Hi guys,

Its been a while since I've been on this board but that is because I ended up turning in my 2013 TL AWD Tech at the end of my lease. It was a great car and she looked like new when I gave her back, but the oil burning issues I saw posted here made me uncomfortable purchasing it. I also had a jerky 6 speed auto with bad torque convertor symptoms (rpm's bouncing), but the dealer always said that they couldn't find anything. I had a 99 TL with persistent tranny issues and didnt feel like dealing with that again so I moved onto something else.

For the first time, I ended up going German. I picked up a 2016 BMW 340 xDrive with every package you can name including a bunch of M performance parts. The car comes with 19" wheels and has an adaptive suspension. What amazed me is how much smoother this car is than my TL. In the TL you would feel every small bump, whereas on the 340 it takes small bumps really well. The deep potholes are another story. The TL was able to handle those better.

Given that I have low profile 19's and a track suspension, I'm wondering what is it about the TL that made the suspension so stiff. It came with 18" wheels and taller rubber so it's counterintuitive.

Any ideas?

 

Different suspension design is the key element. BMW has been known for their incredible balance of Handling and comfort while others struggle.

 

^^ And that is why BMW is always more expensive than Acura

Japanese sport suspension = stiff.

Enjoy your BMW. It's a fine car.

 

Yep, how much is the 3-series price compared to the TL's?

The starting MSRP of a 340i XDrive is $48,700. Adding the 'M Sport' Package brings it up to $52k....


I wonder why a smaller car that costs $10k more than the TL would perform better?

 

Acura engineer =/= BMW engineer
there are many ways to skin a cat.
really cant compare suspension set ups, unless they are exactly the same....which in this case they are not!
Acura simply chooses to build their cars one way and BMW another

 

the main difference is that Honda uses a shock coilover and the BMW uses a strut

 

specifically, the Honda uses the double wishbone setup in the front

 

and then there could be further tricks that bmw has employed to get that awesome feeling

since you do have a 3 series now, study the suspension!!!!!

 

thats not the reason!
BMW has been building their suspension set up for a long long time!
its not called the "Ultimate driving machine" because it sucks at driving.....

Honda's were always FWD and the honda engineers had to come up with a way to get awesome handling! the way they did it was by implementing a double wish bone front!
Something BMW doesnt have to do, as their front wheels dont drive the car!!

so, the acura's have to use shocks to damper the springs!

 

There is a $10k difference in price between the two vehicles. It would suggest there is a decent amount of differences between the vehicles.

You can imagine up whatever reasons you want, it's cute and entertaining. Your justification is "Hondas were always FWD so they had to come up with some quirky suspension stuff!"

I'd argue that the Acura TL SH-AWD which was designed by America Honda/Acura for Americans (USDM) and was very clearly designed with AWD in mind (this isn't something you randomly drop in after the fact) does not follow your reasoning at all.

The S2000 must handle so poorly because Honda only does FWD right? :eyeroll: