Aside from a dealer with a "who cares" attitude, I don't think the Acura TL is in the top three any longer for my Jag replacement.

I am reserving judgment until I get a chance to test drive. that is what I tried to do yesterday, but the dealer was an ass.

The big negative for me is exterior appearance. From the front, I cannot tell a TL from a TSX from an RL. After a minute or two I picked up on the different openings below the grill, but otherwise, I found myself having to walk around to the back of the car to know what I was looking at.

Add to that my personal "neutrality" for the appearance of the car and I started to wonder what I was doing in an unfriendly dealership.

I don't want to be hasty, so I'll go back and test drive.

I know Rob and Carmen both have Acuras now. I'm just wondering if the rest of you actually have strong, positive feelings about the exterior styling? They leave me flat. I don't find them ugly, just...plain.

 

I must agree with you, Bill. I am also rather neutral on the Acura look. I don't dislike it, they just don't immediately trip my trigger.

If you really want bland, check out the Lexus line. It looks like the new Lexus IS may be a break from that line of blandness but I will have to wait to see the car in person. Loved the older SC, though. Still have a 92.

To me though, a big part of the car experience is the interior and handling. Those aspects affect you directly rather than the look of the car exterior which has a greater effect on others.

Now don't get me wrong. I can't ignore exterior looks. After all, we got the S.

As far as dealing with an unfriendly dealer, that really does suck.

 

No more honda products for me....

 

Bill,
I understand yoru feelings about the "sameness" across the product line. The sameness stems frmm what I have heard Acura call, the "Penta-Grill". It's their "trademark", like the old Pontiac split grill. I personally like the styling and the differences are not as pronounced. I look at them the same way that I view the Bangle cars. Theough there are differences in the BMW line I personally believe that their styling has grayed from one model to another. Just my opinion.

If you are having issues with you local dealer, I would try another, around here there is real competition for the biz. And I understand about crappy dealers. The last time I walked into a Benz dealer, is my last time.

 

Bill,

We have a 2003 Acura TL TypeS. I love it. It is the prior body style, but it is everything a sedan should be. I'm going take it over in a few weeks when I pass my 4Runner to my son. We are on the verge of buying a TSX for Liz.

Two weeks ago we went to the dealer to test drive the TSX and unfortunately, I have to agree with you. Our local dealer is also an ass. Too bad, it wasn't like that when we bought our TL, but the two years have brought quite a change. Last time I felt like I was buying something special, this time the showroom felt like a Chevy showroom.

Still, we loved the TSX and are excited about it. Today I took our TL to work (left the 4Runner home so Andrew could practice for his road test). I love that car. Again, we have the TypeS, and I think that made quite a difference in our year. I think it's a great car and I can't wait to start using it for my daily driver.

An aside. As far as the exterior styling of the new TL goes, I find it interesting but I think they could have done better. Still, I'm not too inspired by any of the 4 door sedans of the TLs class. If you can get by the styling, the car is second to none.

 

Update.

I went to a different dealer this afternoon and had a totaly different experience. I was still left unattended for a 15 minutes or so, but then a manager asked me if anyone had helped me yet, and he was "on the case." They had no TL 6 speed ready to test drive, but they did have a wide inventory of them to choose from. They will have one ready for me tomorrow. While I was there i test drove an RSX-S and I was very impressed. It may be just too small to replace the Jag, but I could easily justify it. Small, nimble, quick practical and fuel efficient too. We will see is the TL stacks up tomorrow.

 

I agree with you. If we didn't have the TL and I needed a daily driver, I'd buy the RSX-S in a minute. It's a great car.

 

So...did you drive the TL? I'm very interested in this continuing search!

 

I am curious to hear your reaction vs. the RSX. The only issue that I have had with my CL 6 sp. (same trans) is some "pseudo-torque steer".

 

Here's the update.

The Acura dealer in Boston is very good. Largest in the area and you can see why from the way you are treated. A friend from the New England forum recommended his salesman to me and he was very good. But all the folks i met there were very good.

Today they call me and say they have a six speed ready to drive. I go over after work and they are all ready for me. Helps to go on a weekday to avoid the crowds.

Now keep in mind I have sat in several of these, so I already like the interior. The seats are comfortable and the components of the dash all work well together. The fit and flow of the lines of the interior trim is very good. Some interiors come with a wood trim, others with some sort of plastic graphite trim. I'm a wood man so I'm partial to the camel and parchment interiors. (Note well, there is a dealer installed wood kit that adds identical styled fake wood appliques to the rest of the dash. I admit that it looks pretty good, but it cost $900 and is little more than fake wood decals.)

The first thing I notice when I start the car are the cool blue dash lights. Blue seems to be the light color inside the cockpit with little blue lights here and there.

This car had a nav system, which I have heard very good things about. You can talk to ti and it will answer. It will find an address or the closest restaraunt. The cars all come with blue tooth and will work with a blue tooth enabled cell phone. Together with the Nav system, you can ask the car to find a nearby restaurant, call them up to make reservations, and then tell the nav to take you there. (Hmmm. A couple more "features" and a TL could replace your spouse. I can see it now... "Hi, I'd like to take a female TL for a test drive." But I digress.)

I didn't spend any time testing the nav though. I was there to drive. I talked to the salesman long enough to let the car warm up. I slid the shifter into first and immediately noticed that the shifter is not located in a very good position for me. I like to tuck my arm in close to my body when I shift. The shifter is positioned close to the driver. I found that my elbow got trapped by the center console unless I rested my arm on the console away from my body. It works fine this way, but now I can't keep my arm tight to my side while I drive.

As I ease off the clutch the car bogs a little. I don't stall it, but I realize this car need a little more gas to get it moving and an easy foot on the clutch. The RSX was easier to launch.

As we leave the parking lot I take a right turn and use the opportunity to test the car for the infamous torque steer. It presents itself immediately. Now, I don't want to have a debate about this so let me just say I understand the argument that what I am feeling is the limited slip differential doing its job. Call it what you will, the car pulls to the right and I have to bring it back into line. It isn't the end of the world...not like the early front drive cars that had huge torque steer. But aunt mabel would probably give herself a good scare with this and I'm sure the typical driver/owner is aware of it and keeps up his or her guard. I reproduced the effect a couple more times just to make sure it was controllable.

The clutch and steering under control, I took off down the 4 lane highway. The roads around the Boston dealership are pretty nice for a city location. Fast sweeper and decreasing radius turns leading to stop lights give you plenty of opportunity to test the acceleration, brakes and the handling. The car is quite quick. It feels quicker than my V8 Jag. The handling is very good. The car responds well to steering inputs and maintains its composure over rough roads. Ride quality is excellent. Firmer than the Jag by quite a bit, but no unpleasant. Road noise is more intrusive than my Jag. The engine is very quiet. The brakes work well, but the pedal is disconcertingly soft. The pedal went down quite far in my first hard stop. I'm not sure why the brake pedal isn't firmer. The car comes with front Brembos stock.

The shifter and gear spacing were excellent. It doesn't feel like an engine that is happy about being in the wrong gear though. It reminds me of the S2000 in this regard. Contrast the Mustang's engine that loafs along happily at 1200 rpm in 5th gear. Still, the engine is flexible enough that you do not have to constantly look for the right gear. Said another way, you go a long way around town in 4th gear and do just fine without shifting if you feel lazy.

The 7200 rpm red line of the engine comes up much too soon. I am used to the S2000 and I bounced this poor car off the rev limiter without even knowing it.

Some have complained that this car is too nose heavy. I didn't really feel that sensation when I drove it. The car felt well balanced and quickly instilled confidence in the driver.

I did hit one nice stretch where I could wind it out in first second and third. The shifter slipped quickly from gear to gear (now that I had learned the proper location for my elbow) and the engine wasted no time reaching 6500 rpm in the first three gears. Very quick. Not quite fast, but very quick.

In the end, I put the TL back on my top three list with the RSX-S, the Mustang, and the G35 Coupe. By now, most of you can see my problem. I like too many cars and I can't count.

I started talking numbers with the salesman but we agreed to put of anything serious until I make up my mind about the BMW 3 series, another car in my top 3.

Stay tuned...