To be honest, even I would agree based on the photo. But the photo is poor in it's representation. There's no contrast. It kind of looks black in the photo for some reason but in person it's bright chrome just like any other chrome accents on the car. The silver painted parts actually have more contrast against the white than the chrome (when seen in person).

Of course it's all opinion, but I think it looks better on white cars. Better is the operative word. I still think the grill is too large and out of proportion with the front. This doesn't address that. It just fixes (in my eyes) an odd look of silver painted parts against bright white. The RJ grill would be a better fix if it's that much of a problem for someone. For me, the cars a lease so that's not an option.

 

Addendum: Just looked at those photos I posted again. I think I realize why the chrome looks so dark. They are aiming upward and mirroring and reflecting what they are facing. The front grill is reflecting a large oak tree and the deep blue florida sky that day. The back piece is reflecting the blue sky also. It makes it look terrible I agree.

For those considering the chrome option, disregard those photos. Go look at it yourself in person.

 

I have the same problem when I try to photograph the chrome grille on my PM for people.

In person, it looks awesome.

But I have tried to take photos for people in here, and I cannot seem to ever luck out with a day and position where the grille doesn't look darker than it appears in real life.

 

Personally, I do not see how so many of us can be expecting a grille redesign for the 2011 model year. I think it's more reasonable to expect to *see* one in 2011 for the 2012 model year.

The problem is that the way the original grille is designed would require a larger aluminium hood to extend forward of where the current grille extends, which will add money.

It will also add money too soon and (IMHO) unreasonably because you will have to redesign and retool for basically the entire front fascia.

If they decide it is a good idea just to remove the top chrome portion of the grille, then they could get away with a metal, body-coloured section between the current aluminium hood and the top of the newly designed grille. But then that introduces the problem of testing to make sure that the extra piece of metal interacts in crash tests with the aluminium of the hood and the rest of the grille in a way that will not compromise the way that the hood is designed to change its shape in a crash.

There would be two gaps to work into the computations instead of just the one.

 

I'm really sorry to hear that. Because it's a truly awesome vehicle, especially in its 6-6 version for enthusiasts, with the different springs, bushings and motor mounts.

But I sympathise and understand.

I have a fair amount of influence in Honda public circles, and I can't seem to do anything with them either, even though I have one myself for demonstrations of its adroit and entirely excellent character.

 

George, I'm with you. Personally, I don't see any significant changes in the grill until the 5G comes out, even if then. This is the direction Acura is sticking with in all of their models.

I'm seeing more and more TLs on the road. Acura has seen a significant uptick in sales of the TL. So, it's starting to take hold. In person, the chrome grill looks good to my eyes. That's why I had it put on my CBP SH AWD TL (see siggy with bad iphone pics).

Also, to me, the ronjon grill makes it look too generic, although I understand those who made the switch to the ronjon.

 

I agree. The car is one of the best products on the market for it's money right now. I've bought a lot of cars in my life. I'm one of those who likes to analyze cars in detail for their value. I just finished shopping around all the current deals and options in this segment. This TL is one of the better valued vehicles I've seen in a while.

Granted, the front grill was not done right. Even the back with it's downward sloping trunk is not very appealing, But I don't buy cars based solely on the front grill. I certainly don't wait to buy a car that I like 100% of the features. If I did that theres not a car on the market I could buy. Too bad so many people won't buy this car because of a couple styling shortcomings. They are missing out on a great ride.

 

+2 Significant redesign to address it's oversized look would require sheetmetal work. That ain't going to happen until the MMC in late 2011 for the 2012 models (if at all). They may continue to make subtle changes but it's proportions and placement are here for at least another 18 more months

 

The chrome grill looks good on black. I might have to get one myself.. how's the fitment?

 

The one on this car seems perfect. I'm sure it's made from the same molds and processes. No reason to expect anything less.

 

^thanks! I'm gonna see how much my stealer charges for the grill and the backpiece.. then I'll shop around.

 

My fit looks perfect......like it belonged there from the factory.

My dealer had a couple on the lot in addition to mine. Although, I didn't price mine out separately for the chrome grill and tail piece, they had addendum stickers of $500 on the ones they had on the lot.

I think you can buy the grill and tail piece for about $300 at the on line places I've seen. Don't know what cost is on them, though....maybe $200?

 

My dealer is doing the same thing. He's just sticking them all the cars now as they come in and adding a few hundred dollars to the price. I forget what the exact amount was.

Its certainly not the ultimate solution for this grill and tail piece, but the silver painted parts looked cheap and just added insult to injury on an already flawed grill design.

My guess is this chrome grill and tail piece will be standard on all 2011's going forward. Should have been that way from the beginning. Seems like a no brainer to make it standard next year.

 

It'd be hilarious to learn that the 2011 "minor grille change" is a switch to the midnight chrome.

:-)

 

+1

I can see where Acura makes the midnight chrome grill and tail piece standard on maybe the SH AWD versions. It looks good.

George.....you could be right. It wouldn't cost Acura a redesign...just slap the midnight chrome grill and tail on it to make that the mid cycle "freshening".

 

+1

 

For those lease numbers you could have got a $41,100 g37x with premium and navigation. With just taxes and fees down (about $3200) you can be around $500. I think the g37x is a better choice the. A fwd tl..
And I think the g with premium and nav has more features then the tl. I know the nave in the g is a lot better and a lot easier to use then the one in the tl.

 

That's a great price but that's not exactly what I found and I just got done evaluating this segment. The G37 was definitely the next best deal considering features/benefits/price. Also looked at the IS and 335. BMW is being agressive right now but their base pricing just works against them. You really need to want the superb handling that car offers to justify the price. Short of that, I found nothing special about it.

From what I could gather, given the agressive lease numbers and dealer money right now, the TL was the best choice with the G37 being second. That would be the FR version, not the AWD. I just got a $41,000 MSRP TL for $529/mth Tax inc. on a 36m/12k lease. I was not able to beat that number at the Infiniti dealer on a G37 (let alone a G37x). Be sure you were comparing apples to apples. Also be sure your including tax and starts. I pay 6.5% sales tax and my dealer fee and other starts came to about $1700. The $529 was my out-the-door price. Before tax and fees the payment was in the mid $400's.

 

I leAsed a 2010 g37x with premium pkg and navigation ($41,100) for $5o9 with taxes and fees down ($3200) and that incuded 1st months payment with 7% sales tax in nj.
I am sure you can negotiate a $41,100 premium navigation g37x for $500 a month with $3000 total down, if anyone wants one in north jersey I will personally sign u up for those numbers.. Once u go into a tech fwd tl the residual drops and shawd drops more and once u get to shawd with tech then u are at like 52 % residual where the base fwd you are at like 60%..

 

I was always a Acura fanboy I loved my cl type-s and loved the 2 g and 3 g tl hell I got my girl a 2006 tl but they are not the value for the money they once where..
For $41,100 you can get a premium navigation g37x that has just as many features if not more then a tech tl.. That's the same price as a fwd tl.. You go to awd to compare apples to apples and the tl is 6k more .. And for what... The g is quicker , handles better and has just as much tech .. The only thing the tl has over the g is interior room...

 

what dealer was that at

 

Excellent monthly number for that much car. I couldn't do that deal with my dealer here in Orlando. Enjoy it

 

Ramsey Infiniti

 

Hey guys so quick update. I still haven't received $ from the insurance co, but i've been talking to several dealers for several different vehicles to see what kind of pricing I can get after all taxes and fees. I've spoken to each dealer at least twice to try to talk down the price, and they've all cut at least a few thousand off. Here are my results; I'll include a short writeup of each. Prices are after all taxes and fees.

$56k (3.2 V6) $52k (2.0T) Audi A5 – Both in prestige trim + driver assist + wood trim. This is a very sleek looking coupe. This car turned heads everywhere I went. I drove the V6. Regardless of it "only" having 265hp, it felt fast. The transmission (in D) would shift into 2nd get right away, numbing acceleration. However, when you use the manual shift gate or put it in S mode, the car has tons of power and is very responsive. It feels a lot faster than the TL. Handling was good; it felt planted on any turn I put it through. Steering was nicely weighted to me. Interior was very nice, although I didn't like how most items open a menu/screen on the nav instead of being able to just change it easily. The normal seats aren’t as supportive as the TL’s, but they worked well when I pushed it through turns. However, they couldn't or didn't want to work on pricing. I'm not ready to buy a $50k+ car yet. In the future I guess, I hope the next A5 is at least this sexy.

$48k Lexus IS350 (+lux, navigation pkg) – Regardless of all the recent news from toyota, the lexus dealer (esp the salesman) was very cocky and unwilling to negotiate. I left very unhappy. I spoke to two people; the internet sales guy over the phone and then a salesman at the dealership. The salesman didn’t let me test drive an IS350, I’m really not sure why. He brushed me off twice so I just left. I was able to drive my friends IS250 though. That car is severely underpowered for a luxury car; at least it felt that way. Everything is numb, too quiet, too little road/steering feedback. Like a few members here said, completely disconnected. The front and back seats are all cramped. The rear seats aren’t as bad as the numbers suggest though. You could easily sit there if u don’t point your knees straight. I don’t see the IS350 fixing any of the shortcomings of the IS250 I drove so that’s out.

$38k Infiniti G37 Sedan Journey (+premium, nav, interior accent pkg) – So this is the last car I test drove. Honesty, interior-wise, it felt the least “premium” of all of the cars. The lexus probably felt the best, lots of soft touch interior bits, super soft leather. The Audi didn’t have soft leather, but it just felt premium. However when it came to the drive, this car is kind of a beast. When driving normally, the 7AT shifted smoothly, the suspension is quiet, not much road noise. When driven hard, the transmission seems to become sporty (slightly rough) and shifted quickly. The engine was loud and power was abundant at higher RPMs. It is a pretty dam fast car and felt faster than the TL in all situations. I put the transmission in the manual gate to use the manumatic shifting, and it became really jerky and harsh. The sunroof had tons of wind noise though. Regardless, the G37 was fun to drive, and I liked both the aluminum and the wood trim. The aluminum trim looks a bit cheap and tacky from afar, but when you get closer, it’s actually really nicely detailed/brushed, and then smoothed out by nice finish. The rest of the interior (to me) wasn’t up to par though. The 2 front cup holders are small, too close together, and too close to the center console. I can see the large coffees I get spilling over the console, similar problem for the rear. There is supposed to be a place to put in USB drives but I could not find it, unless it was that small plug in the center console that was too far in to even take a glance at. The glove box and center console were both small. Pricing was good however. They gave me the G37 sedan, +premium, nav, interior accents package for $38k. 0% financing for 60 months. Its pretty hard to beat, just gotta get past it's shortcomings (mostly interior related)

Overall though, unless Infiniti can cut the price lower, I may end up going back to the TL. The only real "drawbacks" the TL has are..
#1 road noise (SHAWD only) - It still has the worst road noise out of all the cars i test drove. Mainly it's isolation over bumps and potholes. All of the other cars i drove can easily absorb the bumps, but the TL just seems to magnify the sounds and make the road noise much more pronounced than it should be. On flat roads, the TL is a very quiet and serene car, but all you need to do is hit an uneven road and all hell breaks loose. Acura needs to fix this ASAP.
#2 5 speed auto without a manual gate - Why is acura still using the 5 speed in their bread and butter TL? Why can they make a manual shift gate? All the cars i drove (not sure about the IS) had the shift gate and it's much more fun (to me) than steering wheel mounted paddle shifters. My reasoning for this is because when I make tight turns, you often need to turn the steering wheel upside down, the paddles are just out of your way. The G37 has paddles mounted on the steering column, not the steering wheel itself, which is great. If it's on the shifter, you can just keep your hand there or nudge it really quickly and put your hand back on the steering wheel instead of trying to turn and shift using the paddles at the same time.
#3 power - I'm not sure where the 305hp is when i'm driving the TL. It's not particularly quick, and you need to rev it to 3k+ to get any sort of power from it. Under 3k rpms, it's actually pretty lethargic, i can barely keep up with socal drivers unless i go past 3k rpms. I did see an avg of 15mpg in my 2 months of owning the TL SHAWD though, which, i guess corresponds with the 305hp. Decisions decisions..

Regardless, at this time, the only car that comes close is the G37 sedan. I'll take another good look at the G37 sedan before i make my purchase decision, but unless the dealers reduce the price again or throw in some extras, it looks like i'll go back to the TL SHAWD.

 

^^^ Thanks for your thoughts on the investigation. Pretty much about what I concluded when doing shopping a few weeks ago. The G37 was my second choice. I didn't look at Audi since I don't have one close by. I bought a IS250 for my daughter last year. Her choice, not mine. I agree it's the one with the least to offer. I'm not sure about the "numb" steering. If that's numb then what do you call the TL? But I agree it's way underpowered, too small, and lacks basic features you expect in a $40k car such as multi driver memory seats. The 3 series was a fun ridding car but too expensive for what you get. That always seems to be the case with BMW and MB. I've walked into those dealerships dozens of times shopping for a car, and have yet to ever walk out with one because of the problem with price.

This month, with the $2250 dealer money still on the table, the TL seems like the way to go in my book. Without the $2250, it's not as easy a decision.

 

Right now between the deals are:

$40k after all taxes+fees, 1.9% financing for 60 months for the TL SHAWD +Tech pkg
or
$38k after all taxes+fees, 0.0% financing for 60 months for the G37 Sedan +Premium pkg, +navigation pkg, + interior accent pkg

 

The TL's steering is also overboosted, but just sliiiiiightly less than the IS. I think the IS as a whole is a "numb" car, makes you feel disconnected from the road/driving experience so it might have made the steering feel numb(er) than the TL.

 

Unless you live in a super cold climate that gets lots of snow fall in the winter, ie upper mid-west, northeast, etc did you ever contemplate getting the regular FWD TL? From every review I have read of the 4G TL, they all say the suspension and ride quality of the base TL or base plus tech package is really comfortable and quieter than the AWD version. If you want the TL to be quieter and have a really comfortable ride, then I suggest contemplating getting the base suspension and tires. If not, then you'll have to look else where.

 

The IS250 I bought last year had low profile tire option on them. That may have helped. The TL I just bought for my other daughter had the 18 inch sports package also. This feels much better than the standard 17inch tires. Consider it. If you want a sportier ride, it's a $1000 well spent.

 

I was just about to write this. Also remember there is not an 'intermediate' step between the base (17" wheels) and SH in the FWD Tech with 18" wheels.

 

I'm definitely going to take another look at the fwd TL. I just hope torque steer isn't a problem. I drive pretty briskly, and torque steer is insane on the hyundai santa fe i have as a rental right now.

It's also good that the Base TL should be slightly cheaper to maintain (smaller tires, no differential fluid), and hopefully quieter. I'm definitely going to drive it again. The pricing on that should be $37-38k after taxes+fees. At least that's what they told me last time I went and talked to them.

 

I hate tagging a deal as good or bad because it depends so much on local circumstances. Competition in your area, how sales are going this month, how many cars they have on the lot, etc. influence things. But, you might want to try pushing a little harder on the TL deal. You can probably get it down to $39 and they are still making a good profit. Remember, Acura is giving dealers $2250 this month for every TL they sell.

Regarding the comments about the FWD TL. I agree. Consider it if can live with some annoying torque sensations during hard acceleration. Acura's really have the problem under control better than any other FWD car I've ever driven. Having said that, it's still there and you'll definitely notice it.

 

jasonwdp10,

When you drove the A5, how was the rear seat space? From the pics, it looks really small back there. How would you say it compares to the IS 250 back seats? I test drove the 2010 A4 2.0T and it also felt faster than the TL. The TL just felt really heavy when I stomped on the gas. It went but definitely didnt seem as quick as the A4.

 

Careful on this one, the 2250 is only for Tech's and not all TLs

 

I stand corrected

 

^^No problem, this topic is about the Tech anyway, just posted it for future reference.

 

The rear seat space is very poor. About the same as the G37, but that's not saying much because it's really only made for petite adults or children. Then again it's a coupe =)

 

Jason,

Outside of the resonating bumpy road noise, a 6MT TL would fix all of the other issues you have with the car. It appears to be the car that with the least amount of downside based on what you have described. Personally, I would not spend that kind of money on the A5, it's nice but for little more at that point you can get an S5. The G would be the only other car I would consider, it's even better for you cause you probably don't have to deal with snow. You don't seem too limited in what applies so I suppose the A4 and TSX V6 deserve a look as well.

 

Yeah, definitely check out about the torque steer. I'm not sure if Acura correct that or not because I know that my 08 TL has a lot of it sometimes, though at this point I'm used to it and are able to correct it myself when I feel like gunning the car. My 2010 Max has virtually no torque steer at all and that has the 290HP/261 ft of torque so if Nissan can quell torque steer with that kind of engine/FWD, Acura should be able to as well with the 280HP engine!!

 

Thanks Jason. The A5 is definitely a sweet car. My eyes are telling me to buy the A5 but I know that later on I will definitely regret getting a coupe. I was set on the TL but from graphicguys experience (See "MY nightmare Acura TL experiece" with the car breaking down, I had to reconsider. The 2010 5-series are offering near 10K off sticker but then again, it will be an old body style once the 2011's come out in the next month or so. The TL just offers so much for the money! Decisions, decisions...