I'm hoping someone can explain to me the reasoning behind not having pictures of the interior out yet. We are 3 months away from the cars release and still nothing?!

 

Did I miss a press release saying the car is being released in June?
or are we still going off rumors?

because if we are still going off rumors, then thats the reason why they havent released interior pics.

 

Cause we're still several months away from the release. My guess is that if you release all the info at one time, you fall out of the news. If you show the exterior first, followed by the interior, followed by official specs, and then pricing, you can keep the 'fickle' press reporting on your product.

 

I heard last month there was a re-do going on...

 

I expect them to announce in a few weeks that the Production car will be unveiled at the NY Auto Show in April and then at the April unveil announce the release time frame of June, unless they really are making too many last minute changes. It is the last opportunity to get a lot of press coverage for it before the on-sale date.

 

If its too many last minute changes that does not say much about their product planning capability. Car should be all out for the NY show if June is the release.

 

I suspect they don't have it all sorted out just yet..

 

Well said

And therein lies the inherent frustration with Acura

 

Agreed, but I trust that they will get it more right than not. They've had all this time to check out what the comp has done and is doing. But

 

Getting a bit late to not have it sorted out yet. Maybe they did not want to take away the sexiness of the car by showing traditional Acura interior.

 

Could be that too. We're all trying to figure Acura out

 

This "not showing the interior initially" was also done with the MDX prototype. It was revealed later.

 

Shouldn't the interior design be already set in stones? If the car is to be released in June or later in the fall. All the parts and accessories are already being manufactured so they'll have enough to slap it on when production kicks in. If it's not being built already.

 

Even if the car hasn't been all sorted out and there will be changes, who cares? It's a prototype. We know it will change. At least it would give us an IDEA of what it looks like.

Companies who do this "withholding" game do it to generate drama and anticipation. Which works with a minority of people like us because we are obsessed fanatics lol. But that type of approach also runs a risk. I mean it really has to WOW to be effective. If not you just turn people off. Like "OK so that's what all the drama was about? Who cares!".

 

^^ Me thinks you're overthinking it. IMO, if you want an 'idea' of what it will look like, look at the RLX and MDX. The pushbutton gear selector will be out soon in the RLX Hybrid. As for functionality, they said it will feature a new capacitive touch lower screen which is already out in the Civic this year (why didn't we get it first? ).

 

And therein lies the BIGGER problem with this forum, lots of speculation leading to unwarranted and misguided frustration while not a single person knowing the actual facts of what's "really" going on for the release of the TLX.

 

I tend to lean toward the Occom's razor version: Acura didn't want to show the TLX interior, so they didn't.

 

Well I wondered why the interior was not shown as well. I went out to the Acura dealership to test drive the new 2014 MDX and asked the manager when they would have the TLX. He said they were told June. It does seem like 4 months before a release Acura we have to have already defined the interior. They only reason not to show the interior at this point is if it is being changed...in my opinion.

 

They're already putting the TLX on a diet.

 

Too logical. Leave.

 

I've asked one of my friend who works for Honda HQ here in So Cal and due to Confidentiality Agreement, all he told me was that the interior is "Looks good. Typical Acura" He didn't elaborate much so I guess just have to wait a few months....

 

I've also ask my other friend who is the Manager at one of our local Acura dealership and ask about the ETA for the TLX and he told me to come over during Memorial day weekend as it will be out. So counting the days.........

 

The production car will be unveiled at the NY Auto Show 18-27 Apr and I'm sure they will show pics of the production interior. Might they be changing it??? Sure possibly. A few months ago a reliable poster over on ToV said they were redesigning the interior. Seems like there may not have been time to start from scratch, but I think Acura is trying hard to make this car right the first time. Honda's track record on this recently has not been great.

The problem is that the NY show is the last week of April... argh! I have been thinking early April, now I have to adjust my thinking for a month later. Maybe they will release some additional info before the show.

 

I was told the same thing. We will see

 

Yeah, I'm not sure I buy that one. However, defined loosely it could be true. Consider that the spy photos caught long ago showed a car with a finished interior. However, what if the 'redesign' was simply to switch from the RLX/MDX style lower screen to the newer capacitive touch screen?

 

Doesnt mean they couldnt or wouldnt pull the plug on the current design and redo something that needed to be addressed. Maybe they learned from honda and the civic having a mmc a year after it was released.

My guess is the interior is still being tweaked

 

^^ Of course we'll never really know. I do know that the production of the old car is pretty much wrapped up, so the capacity is available to start making the TLX there. Knowing that an idle factory is not ideal, I'd guess they're ready to go with the new car or they'd keep making the '14.

I know it makes some people happy to think that H/A is making changes to the car a few months before it goes on sale, but I doubt that is the case here. IMO, they're holding back some details to give dealers time to clear the decks on the outgoing car(s). In our case, we're low on TLs but have a bunch of TSXs to sell through in the next two months.

 

I would find it hard to believe any major interior changes are happening. The lead time and logistics getting your suppliers lined up and if the car is really due end of May I would assume it has to go to production in the next 6-8 weeks.

 

I agree, no time even months ago, to make major changes. But I hope they are taking time to get those first-year squeaks and rattle sources out of the interior. They made a big deal out of how quiet this car will be. But with a lower noise floor it makes those squeaks and rattles even more pronounced. So if they make some minor tweaks to eliminate interference points, add foam, etc I'm all for it.

 

^^ Imagine if they realized they read these threads and realized they forgot to put the lever to fold the rear seats and said....OMG, we have to go and put those in

 

I had an 09 AWD TL purchased in January of 09 and it was a bank vault and that was in the first few months of production. The quietest car I have owned to date, the close runner ups are my current A6 and my 1993 Camry XLE.

 

I don't think this is an Occam's razor situation. I think the interior wasn't done or approved. Modern interiors are developed separately from the rest of the car - the new 2015 M-B C-class actually blended three studios' designs into the final interior.

On the Infiniti Q50, the prototype I saw had the interior-on-a-rolling-platform (dolly), with the exterior sporting plywood inside.

 

I don['t think that people not in the business understand the lead times necessary to mass produce an all new product.

I remember back in 2007 when the 1G RDX was set to release. They discovered that changing the order of assembly on the line resulted in an efficiency gain. If I recall, the car was delayed by weeks for something that, on the surface, seems small while the computers were reprogrammed and tested.

 

These negative waves could be damaging to folding rear seat karma. Perhaps they are trying to figure out how to add a button on the fob to fold the rear seats down remotely?

A bank vault with a seat that folds down in the back

The 1st year of TSX production had a lot of squeaks and rattles. But that was 10 years ago. Maybe more modern design tools reduce the chances of squeaks/rattles in modern cars. I certainly hope this is the case. Of course that is the same reason they may want a fixed rear seat... to make the car more quiet.

 

And to play devils advocate, maybe this delay or they time its taken to see the car and find out when its coming out that we have seen is because there has been a redesign on the interior. Also, its not to hard for them to redesign interior pieces (not to be confused with pulling the whole interior out and starting from scratch), still be working on software, fixing issues that require redesign right up to the actual date of assembly.
I still stand by they are still tweaking and changing stuff and thats why we havent seen anything solid.

 

and that's the beauty of the internet

 

Is acura still trying to figure acura out?

 

I bet if you ask them they would say no, but I think they still are. I do think they have a new vision that they have executed on all the recent models and time will tell how that works. I think it works well for them on the SUVs, but not sure they figured out the sedan space yet. I like the TLX Prototype, but when I look at the camo shot and then A/B the TLX with the ILX I fear it will be an ILX style on steroids, not totally bad, but likely to be very bland and will just blend in on the road, nothing that will catch your eye.

 

+1, typical car design and development cycle is 2-4 years. The last several months are web of production ERP and SCM for the final assembler and sub-contractors making sub-assemblies and components.


Sometimes the littlest things can cause the biggest problems in assembly operations.

I'll play reality advocate, that is not possible without time and it's not easy either. Tooling for interior pieces takes time to develop and refine. Plastics especially injected molded require metal tooling from subcontractor's tooling vendors. Qualification and low-initial rate production is needed to refine processes, gotta make sure those plastic tabs don't brake off in the slots. Panel color, texture, gap and shrinkage checks. Although most manufactures have tons of experience in prior models, you never know until you manufacture and try to integrate. Then you also need to have process and assembly procedures, training of assemblers, documentation and quality checks.

S/W change overnight? How about regression and interoperability testing. The managers and lawyers wanna make sure all the interoperability testing is down properly. Remember the 2002 BMW 7's series E65 model (Bangel Butt), during a press introduction tour/test drive the engines would shut down in a turn when auto journalists used the brake and accelerate. Add in the Toyota debacle with the DBW throttle and using the brakes as well. Add in local country laws and regulations (DOT, EU,...) for their certification.

Getting highly integrated products into manufacturing can be troublesome at best and impossible at worst.

Yep, anyone can become a armchair expert. Heck today I just pretended to be a operations manager above ^

 

The reason they don't reveal the interior is that they need to keep suspense to keep people interested. Simple marketing tactic.