Apparently I'm a glutton for punishment, because as you're finally done with Acura, I might be coming back to one.

Integra sales here in California have fallen off a cliff. Dealerships are piling up with them, to the point that the ADMs have completely vanished. One of my local dealerships has 35 in stock or in transit. At MSRP in this current market, I'm very very interested. The Civic Si around these parts are still commanding a $10K ADM, which actually makes it more expensive than a 6MT Integra...

I'll be heading out to one of the dealerships farther out later today or tomorrow because they've been selling at MSRP the entire time (albeit with long waiting lists). Even though my local dealerships are now selling at MSRP too, I still remember when they were price gouging just a month ago, and I would much rather give my money to a dealership that wasn't, even if it's a couple hours away vs just 15-30 minutes.

If I do buy it, I'll still probably hang out around this sub-forum . The Integra sub is a complete ghost town.

 

The new Integra is a nice looking car! The interior also makes way more sense than the TLX when comparing against the exterior.

Good luck on getting a good deal!

 

Done deal. Picked up an Apex Blue on Orchid 6MT at MSRP minus $500 for recent grad (had my cousin co-buy to get it) with 3.9% APR for 60 months and $5000 down (to get 2.625% cash back on my credit card).

What’s bananas is that the lowest price I could find for a Civic Si was $36K. By that measure, just $1K more for a fully loaded Acura version is an absolute steal, and with interest rates going the way they are savings yields will probably outpace my loan rate. Wealthfront is already at 3.3% APY on their cash accounts.

And to think, a few months ago dealerships were asking for $20K over sticker for these.

 

Congrats and looking forward to your Integra thoughts!

 

Sooo, please tell the TLX owners what is wrong with our interiors.

 

Did you miss all the threads that bemoaned Acura's decision to make the TLX look like a rear-wheel drive car and reduced interior space in the process? It has the interior of a 3 series, C-Class, A4, but the exterior of an 5 series, E-Class, A6.
I never said the interior was "wrong". It's just confusing how little space is available inside when you see the TLX from the outside (you just assume it would be more roomy inside).

 

I forgot to mention that the Integra that fiatlux just got has about 2" more rear legroom than the TLX.

 

Congrats on the new ride! How does the 3D ELS audio compare to the B&W? I’ve seen reviews rave about the B&W audio and some calling it one of the best audio systems in the market.

I hope those dealers that charge ADM are remembered by shoppers so that they are avoided like a plague when things go back to normal. Some dealers are listing the new CTR for $60k+.😮

 

I really don't care about the back seat, I know others may, but the front area is very roomy and that's what I care for. I also don't have a problem with the size of the TLX as I still think it's one of the best looking cars out there.

 

Please do not ask any questions....lol

Just wish the best of luck!

 

LMAO, sorry, no more from me. OK, best of luck with your X3 and have fun on their forums.

 

The ELS system in the Integra is pretty good, but it's not as good as the one in the TLX (as to be expected), and definitely not as good as the B&W systems in Volvos, which I do think is arguably the best under $100K. That said, I would say it's pretty darn good for its price point; it blows the "upgraded" Volvo HK systems out of the water.

And yeah, I have a long memory so I avoided the closer dealerships who were charging an arm and a leg for these cars. I'd rather give my business to the dealerships that weren't gouging the hell out of customers. The salesperson I worked with mentioned that the dealerships who are adding markups are doing it due to straight up greed; it's not because they need to feed their families. At the price point that they're already selling these cars at (MSRP) they're already making 5x more than they used to pre-pandemic, even if they're selling 5x less cars. If anything it's actually been easier because they do less work for the same pay essentially.

 

Congrats! I happened to be at my Acura Dealership today returning loaner for my overnight service/tire swap arrangement. I was looking at a Blue Apex Integra in the showroom and it also looks great on that car. I'm sure you will enjoy the 6MT, although I would opt for the CVT, which is a good one, and take the extra fuel economy. The ELS is still a great upgrade for an entry level luxury car. The orchard interior is gorrgeous, but sadly not available on the Integra in Canada. Enjoy!

 

Congrats! I posted in the Integra forum recently that I got to see one up close and personal and it is a nice looking car and I much prefer the infotainment layout and it would be a fine daily driver for me. Locals are interested in my trade in so it could be a good option for me.

Yes, and the profits have been astronomical for many manufacturers.

 

Yeah I think one facet that has largely been ignored. Even though volume-wise Acura/Honda is hurting, in terms of their bottom line they're doing pretty good because they're no longer throwing so much cash to move the cars. Those big discounts and incentives we used to get pre-pandemic was largely funded by the automakers and was then passed on by the dealerships. Now that these cars can move all on their own, the profit margin on each unit has increased substantially.

 

I have been reading some wild statistics lately including this one:

https://www.autonews.com/retail/car-...ge-study-shows

Dealerships are not going to just give this all up and I'm going to have to assume that the industry has now changed forever.

 

After 2 months of driving the X3 and its different driving modes, I think I've finally reached a breakthrough in understanding the issues I had with the braking in the TLX!

The following are the 3 modes on my X3 followed by a short description:

1) Sport - best engine response
2) Comfort - a happy medium b/w response and fuel economy (BMW's default mode when ignition turned on)
3) ECO - best fuel economy and has a coasting mode that disengages the engine when the throttle pedal is not applied.

I've been back and forth b/w ECO and Comfort just to see how I feel about response vs fuel econ. To be honest, I rarely need the Sport mode when entering highways. It is driving under ECO that I realized the braking is about the same as what I experienced on the TLX. Ironically, I rarely ever used Sport mode on the TLX and I always complained that the transmission wasn't really helping me as I was trying to stop. So here's my best guess at an equivalency b/w BMW and Acura.

Sport (Acura) = Sport (BMW)
Normal/Comfort (Acura default) = ECO (BMW)

My TLX was missing that middle ground that would be equivalent to the BMW Comfort. I think I would have been a lot happier if Acura had given me that "middle ground" driving mode.

I'm pretty sure my '18 MDX Normal/Comfort responded differently and that's why I was so surprised by how the TLX stopped (frequent lurching forward due to bad stopping estimation)! What do you guys think?

 

I think Honda/Acura braking systems are just mediocre. Even in my RDX in Sport+, under hard braking, the car can get squirrely and does not inspire much confidence. I had a dickhead raccoon run out in front of me on the highway at night and had to slam on my brakes (nobody behind me or I would have no choice but to end that poor bugger) and the rear end almost started fishtailing. I was none too impressed after that incident with the braking system.

How's the X3? With the (hopefully) looming crash of the used car market, I'm starting to look at CPO X5 M50i's. It was never really on my radar, but I just stumbled upon some 2020's in the mid to high-$60k range well equipped. In a year or so, those numbers could be drastically less. I'm still apprehensive about that N63 engine though.

 

Did you ever feel your RDX was really just coasting (no engine help) when you slammed on the brakes?

X3 has been great so far! Really no complaints other than getting a HUD was not a choice for me (reserved for the X3 M40i). I'm glad I stuck with an X3 over an X5 as I don't need the additional space. You will miss the sound system once you go BMW though. I may change out the amp once the warranty expires.

 

I honestly couldn't tell if the engine was helping brake the car. Perhaps it is, and the downshifts are what disrupts the vehicle and causes it to get "squirrely".

The ELS is certainly a good sound system, but it's wasted on someone like me. I almost exclusively listen to podcasts while driving. I'm perfectly content with the quality of the Blaupunkt system in my 2005 GTO for my needs, lol. My biggest challenge I think will be finding one that doesn't have a panoramic sunroof. After my poor experience with one on the RDX (it does nothing but click, creak, rattle, pop and bang ... and the sunshade stays closed 99.9% of the time ... and it lets in an exorbitant amount of heat in the summer), I'll never own another car with a pano roof if I can help it.

Honestly, I don't need the extra space either, but I do like driving larger vehicles. Though it's also fun to zip around in a smaller car. One of the biggest annoyances tho is that everyone has a crossover these days and too many are fidgeting around with something, not paying attention to the road. If you sit in traffic, you're undoubtedly going to find yourself behind some jackwang that keeps slamming on their brakes because they're simply not paying attention. If you're in a higher seating position, you can at least see the cars in front braking and prepare for it. In a low car, this can be a trying process. It's also a lot kinder to the lower back, which I'm regularly having issues with.

If the X3M's ride wasn't so terrible, I'd probably stretch my budget and go for it over a used X5 M50i.

 

Woah, completely missed you picked up a Teggy. Congrats!

How are you liking it so far? My biggest concert with it is the road noise on the highway. What are your thoughts on this front?

Are you going to look to upgrade to the Type-S (assuming ADM isn't astronomical) when they're released?

 

This is why I am considering switching to a crossover for my next vehicle even though I really don't need one. Pulling out of parking spaces, being able to see many red lights ahead of time, etc., has become so annoying due to the size and height of other vehicles in comparison to mine.

 

There is no denying that a crossover or SUV is the best vehicle to have for practicality and space. Sedans cannot compete anymore

 

Yep. With back-up cameras being standard on cars, it does make life easier in parking lots to combat the Karens that do 40MPH thru the aisles and honk at you while you're trying to inch out next to a windowless commercial van (true story). But being lower does have a lot of disadvantages in the real world. Aside from traffic, with most cars coming with LEDs, it's also annoying dealing with headlights getting brighter and brighter, whether you're driving into them or have them reflecting off your rearview/side view mirrors (dimming can only do so much) ... and Honda/Acura is the worst offender.

I get flashed all the time in my RDX with people thinking I have my high beams on. I honestly don't blame them, as when I'm in my lower cars, those Honda/Acura LED headlights are offensively bright and irritating. No other manufacturer is as bad. It's odd, because the Japanese are generally a very considerate culture (when I went there, I noticed most people turn their headlights off at lights to only their parking lights so as to not shine the lights into oncoming traffic), but the current headlight beam design is obtrusive.

 

Weren't the latest Acuras US-designed?

 

The Hondas are just as bad. I mean, they're great if you're driving the car, but I hate when a Honda/Acura is driving towards me.

 

Yeah, I picked one up about a month ago, kind of impulsively when I found out that they were going for sticker.

So far I'm liking it enough; there's only a couple quibbles I have about it: no Homelink (wtf?), and the factory tires are trash. The former, not much I can do about, and the latter I solved by replacing the wheels/tires with my old TLX wheels and wrapping it with some new summer rubber. The road noise on the stock all-seasons was not great...it seems like they didn't add any additional sound insulation to the Civic. Road noise for the Civic is at best average for its class, which means the Integra is pretty much dead last in its class for noise. On anything but glass-smooth pavement, it's really loud. It's unapologetically Honda. The summer tires are even louder, but fortunately for me most of my driving is in the city. I'm hoping that the ITS will get some additional insulation seeing as how it has more power to haul a little bit more mass around; as it is the stock output of the Integra IMO is adequete at best, but it's still more fun to drive because the 6MT is fantastic. I certainly have less complaints and nitpicks about this car than the 1G TLX I had.

And yeah, I'm going to be upgrading to the ITS if it's available without crazy markups. If that doesn't happen, I still have my 911 allocation I'm waiting on that should be due sometime in 2024, as well as a spot on the GR Corolla line. Plenty of other options if dealerships want to be greedy.

 

Not sure if your garage door opener is new or old but when costco gets em on sale grab a genie belt drive that uses the aladin connect.
comes in handy in my older cars that don't have a homelink and I never really think twice about having to use my phone to open/close it.

 

Thanks for the response. Yea, your account of the road noise is on par with everything else I've been seeing. Especially with the car being new (as quiet as they're going to be), I'm past wanting to tolerate that in a vehicle, no matter how good or fast it is. Hopefully you're right about them adding sound insulation, but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't do anything whatsoever in that department either, which would make me pass on the vehicle, even if they priced it identically to the CTR.

 

I think the car is very much targeted at buyers who haven't driven any other luxury car before. It's a much better effort than the ILX on account of the 11G Civic being so much better than the 9G Civic, but it's strikingly similar in that people coming from other luxury cars will immediately notice the lack of luxury in terms of NVH. The Integra is bad for its class in terms of road noise, but the ILX was just bad period for road noise. And at least while the Integra is loud, it feels solid. The ILX felt like a tin can.

But if I had to drive for long distances on the freeway, the road noise would drive me mad. That level of noise ruins the great ELS sound system it gets.

 

The (then new tech) Jewel-Lens headlights in the old 2014-MDX were very bright. Also, I think the color-temp was around 3500K-4000K so, does some interesting things with reflectors and signs. I never remember getting flashed a bunch.

Audi's solution is different. I just leave them on "Auto". Daytime-running lights are easy. At night, best I can tell I drive around with "brights" on most of the time. They actively-dim (sometimes, only on the left side). They are also "all weather" so they handle fog just fine (without separate fog-lights).

 

1. My screw-drive Genie is 20-years old. I added a $30 Chamberlain myQ device-and-phone-App a while back (very nice).

I'll check it out the latest rolling-code Genies. Mine always opens, but lately ... the light won't always turn-off eventually (not even manually with wall switch).

I think my next GDO should do everything the Genie does, plus myQ features, and I think I want video too. But I'm not going to pay for subscription hosting. If it comes to that, I'll just add a PoE camera tied-into the outdoor surveillance system.

2. HomeLink >= Physical Remote >= Phone-App. Maybe if it is CarPlay compatible I could live with it and rate it higher.

 

Ours was 25 years old and died...I got a killer deal on a 3/4hp belt drive, you can't even hear it.

 

Both of mine are over 40 years old. Think I should be considering replacements? I've replaced the garage doors twice, but never the Genie openers.

 

I still have my same 20-year-old door. I did have them replace the main coil-spring a while back when it snapped-in-half.

Yeah, my Genie screw-drive is 20 years old and IIRC, has a lifetime warranty. They sent me a new Logic-Board about 5-years ago and I installed it myself. It corrected the issue of sometimes just not opening when called upon (like it was locked-up/in-a-loop and needed to be main-power-reset). Fixed it right up until this new issue (which I think might be the Power-Supply-Board). But it's just the light-bulbs staying on so no biggie.

If you want to keep them, check-out this:
https://amzn.to/3W2lyNr

 

the most annoying part before was it was so old it had a 10 dipswitch old school rf receiver...so it was nice to get some newer tech.
If it's been working for 40 years, I wouldn't touch it. I love old relics!

 

MYQ works on any garage door opener regardless of brand. Easy install and ability to open and close garage door from anywhere using the app. You just need wifi that can reach your garage.

 

Not all - read the compatibility info. My Genie is too old. And even if it did work with mine, pushing a button on the car is easier than fumbling with a phone looking for the app.

 

I have thoughts and feedback on my X3 after nearly 2 months of ownership. Anyone care to hear or keep to myself? Would posting in the RDX thread be appropriate or just appear to be trolling?

 

I'm curious and I say post it, as some people may be cross shopping w/ the RDX...post it here or in your "Goodbye" thread over there.