP) with Tech package but didn't take the cooled seats...I know I will get flamed but prefer the 18" wheels.
Finally, that is quite the collection of cars you have there!
Enjoy the wife enjoys the ride too.
#7
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
Congrats on your purchase....Mine arrived last evening and will pick it up a week from today so I am looking forward to test driving it too. I will say that is sad that you cannot upload from your MP3, in fact, its pathetic really if that is the case. So let me get this straight, how can I get my MP3 (from USB or player) uploaded into the hard drive?
Secondly, I LOVE the color and Stew will attest to this as I am a huge fan of his, and love yours too Treblig. Mine is the SH-AWD (BWP) with Tech package but didn't take the cooled seats...I know I will get flamed but prefer the 18" wheels.
Finally, that is quite the collection of cars you have there!
Enjoy the wife enjoys the ride too.
Secondly, I LOVE the color and Stew will attest to this as I am a huge fan of his, and love yours too Treblig. Mine is the SH-AWD (BWP) with Tech package but didn't take the cooled seats...I know I will get flamed but prefer the 18" wheels.
Finally, that is quite the collection of cars you have there!
Enjoy the wife enjoys the ride too.
What they told me at the dealer is that the only way to download (or is it "upload"?) to the HDD is by putting in a disc - and not a disc you made at home.
I have tried the USB port with a thumb drive - it works pretty well. That is what I have in my Lexus. The Lexus is limited to how many songs it will handle on the USB, and the functionality is not all that great as far as searching for songs - very cumbersome. I'll be experimenting with the TL to see if it's any better. Might even read the manual - but I'll never admit to it here on the forum
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#8
I guess that I will not be taking advantage of the hard drive afterall. That is sad as it was something I was looking forward to have...All my music is either on burned CD or USB/player. CRAP!
Can anyone confirm this...not even burned CD will get uploaded on the Hard Disk?
Last edited by Steven Bell; 05-27-2011 at 11:12 PM. Reason: Merged Posts.
#9
I've use burnt audio CD's. Get you 2 re-writable cd's, make an audio CD (album) of your mp3 files.
You can load this CD to your car's HDD. While the CD is loading, write another CD from your computer. It only took me about an hour to fill my HDD up. Not the easiest way, but better than filling out info in the car's system.
You can load this CD to your car's HDD. While the CD is loading, write another CD from your computer. It only took me about an hour to fill my HDD up. Not the easiest way, but better than filling out info in the car's system.
#10
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
I've use burnt audio CD's. Get you 2 re-writable cd's, make an audio CD (album) of your mp3 files.
You can load this CD to your car's HDD. While the CD is loading, write another CD from your computer. It only took me about an hour to fill my HDD up. Not the easiest way, but better than filling out info in the car's system.
You can load this CD to your car's HDD. While the CD is loading, write another CD from your computer. It only took me about an hour to fill my HDD up. Not the easiest way, but better than filling out info in the car's system.
Thanks for the advice.
#11
About the two disc, I think he is refering to the fact that as one is burning on the HDD, you can prepare the other disk and so on and so on .. it is simply a way to speed up the process.
Good luck
#12
Suzuka Master
Congrats! Sweet car, I must say!
I pretty much use my iPod because of the BS way Acura blocks us from uploading via usb.
I have never hit the knob when putting my car in park.. and have had it nearly 2 months
I pretty much use my iPod because of the BS way Acura blocks us from uploading via usb.
I have never hit the knob when putting my car in park.. and have had it nearly 2 months
#13
From the sounds of things, it may be doable afterall. I don't think that it would dependant on how you ripped your CD that would prevent you from copying to HDD but I suspect it may just be a "read the manual moment" (teasing)
About the two disc, I think he is refering to the fact that as one is burning on the HDD, you can prepare the other disk and so on and so on .. it is simply a way to speed up the process.
Good luck
About the two disc, I think he is refering to the fact that as one is burning on the HDD, you can prepare the other disk and so on and so on .. it is simply a way to speed up the process.
Good luck
#16
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
Yes, you must say
I'm the last guy on the planet without an iPod
I have very big hands. In fact, big hands and big feet.....that's all though
Okay, that is what I thought as well. I did not understand in your first post - they can't be MP3s??? That sort of defeats the purpose doesn't it? I would think there would not be much to be gained if they are not compressed files.
I pretty much use my iPod because of the BS way Acura blocks us from uploading via usb.
I have never hit the knob when putting my car in park.. and have had it nearly 2 months
Okay, that is what I thought as well. I did not understand in your first post - they can't be MP3s??? That sort of defeats the purpose doesn't it? I would think there would not be much to be gained if they are not compressed files.
Last edited by Steven Bell; 05-27-2011 at 11:13 PM. Reason: Merged Posts.
#17
Drifting
I swear that all of the available SH-AWD Advance in BWP have been snapped up by the members in this forum! LOL
Congrats on the purchase! It's beautiful. You/your wife will LOVE it!!! :-)
Congrats on the purchase! It's beautiful. You/your wife will LOVE it!!! :-)
#18
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
OK, I have more observations and questions. My wife and I went to dinner in it, and I've spent probably an hour or more messing with settings and learning the controls.
Item: The default was set so that everytime you highlight something in the audio system, "nav lady" would tell you what you just highlighted. If you are just scrolling through the stations - even if you don't select them, she would announce every station you scrolled through, for instance. GOD was that irritating. It took me a few tries, but I think I finally shut her up.
Question: Does the phone book download (from your smart-phone) happen every time you get in your car and the phone pairs? I don't see a way to turn this off so it only downloads when you want it to. Kind of a pain because it takes time for it to load.
Question: How does the memory system work on the audio and climate controls? Does it simply remember the setting when each driver turned the car off, or does it always go to some pre-set setting?
BTW, I actually did read a lot of the manual - neither one of these issues was answered in the manual.
We really like the car a lot. But it really is a techie car. Fortunately, I like that sort of stuff. My wife is good at learning to use the features once they are set up, but I don't see her wanting to do all the set up work up front. Not her thing.
Item: The default was set so that everytime you highlight something in the audio system, "nav lady" would tell you what you just highlighted. If you are just scrolling through the stations - even if you don't select them, she would announce every station you scrolled through, for instance. GOD was that irritating. It took me a few tries, but I think I finally shut her up.
Question: Does the phone book download (from your smart-phone) happen every time you get in your car and the phone pairs? I don't see a way to turn this off so it only downloads when you want it to. Kind of a pain because it takes time for it to load.
Question: How does the memory system work on the audio and climate controls? Does it simply remember the setting when each driver turned the car off, or does it always go to some pre-set setting?
BTW, I actually did read a lot of the manual - neither one of these issues was answered in the manual.
We really like the car a lot. But it really is a techie car. Fortunately, I like that sort of stuff. My wife is good at learning to use the features once they are set up, but I don't see her wanting to do all the set up work up front. Not her thing.
#20
Drifting
The Factory default has the "nav lady" repeating your commands and highlighted items while the vehicle is in motion. This can be turned off. As soon as I call the pathway I will let you know what it is, unless someone elas beats me to it.
I can't answer the phonebook question.
The memory system works on the audio and climate control settings by remembering the last settings just before the car was turned off by the last driver (Driver 1 or Driver 2).
I can't answer the phonebook question.
The memory system works on the audio and climate control settings by remembering the last settings just before the car was turned off by the last driver (Driver 1 or Driver 2).
#21
The phonebook only downloads 1 time.
The audio controls (channels and settings) mirror settings need to be saved to the driver# memory button. It will remember the last setting if you are the next driver to unlock the car, but if a different driver# unlocks the car they get reset to that drivers last saved settings.
Back to the HDD music downloading. It was a bit of a pain, but I chose to put some 'old faithful' (Beatles, Bob Marley, Jazz, etc...)type music on the HDD and use the USB stick (16gb) for my 'current' song selections. Being that I won't need to continue to update the HDD songlist, the onetime pain of downloading the CD's to the HDD wasn't that big of a deal.
The audio controls (channels and settings) mirror settings need to be saved to the driver# memory button. It will remember the last setting if you are the next driver to unlock the car, but if a different driver# unlocks the car they get reset to that drivers last saved settings.
Back to the HDD music downloading. It was a bit of a pain, but I chose to put some 'old faithful' (Beatles, Bob Marley, Jazz, etc...)type music on the HDD and use the USB stick (16gb) for my 'current' song selections. Being that I won't need to continue to update the HDD songlist, the onetime pain of downloading the CD's to the HDD wasn't that big of a deal.
Last edited by nunyazz; 05-27-2011 at 10:07 PM.
#24
the hard drive is about as useful as the DVD-A (DVD-A - great sound - except you have to buy DVD-As on the Antique Road Show)
- just use an iPod type device
- just use an iPod type device
#26
Phone Book is flawed. Most 2012 TL's have the design flaw and Acura does not have a fix yet. In the current state it will try to download every time you get back into the phone application, not just the car.
Set speed dials for the frequent numbers and just wait it out with Acura.
In fact, call Acura Client Services to complain about it so that they keep working on a fix, that should exist already.
Set speed dials for the frequent numbers and just wait it out with Acura.
In fact, call Acura Client Services to complain about it so that they keep working on a fix, that should exist already.
#27
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
Phone Book is flawed. Most 2012 TL's have the design flaw and Acura does not have a fix yet. In the current state it will try to download every time you get back into the phone application, not just the car.
Set speed dials for the frequent numbers and just wait it out with Acura.
In fact, call Acura Client Services to complain about it so that they keep working on a fix, that should exist already.
Set speed dials for the frequent numbers and just wait it out with Acura.
In fact, call Acura Client Services to complain about it so that they keep working on a fix, that should exist already.
I was out on my motorcycle all day today, so I had to let my wife drive HER new car today . She called me at lunch and could not say enough about how much she likes the car. When I got home she raved about it again.
#28
Acura did it so its marketing geeks can advertise that the HDD holds 3,000 songs, albeit highly compressed. Why didn't Acura allow the user to choose the level of compression, or at least choose a lower compression ratio, like 192k, so you can get the most out of the ELS system?
#29
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
I just went out to the garage and did a back seat and trunk comparison between my Lexus GS350 and the TL. The back seat in the TL wins this round. The seat sits higher off the floor which supported my thighs better, and the TL has about an inch more head room.
Comparing trunks is not so easy. I had both of them open with the cars side-by-side. At first look the Lexus trunk appeared bigger. But the way the wheel-wells and hump for the rear differential intrude is completely different on the cars. I did not try putting anything in the trunk, but I took a couple of quick measurements and just kind of eyeballed them. The TL trunk is 1-2" higher in the main part. Right now I'm thinking the TL has more overall space. But they are close I - and neither of them is as big as I think they should be for a car this size and designed as a full size luxury sedan.
As to some other comparisons, no doubt the TL, especially with the SH-AWD is much more the "sport sedan" of the two. We drove the TL downtown last night (I live 25 miles out in the suburbs) on roads I drive all the time in my Lexus. The Lexus rides better, the TL much firmer. But neither my wife nor I thought the TL was bad at all. It is not harsh and the shock damping is well controlled.
Also, I got about the same gas mileage - which I think is excellent in the Lexus. I seldom drive into town in rush hour, and getting to the freeways is not bad for me. I'll always hit a few lights red, but my driving is not a lot of stop and go. I reset the average MPG when I left my neighborhood in the TL last night. When I got off the freeway into downtown Houston the average showed about 28.7. We did hit a lot of red lights going through downtown into the "mid-town" area. When I left the restaurant the average was 25.4 and stayed there until we got back on the freeway. From there back home it climbed up into the upper 26s. While city driving is not very scientific because it varies so much, from what I've seen so far the TL seems to suffer more in the city than my Lexus.
I like my Lexus a lot, but let me say I'm really enjoying the TL - and my wife REALLY likes it a lot.
Comparing trunks is not so easy. I had both of them open with the cars side-by-side. At first look the Lexus trunk appeared bigger. But the way the wheel-wells and hump for the rear differential intrude is completely different on the cars. I did not try putting anything in the trunk, but I took a couple of quick measurements and just kind of eyeballed them. The TL trunk is 1-2" higher in the main part. Right now I'm thinking the TL has more overall space. But they are close I - and neither of them is as big as I think they should be for a car this size and designed as a full size luxury sedan.
As to some other comparisons, no doubt the TL, especially with the SH-AWD is much more the "sport sedan" of the two. We drove the TL downtown last night (I live 25 miles out in the suburbs) on roads I drive all the time in my Lexus. The Lexus rides better, the TL much firmer. But neither my wife nor I thought the TL was bad at all. It is not harsh and the shock damping is well controlled.
Also, I got about the same gas mileage - which I think is excellent in the Lexus. I seldom drive into town in rush hour, and getting to the freeways is not bad for me. I'll always hit a few lights red, but my driving is not a lot of stop and go. I reset the average MPG when I left my neighborhood in the TL last night. When I got off the freeway into downtown Houston the average showed about 28.7. We did hit a lot of red lights going through downtown into the "mid-town" area. When I left the restaurant the average was 25.4 and stayed there until we got back on the freeway. From there back home it climbed up into the upper 26s. While city driving is not very scientific because it varies so much, from what I've seen so far the TL seems to suffer more in the city than my Lexus.
I like my Lexus a lot, but let me say I'm really enjoying the TL - and my wife REALLY likes it a lot.
Last edited by jjsC5; 05-29-2011 at 11:10 AM.
#31
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Congrats man-that's a hell of a trio of rides in that garage....
.
.
#32
Suzuka Master
jjs' vette looks better in person!! It is very drool worthy!
Thanks for the comparisons, jj. I think I like my TL more every time I drive it... isn't is so cool when the love affair is still new and fresh and exciting
Thanks for the comparisons, jj. I think I like my TL more every time I drive it... isn't is so cool when the love affair is still new and fresh and exciting
#33
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
I had my TL and GS parked end to end in the driveway all day today. Last year I would have never said this, but the TL is a better looking car. I know some people think the GS is a little bland looking but I always thought it has very classy lines in a tasteful, understated way. But the TL looks better without being over the top from any angle now.
#34
congrats; please tell me how to turn off the annoying voice that reads everything out loud everytime you highlight it! i'm going crazy; read the manual, went through all the settings.. lol thanks
#35
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
Honestly I'll have to go back and look at it. The setting is not very intuitive. My wife has the car at work now, but I'll try to remember to look it up tonight. Yes, it was incredibly irritating.
#37
#38
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
Good. BTW, I notice there is an ON, OFF, and AUTOMATIC setting. I have no idea what the automatic setting gets. I can't find it in the manual either. They need an 0n-line manual with a search feature. Anyone know if they have such a thing?
#40
Three Wheelin'
Thread Starter
I'm sure I'll stumble across it somewhere eventually. There are about four manuals that came with my car - total pages I'm guessing is close to a thousand pages. I just looked - about 650 pages just in the main manual.