Truth be told, I'd be watching Buick with an eagle eye if I was Acura. Buick's progress in style, technology, and quality was once Acura's recipe, albeit delivered in a sportier, zestier nature.

Is the Lacrosse or Enclave better than the TL or MDX? No, but they aren't yet serious competitors, and frankly the Lacrosse would if nothing else be on my list along with a TL, if for different reasons. It may not be better but it really isn't worse, just different. It's much roomier, smoother, quieter, a typic of the Lexus ES350. They both do what they're intended to do very well.

 

You seriously overestimate the ability of American car makers. I was home this last weekend (I am from MI), my dad has a Buick Lucerne - Loaded, and my brother in law has a new Taurus - Loaded but not the SHO. You think the TL has lots of plastic on the interior (which actually is only the door cubbies and over head sunglass thing), wait till you sit in those cars. The Ford interior was cheap - and it had all the heated/cooled seats etc... The Buick - even worse, crap leather, uncomfortable seats, all hard plastic dash and on the doors...

I'd rather take the nicer interior and finishing touches of the TL than some extra options like cooled seats on the Ford or Buick.

 

Without arguing with points I complete disagree with, I will make some notes:

1) You seriously underestimate what the Americans are capable of just like so many overestimated Toyota's quality. Don't you forget that Americans once had some of the finest cars the world over, not the Japanese. That can always change.

2) You're comparing the 35K base TL to sedans that start at 25 and 26 thousand, roughly, and are gussied up from there. There's a problem with that, or maybe not considering lots of 4G owners like to liken their cars to 50K+ premium sport sedans.

 

1)You haven't been to the Ford dealer lately have you? Buick, you must own GM stock or something, seriously. Dude.
2)They crashed and almost burned by their own devise. The thing that saddened me was they should have gone up in smoke. Because they were blowing up the rear ends of the American consumers for years. Toyota is catching it because they tried and out GM'ed GM...bigger isn't always better.

 

I have indeed. Driven most new Fords (not 2011s), SHO included. In fact I've driven my good friend's SHO for weeks worth.

I own no stock in Buick, and that joke was a bit....meh.

Yes they should've never been bought up by the government.

They crashed on their own and they were number one by their own, and they can be number one again. Will they? Time will tell.

 

I agree with your first point...after all, the TL is made in Ohio and designed with a lot of input from American designers. Just because a Japanese company owns the manufacturer, doesn't make the process magic.

As for your second point, I disagree. The TL comes mostly loaded at the $35K price point. Both Buick and Ford have chosen to offer lesser models in the $20's, but their comparably equipped cars are priced almost exactly the same at the TL (whether FWD or SH-AWD). If Buick and Ford want to compete in the near-luxury field, they can't make excuses about quality of materials or assembly.

 

Hey everyone can't be Jerry Sinefield. I looked at purchasing the SHO...drove the Fusion. Ford i the only, only American car I've ever owned...I could see owning a Mustang
GM just didn't get it. For years they've had chances and it still led to this.

 

Both the Ford and the Buick more or less compete with other large sedans though, such as the Avalon or such, and not as much with upscale sedans like the ES350 or TL. They can be configured to do so, but that isn't their priority of business.

To put it another way, you can option out an Accord to well over 30 thousand, or a Camry, and therefore be in TSX or near TL territory....despite marketing or similarities they still aren't serious competition.

The MKZ is clearly Ford's (inferior) answer to the TL, not any Taurus. The Regal is sort of, sort of not, a competitor, maybe more TSX and CC than TL/ES350.

 

Front end looks more like the 8th gen Accord coupe. It's a far shot, but it does look a little better as far as I can see. The 4th gen TL looks good at night and that's about it (IMO). So anything they do can only make it look better (again, imo).

A 6 speed????? BRILLIANT!! It's about time Honda/Acura have stepped their automatic tranny game up. Jesus Mary and Joseph, it only took like 15 years of failed AV6 transmissions for them to realize, OMG!! Our autos suck!! Most every other company has at least a good 5 speed, and most do have 6/7 speed transmissions that shift very well and precise.

A new series of V6s??? Could we perhaps start a 'new age of old' where they actually make a DOHC V6 like the C series found in the NSX?

 

You guy's need to give it a break... The thread was opened on the possible 2011 MMC changes to the TL line not on all the other BS about Buick, Ford or Acura product line comparison... Voice your opinion on the possbile MMC change and leave everything else at the door or keyboard if you prefer... Now, on my MMC thoughts... Really the beak as we have all either come to hate or love has to grow on you.. It is all realtive to your ownership belief... I do hope the 6 speed automatic and possibily some of the ZDX and MDX features make it into the MMC change with a not so heavy hit to the wallet...

 

The did A LOT more then that for the 2nd gen RL MMC. They did more then that for the 2nd gen TL MMC also.

 

Agreed - I'd like to see them bring over the magnto adjustable suspension from the ZDX to the TL - whatever that option is called.

 

I hope they bring back the touchscreen interface.

 

You know that was one option I missed from my 3G, but now after getting used to the dial, I don't mind at all. I love that the screen is set back in the dash and makes it easier to see in the sunlight - and no more fingerprints. It's still slower to use than the touchscreen, I'm reminded whenever I drive my wife civic.

 

Yeah, I know I'd eventually get used to it as well if I were to ever get one.

Darn people (whoever they were) who Acura polled about the navi.

 

More Pics from Edmund's Insideline

they are claiming this will be the 2011 TL

http://blogs.insideline.com/straight...-acura-tl.html





You don't really warm up to the styling of the current-generation Acura TL. You either accept it as high modernist art or you go to town on the message boards, wracking your inner thesaurus for synonyms for macabre. For our part, we've written, "The TL's nose is ideal for opening old cans of Hawaiian Punch."

Not content with the quiet response, Acura will evidently attempt to shake things up a bit for the 2011 model year by putting a new front fascia on the TL. This prototype was spotted by photographers during hot-weather testing in Death Valley.

Although the camouflage obscure things a bit, you can just make out the smaller beak on what's likely to be the 2011 Acura TL. Probably, then, we won't be opening quite so many cans of Hawaiian Punch.

 

they added another pic

 

WOW the grill!!

 

Well if TOV is correct, the 2011 will only be on sale for 6 months, since the 2012 supposed to be starting its sales 6 months earlier.

That means the 2011 will be unchanged stock that are basically 2010's, and the 2012's will be the mmc with this grill... maybe.

 

I'm with you. Nothing wrong with the current styling and I had an 06 for 4 plus years and liked its styling too. They are quite different cars.

 

Nothings wrong.. that's why they're fixing it right?

They are definitely different cars. The 3rd gen was one of the best selling TL's ever, the 4th gen is one of the worst selling (relative to their competition).. yeah.

 

I don't agree or disagree but I think the only way to really determine that is when the MMC comes out and if it signifcantly increases sales.

Relative to the 3G you mean, otherwise which competiton? The TL, G sedan, IS, A4, and CTS are all within 2k units of each other on the year. That was also the case for the last two years and at the fiscal year end. Internet forum consensus would be the TL is ugly, and all those cars are better looking, it's not just an opinon look at the sales. Well then a lot of popular cars are ugly I guess. Average sales for average selling sedans. 4G sales have not been great but they haven't been terrible.

 

More Pics from Autoblog










http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/08/s...g-rhinoplasty/

When it comes to Acura's corporate schnoz, you likely fall into one of two camps: you either loathe the chrome nose or you really loathe the chrome nose. There doesn't seem to be much in between. So to address its derisive looks, Acura appears to be tweaking the front end of the TL for the 2011 model year.

While it's highly doubtful that Acura is going to completely dispatch the metal overbite found throughout its lineup, the new nose appears more refined and slightly toned down. Judging by the heavily-camo'd shot above, there's sure to be some revisions to the lower fascia, but the real changes can be seen on the pic to the right, including some new slatting and a slightly smaller shield.

On this particular prototype, there's also a fair amount of wires protruding from one of the exhaust outlets and leading into the trunk, so it's likely safe to assume that some kind of engine or electronics upgrades are in the works for this mid-cycle refresh. With hot-weather testing fully underway, we suspect the mildly restyled TL will debut later this year before going on sale in the first half of 2011.

 

 

Where's the rear reflectors on the rear bumper, I just noticed that. Does anyone see what im missing?

 

they taped that up too.

 

I disagree, I had the touchscreen in my previous 2 MDX's, and I prefer the non touch screen.

 

It looks like they're gone, but it's also possible it's covered by lots of tape.

 

+1

 

The lease on my 07-s is up in November and I have been trying hard to convince my self that I like the 4G design. I went to the dealer test drove both the sh-awd and the fwd and couldn't take my focus off the (imo)bad design. Since my visit I've been looking at options to change the look of the car to match my taste. Different wheels, Ronjon grill. I even started liking the current 4g to the point that I will go take another look.
This re-design looks like they are trying to move in a better direction. Not sure it will make the 4G into a car that was as well liked as the 3G. I absolutely love everything about the 3G, design the engine, the touch screen nav even the cassette player that I never use. One thing is for sure, in the price range there are very few that can compete with the overall package the TL brings, controversial design or not.

 

it sort of looks like they gave it dual halo'ed projectors, sort of like from the 04-06 to the 07-08 TL's. you can kind of see them, or what appears to look like them, through the camo. i wouldn't be surprised if they flared the lower grills to be larger - they did that for the mdx, didn't they? smaller grill, bigger flared lower grills. looks good in my opinion. hope they did a small bit to the rear too..

edit: okay, i lied. didn't see the next few pictures on the second page. looks like they made the rear bumper shorter. no deflectors? or are they taped up? i think i might see them - they're smaller too. looks good...! sucks if they ended up shaving the rear bumper...harder to replace for those of you interested...?

 

I highly doubt they'll go touch screen again. The screen seems to be too far away, in my experience.

 

 

http://blogs.insideline.com/straight...-acura-tl.html

 

http://blogs.insideline.com/straight...-acura-tl.html

 

double post sorry

 

interesting. Grill looks like the new Honda grills

 

It looks just the same as the new 2011 TSX Sport Wagon grille, the one that we recently saw at the NY Auto Show:



It has the same horizontal lines underneath the metallic part, and the trim around the sides is much narrower. I do not think that it's necessarily an improvement, but it's certainly less bold and daring.

 

Maybe I'm seeing things through the tape that aren't there but to me it looks like they stole the Ron Jon grill and coupled it with the RL power plenum.

I'd be surprised if this vehicle we are seeing is a 2011 model though but who knows, reaction to the grill has been strong and hasn't gone away.

 

nah read the comment above yours