izzle22

Yeah I’ve checked the app and my account. Everything is in line and everything is activated including data collection. I am able to start and stop the car as well as lock and unlock. Not sure why I can’t see fuel level and oil life? I will have to call AcuraLink support tomorrow during their business hours.

izzle22

I spoke too soon. After going out to the car and going under the AcuraLink setting I allowed data collection there. All fixed.

ELIN

Out of curiosity, will you pay for the feature that supports the "Remote Start" when the trial period ends? I won't because I never use it but I know some folks who've gotten used to it from previous Acuras.

izzle22

That is a very good question. I’m not sure yet. I have never had remote start on a car and will find out this winter how much I use it at work. I won’t use it at home as I park in the garage. I’ve already said many times that I have too many subscriptions and I don’t want anymore. I really like the idea of having this feature on an app rather than my key fob. At work I feel I would be way too far away to start the car with the fob. Time will tell...

Flapjackura

Had the remote start via app-only functionality on my Lexus, probably used it twice. I can take it or leave it and will probably leave it after the trial period ends. I will likely keep the remote monitoring as my highly nerdy nature really enjoys that part. Have not done the homework on whether or not the two functions are tied together (want one, ya gotta pay for both?) on the TLX. If they are tied together I might grit my teeth and get a paid subscription, but I really don't think I will use the remote start function very often. Thanks to everyone, for the congratulatory notes, by the way!

dio

I downloaded the Acura Link app, the remote start is nice, however the cost after the trail end, seems high. I don't think I will be purchasing it once that expires, at least for the moment. I don't find myself using it all that often.

Tesla1856

AcuraLink vs myAudi Connect

https://acurazine.com/forums/second-.../#post16665267

Vicious Type S

If you live in an area with a decent winter, couldn't u just get the remote start for a few hundred? Probably cheaper than paying for a subscription. I always start my car ahead in the winter cuz all the snow and it definitely helps alot!

izzle22

In a perfect world yes that would be the most cost effective way to go. In my situation that would not work. I wouldn't need it at home as I park in my garage. I would only use it at work and where my car is parked from where I would want to remote start it would never reach. This app function is the only option I would have for remote start.

Twin5761

Not a owner yet, but look at this beauty

a35tl

Say what you will about the new TLX but it is definitely a looker! Beautiful car!

Twin5761

It really is. I didn't like it at first, but seeing it in person she's a beauty especially in black or pepsi blue.

ELIN

Due to the pandemic, I've only gotten about 500 miles so far after about a month and a half of ownership. Here are my thoughts so far:

Loving:

1) 3D ELS continues to astound me, especially on SAT radio. I've listened so much of SAT that even the odd disruptions from going underneath an overpass are starting to annoy me (I'm sure I'll get used to this over time).

2) Seats are still incredibly comfortable.

3) Fuel economy on my 2nd ever tank of gas is about 24.6 mpg on mix of city/hwy driving. Looks like EPA numbers are being met. Note that I leave the engine START/STOP enabled as it doesn't bother me.

Not Loving:

1) Most road noise appears to come from the tires. I would definitely replace them if I end up buying out the lease.

2) I have to start ripping CD's and find some way to get my lossless and HQ tracks to a USB stick or to my iPhone. Didn't factor this during decision making.

3) Wish there was wireless CarPlay like in the upcoming MDX. We shouldn't have to deal with cables anymore, even for charging!

Snow is coming soon in my area so looking forward to testing out the SH-AWD!

Anyone else have short term ownership observations?

Flapjackura

Agree - ELS is a huge highlight. Even when played loud, it's so clear and well defined that it doesn't become fatiguing.

Other pros:
- Various driver assistance aids are more non-intrusive and less annoying than my Lexus was. For example I am not tempted to disable RDM/LKAS, while in the Lexus I shut all that crap off.
- Even in comfort mode, power delivery is effortless, car feels nimble and powerful without feeling heavy or ponderous.
- Extremely comfortable seats.
- Averaging about 26 MPG. A bit better than expected.
- I am a stickler for being able to use Apple CP with my phone stored mostly or entirely away without cables hanging out from Hell to breakfast. Love the fact that the phone can rest on the charger pad and the USB can run out of sight into the armrest storage compartment. It should be federally mandated that USB/data connect points should always be in the armrest - or if they are in cubbies with closable doors, positioned in such a way that the door can be closed when there is a cable plugged in, and can also accommodate a standard size phone with the door closed. The Lexus ES 350 for instance - has the data USB port in a tiny cup-holder cubby with a closable door that you can't close when you use the port, and a phone slot that is too small for most phones - which is inexcusably sloppy design for a Lexus.

Cons:
- Averaging about 26 MPG compared to 45 in the Lexus. Oh well, you can't have everything. I'll get used to it.
- Road noise - while not terrible, it's there. Again, not a Lexus. Solution is to drown out with the ELS; which is fine since that sucker can conceivably drown out the sound of most nuclear detonations.
- Dealership experience is a step down from Lexus; but pretty much most dealership experiences are. I'll get used to that, too.
- There are very occasional dropouts when playing audio via Apple CP. Very brief. Experienced this in my 2016 Accord at times. Never in the Lexus. I have heard that Apple and Honda don't play super-nice with each other, so I was prepared for this. It usually happens once every few days. Just enough to be mildly annoying.

ELIN

That's a big dropoff in fuel economy. I would have been tempted to keep the hybrid. My experience with the closest Lexus dealer was not the greatest. I test drove a GS back in the day and the guy I worked with probably didn't have proper training and made the sales experience feel like a Toyota/Honda experience. That year, I ended up with an A6 lease after giving up an E-Class.

How often are the CP dropouts? I've never experienced this in the 2018 MDX or the current TLX. I'm using the iPhone XS. Which iPhone are you using?

fiatlux

We know this new infotainment system in the RDX has been notorious for having CP/AA issues, especially early on. Hopefully this isn't a harbinger of things to come...

Flapjackura

Very occasional, about 4 times in the last 2 weeks. IPhone XR.
Regarding keeping the hybrid - I debated that for a long time. Not an easy decision. Back in May it was rear-ended; about 1400 bucks to repair. Was concerned about the long term effect this would have on the trade in value. Plus the car just bored me to death. 13 months is a long time to have buyer's remorse. I have been very blessed by having a good year professionally - so decided to take advantage of this and trade for something more exciting.

Tesla1856

Seems many are dropping CD-Players now-days. My Q5-e has one, but unfortunately, my new 2021 Audi does not.
My solution from my notes.

I ripped some of my favorite CDs to WAV files using Windows Media Player 12.
They sound great.
It uses an online database (Gracenote or similar) for file/track naming (which is helpful as you move forward).
No ID3-Tag embedding is possible on WAV, but with the the Audi-MMI's Gracenote on play-back ... it doesn't seem to matter (it was showing track-names and album art ). Experience seemed very-much like playing an actual CD.
I don't really care about file-sizes or storage space. These WAV files sound identical to actual CDs. Way beyond a 320k-MP3.

FLAC also works on mine and sound really good. I haven't tried it yet, but a forum member said FLAC was multi-channel.
I would suggest you start a thread about all this. I bet others would be interested in your solution or workflow.

mapleloaf

Does anyone use Spotify to play tunes and if so, how does that sound on this system?

ELIN

I've done it once in the TLX but it sounds like your typical MP3 quality though the audio system does the best it can with the source material. I won't pay for the HQ audio services so I'm currently ripping CD's in Apple's lossless codec (ALAC).

Also need to come to terms with possibly paying for software to rip my DVD-A and SACD collection. I also own one BD-audio disc that would probably take up the largest thumb drive I have.

Tesla1856

I have DVDFab license (I hope it still works).
Handbrake is good
Quick Media Converter (Cocoon Software) is good.
MakeMKV is what I rip my BluRays with (not sure if that would help).

I don't know if it's a true DVD-A, but I have "The Eagles - Hotel California" studio album on DVD. Pretty sure it has (Dolby Digital) 5.1 discrete tracks.
I thought "Fleetwood Mac - The Dance" live concert on DVD would be another good one to try (Dolby Digital 5.1 to multi-channel FLAC). The 5.1 is superior to the 2.0 mix that ended up on their Audio-CD. Might even try taking it to MP4 with the video (as I can play/watch those also).

Tesla1856

I'm guessing it sounds about as good as a 160k MP3 . About as good as FM radio.
But WAV (and FLAC ripped directly from an actual CD-Audio optical-disc) is much better ... like perfect. Better than ever a full 320k-MP3.

Do yall have (free, terrestrial) FM HD-Radio in Canada?

ELIN

I'll look into the software you mentioned. The last time I used DVDFab, HD-DVD and Blu-ray were still duking it out. LOL

I have the same Eagles DVD. It's a great one and I even have the follow-up Farewell Tour concert in Australia.

Really hoping I can rip my Crystal Method DVD-A. "Born too Slow" would sound a lot better in the car than in my home theater setup. There is a separate DVD-V portion with a DTS track so maybe I can get those tracks at minimum!

I'm excited because the audio system in this car may be the closest thing to matching what I have at home!

Tesla1856

1. Yeah, they ran into some USA-RIAA trouble a while back. My copy would not immediately authorize and run, but website it still online so there is hope. My license was suppose-to-be Lifetime.

2. I'll check into that one. I DO ALSO HAVE the one where Joe Walsh wears the GoPro on his head/hat.
And, of course Hell Freezes Over DVD. I forget if it has good DD/DTS 5.1 tracks or not.

3. Right, that's what we want.

4. Same here. It's like a high-end music-pod you climb-into. Whether it's Bang & Olufsen or ELS-Studio ... they are very nice (high-fidelity, balanced, and matched). My main home-theater system is comparable (large "separates" 6.1 speakers, up to Dolby-Digital True-HD/ DTS Master-Audio) ... but then there is the matter of wrangling it away from the family for some quality listening time

ELIN

Just got back from testing the audio more. I loaded up "The Very Best of the Eagles" ALAC tracks and "Great Film Fantasies (Erich Kunzel)" as WAV files onto a USB stick. Stuck the USB in the port and the TLX wouldn't recognize it. I just confirmed it's formatted as FAT32 so I don't think compatibility is an issue. Any ideas?

As a backup, I had loaded the same tracks in the Apple Cloud and was able to at least enjoy Disc 1 of the Eagles. "Take it Easy" never sounded better and I could hear every pluck of the banjo in the background! Made it to "Doolin Dalton" and all the acoustic guitars up to that point were fabulous.

Can't wait to hear more of the Eagles and the Star Wars theme from "Fantasies!"

Tesla1856

Maybe try with a smaller 16gb flash drive (formatted with a Windows computer).
On Audi MIB3 MMI/Bang & Olufsen, our manual says we can use FAT32, FAT, exFAT, or even NTFS. Personally, I've only tried FAT32 so far since it worked fine.

I never got around to testing my flash-drive during my TLX test-drives.
And maybe the Acura-TLX PDF OM/NAV manuals I downloaded a while-back are pre-release ... I see no mention of audio-system allowable file-types, codecs, or disk-formats.

ELIN

The manual gives no guidance other than that they recommend a cable from the port to the USB drive (longer thumb drives may hit the top of the elbow rest when put back in its place.

ELIN

I tried with a completely different USB stick and that seemed to work (still figuring out the cause). First stick was 8GB and second stick was 16GB (both FAT32).

Via the USB port, the TLX will recognize folders and the WAV files (Film Fantasies tracks) but not the ALAC tracks (Eagles). This doesn't surprise me since the interface is an older version of Android.

Long story short, rip CD's to WAV for highest compatibility via the USB port.

Tesla1856

Yeah, that would be good (I don't mind me some classical music).
Also :
Ennio Morricone - Themes from Clint Eastwood's 3 westerns (A Fistful of Film Music)
- Also "The Musical Pocket Watch" and some others
Star Trek - First Contact main-theme (Jerry Goldsmith)
- Also themes for Deep-Space-9 and Voyager ... but not sure where we get original (perfect) studio-mix master-copies of those.

Tesla1856

1. Cool
2. Untested here, but Audi says I can do ALAC too. Only thing is, says it needs to be inside a .M4A container-file. Maybe try renaming them ?
3. Yeah, hard to beat WAV.
So, when you rip a CD to WAV, and have those files in it's own folder ... does the TLX access Gracenote and show the album-art and track names?

AFAIK, FLAC is about the same (but with embeddable ID3-Tags).

ELIN

My files were already .M4A so ALAC is a no. This is a shame because it appeared to have a lot more embedded info. Playing off the USB stick, I had minimal info from the WAV files as ripped from iTunes. The ALAC tracks that I retrieved from the Cloud to play on my iPhone (via CarPlay) had all the info intact, including album art.

I will investigate FLAC down the road, especially if it supports multichannel audio.

Tesla1856

1. So, that's different between Acura's current system and Audi's (MIB3-based) MMI. Maybe check the RDX forums ?

2. Try this for a CD ... rename each track (.WAV file) to it's proper name. Put inside a folder, with the proper name of album.
No embed-able anything on .WAV so be sure car is outside garage (sure to be able to connect online).
On playback ... it should access Gracenote (either online of local copy of DB). Seems like with above it should be able to identify album and it's tracks (and display/merge that info while playing).
When Acura dropped the optical-disc reader, did they drop Gracenote support also?

3. I hear it does.

ELIN

1) I will certainly do that since the RDX is just the larger version of the TLX. Thanks for the suggestion!

2) Even if this does work, I don't see myself correcting the names that iTunes truncates for the WAV files. It would not be worth the effort and I just realized that tracks I add to the music library only come back to my iPhone at 256kbps from iCloud, which destroys the point of ripping CD-quality tracks. USB will continue to be the best option for audiophiles who don't pay for HQ streaming services.

CPR

Observations since pickup; November 24th
My IPhone XR/128GB, doesn't sync with CarPlay, unless you first restart the phone; not acceptable
Apple GENIUS techs, swear, the phone is PERFECT
Waze, & Amazon Music, seem to be the main culprits; dropouts, are rare, but do happen
My dealer PROMISED me a pre-programmed, ELS USB Stick; fingers XXXXXXXXXX
LOVE this 2021 TLX/ASPEC/SH-AWD; way better than my previous 7 Acura's
To me it's a home run; engine is plenty powerful, for anyone; no lag, & great response in double Sport mode
Climate Control is great; seats, ditto; room to spare up front
Dollar for Dollar, you can't beat it
ZERO REGRETS!

izzle22

I am still not having any issues with CarPlay and my iPhone so it seems this is not a widespread issue. CarPlay works prefect for me every time.

What exactly is "double Sport mode"? My car only has regular sport mode.

ELIN

When I turn on the ignition, I have to unlock my phone (true for any car, regardless of make) in order for CarPlay to function but I never "restart" it. Just to be clear, you are using a certified lightning cable for CarPlay, right?

The only wireless CarPlay for Acura appears to be in the upcoming 2022 MDX. It sounds like you're in the correct USB port but just so we're on the same page, you're using the USB port closest to passenger side, right? The one on the left is for charging only.

I have no issues with CarPlay. I use an iPhone XS and running the latest iOS 14.3.

Nexx

remote start has to be one of the most overrated features people insist on with new vehicles these days.

Flapjackura

My XR always syncs fine. Also not necessarily unlocked when it does. I have it set to allow Siri when locked. I think that's SOP for carplay. Just experiencing the very occasional drop out which is a Honda thing more than anything. I use a certified USB cable.

Tesla1856

I do NOT have to unlock my iPhone-SE-2020 in order for CarPlay to work in my 2021 Audi A5.
I think you might be missing a setting.

ELIN

I'll have to do some investigating and see if a setting on my iPhone needs to be switched.

Thanks!