jjsC5

First a little history, I've owned three Acuras and many other Honda products over the years. But I've been very outspoken about the styling of the current generation. 18 months ago I still considered one, but in the end I bought a Lexus GS350. I really liked the Acura, but there were three distinct problems - the styling, no six speed automatic and no ventilated seats.

Fast forward - my wife has been driving SUV's for quite a few years but is now ready to go back to a car. I'm a huge car nut - talking epic proportions. I'm 58 years old and I think I'm on 57 vehicles of the four wheel variety. My last few cars for me have been the Lexus, 08 CTS Cadillac, 06 Infiniti M45 sport, and 04 Acura TL. My "toy" car is a Z06 Corvette.

Tonight we went and looked at the '12 TL. We drove a FWD Advance. My wife and I really liked it a lot. Keep in mind that even though it's my wife's car, she puts low mileage on hers so I actually drive her vehicle quite a bit to balance out the miles on mine.

Nothing about the car surprised me in that I drove them 18 months ago. The six speed does help eliminate the flat spot when nailing it at about 60mph that I noticed on the one I drove with the 5 speed. One thing that I tried out to impress my wife was the voice commands. I've had a few cars with voice command systems that I find to be worthless to me. I never seem to get the command right, and they get what I'm saying wrong probably 50% of the time. While I was driving, I tried three commands without even knowing what to say - I just guessed. I tried setting the temperature, turning the stereo on, and changing the radio station. It got every one of them right. It blew my wife away to see the temperature readout go from 70 to 72 when I gave the command!

The salesman I was dealing with is a guy I bought my 04 from and I really like him a lot. I'm very knowledgeable, and I have zero patience for B.S. I am fortunate in that I deal with owners of a couple of dealerships I buy a lot of cars from. But this guy shoots me straight and gets to the bottom line right away. He immediately told me he'll sell me any FWD Advance at invoice. They had an SH-AWD that we liked a lot but he only came off the price on it about $1400. I actually pushed him a little on that and he said they are very rare and that's the best he could to. I'm still doing some homework on my trade, but I'm pretty good at figuring what they are worth and I think his trade offer was pretty reasonable as well.

The ONLY downside is that they do not offer the interior/exterior color combination we really want on the Advance (no White/Taupe). We will probably buy one in the next week though, we just have to figure out what color or if I have a weak moment and buy the SH-AWD. The SH Advance he had was white/ebony. I'd prefer not to have an ebony interior, but on the SH it has a light gray stitching that knocked my socks off. Pictures don't do it justice - you just have to see it. The 19" wheels also knocked me out. hmmmm..... stay tuned.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Keep us posted!

Mr Marco

Why no AWD??? You are missing out on one of the best systems on the market.

jjsC5

I agree that it is, but the roads we have aren't about handling. Ever been to Houston? I know where every curve within 100 miles of Houston are. But to answer the real question, it's about the value to us. Because they aren't dealing as much the actual purchase price on the AWD is $4500 more than the FWD (comparing Advance models) and it gets 3mpg less. I would rather have the AWD, but I'm just not there....yet.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

I would wait until you get the exact color combo you want. No regrets. Good luck.

KaMLuNg

iTrader: (5)

it is still early in the year, if you can wait it out, your color combo will be more easily obtainable for the price you want... but if you have no time to wait, then you don't have a choice but to take what the dealer has...

Glashub

OP - I don't know if it matters to you but both the LA Times and the NY Times published articles about how now is the worse time in years to buy a car and that it would be best to wait until after the 1st of the year. A number of factors at play but the end result is that it is a sellers market and will remain so. You can search for articles. Quick search brought this up from STL Today...basically saying the same thing -

Gallagher: With car prices climbing, now might not be best time to buy

http://www.stltoday.com/business/col...f1d26af40.html

Glashub

Here we go, LA Times - "Best option for car shoppers: Postpone buying" -

"If you don't have an immediate need, you are probably better to wait and figure out where the market is headed," said Jesse Toprak, an analyst with auto information company TrueCar.com.

Toprak concedes his reluctance to give such advice. TrueCar collects referral fees for new-car sales to visitors to its website.

Yet he's not a lone voice."

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fi-au...tory?track=rss

indopinoy

pm'd you OP.

Stew4HD

I live in Sugar Land.. I get to go around a curve on the beltway at 59! LOL... the sh-awd is great at all times.. I hear that when it rains, err.. if it ever does.. I'll love it even more.

I can feel the AWD whenI go around any turn, by the way.

lji

I like the curve on 59 going southbound right before downtown

Stew4HD

I really enjoy the U-Turns under the freeways too. I do a couple everyday and the entrance I use at the beltway and westpark is a full 360 degree sweep that I can do at 60 in this car.. shhhhaaaa-wiiing!

jjsC5

If you live down that way, as I see you do, go out to 99/Crab River Road. Go south to where it becomes 762 (I think) and turn left on the road across from "George Ranch". It goes past a power plant that you will see. That is a fun road. You may see me out there early on Sunday mornings in my Z06.

As to waiting, it works both ways. Right now they are offering me invoice on the '12 Advance except the SH as I stated above. I have no doubt that waiting will make the SH easier to deal on. But the flip side is that my trade is worth a little more than I expected right now.

I'm not one to play a waiting game for better deals. To me, the deal is either fair or not fair. Right now I'm happy that the deal is a fair deal. If the deal gets a little better, I don't look back - especially knowing that if new car prices drop $1000, my trade will probably drop by close to the same amount. They almost always go down when the new model years come out.

BTW, I did drive the SH today and I'll make a decision tonight most likely and finalize the deal tomorrow.

Thanks for the input and comments

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

SHHHH! dont tell every one my spot!!!!
from here on out, it will now be referenced as mexico.





I have vidz of my dads chally srt8 racing a c6 in "mexico"

jjsC5

Whoa, I meant to say that when you turn on the road next to George Ranch, you drive about 600 miles to the Mexican boarder and make a right.....

Great post - you da man! I can be found out on those roads a lot on Sunday mornings in the Corvette or one of my bikes. I'm a pretty serious back road guy. I do about 300-350 miles on my bike every Saturday - we head way out of town. Three weeks ago I was in the Smoky's - a friend and I alternate between the Smoky's and Rockies every other year. Here we are this year at the Tail of the Dragon. I'm the one in the read jacket...

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

sweet!!!!!
(asking the general public) didnt some of the acurazine ppl have a cruise at the tail of the dragoN?!!!?

When I first got the TL, I was down in "mexico" alot on sat. and sun mornings. but it ate up my tires too fast.
I also cruised into "mexico" with the challenger!!! it was mighty fun!

You, Stew, and I should go out one morning.

Stew4HD

When??? Let me know when/where to meet.. since I live very close to "Mexico", it will be easy meet and the Buckee's along the way

jjsC5

Across the street from the Bucees (SP?) is a Chevron station. Behind the Chevron station is a strip center with a donut shop. That is where I go for a cup of coffee on my Sunday morning runs. If you are there you can't miss me. I sit on the curb by my car or motorcycle. I usually get there at about 8:30, but I have to warn you that I never know for sure if I'll be there or not and I won't make plans to be there. I also don't stay long because Sunday is technically my day to be home with my wife. I leave my house in the Clear Lake area at 7:00 or so, do 130 miles round trip, 20 minutes for a cup of coffee and donut, and back home by 10:30. My wife hardly knows I've been gone!

OH yeah, about the TL. I talked to my wife at dinner tonight - it is going to be "her" car after all She told me to do whatever I want! Ever hear about the classified ad where a guy is selling his motorcycle? At the bottom of the ad it says "must sell because apparently "do whatever the F____ you want to do doesn't mean what I thought it meant".

Bottom line is that tomorrow I'll pull the trigger on something, but I will have to flip a coin to decide what

Stew4HD

Snowflake Donut shop.. good stuff.. Great apple fritters and my company loves the kolaches.

Are you going to Sterling Mccall for your Acura?

jjsC5

No, I'm in the Clear Lake area and there is a sales guy at Champion in League City that I bought my 04 TL from. He's a really good guy to deal with and only about 10 minutes from my house.

Yes - Snowflake

jjsC5

We pick up a white/black SH-AWD friday. FYI, this weekend they have 0.9% APR.

Stew4HD

Holy crap! The best they had when I bought, 1.5 months ago was 2.9%. Congrats!

You picked up my twin. Did you pick up any accessories? I installed the cargo hooks last weekend. If you pick those up, I have the special tool to install them.

Get those pics up!

jjsC5

I have not looked into any accessories - I appreciate the heads up on that. Might be worth it. Pics will come up this weekend. 2.9 is what they have had and what I planned to get through my Credit Union. This is saving me $20 a month on a four year loan. I hope to pay it off this winter, but in case I don't the $20 will add up.

YetiTL

Congratulations on the new car. The 2012 TL is a really well balanced sport sedan!

Happy and Safe Motoring to you!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

congrats!!!!
I'll be on the look out for you Sunday Mornings, if I ever decide to go.
whats your name, btw?

NwTSXmt

Congrats on the TL...But take the Z for spirited driving....Have Fun

jjsC5

Jim.

RSLTSX09XMNAVWX

Definitly A sellers market. Local dealer has Zero Discount plus a $1000 Limited Avalability Mark up, plus $900 for wheel locks, mud guard and trunk liner. He told me ZERO discounts. Pay the final sticker price or no car... My 2010 SH-AWD Tech at $38K makes me smile every day,, plus I am one who loves the older styling, edgy look!

jjsC5

Considering that my dealer quoted me right at invoice on a non-SH with the Advance package, it sounds like the dealer in your area is out in left field. My dealer did discount the SH about $1400. While not invoice, still a nice discount and he gave me top dollar on my trade-in.

Stew4HD

Dave here and, by the way, I live in Greatwood...

gmtmaster79

Congrats jjsC5! I only got $1500 under msrp for my advance pkg. at John Eagle, I didn't want to wait for a better deal since I was trading in my 04 TL with 118k miles. It was just the right time because on the way to the dealer, my ac pulley was making a weird noise... Maybe it was a sign, haha.. Anyway, couldn't be happier with the purchase! Hope to see some '12s out there soon!

pickler

SH-AWD Advantage:
- improved cornering
- improved overall handling
- improved severe weather grip

SH-AWD dis-advantages:
- rough ride
- hurts fuel economy
- costs $3500 more

you decide. Seeing as how you live in dry climate of texas with few turns and curves and rising fuel prices, your choice seems obvious.

jjsC5

I'm thinking you didn't scroll down through the responses. I made my decision today on the SH. Here are my reasons...

The SH has noticeably better handling even in normal driving. I've never liked front drive cars even though I've had a few. The AWD is the best of all worlds from that standpoint.

I actually did a semi-scientific MPG test on the two models. I reset the average fuel economy pulling onto a freeway at the same spot and ran about six miles. The front drive model got 31 and the SH about 28.5. Like I said, not totally scientific, but it seemed to reflect the difference in CAFE ratings just right. I like fuel economy, but I'll be satisfied with the SH.

I like the 19" wheels a lot. I've put aftermarket wheels on a number of cars I've owned, so I just viewed the extra cost to offset some portion of what I am not above spending on wheels if I don't like the factory wheels. BTW, the factory 18" wheels on the 2012's look almost identical to the wheels on my Lexus. They are okay, but the 19's are great looking.

Due to the color combinations available, we were going to have to get a black interior. I generally don't care for black interiors. But if you have not seen the black interior on the SH Advance (or Tech I think) it's worth a look. It has light gray stitching that knocked me out.

Honestly though, the seats are what pushed me over the top. I don't like seats that have too much lumbar support. The seats in the front drive advance had too much lumbar support even when fully deflated. I noticed it right away on my test drive earlier in the week. Today I knew I was going to pull the trigger on one or the other. I decided to drive the front drive car again and see how the seats felt again. When I first got in the car today I almost immediately decided that I could live with them.

But after a 10 mile drive, I still felt the seats lumbar pushing in on my back more than I was comfortable with. So when I got back I asked him for the keys to the SH. As I had found before, the seats felt perfect to me, and the leather even felt softer (may have been my imagination), but the difference in lumbar support was not. Over a few days this week I sat in three different SH's and a couple of front drive Advances.

I'm not going to lie, I really wanted the SH because overall the car felt better to me. But the difference in price was bothering me. But in the end I decided I could not buy a car that I"m not comfortable in the seats. I've done it before and wound up not liking the car. Even though this is my wife's car primarily, I will drive it quite a bit.

One last note regarding your comments. I drove the SH twice this week and was concerned about the ride - especially with the 19" wheels. I paid a lot of attention to the ride. I found it not be harsh at all. I realize that is subjective. But keep in mind that my daily driver is a GS350 Lexus which has a fairly soft ride. My Z06 is the other end of the spectrum, so I have a pretty good feel for soft vs stiff riding cars.

Sorry for the long story, but that's why I decided on the SH.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

Congrats Jim.

JM2010 SH-AWD

Congrats on the new car. Good choice.

indopinoy

wow congrats and good info!

0.9% eh? hmmmmmmm...

EarthPIG_0311

Congratulations. Welcome to the SH-AWD club.

Ronp8

I got the e-mail from my acura dealer the other day that they were offering 0.9% on the TL supposedly for memorial day weekend only. However, I think since honda is expecting to get back to 100% production by august they will offer it longer to move inventory and make up for missed sales. Now all I need is that $3000 maufacturer to dealer rebate they offered on '10 - '11 prior to the '12 launch - lol.

legend74

How many months was the 0.9% for ?

jjsC5

He said up to 60 months - which surprised me. I don't plan to go that long on mine, but when I'm picking up the car tomorrow morning I'll try to get more information.