mondster

A manufacturer tech from acura drove my car today and as expected, tranny is in spec. Such bullshit.

I was wondering, can you you send me documents/ service details of your tranny change? Maybe i can present it to them?

neoshi

Mmm gotta love how Acura works. Must go to the dealer first, who deems your shitty experience as NORMAL, so you then complain to ACR, who says that the dealer is the only one who can tell them if it's abnormal (and they haven't), so you're SOL. Your only way out is to see another dealer who might side with you or to drive another identical vehicle with them to demonstrate they're full of it.

kchemist

Oh well I ve had enough of this, I dont have much of a 2nd -3rd shifting issue but downshift lag is more of an safety concern. So decided to sell it and buy a 2016 Lexus GS F Sport. Already put down a deposit and waiting for the car to arrive from Japan. Its gonna get here end of the month

jeich182

I get exactly where you're coming from. Both local BMW dealers have my contact info. As soon as a deal can be put together and my wife blesses the expenditure (likely June), for the first time in my adult life I will not be driving a Honda/Acura product.

kchemist

Excellent choice, I would have gone with BMW had we not had a Merc. We used to have a 2012 BMW 3 series RWD which is the current model and we sold it for a new Merc. Now that we need 2 cars I went with Acura because its cheap. But with cheapness you get some other issues as well. So I was thinking of changing the car but loss of money was an issue. But my wife asked me if you dont like the Acura go ahead and buy the Lexus. So I guess thats what I needed a small nudge and I was over the hill . Got some assesments from dealers didnt get any good offeres. Carmax gave a good offer but I decided to sell it privately (since I live in a state with no sales tax I would not get that benefit as well). Found few buyers within few days and picked the buyer who gave the highest offer. Got much more than dealer offers.

kchemist

By the way this is my First and Last Acura product. Other than transmission issues there are leather seat wrinkle issue and non of the dealers concern with it. Utter crap service

1Louder

Yup - got my eye on the Lexus NX300h, will pull the trigger as soon as the finances work out. I'm annoyed every single time I accelerate from a stop.

We're also looking to get out of our RDX into something bigger. I've ground-ruled out the 2016 Pilot and MDX on the basis of the 9-speed alone. No way I'll go with those. Wonder if Honda/Acura really care that this 9-speed is heavily influencing buying decisions.

CheeseyPoofs McNut

We may look at the Pilot too - but I would get the EX-L - still has the 6 speed. Only the Touring and Elite have the craptastic 9 speed.

1Louder

True I should have qualified that - we're looking at the latter two (Touring/Elite) because they have options my wife is a stickler about. I think the EX-L would be a good car and the 6 speed is just fine.

Rocketsfan

Don't do it! Fight it! You're just giving these knuckleheads more of your money after they screwed you over! Don't be a sucker!

Go Lexus or something. As long as they don't get any crazier with their origami designs, they're great vehicles.

Vlke

After 10 months of fighting this I just got news from Acura relations that a tranny swap has been approved. I will be notified when the tranny arrives at the dealership and I'll bring the car in. I was already looking at other cars too lol. I'll see how the car feels after the swap.

Robs252

You'll like it better. Make sure they do all the latest software updates when they replace the transmission. Congrats..

neil0311

From the perspective of the transmission, it was perfect after they swapped it. When they buy back my 2015, one of the options is a 2106 TLX, but only if the transmission is as flawless as the one they put in my 2015.

They also applied the latest TSP 16-012 and that made a huge difference compared to the 2015 loaner I have now.

Vlke

So the revised 2015 transmission may be better than the 2016? Also for those who had their transmission replaced, how long did the process take?

Robs252

[QUOTE=Vlke;15710101]So the revised 2015 transmission may be better than the 2016? Also for those who had their transmission replaced, how long did the process take?[/QUOTE
Mine took 11 days. The first transmission they ordered arrived damaged, so they had to order another.
I had a 2016 v6 as a loaner. Drove virtually the same as my 2015 with the replaced transmission.

neil0311

The replacement transmission for my 2015 drives pretty much the same as the 2016 loaner that I had recently. They updated with the latest TSB 16-012, and that seems to have made a huge difference with downshifts and throttle response. Make sure they apply that as well

My car was at the dealer for other things as well, but it was roughly 2 weeks to get replacement approved, get the hardware shipped in, and do the replacement and software updates.

Vlke

I'll ask for the update but I'm not sure if that's available in Canada.

NRS78

We traded in our 2014 Pilot Touring for a 2016 Pilot EX-L RES (basically the top of the line EX-L) in Oct 15', because we didn't want the 9 spd tranny. The 2016 Pilot is much quieter, rides better, and the quality is higher than last gen. Really wanted the features of the Touring again, but didn't want to chance another new car transmission fiasco (see my 8sp DCT thread). 6 speed shifts just fine, and is plenty adequate for the Pilot. I am disappointed they didn't include CarPlay, but probably next year they will.

youngTL

It's not yet. I had asked my regional rep about it when they were there to look at my car over a minor lighted door sill fitment issue. He said that to get the process started, someone has to make a service request about it. He told me to describe the transmission behaviour that the 16-012 update fixes to the service reps, and they can get communication going between Acura and them to get the Canadian version of it.

It's a weird way of going about things, and I haven't yet gotten around to it, but I will call them this week to try to set that up. There isn't anything wrong per se with my transmission shifts, just that the B012-16 would make things better (ie: no more slight accel when downshifting).

1Louder

I love the 6-speed in our 14 MDX. I don't know what Honda/Acura was thinking with this 9-speed. I mean did anyone actually drive one in the prototype? Or did they all just stand around patting themselves on the back for putting in so many gears? It defies explanation really. I would not consider any car with that 9-speed and intentionally avoided it with our MDX.

As a side note I was running errands yesterday and was on and off the highway several times where the on-ramps were short and uphill so you had to punch it to merge safely. Time after time the 9-speed failed me either with the truly awful lag when downshifting or just finding the wrong gear when it did making acceleration just plain goofy. It's the most inconsistent transmission I've ever driven. Even if you set the awful 1-2 and 2-3 shift aside, it's just a bad transmission period.

26 more months until the lease is up....not that I'm counting. Oh wait, I AM counting. Every day.

kchemist

For me shift delay and having a near miss experience of a rear-ending by a semi truck was enough to say bye bye to my Acura. The icing on the cake was the answer my SA gave me when I inquire about a loaner car that I drove (2015 TLX) just few numbers above my VIN number, which drove considerably differently to my car. His answer was it was probably a 2016 which Acura has worked out all the bugs. Ah that means he admitted we have cars with bugs (that some nerve). But when I point out the fact that it is a 2015 not a 2016 he had no answer. I think they have changed the transmission on that car.

So after all this just put an advertisement on craigslist and within 2 weeks I had several people inquiring and gave it to the highest offer. So after a month of negotiating and waiting until car to show up, I finally became an owner of a 2016 Lexus GS F sport with Mark Levinson. Its an expensive replacement but I think its well worth it. ML sound system is so crisp, transmission is so smooth, off the line acceleration is so good and only bad thing I can think of is losing out 5 mpg on hwy and 4 mpg at city.

Here are some photographs of the car, enjoy. I wish all of you guys good luck dealing with Acura and their service departments. I can assure that THIS WOULD BE MY FIRST AND LAST ACURA.

1Louder

^ Congrats on the new car! Hope it works out.

weather

...another Acura owner that defects to Lexus....

It is so frustrating...I was at the dealership yesterday and it is so sad for me to see folks that have been like family to me, and having to explain why I had to leave them for Lexus. In the end, the one hurting the most are the folks are the dealer yet are not to blame for this fiasco.

JT4

Congrats on the Lexus, you will love it.. The interior looks great I really like the Rioja Red..

CaliAtenza

Lets hope Honda/Acura gets that in-house 10 speed out ASAP.

CaliAtenza

I can confirm the rough shifting on the 16 MDX. The courtesy MDX that I was driven to and from the dealership earlier this week while having my TLX in for its first service (also got the latest transmission update applied) had an instance of a jolt/knock in the shift. That's never happened with my 15 TLX.

kuzdu

yup I'm in the same boat, I will be leaving too just deciding what will be a good move. I'm tired of the slow shifts, running like a 4 banger, every tlx I get into drives different, chirping noises, nav reboots, acceleration power, software updates and all of the rest.

mondster

Will most likely jumpship to lexus as well... a cpo gs350 fsport is very tempting

neoshi

Hrmm.. wonder if the dealer doesn't realize that there's a tranny software update out lol

Vlke

I'm going to be getting my transmission swap soon. For those that had it swap, would you say it is 100% better and TLX behaves like it's suppose to be? After this horrible experience, I'm seriously considering trading my car in for something else. I'm liking the 2017 Audi A4 =).

mondster

If they dont then thats really stupid of them. Thats money right there from corporate for warranty repairs.

CaliAtenza

What baffles me is how ZF could get it so right with their 8 speed (the whole BMW lineup uses it!) but get it so wrong with the 9 speed. I don't get why they tried to go all fancy with the dog clutches and the wonky software.

mondster

What baffles me more is their continuous denial that it has issues, and that they refuse to properly act on it.

atl7

I have also been having thoughts of switching to Lexus. If they bump up the interior on a notch on the IS, I'll be in one in a heartbeat. My TLX was getting its oil changed last week and I mentioned the 2-3 rough shift to my service advisor. He seemed to play it off and said that's just how they all are and that there are some software updates I can have performed if I want to bring it in when I have time. It's funny, anytime I'm driving a car other than my TLX, it actually feels weird accelerating to 40 mph or so because I'm waiting for a jerk in the transmission.

mondster

Tesla is unveiling the model 3 tomorrow. At 35k before tax credit (7.5k here is CA), this could very well be on my wishlist. Maybe a loaded one at 50k before tax break. Heres hoping that it looks as badass as the model s.... maybe a cpo model s is also a good alternative....

Robs252

I had mine Swapped and the latest update applied. Drives like the 2016 loaner I had. I'm very satisfied. The only thing that nags me a bit is feeling the VCM vibration through the wheel at times.

Robs252

They replaced my transmission for this same issue and all is fine now.

f1nzup

Well, I've exhausted everything I know to get my 2015 transmission replaced, including taking it to two different dealerships, as well as 'working' with Acura Customer Relations, if you can call it that, but they are all towing the company line that there is nothing wrong with the tranny.

I've owned Honda's since 1988 and Acura's since 1999, and have had tranny's replaced in my '99 and '01 TL's, but still stuck with them. I now lease a new car two out of every three years, but when my lease is up on my RDX next year, I will be going somewhere else, and after I suffer through two more years of this crap transmission in my TLX, I will never get another Acura. The complete lack of accountability by Acura is very disappointing, but not unexpected in today's corporate climate.

It's been a fun ride, and for those with new trannys congrats!

Vlke

I understand how you feel. It took me 10 months to get them to replace my transmission. I was ready to move on. I basically told them to either buyback my car minus mileage or fix the transmission. I also said if they can't do that then I want something in writing from Acura stating they've tried everything and my car is within normal specs. Keep trying, and best of luck getting your transmission replaced.

Robs252

I have a really good relationship with my dealer. My wife and I have bought a few cars from them and we are friends with our salesman. That may have helped in my case, I don't know.