jdriver

Having just picked my car up I'm finally getting to drive it where I want and without a sales dude tagging along.

Here's a few things I didn't notice during the test drives. Some are nit-picky, some are pleasant surprises.

First, the nit-picks

1) The A-pillar is a bit large, reducing visibility slightly. This is due, I assume, to the airbags so it's not so much a design decision as a design constraint. I can live with it :-)

2) The door sills are wider than I remember. The back of my left leg tends to rub against it when I step out of the vehicle. I might not have noticed it except it has been raining and I started wondering why my left leg was wet.

3) The seating position is higher up than I remember, and slightly firmer. Could just be that the demos were a bit more broken in. My first thought, though, was that the 6MT had different seats from the 5AT. I don't think that's true, but the seating felt significantly different from what I remember from the test drives.

4) My daughter is going to have a hard time buckling her seat belt; her booster seat is fairly wide and sits partially on top of the place where it clips in.

Now for pleasant surprises:

1) XM rocks! Well, more like it swings :-) I never thought I would never use this feature but the Jazz stations are great, and I'm anxious to try the kid and comedy stations on an upcoming road trip. It seems like an extravagance for the limited number of miles I drive (only 7000 this past year), but I'm mighty tempted. I bet XM gets a lot of new subscribers this way.

2) Likewise with heated seats -- a feature I thought I would never ever use because I'm very warm-blooded. Today, for example, it was 46F when I went to run a quick errand. I went out in sandals and a T-shirt, no coat, jacket or sweater. As I was driving around and waiting for the heater to come up to speed I remembered I had heated seats and gave 'em a try. Neat!

3) The transmission is a real joy. I didn't have a chance to test a 6MT so I was left to hope it was as smooth as the TSX, which it is. I can see why some folks might say there are problems starting in first, or on the 1-2 shift, but it's not that big of a deal. It took just a few miles to get the hang of it. Shifting is a real pleasure in the car, though with all the sound deadening and the awesome stereo it's hard to hear the engine revs. Soon enough I'll be used to feeling them and the problem will be moot.

Formula 350

Hey J,

Nice to see others are going for the 6MT. I have been trying to get as much info as possible on tires as I am about to order one next week. Did you get the performance tires? Either way, let me know what you think.

I did get to test drive a 6MT and agree with you assesment of the shift. Since the engine is soooo quiet, you do not know where to have the gas pedal when shifting. I had a few problems with the start and 1 to 2, but the rest were silky smooth. I think the 1 to 2 is due to my high rev in 1 and not matching the revs for 2 well. As you say, practice will fix this problem.

stiletto

When you test drive a car, next time... no matter who is in it, test it like you own it... Glad to hear you are happy, although, how could you not be, right?

TorontoTL

I think you're correct about the door sills seeming wider than the last gen. TL. I think it is due to the side skirt on the car. The side skirt is definitely more prominent that the last cars and in fact several people have asked me if it was an accessory as it looked like optional ground effects. I love the look of the side skirt.

Ken1997TL

Its much bigger, I noticed that too on the test drive. The seats too seemed different from other Acuras, not a bad thing, just different. The dash was strange though, I'm used to the low Honda dash, especially on their older cars. It was more European, not a bad thing mind you.