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What do you think of the new 4th Gen TL?

  • I love it and I will likely get one soon!

    Votes: 58 36.9%
  • If it wasn't for that hideous front grill...

    Votes: 35 22.3%
  • If it wasn't for the hideous rear end...

    Votes: 7 4.5%
  • The performance should rival or better anything in its class!

    Votes: 23 14.6%
  • It's a complete mess!

    Votes: 19 12.1%
  • So long Acura, I'm heading over to the ____ dealer.

    Votes: 15 9.6%

What do you think of the new 4th Gen TL?

103K views 110 replies 60 participants last post by  Văn Hậu 
#1 ·
From what you've seen in print or in person, what do you think of the new 4th Gen TL?
 
#7 ·
I haven't seen one in person, but I do like the interior that I seen on the net.
 
#9 ·
I've been on this board since 02 when I bought my 2003 Anthracite/Ebony TL soon after they were released. It was a great car. The 3rd Gen eventually grew on me and I decided to wait for the 4th Gen after not being able to pull the plug on some usual suspects: 3 series, C class, CTS. I haven't seen the 4th Gen in person but the pics (front end, ugh...) and incentives led me to buy this. The people here have been great. I'll miss my TL but I'm lovin my CTS. Enjoy your cars and I'll be checking in once some of you are driving the new 4th Gen!!!
 

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#10 ·
Nice, I have to admit CTS are pretty good looking cars, especially the interior. I pick 3rd gen TL over CTS simply because I like the exterior of 3rd gen TL more. But teh way Acura/honda is going with its cars design, I might end up like some of u, going for other cars.

Lets see,
Lexus - not in a million year & car design look too boring and bulky;
Infiniti- I say is about the same as Lexus for design;
BMW - Hmm is looking very very attractive to me now, only thing holding me back is still too expensive for the size and legrooms those car has;
MB - I hate MB since I was a boy, never like it and never will, something about MB that just really get into my nerves, dunno why or how to explain it.
Audi - If is not because of the plain looking interior and they got, I might of look more into it.
Volvo - Great, tough and realible cars, but they really got to do something about their plain looking design both exterior and interior.

Here is a thought, why don't Mazda start making luxury car, as far as I can see, they design great looking cars now, very fun to drive, extremely responsive for steering and great handling too. If only if they know how to make their car engine more fuel efficient and go luxury, haha, I would of get Mazda luxury car in a heart beat. I guess I m just dreaming.

I know people say Ford own Mazda, but so is Volvo. And as far as I know Ford has been relying on Mazda and Volvo technologies a lot to make their cars more tough and realiable, really Ford is pretty much gonna be piece of crap cars without them, is just happen that Mazda got into some sort of financial crisis in the 1990s that Ford happen to be there at the right time to own like 30% of them. Plus as far as I know from as a 1st hand Mazda car owner plus lots of other ppl reviews, Mazda cars are extremely reliable since the late 1990s. Most ppl underestimate them, my whole family, parents, siblings are all loyal Mazda customers. My 99 Protege even till today, have not have a single damn major mechanical problem yet to fix other than regular oil, fluid change, filters, brake pads, spark plugs, and serpentine belt. All just regular routine maintanence. I m actually the odd one in my family that decided I like Acura a little more. But at the rate Acura is going, I might be going back to Mazda..haha! Damn I talk too much.
 
#21 ·
BUT REMEMBER! When the 2004's came out, everyone was pessimistic also!

P:wtf:
I don't know where you get that from, but you are probably talking at the wrong forum. I know instantly love it and went nuts over with the 3rd gen TL the moment it can out in 04. As far as I can tell in this forum, most of us in this forum feel the same about it.

As for that hideous grille of Acura that they adopted, I notice that they especially made it thicker and bulkier on the TL. As if is not ugly enough already on RL and TSX, they just have to make it even extra thick..why Acura..why why why? Whoever design that grille is seriously on crack! They need to hire someone else for Acura design department.
 
#22 ·
You have to remember that our friend PikesPeak sells Acuras for a living. He has to be positive and upbeat about this new model.

So many of us have been enthusiastic about the TL and its progression for a long time. It has been an awesome car to own for almost all of us and our brand loyalty is what makes being a moderator on this forum so much fun. However, Acura has decided to change the game and to try and appeal to a different audience. For the brand, I hope this either works out or they learn fast. We can only hope, as loyal customers, that the grill dies inside of one model year. I have seen pictures of the new JDM grill on the Honda Legend. That doesn't look bad at all. Let's hope the Inspire grill looks fine and that the market is open to getting rid of that monstrosity the USDM market has to look at.
 
#26 ·
Ah ok, now that make sense. I sure hope so too for the better.

That Honda Inspire grille is pretty cool. In fact Honda Legend and Euro Honda Accord everywhere else in the world but North America has those better looking grille too. Sigh....

From what I observe recently, I think this new hideous Acura grille is influenced by Saturn. I remember someone says the rear of 09 TL look too much like Saturn Aura. So start paying attention to Saturn cars and guess what, I just realize how similar Saturn front grille is to the new Acura grille too as well. Don't know what kind of crack Acura is having by trying to get their design clues from Saturn of all the cars...LOL!
 
#30 ·
I think that the new body style is bold and I didn't care for it in pictures that I had seen, until I saw one on the street. I had to do a double take cause the car was hot. The grill is ugly but the pics of the modified grill didn't look so bad. It looks bigger and the one that I saw was black so it demanded attention. I am going to wait another year or two to see if they drop that grill. I am a loyal Honda/ Acura owner and will never stray. I strayed for a year and came right back because these are the most dependable cars with great resale value. If they don't drop that ugly grill by the time I am ready to buy one then I'll just get it modified or a custom one. Please go see it in person and test drive one before you write off Acura completely.
 
#31 · (Edited)
Well for me I don't really care much about the specs. I bought my 07 TL mainly because of 2 reasons. The value: this car has so much great tech features for a way cheaper price than most of its competitors, plus great handling, great fuel economy and pretty good power. The car styling and design: to me 04-08 TL is still the best looking one. I am the type of person that don't love car based on specs and performance. In fact I sometimes don't even give a damn about those. My number one requirement is car look and design: if I don't like the car design and styling, you can be the best car sales man in the world and not a single word coming out of your month will go through my head and convince me nor a super low price great deal will tempt me.

If I wanted a great specs and performace vehicle, I would much rather have a RWD instead of AWD or FWD. And I would of buy BMW instead of anything else. All I care is quiet and comfortable luxury ride with good solid decent power for a long road trip cuz to drive visit families that are 400+ miles away or road trips with wife or friends. And I would like a more great fuel efficient cheaper and realiable compact car for around town local driving as my 2nd car. I don't mind having a hybrid for that, but unfortunately hybrid is too costly these days due to high demand and I don't see the justification for even buying one anymore.

I haven't write off Acura off my book yet and I have the patience to wait out for another 5-10 years to see if Acura come up with something I like in the future. I do love Acura for its value and keeping its edge on tech gadgets with new stuff that consistently surprise me. Just not fond of any of the new Acuras right now.
 
#32 ·
I think it looks like a GM car now. It reminds me of a Buick or a Saturn or something. POOP! I'm sure the drive quality is good though, it IS an Acura. I like the standard LED interior lights a lot too. I put LEDs aftermarket in my car, and its luxury. Anyway, the exterior design doesn't appeal to me. I like the old TL much better. Furthermore, I like my 1st generation TSX better than ANY TL.

I don't know if it is, but the new TL looks bigger to me. I remember joking with the salesman during an oil change one day and I said "so this is basically an RL now."
 
#33 ·
I don't know if it is, but the new TL looks bigger to me. I remember joking with the salesman during an oil change one day and I said "so this is basically an RL now."
Haha, you are right on for that, in fact I think the current RL is slightly smaller than TL, not to mention almost everything RL has TL has it too. You got to be high or on crack to buy a RL over TL now. Acura has really screw things up inside out this time I think. 1st screw up: adopt the real hideous grille on all Acuras, that is a bad move. 2nd screw up: making TL and TSX so big that the flagship car RL look like a piece of crap with a price tag only someone on crack will buy. 3rd screw up: they haven't even get their flagship car RL right yet and they plan to have another crossover SUV model at this economy in recession period. 4th screw up: they still have not come out with a V8 engine yet (stubborn to the end). At this rate, I won't be surprise if Infiniti completely surpass Acura soon, plus trail behind Lexus even further.
 
#35 ·
I went to the LA auto show over the thanks giving break. Here are a few things I concluded after checking them out in person.

(1) The hideous front grille look even worse than I imagine in person than in picture. OMG, usually when a car look bad in pic, you would hope it look better in person, to me is even worse in person than in pic.
(2) The interior is nice, I will give you that. Is actually nicer than the 3rd gen TL, and the seats are more comfortable than the 3rd gen TL. Which is a good thing.
(3) I got bad news for Acura, as much as I would like to be positive about the new 09 Acuras. As far as I can see the whole time I was there at the LA auto show, Acura section is like half dead. I don't see much ppl checking out Acuras at all, the Infiniti next to Acura got a way bigger crowd, so is BMW, Lexus, MB, Audi, they all got big crowd. I think Acura is close to as dead as Volvo and Saab at the Auto show.
(4) I haven't test drive it yet, but I am pretty sure the drive and performance is better than 3rd gen TL.
(5) Performance and specs does look good for Acura compare to competitator, but I think Acura seriously need to start investing in what you call luxury features and the exterior design department. Is hurting them bad right now. They need to start investing on little things such as all power windows "ALL Auto" and sun screens for rear seat passengers on windows and rear windshield to compete with other luxury cars. Cuz little things like that are mostly standard on other big names luxury cars. Or else Acura will continue to attract mostly younger buyers instead of going to top tier like Lexus, MB, BMW cuz they were able to attract old rich ppl that got $$$.
 
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