[nastinupe1]

We have a 06 GS and an 05 Avalon LTD in the family corral. They are wonderful cars (as is the TL). My opinion is Toyota / Lexus delivers more on the refinement and interior assembly (that is only where I notice quality variances) where Honda / Acura have a bit more performance focus. The GS would be my choice over the TL, but I am not sure I feel it justifies a 15K premium over the TL after driving the 2 vehicles side by side.

For my tastes, a bit more focus on the assembly details would warrant a price increase with Acura. I would gladly pay a few more K for a refined Acura than 10-15K more for the Lexus.

Features and content aside, Acura can claim anything about their brand, content, value and precision engineering. But that is easily disappated from my perception when I hear the interior complaining as I drive down the road. The interior of my '02 Isuzu makes no complaints, even as I bounce down the road.

When I test drove an 06 GS I was really impressed. The car handled better, it had more features like power steering wheel, better seats, more space, better paint quality, better sound system, better interior lighting, better Navigaion system, Better build quality, more powerful engine, as well as the much plusher service center and award winning customer service. Also, Lexus also beats out Acura and Honda for reliability as has so ever since its' inception.

I didn't buy a Lexus this time because the old GS was not as good of a car as the new TL and the 2003 GS and 2005 TL were two cars that I was comparing when I was car shopping. Also, the 2006 IS and new BMW 3 Series was too small, the new M was too expensive, the old M was just plain hedious, the 525 was way over priced for its' 187 hp engine and bland interior, the CTS was American, the 2003 Range Rover couldn't be trusted, the Range Rover Sport was too expensive, the VW Jetta and Passat were too ghey, the Accord was too bland, the Maxima was too... well Nissanish ( I can't explain it but I am sure that you guys feel me), the Charger was too redneckish and/ or ghetto, the 300C was too... ghettofabolous, the Camary was too "I have no class and I have 2.3 children and live in the suburbsish", the TSX was underpowered, the RL' s exterior was too mundane, and last but not least, the old TL had an ugly interior compared to the new body style. I actually still like its' extrior just as much as the new body style, especially with the ground effects.

 

[ekimevil]

good analogy of the cars.. I agree for tehmost part.

 

[The General]

We have a 06 GS and an 05 Avalon LTD in the family corral. They are wonderful cars (as is the TL). My opinion is Toyota / Lexus delivers more on the refinement and interior assembly (that is only where I notice quality variances) where Honda / Acura have a bit more performance focus. The GS would be my choice over the TL, but I am not sure I feel it justifies a 15K premium over the TL after driving the 2 vehicles side by side.

For my tastes, a bit more focus on the assembly details would warrant a price increase with Acura. I would gladly pay a few more K for a refined Acura than 10-15K more for the Lexus.

Features and content aside, Acura can claim anything about their brand, content, value and precision engineering. But that is easily disappated from my perception when I hear the interior complaining as I drive down the road. The interior of my '02 Isuzu makes no complaints, even as I bounce down the road.

:werd:

 

[The General]

When I test drove an 06 GS I was really impressed. The car handled better, it had more features like power steering wheel, better seats, more space, better paint quality, better sound system, better interior lighting, better Navigaion system, Better build quality, more powerful engine, as well as the much plusher service center and award winning customer service. Also, Lexus also beats out Acura and Honda for reliability as has so ever since its' inception.

I didn't buy a Lexus this time because the old GS was not as good of a car as the new TL and the 2003 GS and 2005 TL were two cars that I was comparing when I was car shopping. Also, the 2006 IS and new BMW 3 Series was too small, the new M was too expensive, the old M was just plain hedious, the 525 was way over priced for its' 187 hp engine and bland interior, the CTS was American, the 2003 Range Rover couldn't be trusted, the Range Rover Sport was too expensive, the VW Jetta and Passat were too ghey, the Accord was too bland, the Maxima was too... well Nissanish ( I can't explain it but I am sure that you guys feel me), the Charger was too redneckish and/ or ghetto, the 300C was too... ghettofabolous, the Camary was too "I have no class and I have 2.3 children and live in the suburbsish", the TSX was underpowered, the RL' s exterior was too mundane, and last but not least, the old TL had an ugly interior compared to the new body style. I actually still like its' extrior just as much as the new body style, especially with the ground effects.

I absolutely hate the new BMW design...for every model. With that said, the BMW 3-series is too small for me, as is the Lexus IS (which is a very nice car!). I want to stick with a sedan, but it needs to have at least as much leg and head room in the back as my TL does.

 

[ekimevil]

I absolutely hate the new BMW design...for every model. With that said, the BMW 3-series is too small for me, as is the Lexus IS (which is a very nice car!). I want to stick with a sedan, but it needs to have at least as much leg and head room in the back as my TL does.

have they redesigned the M3 too? I hate the new head lights of the new Bimmers... so ugly compared to the ones right before this new 're-design'.

 

[nick]

I hate the rear of the new bmw's.

 

[Tampa RL]

I admire BMW, but just can't make that leap of 'gotta have it'. The current styling trend is too Batmobile for me, and I cannot take it serious. The interiors bore me.

I am impressed with what Nissan / Infinity is doing stylingwise. I am not a fan of the interiors & materials....but like them overall.

I do like the L-Finesse styling that Lexus has adopted with the GS, IS and next the ES & LS. It is interesting, I see a family resemblance in the line up but it doesn't seem gimmicky. I see them adding a bit more adrenaline into the stylining.

Now the TL styling was a big leap from Acuras conservative trend. Enough so, I see the TL design features now a benchmark for the Honda family. The new Civic intrigues me as much as the TL did when I 1st stared at it in a late 03 autoshow. If this is true, I see the Honda / Acura family delivering that edginess that draws me in more than Toyota / Lexus. I hope they can work that into the Accord (without taking shine off the TL). The Accord (sedan) is the weakest link (style-wise)...GOOD-BYE!

 

[nastinupe1]

I admire BMW, but just can't make that leap of 'gotta have it'. The current styling trend is too Batmobile for me, and I cannot take it serious. The interiors bore me.

I am impressed with what Nissan / Infinity is doing stylingwise. I am not a fan of the interiors & materials....but like them overall.

I do like the L-Finesse styling that Lexus has adopted with the GS, IS and next the ES & LS. It is interesting, I see a family resemblance in the line up but it doesn't seem gimmicky. I see them adding a bit more adrenaline into the stylining.

Now the TL styling was a big leap from Acuras conservative trend. Enough so, I see the TL design features now a benchmark for the Honda family. The new Civic intrigues me as much as the TL did when I 1st stared at it in a late 03 autoshow. If this is true, I see the Honda / Acura family delivering that edginess that draws me in more than Toyota / Lexus. I hope they can work that into the Accord (without taking shine off the TL). The Accord (sedan) is the weakest link (style-wise)...GOOD-BYE!

You know what I have noticed about the Accord styling. If you take a 93 Accord and a 98 Accord, they look so similar. Where did the 94-97 Accords styling come into play. In 98 they went old school and everyone loved them. Then the 03-current styling looks more like the 94-97's. It's like Honda goes back and forth so I am guess that the Accord's next style will be like the 03's and 98's.

Please Honda, this is your last chance before the Toyota and Hundai beat the living crap out of you.

 

[Chingrin]

my next car will be a lexus....love the acura but the customer service blows!

 

[enigma]

my next car will be a lexus....love the acura but the customer service blows!

it sounds likes GS is will a winner. as mentioned before, MDX, RL or GS.

 

[evo743]

Just wondering how many people would purchase another Acura after having one for a while ...??

-BudMan

The TL is my third acura, so I'd have to say yes. Had a '02 RSX, and a '03 RSX-s before. And I have never had a problem with the customer service at the dealership.

 

[A-Spec Guy]

I have loved my Acura since the day I got it. GM convert here! :mhihi:

 

[pbpinftworth]

Another Acura

I don't think I would purchase another one and the answer really only is partly due to the car. The 3rd gen TL I have is a nice car, but the interior materials are really cheap. I've heard complaints from Infiniti owners on the same thing, but Infiniti addressed this in the 2006 model year.

The real problems lie in the purchase process I went through. I experienced truly deceptive items that will prevent me from dealing with that dealership again. In addition, I feel that the service is sub-par for an entry level luxury dealership.

I've owned two Lexus and had excellent experiences with both the cars and the dealerships. I'll be going back there next time.

Just a final note and that is that my experience is limited to two dealerships on both Acura and Lexus.

 

[acurainfowiz]

I probably will not buy another Acura unless they were going to produce a V8. My wife works for Honda/Acura in the IT Dept and she heard that they scrapped the V8 project and invested those R&D dollars in their Aerospace Division. So I guess they are not coming with a v8 and that would be the main reason I will not buy another Acura. Plus for a car that is suppose to compete in the luxury-mkt they should have made the interior with better quality.

 

[Tampa RL]

I probably will not buy another Acura unless they were going to produce a V8. My wife works for Honda/Acura in the IT Dept and she heard that they scrapped the V8 project and invested those R&D dollars in their Aerospace Division. So I guess they are not coming with a v8 and that would be the main reason I will not buy another Acura. Plus for a car that is suppose to compete in the luxury-mkt they should have made the interior with better quality.

Ahhh...love insider info! Prolly not her area of intelligence...but I wonder if Acura is planning to address the interior assembly? They MUST be hearing enough about it to not seek improvements? Anyone read, hear or know of Acura's acknowledgement of this issue?:bash:

 

[FTM-1]

I would purchase ACURA again this is the 4th car that I purchased brand new.
The other 3 before the TL were HONDA models 1980 Prelude, 90 ACCORD, 94 ACCORD. I wish ACURA would get up to speed with putting the newer features in the cars a little faster. I love the HID headlights in my car I do alot of night road driving. I would like to see the Night Vision setup like on the new Benz. ACURA already has been testing it so what are they waiting for. Also put out a Gas/Electric hybrid RL/TL & other models. They could put AWD in other models like TL & TSX. Everybody does not want a MDX Suv just to get AWD.

 

[MVR 155]

I just purchased my 3rd Acura yesterday which is the second brand new car I have purchased from Acura. First was a 3 year old CL 3.0, In August of 2002 I bought a new 03 CL Type S and yesterday I purchased a new 2006 TL. I keep going back to Acura because of the great customer service I have recieved over the last 7 years of ownership, I have dealt with 2 different dealers in my area (I purchase from one and do service with another, the dealer I buy from has given me a great deal everytime but the dealer I service with is closer to me). I have had a few problems over the years (trans in the 03 once and a front end noise that was hard to track down) I get no questions asked service and no run around, I feel Acura is a quality product for the money definately the most bang for the buck period, Infiniti and Lexus build great automobiles and I did look at both of them each time before I purchased..... I keep going back to the Acura. I will definately buy another Acura down the road.

On a side note, I have owned 4 Corvettes over the last 10 years, GM customer service just sucks compared to the service I have recieved from Acura, GM has to have one of the worst track records for customer service I have ever seen.

 

[bralio]

For those of you raving about Infinitis, don't waste your money; our 'other car' is a G35 coupe, and while it's a beautiful car on the outside (aside from the down-right shitty paint quality) and can be fun to race around in, the car is one of the crappiest we've ever owned.

The interior is nothing but a plastic, non-ergonomic and flat out UGLY cockpit, with zero design efficiency at all. The controls are ugly and nowhere near where they need to be, and between the rattles/whistles/creaks, there's brake shudder starting at 12K miles, a gas tank that thinks it's full at 3 gallons (shuts the gas pump down due to splashback) and a whole mile of nit-picky other complaints I won't bother to list here.

Now I'm not a young ignoramous that thinks that because we bought a crapheap that all of them are that way, but to put it simply:

Overall, the car feels CHEAP. Build quality simply does not compare to Acura/BMW/Lexus at all, and I'd encourage everyone that's considering one to really think twice; it's really just a shiny turd, and you'll undoubtedly become more disappointed than you'd think you could with it.

So ends the gospel according to me... now.. what're we talkin about? :beerchug:

 

[nastinupe1]

For those of you raving about Infinitis, don't waste your money; our 'other car' is a G35 coupe, and while it's a beautiful car on the outside (aside from the down-right shitty paint quality) and can be fun to race around in, the car is one of the crappiest we've ever owned.

The interior is nothing but a plastic, non-ergonomic and flat out UGLY cockpit, with zero design efficiency at all. The controls are ugly and nowhere near where they need to be, and between the rattles/whistles/creaks, there's brake shudder starting at 12K miles, a gas tank that thinks it's full at 3 gallons (shuts the gas pump down due to splashback) and a whole mile of nit-picky other complaints I won't bother to list here.

Now I'm not a young ignoramous that thinks that because we bought a crapheap that all of them are that way, but to put it simply:

Overall, the car feels CHEAP. Build quality simply does not compare to Acura/BMW/Lexus at all, and I'd encourage everyone that's considering one to really think twice; it's really just a shiny turd, and you'll undoubtedly become more disappointed than you'd think you could with it.

So ends the gospel according to me... now.. what're we talkin about? :beerchug:

Its funny how the more expensive the car, the more complaints. People NEVER complained about the 94 Civic I have... other than ther power. But they knew that when they bought the car.

I was never sold on the G35. It was always a glorified Altima in my book. But those M's.... my God... I love them so much!!!

 

[enigma]

bralio, have you owned/driven a Lexus?