Hello to all 04 TL forum members. I am Requesting input for an informal survey, I need input from anyone who has looked over the new 04 TL, potential buyers, and especially owners of the new 04 TL. All input is appreciated. Please look over the interior door panels front and rear, provide you opinion as to fit and finish, feel, esthetics, design, materials, function, switches, moving pocket, eyeglass holder, etc. Any constructive and or not so constructive opinions you may have, your like and not so like? Also for the roof liner I need the same informal input. Any input you can provide will be helpful in future TL's?
Thanks

 

Well, I don't own a TL yet, but I saw over on A-TL.com that you are the chief design engineer of the door panels and roof headliner. I don't have enough experience with the car to comment on much, but I have to say that it is refreshing to see you posting here for direct input. I always figured car manufacturers silently monitored these boards and the info eventually trickled down to the right people. We definitely appreciate your being here!

My only comments thus far are to:
1. Change the plastic used for the door pocket. The soft material used in constructing the dash would be nice.
2, Iif the opening of the door pocket was softer, quieter, and more fluid, I think the "feel" would be improved.

If you do change these design aspects of the car, will the new version be incorporated before the 05 model year? If so, will there be a way for early adopters to upgrade at a later time?

 

If you send the right people here we would love to give you very details of both the good and the bad in regards to all aspects of the car. Also it would be great to be kept in the loop as well as be aprised of what and when changes might occur. Searching past threads will also provide you with a wealth of information. I am not in the market til Jan, but from teh dealership I found the ergonomics to be excellent, but asthetically I see the TL as more of a luxury vehicle and myself as well of others do not like the mandatory black carbon fiber on the center console. Also for the cupholders I worry about the foam tabs breaking off. I have seen some cars where they are actually solid plastic pieces w/ resistance taht retreact. same idea, just more secure and not as cheap looking. Interior material from what I saw are excellent and I love the interior. It just seems that the one cheap piece is in the center of everything and is rather large. I am referring to the sliding cover for the cupholders. I like the idea of how it works, you can store stuff on top and not worry about sliding or scratches so much, it just appears to be very cheap looking and feeling, which kinda of draws away form teh high end interior. it is large, centered and noticeable too. I love the car and Acura did a wonderful job. Not sure about the seats, but I have heard some accounds of leather stretchign and binching.. This is pretty unsubstantiated though. The other thign is there are numerous comments of the floor mats being off on color and of being lower quality. Any particular sections you are interested in opinions of, mebbe that had been diuscussed at acura? as for fit, I don't think the tape deck is a good fit at all dump it. On the armrest the TSX has a pass through for a power cord that I guess didn't amke it up to the TL level.

 

Hey guys, I found out that Joel is ONLY interested in the Door Panels (front and rear) and the head liner, as this is the portion of the car that they designed and manufactured for Acura.

Please keep your posts limited to the door panels (including the fold out compartments) and the head liner so Joel does not have to read all of our complaints on the car.

Also, be sure to tell him things you LIKE!!!

Thanks for your help on this and your FOCUS as this is a great opertunity for us to provide feedback and comments!

 

I liked the leather on the armrest. Is it real? It certainly felt real, and of a high quality, much like the rest of the leather.

I'm not sure about the moving pocket. There is something a little "cheap" about it. Opening and closing it feels like what it is, a big piece of plastic.

I was impressed by the overall look and feel of the interior materials. Lots of nice textures, especially the feel (and smell) of the leather. The dash texture adds a nice touch. All of the switches were also of a high quality.

I did take note of the headliner, but it didn't impress me as anything special.

 

Hi Joel,

Thank you for this opportunity.

First, I would like to say the interior is much nicer than that in my 03 TLS-navi.

I am on the "list" to buy a 6MT-Navi when they are released.

To answer your question:

I think as a whole, the materials are nicer than previous years, but the design is not super. In my opinion, the flip out map pockets on both the doors and seats are very cheap in feel and the seat backs are very disappointing. I feel like the boat was missed in all areas where storage is concerned, excluding the glove compartment, which I was hoping would be chilled. e.g.; The door map pockets feel flimsy and the in and out motion is very cheap and feels "low budget." The center console is nice, but barely big enough for CD's and definitely not big enough for DVD-A's that do not have a traditional jewel case. The sunglass holder in the door is also, in my opinion, poorly designed. Not very convenient while driving and not traditional, in any way. Worst of all, the storage under the stereo is of little to no use. I may be able to put my wallet in there, or a a couple pieces of licorice (it was somewhat deep) at best, but people really want to store CD's, etc. in there. My wife has a 2003 Accord EX-V6-Navi and can store quite a bit in that storage area.

Lastly, I love the idea of the push out cupholders in the rear, but worry about their durability. I tried three at the dealership and two would not pop out, unless I manually pulled them.

All in all, much nicer than my 03, but for storage, I'd take my '03 in a heartbeat.

Keep up the good work.

 

I can't really figure out where the sunglass holder is. If it's that little plastic thing on one end of the pull-out storage on the door, I find it useless. I'm putting my sunglass in the top compartment of the arm rest. I'm using the "sunglass holder" to clip my old garage door opener on it, just as a backup to the HomeLink. I do like the perforated leather on the door; looks nice. The storage on the back seat doors is a nice addition, but I can see it as a mini-trash can.

 

In addition to all the credible storage issues outlined above, I have another issue. The clashing of colors of the parchment and camel with the aluminum and black does not cut it! I looked at a neighbor's Lexus LX470 SUV with a beige leather interior. Lexus uses an all medium dark brown dash and top door panels with light leather instead of black. A 100% classier look indeed! All TL models should have the woodgrain inserts in the doors and on the console regardless of color.

I know this may not be your department, but would please let whoever is in charge of designing the exterior lighting that it was definitely a dum thing to not have turn signal indicators in the sideview mirrors like the TSX does? Bad move!!!!!!

 

You mean to say there is a whole team just for the door panels and the headliner? That's incredible. I wish automakers would release a video of a car's progress from drawing board to final production, it'll be cool to see all the people who contributed.

 

To keep on the points you asked about I will try and be concise in opinions and ideas.

Door panel:

Upside: Taken as a whole they are stunning. Quality of the materials and general lines are excellent, easily comparable to other luxury cars. On the Ebony and Quartz the blend of faux carbon fiber, aluminum and door materials is wonderful.

Downside: The pull out pocket is a wonderful idea but execution looks to be a little lacking (not bad just not up to par with the rest of the panel). The "sunglass" holder does appear to be useless. I wear ReVo sunglasses and no way I am putting $300+ sunglasses in something that insecure. I would recommend alteration of this aspect to include something more functional and designed. Perhaps and anchor system for a suspension cloth/neoprene pocket for the sunglasses to provide adequate protection for them.

The pocket itself actuates somewhat cheaply feeling. My suggestion is reverse engineer the Audi system from the A6 as it is very functional and very solid feeling. I think making the panel out of very stiff plastic, adding a more severe taper to the top of the pockect and changing the hinge system would make it much more quality feeling. Also, I have not tested it but some type of dimensional design to accomodate certain things would be good, like 10 cds in 2 5cd rows or something.

Headliner:

Quality as far as I have seen in the 3 or 4 interiors I was in. Fitment was excellent and alteration of color based on interior color is a nice touch.

 

I just wanted to chime in and say that the interior materials are generally wonderful and I find no issues with the pullout door panels (other than the useless sunglass holder). Infiniti/Cadillac would kill to have an interior this nice, but honestly it's no better than Audi/BMW (which is no suprise given the price range). The headliner material is pretty much exactly like what you would find on any German car which is a step up for Acura.

Overall, good job!

 

i dont know if your area coverse the map pockets on the back of the seat, but those came off as the cheapest part of the car for me because there is no material between the "pocket" and the seat, so it isnt really a pocket at all as loose objects can fall out the sides. also the stretchy nylon band that holds them to the seat should be disguised

overall, i love the new interior. theres enough cues left over from the old TL (i have a 99) and all the new additions are wonderful, and the build seems much more solid. i was very happy to see i could no longer make the door panels flex by pulling/pushing on the arm rests as i can in my 99TL, so it seems Acura is returning to its Legend/Vigor days of build quality. I had a 94 Vigor before my 99TL and suprisingly it was put together much more solidly than the last gen TL

 

ONE MAIN THING
MAKE THE DENT PROOF DOOR!!!!

 

My point exactly. Glad to hear someone else like Revo as well.

 

I'm not even sure that my Oakleys will fit in that space. Oakleys tend to be wide and tall, not narrow and tall like typical sunglasses.

-phil

 

I certainly will not be putting my Maui Jim's in there either.

 

Just want to say that in my eyes the new interior door panels of the 2004 Acura TL is a much better design then the 2004 BMW 530i I went to look at a few days before the TL. You guys at Acura have done an excellent job on the door panels and the headliner. all A,B, and C interior pillars are covered in the same material as the headliner. feels, looks, and acts also as a sound absorber for road noise inside of the noise bouncing from the 99-01 TLs that had plastic untill it got the 02-03 facelift. my house hold currently owns a 2002 BMW 530i and we thought the new TLs door panels were just as good if not better then our BMW. as for the door panels they look great but woundered how would the door handle and the panel around the power button switch would look in wood trim(handle to have soft plastic on the back side and a nice strip of wood that meets with the dark grey panel around the power button switch. also another note that i felt could have been better on the front door panel was the power door lock switch( could have been designed in a nice looking aluminum trim like it has around the wood trim on the door to make it look and feel more high quality. don't remember if the power door lock switch lights up at night but if it doesn't it sould. also if you designed the door panel I don't know if it is up to you to have the rear buttons for the power window to still not be an auto function but how much does it cost to make all the windows with an auto down and up feature, I wouldn't mind paying a few extra bucks for this great feature. also nice job of the rear windows to go all the way down in the panels not the half way look when there all the way down. Over all the materials have a nice soft touch and good quality to them there nothing wrong at all with the design and materials, for 33K with out Nav which most people will not get this new acura offers a lot of car for not a lot of money, Untill then Sign me up for one new TL for when my RSX lease is over

 

Exactly what I had in mind. New BMW panels look awful in comparaison. TL doors panels give it an impression of an even more upscale car. I am impressed.

It is not quite related, but next time I'd like tilting headrests (à la Volkswagen) and at least 4 memory sets for the seat.

 

The headrests do tilt.

 

I just hope the door panels don't rattle and buzz/audibly vibrate from road vibrations and mid to high level audio from the radio like they do on the TSX.

If you also designed the TSX door panels, please fix this problem.


Thank you.