stopped by my local acura dealer today to check out the new TL, they had 4 of them in stock, 2 blue, white, and a dark green. Very good looking car in person way better than photos.

Now i wont go on and on about it cause there are gonna be 10million reviews of this car if everyone drives it, but i can say i do agree with everything said in

This review

its VERY quiet, very smooth, felt like my car did stock when it was new as far as power. the quality is so much better than any Honda product, it truly feels more like a European car. Way better than anything priced in the 30-45k range in my opinion!! Also, i dont care for white cars, but it looks sick in white. i wanna see a black one, but black or white would be my choice. go check them out at your dealer very sweet, now just need deside if i really want one!!

 

Are you test driving the 6-speed? the 5AT, is the A-spec Available now, How about the HPT option?

 

drove the Auto, salesman said another month or so on the 6spd. Dont know about the A-spec or any of that stuff....

 

also, there was alot of people in there looking at it. the white and green and silver ones were sold, the 3 blue were not..all but the silver were non Navi.

 

onething for sure, this new TL is not tuning-friendly?!! maybe there will be an A-pipe that adds some 8-10 WHP but not like 20+ WHP!!

CAI is standard from Factory... maybe only a free flow filter.
UR pulleys are still available.

 

yeah, but to be honest, i think w/it id settle for a little drop and wheels and call it quits. its a great looking car in person.

 

"the quality is so much better than any Honda product"

.. it is a honda product~ i'm gunna go test drive the thing this weekend before I pick up my car from the shop.

 

Are the cats mounted right at the headers like the new accords?

 

u cant say its a great hona product yet, wait till soe one drives it for 5-10k miles and will see how the quality, fit and finish hold up

if its built in the US i bet it still has rattles

 

In the automatic does it still have sport shift? Can you shift it out of 1st or is it like ours?

I got to go check these suckers out.

 

stopped by Ray Laks this a.m. at 8:30. Lot dude said I was the 4th person in today to see the car! Looks great in white (not one of my favorites) and looks like a 4WD w/ 17's! Only autos are available. Ebony interior in black car had some great looking carbon fiber trim on it. Me LIKES!

 

Please expand on this as I would like to gain from you infinite wisdom... How does the location dictate that it will have rattles (which I don't have nor did I have in my '01 CL-S)??

 

I hate to sound stupid but what is the A-spec model?

 

Last time I checked my CL-S was made in the US... and I don't have squeaks or rattles either

 

And I have 76 clicks on the odo!

 

that doesnt look like a cai to me? does anybody else think thats a cai?

 

that looks like a bitch to supercharge though. no room??!!

 

i think it draws cool air from outside the engine compartment. like an icebox.

 

i'm sure the plastic is removable.

 

 

Never seen the pic of the engine bay before... talk about a little overkill with the plastic... damn.

 

The engine bay is becoming Mercedes-like... more of a pain to access stuff!!

 

Probably 35 pounds of extra weight in plastic alone. As if Acura's weren't already super heavy up front

 

I read someone commenting on that in another thread, but I didn't think it was that bad.

I like to see the engine

 

If i bought one I would take all that shit off.

 

cause the american workers dont put the parts of a car together as well, the fit n finsih would be better if they were assembled in japan, thats a fact

 

*sigh* Ignorance at its finest

Fact??? Where is your proof???

You have a habit of saying things without thinking about them first don't you?

 

I saw an anthracite one at my local dealer and it had the tan interior....waaaay too sweet. I'm gonna wait on the six speed version to come out and then test drive. I really want it in black though.

I'm wondering should I wait a few more months to see what other options come out for it before purchasing.

 

I doubt there will be any other options coming out within the next few months. Like our CL's and other TL's... the only option really is Navi or not. The only reason I would wait a few months is to let the first few thousand owners deal with the inital recalls... if there are any. Then I would make my purchase.

 

I was just at the dealer for an oil change (free!), and checked one out. Neither my fiancee nor I was impressed. The wheel gap is down, and that's good. Otherwise, she kept walking around it and saying it looks like a Saturn, not a good thing in her book. The interior didn't suit me either, the fake wood was poorly done and the ergonomics didn't suit me. I liked the extra headroom, but given a choice I'd definitely take my 6MT CLS over an auto 04 TL. The $5k I saved (assuming they're charging sticker on the 04s) is just bonus.

I could be one of those guys who just needs to justify his own purchase, but we were both really hoping to like the '04.

Maybe I'll drive one when the 6MT comes out.

 

6-MT CL-S all the way over the not so attractive '04 TL .. now if only they made a 6-spd TL-S in '03... You CL-S guys w/ the 6-spd are very lucky.

 

You know this how and how is it a fact??

I do work in this industry not to mention having owned many cars manufactured on three different continents, North America, Europe and Asia; so I have a different take on this through experience and not just from hearsay.

Fit and finish has little to nothing to do with who assembles the vehicle; most is done through automation. It has nearly everything to do with design and material selection. Had it been an assembly issue the blame would normally fall with the Japanese. In the majority of Japanese owned plants in the US the management is normally Japanese. They are ultimately responsible for the output of that facility. If there is less than ideal quality then it is their responsibility to correct this.

Regardless, that is not the case. The first part of this equation comes from the design. How was it designed to suit the market intended. The second part has to do with the material quality used; are the fasteners sturdy enough for long term use, etc. It is a culmination of various decisions which bring up the variances of fit and finish. Ultimately is comes down to compromises made in the design and manufacturing process which are deemed appropriate for a specific market.

That last part might be the pinnacle aspects in that the deemed market might be more accepting of lesser fit and finish. As such the design aspects and material selection is done with an emphasis on increasing profits or decreasing price. Why do some vehicles manufactured in Japan seem (although I have never witnessed this including personally owned vehicles) to have better fit and finish?? Because they are non-US specific; they are also sold elsewhere. It is only the US only vehicles which seem to exhibit this trait or at least is alluded to. Which again, I have not witnessed; my '89 Legend (which was certainly built in Japan) had interior trim issues which I have not had anything similar in the two CL-S's I have owned.

On the contrary, the Toyota Camry, which is built in Kentucky, is normally considered an excellent example of fit and finish.

 

i gotta go see one in person today.

 

Darrin..... OWNED

 

That is HELLA BLACK PLASTIC!!! Like the Q45 engine bay.

 

yeah. there is plastic all over the place. nothing a little heavy duty exqacto knife can't get rid of. and those headers are indeed hidden.

lot better looking in person than I thought it would be. but the floor model had a 40K even sticker on it, and thats without navi. fuck that. no markup either.

 

I am going to go out on a limb here and say the intake on the 04' TL is the same intake found on the Accord 6-speed. There is a difference in induction systems between the automatic accord and the 6-speed. The difference is in the number of resonators and length.

I'm just curious, but for those who have driven the 04 how badly is the delay in the shifting. Its intended to make for smooth shifts (Which they are silky smooth) but in my accord the electonic throttle makes for an annoying delay at times.

I really like the New TL and I am more than positive it will be a popular car for people looking for an affordable alternative to BMW, Mercedes and Lexus.

Dustin