mrtracey

This past Saturday while passing Island Acura in Wantagh, NY (on Route 27) I looked out the right side of my eye and saw a grille similar to the TSX (the 09 actually pulls it off whereas the TSX looks unfinished) but knew that the car I had seen was too big to be a TSX. So you guessed right, I stopped and pulled into the dealership. Sitting right there in all of its glory was a 2009 TL. It is a beautiful car, looks good with all its chrome (has a lot) and is now a full fledged sport luxury sedan. The pictures do it no justice. My fiance and I were able to hop inside and play with the gadgets (the sticker price was 35,500 - it was a pretty basic package without the navigation) and we liked what we saw. We are currently 2002 maxima drivers (and my mother has a 2007 maxima that we frequently ride in) and have been shopping for a new vehicle and are disappointed that 2009 maxima is smaller so decided that we'd shop the TL. I got a nod from the fiance that the TL wins over the maxima so we investigated even further, popped the trunk (on the smallish side) and sat in the rear. This is definitely where the TL wins hands down over the Maxima as it is very roomy in the rear, whereas the 2009 Maxima is not roomy in the rear (for those of you who have ever been in a Maxima they are very roomy cars, but not 09). In any case, after inspecting the car for about 15 minutes we decided to go inside and inquire further and were offered to test drive the vehicle. 5 minutes later we were cruising down the highway and I must say that it is an extremely beautiful car, has a smooth ride and arouses your soul. While I would like for there to be more power (this was the base model) on tap, I believe it's more power than the typical driver will ever need. Gentlemen (and ladies) I will say that Acura has a winner on their hands with this one. On our way back to the dealership from test driving the 09 I had an 07 pull up next to me and ask how I'd get ahold of that car and I told him I was on a test drive. He said it was okay looking but that he'd like his 07 better. It's very interesting because he beat me back to the dealership (he was waiting right there) and was all over the 09 before I could get out it. While I understand some of you are disappointed I believe that Acura hit this TL on the nose. Yes, it has grown in size and is not the nimble car it used to be, but I believe Acura wanted to move this car further upscale, give it some room and shoot for a larger audience this time (I mean look at this, I'm a maxima guy looking at an Acura TL, so whatever their mission was, its accomplished -- and no the Maxima is not more upscale than a TL, but the Lexus/Infiniti and german crowd I believe will seriously look at this TL). If you guys have any questions please shoot as I believe I am one of the first consumers to test drive a TL (the one I drove had 9 miles on it too). Sorry I have no pictures.

mrtracey

By the way, most dealers have not even seen the TL but Island Acura has their very first one as a demo model. Island Acura I am told will have their navigation model some time this week/early next week. For those in the Long Island area check it out.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

It's interesting that you're coming from a Maxima and liking the TL alot. I guess that's +1 for the 4G TL. However, I still like my '07 better as well.

lumpulus

Paragraphs are your friend....

teomcdohl

Good stuff man.

I'm about 2 miles from Island Acura. I wound up purchasing my car from Acura Bayshore because they didn't wanna eff me with the price. I'm happy with my TL-S 08 (6spd FTW) but I'm probably going to look at the TL-S when it comes out in 4gen... but then I'll probably review all the other cars as well when that happens.

YoungCeo

Thanks for the write up

1075

I agree that Acura "hit this TL on the nose". Hopefully the swelling goes down soon.

Seriously, thanks for the write up. I think that seeing the car in person will probably be more impressive than the pictures. I am highly skeptical however, that I would buy one until they tone down that grille.

maverickinvestor

^^^^ You beat me to the joke!

"Acura hit this TL on the nose". It's just too funny reading that line! It may have gained some Maxima customers but from many of the posting here, I think the new TL lost some of us present TL owners!

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

I've got t think that Acura is moving out of the Sports Sedan and trying to go to the Luxury Sedan category with the 2009.

BlueAc

iTrader: (2)

'09 TL>>>> <<<<Acura Designers



and even with pics... I'd still smell a mile away!!!

GLowrdr

I still think 3G FTMFW

Although, I am jealous that their will someday be a 4G, AWD type-S. But it will still be ugly and have nothing on me.

ostrich

Thanks! This is a great report! :-)

I am liking this TL more and more! Now, I have been looking at the new A4 but now the TL may just win me over... I am not sure about any Lexus sedan at all - the IS is too small and then the others are too sedate and geriatric for my liking. The Infiniti G sedan is nice but I am attracted to all the tech gadgets of this new TL!

What was the body color of the TL that you saw? I guess it did not have any fold down rear seats, right? I won't keep my hopes up high (well, I never did think for a moment that it would have them anyway!).

mrtracey

Interesting enough I am not sure which color it was exactly. It was in between silver and graphite (somewhat on the light gray side - I do know that I didn't like it and wondered what it would like in black or blue). Though I sat in the rear I did not get a chance to see if the rear seats fold down as this feature is never important to me (though I did remember from popping the trunk that I saw an outline of a hole so I highly suspect the base model has fold downs). While sitting in the back I did notice that the moonroof gets in your way but Acura has created a carve-out as you get towards the back window so you have more headroom (it feels somewhat akward and I can see how this would make an otherwise roomy cabin feel cramped -- fact is though that most cars theses days are growing on the outside and not really giving that much more room on the inside).

The price we saw was around $35,500 so this is accurate with the destination charge and the base charge of around $34,900. While I wouldn't shell out $42,000 for a TL I would definitely spring the extra bucks and get the navigation model as my fiance thought the sound sytem was very weak.

For the guys out there saying I am an Acura dealer I say hehe because I am not and actually in fact never considered a TL as I've had a few Acura guys really irk me (remember I am a Maxima boy), but I will say that pound for pound this is a nicer car over any Maxima that Nissan will make (I actually find it interesting that many of you like 09 Maxima, why?) Don't get me wrong there are a few things I'm not liking about the TL as well, such as the off the line power (which it was more powerful, but the SH-AWD model answers this), the smallish trunk and the fact that the driver seat sits too low even with it raised all the way up.

Oh, and for the guys out there who think that all that chrome on the grille is gaudy along with all the chrome around the doors I did notice this it is not polished chrome but instead the matte type so it is not in your face. If you like the TSX I am telling you that you will like the TL, as I have seen them both side by side and most people's reaction at the dealership was that they liked both models.

Again, for all it is worth I believe that new TL is a true value. Perhaps its just me but I do not find this design hideous just like I do not find the RL's design hideous. In fact I've seen the 09 RL a few times on the road and admire its graceful styling.

mrtracey

as a Nissan guy I have known some (and notice I said some) Acura guys to be rather arrogant and aggressive (not to say there aren't the same Maxima guys). Here I am posting on you guys site and telling you about my experience with a new TL and never hinted to an Acura as being crap at all, so why would you have to go there with the Nissan crap (for what its worth my 02 has 113,000 miles and has been trouble-free).

In any case, the 09 is sitting at Island Acura in Wantagh, NY for anyone who wants to test it and/or see it. If you're not in the area give them a call and ask them if they have an 09 and they'll verify it.

Actually the TL does resemble some Maxima looks on paper but in person resembles a Lexus GS instead (yes I know the GS and Maxima shares some styling cues as well).

As far as chrome goes it's not outlandish because its not the polished bright chrome but rather the subtle dulled-down type.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

Knock off the reference to the OP being a sales rep please. We don't treat new members that way, period.

Crucifer

Not saying that he is but it does come off like he is from the dealership. His story seems a bit far fetched and odd that he got inside a dealership and into a showroom car without ever being approached even when sitting inside of it messing with gismos.

Also seems odd that he referenced a run-in with someone who "rushed" from doing w/e else in his life he was doing to the same Acura dealership to look at the 09 TL that was again the showroom model.

I don't know again its a fishy tale that sounds very much like something a dealership sales manager would write to get people into his dealership.

Again not saying he is. Just the reason i'm sure people think he is.

stillhere153

iTrader: (1)

+1

jayunsplanet

iTrader: (1)

Wow. You rolled in with a 02 Maxima.. and within a short time the dealership offered a test drive and handed over the keys to their brand new, 9miles on the odometer, TL to you? That's neat! Did a sales rep go with you? That must be a very trusting dealership. Glad you liked it. I'm surprised you weren't able to snap any pictures of it. Those pictures would be very popular here. I can't wait to see it in person -- maybe it's not as ugly as it looks.

Crucifer

More reason to believe he's a salesperson:

Join Date
09-15-2008

He joined to make this 1 post....Quite suspicious.

Plus Island Acura's website is garbage and they don't even list New Inventory they direct you to Acura.com to look at Acura defined pictures for 2009 models.

I call rubbish.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

Since both of you (Crucifer & jayunsplanet) continue to push the issue, consider this an official warning.

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

mrtracey that's a great review, especially one from a Maxima guy. Thanks for your insight! Btw while I was working as a lot person, I had many chances to drive the 02 Maxima 4AT. It's certainly a nice car!

mrtracey

Island's Acura telephone number is 516-679-5435 (hope I am able to post tel numbers - sorry if this is not acceptable). Call them and ask yourself.

To the other gentleman, I actually pulled up in Acura's lot with a 2007 Maxima (I already stated that I freqently drive my mother's vehicle) and this dealership was very hassle-free and the salesman wasn't pushing to go the on the test drive as these cars are not yet for sale; however, he did take my telephone number and said he would call me when he gets a Navigation model in. Though would it really matter if I pulled up in a 87 Maxima with 200,000 miles on it and was interested (I guess if we saw an Audi guy pull into a Chevy dealership that would completely disqualify him as a purchaser? -- to the dealer's credit and just people in general, most of us are a lot of smarter than that). I am not here to stir up any trouble (though I detect that a few bad apples are lurking on here; I guess that's everywhere in life) but rather report what I have seen and what I like. Can my opinion be taken with a grain of salt? Perhaps so, I realize I am not a previous TL owner so I have less to go on than some of you. However, as a person who has both driven and ridden in nice cars (I am also a frequent Hertz Prestige Collection renter so I have driven my fair share of M35's, STSs, Avalons and other nice vehicles) I can fairly say I like what I see with the new TL. Is it perfect, not at all, but it suits me. If it is not your niche, fine, I understand.

If I get a chance to get out of the office early tonight I will try to go back and get pictures for you gentlemen and post them (that is if the vehicle is still there)

Colin

Thanks for the post. I'm sure that if you pulled up in the older car, they would be MORE interested! Anyway, assuming the car is for Island's inventory, it should still be there. The national 'on sale' date is 9/24 so they really can't sell it yet. If they have off-site storage it might be moved though.

JeffS

Colin, are there ride and drives for the sales staff? I would also love to hear your driving impressions.

Colin

Yes, there are Ride and Drives. Our new management is all about cost cutting, and since it's very expensive to send 2-3 people (HI to CA) they sent only one person (our Sales Manager) to LA.

He didn't go into a lot of details, but essentially he made three points. #1 We will no longer take a back seat to Lexus when it comes to refinement and quietness. #2 Don't worry about the looks, it looks mean and aggressive in person. #3 The SH-AWD in this car is impressive.

Type34

Those are encouraging remarks Colin. My only beefs are that they went too far with the grille (and no more touch-screen nav ), but perhaps over time the actual pros will overshadow the perceived cons.

And about everbody literally ripping mrtracey a new butthole...WTF...the guy came on here from the Nissan boards basically saying the TL is a superior product to the new Maxima (a topic contended on this board several times)...yet the guy gets freakin' ripped a new one...

We've all seen a ton of pics of this car by now, so what the he!l is a camera phone pic gonna do? Not everyone goes to a dealership and whips out his camera phone like a freakin' dork to get a pic of a car that we've all seen now a million times online and will see in person in a few weeks. Some of us don't even have camera phones (high security in my line of work and we're not allowed to have camera phones), so back up off this guy...

Mrtracy, welcome to the board and thanks for all of the informative info...hopefully you'll join the Acura family and contribute more to Acurazine...

mrtracey

Hey once again. I went back to Island Acura last night to get a few shots on the camera phone (I did not think to take pics when I was there as I was too excited) but the 09 was gone. So I inquired with one of the sales guy and he said that Acura made a mistake when they sent them the 09 model and that Acura picked it back up at 1 pm. That story sounded very fishy so I asked the dealer if it was the manufacturer's car and he again said no and that they accidentally got ahold of it. For whatever it is worth he said that I would have to wait until the 24th.

Actually, my question to you guys would be does Acura monitor forum boards ahead of releases to see if folks are seeing what they shouldn't be?. How would they mistakingly send a new car (this obviously was no tester, it only had 9 miles on the odometer) to a dealer with a factory sticker, and if they did, why would they pick it back up? Personally, I think the dealer is saving the vehicle for an early release night for Acura loyalists. I've seen this happen at Nissan with it's new Maxima. Some mass moving dealers had Maximas before its official date and were doing their over early release evenings by invitation only.

Again, I apologize for not getting any photos. Though this is not important and I am sure a few of you will either envy me or pat me on the back or not even care, I am told I was the first person in my area (consumer anyway) to drive that vehicle. It felt good too, can't wait until the 24th so I can see a Navigation model.

smsTL

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Mrtracy for great writeup and Welcome.

Crucifer

I'm biting my tongue...so I don't get banned.

ggesq

iTrader: (1)

I'm closing this thread as it is completely useless at this point.

And Crucifer- no your not going to get banned because alot of us are biting our tongues.