chaiwala

My journey with the 2010 TL is now done. I had a 2009 TL that Acura/Honda bought back because of variations of issues that the dealer was not able to fix and had to lemon it. The 2010 had its own share of problems ranging from engine knock, buzzing/grinding noise between 1600-1900 RPM's, creaking from the rear deck that the dealer couldn't fix. Rather than going back and forth with the dealer all over again, I decided that I would trade it in not because I was fed up with the TL(I really do love it) but more so because I got a really great deal on a used 2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 4matic. The MB only has 890 miles with a clean carfax and I was able to talk the dealer down to $48,400 which had a sticker price of $63,815. If it wasn't for this car, I probably would still be driving my TL

Unlike the few who traded in their TL's because the style never grew on them, I traded it in because of the reasons I gave above. Even today when I went to the dealer and I saw them take my TL for a quick test drive, I looked at my baby and said "Damn that car is sexy!" The biggest reason why I did trade the car was due to the treatment I got from Acura/Honda corporate HQ employees. They were pretty much arrogant about my issues and even the Acura dealer service director was fed up with them and personally told me to raise hell and retain a lawyer(second time) but I took the easy road and traded it in.

FWIW, I got $32,000 for my J37A4 TL. The MB is White with Natural Beige interior. It comes with the AMG sports package 18" double spoke AMG wheels, suspension, body kit steering wheel and black maple wood I believe. I will say this about the E350, it is definitely not "smart luxury" because no way in hell is it worth $63,815. The navigation screen is probably half the size of the TL and the ELS sound system not only beats the Harmon Kardan in the E350, it SPANKS its behind!

I wish all you TL'ers the best of luck with their ride! I really love the car and as much as the issues I had with it, I will shed a tear when it finally leaves me on Tuesday!

Thanks for everyone here that has helped me directly and indirectly with my TL. I have learned a lot in my short tenure at Acurazine and I will try my best to come and be a guest and remenisce. The 4th generation TL will be near and dear to my heart no matter what. It is a part of my history!!

Happy motoring fellow TL'ers!

777mycoolangelo

Bummer you were treated that way....Best of luck man!

Takehold66

Best of luck! E350 is a sweet car.

vinnier6

iTrader: (1)

sweet car, expensive maintenence....

VQPower37

congrats on the new car ... post a few pics plz

neilman

Agree...Acura Client Services is pretty much crap...didn't help me much with my issues...I don't even bother returning their follow up calls. Good luck with your MB!

chaiwala

MB's are quite expensive to maintain, I agree. On the plus side I do my own maintenance. I live in Fiji during the winter months and I own a very reputable garage that deals with higher end foreign cars. Just to give you an example one of my clients happens to be Vijay Singh(golfer) and maintain his whole fleet of cars down there.

chaiwala

Thank You, I will post pictures. Once I finalize the deal on Tuesday, I will post pictures posted by the dealership on their website.

chaiwala

Thanks Neil. I have followed your posts particularly as my experience is very much along the lines as yours and I wish you the best with your fight. One thing I learned from this situation is that the big fish always swallows the smaller fishes like us! I know I didn't have the arsenal so I waved the white flag and cut my losses the best I could.

03tLsNBP

iTrader: (9)

wow congrats on the deal. how the heck did you get that price?

vinnier6

iTrader: (1)

kind of makes me wonder why you would drive an acura to begin with, being such a high roller...

YetiTL

Well I'm sad to see you go so best of luck to you. Your story with Acura is a real horror story and I'm really annoyed by the way Acura customer service is trwating its customers. They are the small guys against MB, BMW, Audi and Lexus, they should treat us like they have to earn our loyalty, not as it was given to them no matter what. Afterall, they don't have brand cachet to back them up...

Enjoy the MB and may the best of luck be with you with this one!

chaiwala

Guys, thanks for the wishes! I appreciate it! Same goes for you guys, best of luck.

03tLsNBP- The MB dealerships are aggresively selling the 2010's because the 2011's are out and MB has a $3200 mfg to dealer rebates. Just to give you an example, I was looking at a brand new MB with an MSRP of $63xxx and I talked the dealer down to $51,750. The only problem is that the 2010's are hard to find right now, inventory is low, very low.

Vinnier6- No I am very far from being a high roller. It may seem it to you but believe me you I am far from rich or high roller.

crxb

i drove a MB 350 during bmws driving event for the new 5 series - very low noise and smoooth ride (wasn't the amg or 4matic)

cp3117

Congrats on your purchase as it is a very nice upgrade and sorry about you Acura experience although im not really surprised as it seems to becoming a common theme.

I have been following a lot of the issues over in the problem and fixes section and yes you have had some quality issues with the 2 TL's you have owned. I have owned Japanese cars most of my life and this is one of many reasons why I am straying away. Yes they generally are reliable but the quality just isnt there like many others. I am really surprised that the NHTSA hasnt looked further into the weld issues the 4G seems to be having, sure the squeeking/creaking from it is annoying but one would think the overall crash safety of the vehicle could easily be compromised with this issue.

Anyhow....Congrats again on the MB and better luck in the future.

Mr Marco

Looks like you'll have just as many button locations to memorize on the MB as you did on the TL. Good luck, and drive like an Italian!

ostrich

I am so sorry to hear about the problems with the Acura people. Isn't it amazing that while they want to be a real luxury car company, some of their employees still treat you like that? That is just terrible....

I love the look of the E350. I know it's probably not as sporty as the TL SH-AWD, but it surely is smoother and quieter!!! Enjoy it - you have a great deal there!!!

TechnoCat

Congrats! Dunno about others but both myself and one other poster here traded in our TLs due to Acura not quite taking features all the way (comfortable great-looking seats with terrible head restraints, large car without folding seats or flat trunk, iPod interface without search, nav without ability to load addresses from the phone book, etc.) rather than due to style.

Enjoy the ride!

TechnoCat

Sounds like his Acura experience was so expensive that no Mercedes experience could possibly be pricier. Context is everything.

TechnoCat

What a rude statement. Are you acknowledging that no Acura compares to a decent Mercedes, or are you just snarky?

MurkyRiversTL

Techno- Ever heard of multi-quote??

chaiwala

The Mercedes navigation is plain and simply CRAPPY. The screen is small, can't use while driving and lags behind when driving aggresively in the city. The only good about the navi is that it is bright and has a crisp picture just a tad better than Acura.

Ostrich--You nailed it right on! It is definitely smoother and quieter but is also underpowered. The TL is by far sportier and on the test drive with the MB it felt a little like driving a boat because I am so used to driving the TL. I love the look of the E350 a lot and the sport package finishes this car nicely. You did nail it right on the head! Thanks.

777mycoolangelo

NICE!

MyCarIsntInMyWifesName

Such a shame you had an unusually bad experience with an Acura product, and then on two, and then on two right in a row.

But beautiful new ride. I test drove a new E350 AMG rear drive and found it to be an excellent car. The problem is that a new one is at the high end of my price spectrum and it has 268 horsepower, which is good but not great (lots of torque though).

IrishTR

Dunno why this is funny but Vijay Singh was our shuttle driver in Fiji on Taveuni more than likely two different people, just sparked my mind when I saw Fiji and Vijay together. That and I miss Fiji cant wait for next year to return to Matangi Island again!

Sorry to hear about your ordeal with the TLs bud hope the new ride meets your needs enjoy!

Mr Marco

Spoken like a true Audi driver. Wouldn't your statement itself be defined as "Snarky". The "Bluntly ironic" statements will abound in a forum dedicated to Acura owners. Move over to audiworld.com, and stop putting down people who really believe in an inexpensive luxury sports car.

chaiwala

I hope its not the same Vijay Singh That guy has a fetish for fast cars and his stable is to drool for. It is still funny though!

There are a ton of Indians there and my brother-in-law was born and raised in Fiji but now lives in Massachusetts.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

Congrats on the upgrade dude. I can certainly agree with why you got ride of the TL with all of the real problems you have had with it. Post pics/ thread of the E in Car Talk in the Off Topic section of the forum. Happy Motoring.

TechnoCat

Ah, but I was also a true Acura driver. Just not a terribly happy one, because I didn't consider the TL SH-AWD even to qualify as entry luxury. (Well, actually, had they solved the head restraint problem, I would have probably been a lot less grumpy about it.)

I was referring to the "high roller" comment anyhow. My statement may have been a bit snarky-in-kind, but not nearly at the same level.

Mr Marco

See there you go again...Audi elitist Bull Shit! Anything goes when you are trying to justify spending too much money on a car. You are probably spending 15%+ of income on your car payment just to keep up with your neighbor who is also in debt up to his eye balls.

There is a guy who drives an 1997 FERRARI 355 SPIDER in the apartment building 8 blocks from my house. I would love to own a Ferrari, but I have a $2k house payment to make every month. Priority.

TechnoCat

What fun! Seriously, I had a 2010 TL SH-AWD 6MT before this Audi S4 Prestige. Do you seriously believe I wanted to dislike a car I'd just spent $41K on (the TL)? It was requiring "justification" to claim the TL was worth it (by my metrics; it's basically a fine car, just not my match.)

BTW, you may want to be careful about that projection. I had no idea you earned so little, and wouldn't have known, if you hadn't implied that a car payment could even be 15% of your income. I'm surprised that you can afford to be on the internet! Perhaps you'd be better off at www.bigwheelzine.com.

MurkyRiversTL

head restraints determine luxury for you...... oh and folding rear seats... You crack me up. I hope that if you have any passenger in the back of your audi that theyre legless.... for your sake

MurkyRiversTL

Im pretty sure he said YOU could be spending 15%+ for your car, and never mentioned himself in there. But then again you bought a car because your deaf, and almost blind girlfriend couldnt tell the sunroof was open..... I could see how your reading comprehension may suffer.

Mr Marco

Yep, you just proved my point with that one, more "I MAKE MORE THAN YOU" BullShit (or want people to think you do).

Oh, just re-read the first line of your post. Never mind, I'm not interested in satisfying your power trip as well. I submit to your ego.

AMUA6

iTrader: (7)

The E is

winstrolvtec

It basically comes down to whatever fault Techno can find in his old TL, as subjective as it may be, automatically implies the TL absolutely cannot be considered luxury and whatever he finds superior about his S4 and the things he has to stretch or exaggerate, as subjective as they may be, automatically implies it is the epitome of luxury (at least within that range) and the cost completely justified. This purely reflects his mind, perception and train of thought, it really has little to do with how the rest of the world sees it.

Clearly he is as pro Audi as many of us are pro Acura, which is fine, but the difference is that Acura actually made a decent enough product for him to consider and purchase while Audi has not yet done that for most of us and he is just trying to save face.

To top it off he may be worse than you typical fonboy because he no longer owns a TL but spends more time here than most TL owners do, contributing nothing more then bashing the TL and Acura owners choice, claiming to only be expressing his displeasure (which would be ok) but there is a fine line that has clearly been crossed. None of us continuously declare why it was we did not buy or do not like the A/S4, every 9 out of 10 posts even when it's relevant and then when it's not.

Mr Marco

You are not allowed to misrepresent a URL on AZ (unless it’s a Tiny). When I right clicked for properties on your BWZ.com link I got; http://www.originalbigwheel.com/.

Mr Marco

price??.
Yes, you are correct...I think there is a S4 VS. TL thread already. I'm just tired of hearing the bitching and moaning from all the 4G haters, and there have been many posts that did nothing but bitch, Yet everyone has left the praise for price aside. Try doing a side by side comp on price and see where the Germans fall.

VTEC Racer

Amen!

007Acura