I hope Acura_Driver does not mind, but I borrowed his format to discuss the car as it is logically laid out.

My 04TL is 11 days and about 450 miles, SSM/Ebony, AT, w/Navi and 35% tint. Photo album located at (skip first two photos): http://www.imagestation.com/album/?i...03&mode=invite

Here is what I think about the car (just remember I am very particular about my cars, and its design):

Performance - Throttle response is good. Car kicks down when provoked (I have limited revs), engine is responsive. I have not noticed the lag to 3K RPM's but I have not pushed it off the line yet, a steady increase in pressure on the accelerator does the trick.

Engine – smooth and refined, except when first started, seems rough, and stumbles for first minute or so, like the large cam V-8’s I remember. MPG was 26 for a 200mile rural/highway trip (29MPG for 30 miles straight highway) with ave MPH of 45, since then mostly city and only 18MPG with ave 16MPH, but it is too early to determine fuel mileage.

Transmission – As background, this is my first full time car with an Auto (23 yrs of MT), but I have always driven my wife’s. I agree that with drive-by-wire, the shifts are very smooth and almost seamless. SS mode works fine, but a little slow. I do not like the auto 1-2 shift, but it has gotten me out of trouble as the car is so quite, I do not realize the RPM’s climbing (and without the shifter, I am not as in tune). I do wish that it had a fully auto 4th or 3rd gear selection (not SS) as I have found the transmission to up shift WAY too early, to the point that the engine is lugging when not tipping into the accelerator to a moderate amount. I find this very annoying and creating unnecessary noise and vibration (I hope I can get a chip modification so it does not shift into 4th gear at 30mph and 5th at 40mph or so). This is my biggest complaint of the TL, but remember, I am a Manual Tranny guy and no one else has complained about this!

I do like the fact that the traction control (VSA) does not retard the engine immediately when the tires break loose (I saw this in the Demo units - with modest accel, the tires have chirped slightly)

Handling - I have driven this car on some of my favorite roads and twisties (many country roads with banked turns and the country’s first and oldest parkway), and in one word I will sum it up – Composed. The car is pretty flat in the turns and turns in amazing grip with the all-seasons, much, much more than I would have expected. The car is firm, but not harsh, just the way I like a car to ride.

Tires - The Bridgestone Turanza EL-42’s are great in the dry/wet for an all-season (but they are new) and while I was considering going to summer rubber in the spring (and back to the EL-42’s in winter) I am not as sure about that now as they have gobs of grip (but on the other hand if these work so great, imagine what a summer tire will do!) Also remember that I have set the tire pressures (cold) to 35psi front, and 32psi rear, as recommended in the owner’s manual for the MT version (with all seasons) so this may help response a bit but a little harder ride. Also the tires are not noisy, but are one of the few things you hear (I have spent just as much time with the radio off as on to listen to the car), but I just came off max performance tires that were at the end of their life and noisy.

Audio - It is the best factory audio system I've heard, with Bose and Harman Kardon systems in other cars, all who have heard it are quite impressed. 5.1 DVD-A discs sound great, but are limited by the engineer who mixed them to DVD-A (some do a great job of separation, others, not so great. CD's sound very good also as do tapes (no flaming about tapes please). Agreed it would be nice to have an AUX input. I do think that the system is not loud enough (although it is distortion free), but I had the same complaint on my Nissan/bose system.

As for XM, the quality is very good on some channels and not so great on others. As for the rock stations, they are not quite as good as I would like, and prefer a local station over them for mix of music. Also on my very first road trip, I noticed that it drops out more than I would like when there isn't a clear view to the sky such as on tree lined roads (very prevalent in my area) and under long overpasses and in garages. I am not sure if I will probably continue the service after the three months is up.

Navigation - I was not going to get Navi, but after seeing the first photos in autoweek without the navi, I said, the interior is too nice not to have it and opted in. Very happy that I did and would not go back. The best part is the voice commands, touch screen and extra features on screen for the audio. Well worth the extra $ IMO

Interior - The interior is perfect and well laid out (except the storage compartments under the radio head end and the almost impossible to plug into 12V adaptor in the lower compartment for the valentine one). I have been in new and old 7 series, 5’s M3’s, E500’s, A6’s, and A4’s and this rivals the best of them. Touch and tactile feel is great, a lot attention was given to this. I agree on the map pockets, the motion is not smooth and feels cheep and I will never use the sunglass holders (I already remove the one on the pass side to fit a CD holder in it. Outward visibility is acceptable, with the front pillars creating a slight blind spot (not as bad as the back) due to the angle, but visibility is still better than in many cars. I do wish the center console had a wire pass through to the outside though. Also, the sun visors do not operate smoothly. Front Seats are firm but comfortable, rears are a lot softer. I do wish the drivers seat went even lower. One other thing, the head liner is really nice, I really like the almost gel feel to it when you push on it with your finger, they must have used a really good, dense foam backer.

Exterior styling – It is sharp, and right on target. Agreed that it is aggressive, but not overly. I washed the car for the first time and it gives you a greater appreciation of the fit and finish on the car and the overall design. My least favorite part is from bumper down, as I am not crazy about the Pontiac type appearance (even with the front plate on) and the lower chin spoiler to bottom breathe the radiator (due to the missing center lower opening). I have already bottomed out the chin spoiler in a gas station driveway and a house driveway. I also wish the lower grils were the old honeycomb style. would look more sport than the verticle lines.

Trunk - The size is fine and I like the fact that the cargo nets are flexible in the mounting position (but hard to figure out because of this). The hidden trunk hinges as in the new 7 series is good also.

Bluetooth - No comment yet as I do not have a bluetooth enabled phone (waiting for the Moto V600 if reasonable)

Problems - I have had a few (but I am picky):

1. Headliner on drivers side is in contact with windshield so it clicks over bumps (fixed with foam)
2. Drivers door leather was not tucked in near aluminum trim, reinserted it.
3. Steering wheel is off to right, car tracks straight, wheel needs adjustment.
4. Parking brake is out of adjustment.
5. Outside temperature reading in MID is about 8 degrees high (even after driving)
6. Driver’s window vibrates at top when fully closed (if down slightly, it is ok).
7. About 8 paint defects (small, very small imperfections, such as particles or dust under clear coat).

Others thoughts – I did bring the car to Lime Rock Park in CT to see the Bush North Series along with SCCA races and an import series. I know one of the drivers and drove into the paddock area afterwards and all the drivers came over to check it out, words like BMW like, Audi like, better than MB, and the interior is nicer than my RS6 etc flew around, they all thought it was a great car and were quite impressed. Friend’s family and others were equally impressed.


Conclusion – The overall package is impressive, Acura did a fine job with the TL and TSX, it refined and sporty. Until the TSX came out, and now the TL, I would not have looked at Acura as seriously (though I did like the TL-S of old). It is great to drive and own. Would I want more, yes, but am I happy, yes also. Even if I could get a full refund, I would not turn it back in. There is nothing like it on the road! Looking forward to many years of enjoyment with it.

 

Very nice review!

-r

 

Acura_Driver - thanks, and it was you who got me over the top to write one.

 

Damn man, Thanks for THE TIME AND EFFORT FOR THIS NICE REVIEW!!

Seems like you really like the car!

 

Another magazine quality review -- a decidedly good effort!

Does the external temperature guage consistently report a reading that is 8 degrees above what is actual? If so at least you can mentally subtract 8 from the reading to get something meaningful. I assume that it's a sensor problem that can be addressed by the dealer as a warranty issue?

Your image #68 reinforces what I was saying about how a Silver TL takes on an off-white appearance near twilight. Why choose the White Pearl color when you can two colors, white and silver, in the same car?

 

That is strange about the outside temp gauge. I'd bring it back to the dealer.

Either way, that is annoying. I was really mad that the outside temperature display was not always on and you have to toggle through the functions to find it. IMO, outside temp and odometer should always be displayed!

 

I concur with this. I recently spent a night at a hotel and the next morning when I started the car - it was sort of rough. On another thread, I described it as a "rumble" too. It seems to go away quickly, however.

 

Thanks to all for the comments and reading my lenghty review

2004TL - yes, I do like the car, and yes (except maybe the AT), it did take some time to write, but would have been longer if not for Acura_Driver's first reveiw.

Peter777 - thanks for the reply. The temp gauge seems to be consistantly high, I will have it serviced shortly. Yes, photo 68 is quite interesting, I put it in the album for that reason, 67 was taken at the same time, but as 68 had the sun reflecting directly into the camera off of the car, the background was blacked out, I also included it as it shows some lines not apparent in other photos, especially how the tail of the car is shaped. I had wanted WDP as I am a big fan of white, but it had two things against it, one, I wanted the ebony interior (more sport, and very easy to keep clean!), 2nd, I like pure white pearls (like on my 96 Maxima), but the Acura one is more of a cream color which made it look dirty to me. Silver was the next best choice (my priorities are minimum mataince, easy to keep clean, no swirl marks, and does not show scratches and dings as much as dark colors, esp important without the body side molding). I do not have a lot of time to clean my car, which I do my self and have kids, so the best choice was the SSM/ebony, even though I have proclaimed that I am not a silver person.

Emumesnger - yes I plan on having the sensor fixed. And Just this am on my drive to work, I thought the same thing, that damm it would be nice to have the odometer and temp on all the time, and in the speedo pod at the bottom, I find it anoying to not see those and the trip computer at the same time (which should have at least one decmal place for the ave MPH and MPG!)

Ben1233 - thanks for the confirmation on the rough start, I also saw this in the two demo's I drove.

BTW - I will bring the car in to the dealer to fix my minor problems shortly, so dont worry.

Please feel free to ask any questions!

 

I have a number of DVD-Audio discs and completely agree. Try looking for ones that are produced by Elliot Scheiner. He developed the system for the TL. I have R.E.M. Document on DVD-Audio, surround mix produced by Scheiner. It is unbelievable!!!!! I also have Night at the Opera, by Queen that he worked and maybe Hotel California. I am not for sure about that one.

 

Thank you, I was flamed in another thread for complaining about the missing decimal point.

My wife's 03 Accord EX-V6-Navi and my 97 Jeep Cherokee 4x4 both have the decimal point and offer both instant MPG and overall.

 

I've been suspecting that mine is off as well, but I had not quantified it yet. This morning on the way to work I think it was reading 10-15 degrees high.

-r

 

At least for me this appears to have been a false alarm. Last night and this morning I stuck a digital thermometer out the open moon roof. The outdoor temperature on the MID was within 1 degree of what that thermometer read. It appears that the temps on the freeway are significantly warmer (10-15 degrees) than those published by the weather service or the one outside my home.

-r

 

That is very true of the freeway when it is warm, the engine heat from other cars, and pavement increases the ambient temperature.

Here it was a cool 34F, and I was on roads that had no traffic, and it read 42F. Go figure.

 

Brrr.

It was 50 outside my home at 7:40am, but the thermometers were reading 63 and 64 on the freeway a couple of miles away. The traffic was fairly heavy.

-r

 

Did someone say "brrrr"?

I'm in Eastern Massachusetts. We got about half an inch of snow around the house this morning.

 

Snow? What's that?

 

It's the white stuff that makes people realize that RWD isn't aways the way to go.

 

Yes. And sometimes snow turns yellow or brown after people realize that RWD isn't always the way to go.

 

OK, I get it. Being in CA, when we go to the mountains to ski and it's really snowing hard, the CA Highway Patrol makes us put on chains so we don't slide around the freeway. I guess that is not the case back East?

 

Nope. Even when it's snowing really hard the highway patrol doesn't make us put on chains. We slide around the highways.