One thing about used car values. Most price guidelines are set by the weekly Manhiem wholesale auction subscriptions. That's how dealers develop there what they will really give you price. Most dealers are just sending old highmileage cars straight to auction where they get picked up by use car operations.

 

Not to mention better handling, quieter ride, smooth and fast acceleration and last but not least - the A4 is a good looking car. I thought the Audi quattro AWD was supposed to be the best - is the Acura SH-AWD drive better?

 

I find it interesting that many of you criticize Acura for not marketing their products well. The videos of course are biased, just as EVERY CAR AD is biased including BMW, AUDI, ETC, ETC. However, it does point out features that Acura offers standard that the cars above don't. That's the point of the ads, to focus on Acura's value proposition. NOWHERE, does he suggest that the 330 and A4 aren't excellent cars or that the TLX is a better car. By the way, don't forget there is a TLX with a lovely 8 DCT that is rated better than equivalent transmissions by quite a few reviewers.

I also have to comment on the dealership experience comparison that some of you are citing based on anecdotal limited experience with dealerships in your city. Let me tell you about my friends 2018 Q7 that was out of commission for 3 weeks because of an eventual diagnosis of faulty injectors. It had to be towed out of his garage and the vehicle was missing for about a week during the Christmas Holiday season. The Audi dealership had no idea where it was, until the tow operator showed up a week later. There were several other annoying parts to this story that I won't bore you with, and needless to say my friend was more than a little pissed off with his customer experience on his $75K vehicle. Whereas at my Acura dealership, I am treated extremely well and have a loaner on short notice for whatever few services or warranty issues I have had over the years. Do I conclude from this that all Audi dealerships suck, or that all Acura dealerships are fabulous...hardly.

And I must politely disagree to some of the points in the last post regarding handling, ride, and looks. I have driven both cars and would be hard pressed to single out either car as quieter, or better riding. The A4 is a nice looking car, not a great looking car (but I like conservative styling). However, I do think the TLX, particularly the ASpec, is sharper looking - but of course that is entirely subjective.

 

 

 

 

In that case why bother buying a used luxury car whose maintenance costs are always more. The TLX has a lot of sensors and tech compared to the old TL. 1000% sure it won't be as cheap as many of you say it'll be once it hits old age.

Ads don't mention service but they do lie on some key points. So it's no wonder why some of us are upset.

 

Not everyone can afford to buy a luxury car either. Can't talk to things I have no experience with but outside of tires & brakes my 10 year 125K mile 2004 330 Ci ZHP convertible cost me under $1,600 for parts in its life time.

First 4 years or 50K miles the only out of pocket cost was for tires which I got at Tire Rack, around $1000 a set not from the dealer. Like the brakes its normally 4 rears for every two front on a stagger setup. High performance summers maybe 20K miles for rear tires.

Brakes (OEM pads & rotors) F $91 R $80 New sensor kit F&R $20. Time about 40 minutes an end no special tools.

Usually you will do 2 sets of fronts to one set of rears mileage will vary on usage.

Two should note notes.
1. I do my own work.
2. For those who can't or don't want too Indi BMW specialists are very reasonable compared to dealer service prices.

BTW Have to agree with chiawei, my experience & my families experience our Honda & Acuras have more required dealer service & major parts replaced then the BMW's in the family. My TL experience is outlined in the 3G section starting in 2006. BMW experience is on the BMW web site starting in 2004.

As they say, your third cousins, boyfriends, nephews, friends experience may differ.

 

I think they'd be better off comparing the acura to a camry. This is like them comparing a hourly hotel to an embassy suite.

 

When even strong TLX/TL owners are making fun of the adds they are NOT done well. If you want to go they way Acura did just do it on a features to features comparison. Don't do it at race track to pretend you are a player when anyone who is into cars knows you are not there right now. Maybe in 3G land & maybe in TLX2G they will be there again.

IMHO I like the German adds that never even mention other cars. I would not like to call attention to my competitors.

 

Aahh Anecdotal experiences. My 540i while very fun to drive was by the far the least reliable vehicle I have ever owned. It had more unscheduled dealer visits than all my other cars combined, and while my warranty covered some of the biggest bills, I dumped the car as soon as its warranty expired as it definitely wasn't showing me that it could be counted on to be trouble free for the long haul.

CELs, failed instrument clusters that had to be escalated to corporate, random glitches like getting out of the car and removing the key, but the electrical systems remained on. More than once, I had to disconnect the battery to get the parking lights to turn off as they weren't responding to the light switch, and weren't the one sided parking feature lights. My current Audi has done that a few times as well, but with the audio, and climate control systems. Both needed battery disconnect reboots a couple of times per year...gotta love german electronics. The funniest was the steering wheel that raised on exit. Randomly it didn't, but when I got back in, it would think it had been raised, and then lower into my thighs...

The final straw was very much a mechanical part; a seized fan clutch caused the fan to explode in the engine bay. It looked like a bomb went off up front, and destroyed my entire cooling system, punctured the radiator, tore up and even denting the hood. The car sat until the regional rep approved this repair, so yeah my dealership experience was pretty horrible, and if I ever get another BMW it would never visit this dealership again. The 5/7 series were notorious for their brittle cooling systems, so maybe it was a favor, but I was scared of the next massive failure, and scramble for the unexpected dealer visits, etc so I got rid of it.

My life, and job are not so accommodating for those kinds of things, and that car had more visits to the dealerships than all my other cars combined. Even including a failed transmission in the TL Type - S which I traded in on the 540i, no car has/had higher bills, or was out of commission as much. It was still a fun car to drive though,... when I wasn't cursing at it. My TL-S had a failed tranny, and a dead CD changer which required unscheduled dealer visits, my TSX 3 yrs & RDX (7yrs) never saw the dealer, MY TLX (3yrs+) had 2 software updates, and a failed puddle lamp LED which were handled during routine service. My IS300 (8yrs) also never saw a dealer. The BMW had 5-10 non scheduled visits in 6yrs, and was out of commission for weeks.

Not sure if the premium I paid for the car up front made up for the once a year oil changes, and 1 brake job that just made it in the included maintenance period. I did my own own oil changes in between, and a ton of other pro-active maintenance items (filters, diff, tranny, plugs, etc) typically at 50-75% of the recommended intervals. It's no coincidence those extended service intervals started at the same time as included maintenance, and many owners did the same. Also, does anyone really think they didn't pay for that free maintenance up front??? Seriously?

Can we get back to this horrible TLX ad, or shall we continue with the anecdotal my experience was this, YMMV ....

Also once again, this is the TLX forum, which was created for TLX owners. While differing viewpoints are always welcome, a small contingent seem to use every opportunity to be negative, and just say the same things over, and over again. Considering some have never even set foot inside the vehicle this section was started for, and that they are dissuading owner members from posting, this needs to stop. Have no fear, the discussion on Acura as a whole, etc can continue in the Car Talk / off topic forums, but here in the model specific forums it needs to end.

Thank you.

 

Not quite a German ad but...

 

This very much. As you said, there's nothing wrong with constructive criticism but it seems all these threads eventually devolve into a pissing match of why my vehicle is better, and the TLX is a piece of shit. We know Acura products aren't for everyone, but there's a contingent of people here that like or love their Acura (myself included). And there's a small contingent of posters here on this forum that seem to make sure they are speaking louder to ensure the Acura owners cannot have a voice to discuss their Acura products without being jumped on or called out on. Thankfully, it seems the brand is heading in the right direction under Ikeda's leadership, so maybe one day these forums will be a much more pleasant place to visit. Anyway, that's my opinion and observation whether you agree or not.

 

Just an aside as one of the guilty parties. The title of the thread started by a senior Acura zine moderators was about BMW's vs TLX. A TLX owner brought maintenance into the thread.

Thought a response inline with the topic would be OK, apologize if that was incorrect.

BTW, Sorry to hear about you bad experience with your 540, what year was it? How did your AUDI do on maintenance?

 

Based upon his description of the issues, I'm guessing it was a late E34 or an early E39.

 

I would love it if Acura did something like this, similar to the TLX ad playing German dance music and showing "How do you say lease is up in German". Stuff like that is ok, not discussing features but omitting big ones lol

 

Is it somewhat rare, with people buying new cars frequently. I just can't justify that, so I'm still driving my '02 TL-S with 230K. I've promised myself when it hits 300K I'm getting a new car. Unfortunately not really excited about new Acura models, meh we'll see.

As far as BMW reliability, I had a '99 528i before the TL, and I was literally getting something fixed every 3-6 months. Got stranded on the freeway when the coolant pump grenaded. Even with the tranny going out on the TL the experience has been much, much better - which is why I still have it. I'll be looking closely at reliability ratings picking out the next car.

 

Sorry Bear, you seem to struggle to stay on topic more than most, but we still love you anyway..My comments were more for those who derail every thread just to repeat the same nonsense over, and over again.

My Audi is not my Daily, I have less than 45k on the clock, and it had 25k when I bought it in 2009. The costs are what you'd expect for a car with an engine shared with the R8 engine, and brakes off a Gallardo. Did the last brake job myself, front and rear rotors alone were over $2k...Pads were probably more than a whole brake job on the TLX....Could be worse if they were Ceramics, but those costs are definitely something I accounted for, and all newbies looking for advice on the RS4 forums are warned about the costs on the brakes, suspension, clutch, carbon cleans, and other potential items...Extended warranty items so far have been the DRC suspension ($5k), and coil packs. I have also needed to replace all 4 O2 sensors over the years, some pretty early on.

Nothing close to the experiences I had with my E39. A bad dealership made bad situations worse.
It was actually a very late production E39; a 2003 540i with the M-Sport Package to be exact.....When I saw the E60, I jumped on an E39, and still consider it a classic to this day. You would think (just like I did) that the bugs would be ironed out for the last year, but guess again......Another crazy issue I almost forgot about....leaking rear doors. The vapor barriers inside the door would separate allowing rain water to collect in the rear seat footwells. A really horrible design, and keep in mind this was a car produced in 2003 with an MSRP of almost 60k, for which this was a common problem! The dealer fixed one side, then the other (unscheduled visits), and when their fixes didn't last, I got fed up, and redid them myself by pulling off the door cards, and resealing the vapor barriers with black silicone sealant instead of their adhesive....

 

Interesting; I had a 2002 530i 5-Speed with the sport package and never had any of those issue. I wonder what was different about our cars (besides the obvious engine/tranny/steering rack differences). I heard a lot of issues with the displays blinking out, but I thought that was limited to the earlier E39s.

 

I have always found your posts to be quite balanced, and having been a previous BMW owner, I can see your point of view. More so than others that are beating the horse to make sure it's deader.

 

I don't see a problem with criticizing Acura when someone brings up competitors.

 

Discussions with differing viewpoints have, and are always welcome, but if your only purpose on this model specific subsection (different rules than O/T) is to be the type of poster zipspeed mentions in his post, then I will have a problem with that going forward.

 

There's a substantial difference between participating in a discussion (regardless of your specific viewpoint) and lobbing out trollish ad hominem attacks that are not designed to add anything to the conversation. It's not about differing viewpoints.

 

Glad that Acura is trying to beat or keep up with the competition. If not, then Acura will be stuck with pimped out Civics and Accords that might be mistaken as a hybrid.

 

Ha, I wish the ILX was a pimped out Civic. The current 10th gen Civic feels more like a luxury car than the current ILX does.

 

Well my E90 was a POS mechanically.

Engine head opened under warranty because of clattering. Started again at 80000 miles.
Head gasket replaced under warranty. Needed to be replace again along with the valve cover at my expense.
Rear differential was noisy. $3600 to repair, they finally 'good willed' at $1800. I declined and lived with it.
Whole sunroof cartridge completely replaced.
1 pint of oil per 1200 miles since new.
Creakings all around the cockpit.
Oil leak around the oil filter housing.
Coolant pump and thermostat... a $1000 job.

Those are only the mechanical (mostly)... you don't want to know about the rest.... My E46 was MUCH more reliable (I changed only the control arms in 45000 miles).

My TLX has been perfect for 27 months, save for that rocky driver seat, declared 'normal'.

 

Yeah, some people seem to have more trouble then others with their cars. I had/have 2 E92's & 1 E88, the only non regularly scheduled maintenance item to fail was the turbos to throttle body charge pipe on the 2011. OEM is plastic & if failed twice when I boosted the horsepower on the 2011 335IS to 410 from 320 with 18.5 PSI boost pressure over the normal 10PSI. Went with an aftermarket alloy piece that solved the problem. The 435 went through clean with 3 dealer visits for annual free maintenance. Car was not modified except for the factory installed power pack & exhaust system. The 2013 135IS which I still have @ 65,000 miles is also clean with only normal maintenance.

Most E90's after 2010 were pretty solid, prior to that many had high pressure fuel pump issues. This was fixed & extended warranties were applied to all of them.

Current owner of the 335IS told me its running fine & he has had no problems. He runs in the same Auto-X series I run the COBRA in.

The F92 (440) complaints on the site are pretty boring as some guys are wondering why so few. Its a 2018 less then a year old & nothing to report.

 

When has competing based on features and price not been Acura's strategy? At least they're trying to bring back appealing designs. That should help.


I'm sure I'm late and these points have been addressed, but I LOL'ed at these...

Whoa. 2 screens. If having 2 screens is so great, then why is Acura moving away from 2 screens?

2019 Acura RDX



Precision cockpit




The TLX A-Spec is Acura's "A game?" They consider the A-Spec to be the "ultimate expression of sport design?

 

The A4 and the 330, while very nice cars, are hardly players at the track, so not sure why you feel that only the TLX doesn't belong.

 

Not sure why you would think I was upset. Not at all. I certainly disagreed with some of the comments and merely stated my opinion, without trashing the cars that some others own or like. I think my point regarding my friends Audi was pretty clear - that it indeed goes both ways. It's always dangerous to put to much weight on anecdotal evidence, either way. And yes, the DCT has been praised, and rightly so, but a lot of posters still talk about the TLX as if the 3.5 is the whole enchilada.

I have a theory that IF Acura had properly tuned the 9 speed before its release, I think we would have had significantly less negativity about the 9 speed and a bunch of other related complaints about things like the dual screens, the ELS, "beak", and a host of other nitpicks. You know the old saying, Happy Wife, Happy Life...well, a car enthusiast with a good engine and a well mated transmission will be a happy owner. I realize that there are some here that still would not like or love the 9 speed as it's currently tuned, but there would be a lot less bad press for the average joe to read when considering a TLX...IMHO. All the more reason why Acura needs to take it's time in ensuring the 2019 RDX is next to flawless.

 

Pay to play ALL.. pay to play.. Why get an Acura if there's Honda etc..

 

I understand that Acura is looking after 3-series volumes, but its closest competitor now is the Buick Regal GS V6 3.6. Which has to establish itself.

 

I don't always prefer real cars to their concepts, but the cockpit in the RDX is a lot better than that Precision Cockpit

 

Did not say it does not belong I said they did not run them against each other to see which one performed better although the visual showed the TLX making a pass in both adds.

As for the reality the 330 has the M-sport suspension & 6MT available stock is quicker then the TLX in sprints. The Track Handling package option (320i, 330i and 340i) includes variable-ratio steering, M Sport brakes, lightweight 18-inch wheels, adaptive suspension dampers & Michlen PPS tires.

Read more: 2017 BMW 3 Series - Buyers Guide | Autoweek

There is a lot of debate on pure handling weather or not the 330 handles better then the 340 due to lighter weight on the front wheels at the BMW sites.

My take is its the 340 because thats what they use at the BMW drivers school & the power available can offset any weight difference between the two.

I don't know the AUDI specifics but I do know its competitive with the 330 based on Multi -Car road tests. In those tests the TLX comes in last out of 5 or 6 cars they generally test.

 

Handling-wise, I have no doubt that the TLX can't go to the level of a proper equipped 3-series. I already wrote that I give my car 7-8/10 for handling (yet I would buy it again). People said I didn't drive an A-Spec. True, but the car is still high and you can't beat the physic.

 

Can't go wrong as a DD.

 

If the TLX 2.0 comes back as a sportback design (highly likely due to new Accord), it will prove to be a worthy product. In both luxury, sportiness, and DD aspects. Now this is of course very dependent to Acura equipping it as a sport sedan if people wish to do so with all the options on the table.
If they do so, they can easily win in any comparison ad, as long as price is not stupidly high. If not then people may as well stick with the Germans since a logo will always be a logo.

 

x2.

Unimpressive, but very pleasant car in real world. Playful in S+/M mode.

V6(T) gives it soul that no 2.0T can dream of. And I easily include the N20/B48 of the 3-series.

 

Could of gotten this instead. Much cheaper and better looking.

 

Amen!