Older Acura TLs

kahunah

Please read post #5070 Review by 95gt.

igiban

Was confirmed by dealer that TL does not show instantaneous MPG. Too bad, but granted, Ave. MPG means more in the long run. That said, it'd nice to see how/where you drive relates to MPG right away. Most trip computers do that (Lexus included), I don't get it why TL advances way ahead on some areas and then stay behind on some easy ones...

On Nav, I think all Honda/Acura's allow you to play with all NAV stuff while moving. Many others only allows limited features when moving for safety reasons.

akirby

All you have to do to get "almost instant" mpg is reset it. I had this on an explorer and while it was fun to play with (how high can i get it coasting downhill?) it had absolutely no useful value. I think that's why it's not offered much anymore.

akirby

I have a Lincoln nav system made by Navtech I believe. I can do everything except enter or search for a new destination while the car is moving. You can select a previous or saved destination.

igiban

That's how Lexus works too. But all Honda/Acura's allows you to enter new address/destination right? That's the bulk of what's talked about here: be able to find a new place while driving. It's a trade off. For driver I think it's a good idea for safety reason, but what about when there's a passenger. I wish it all can be configured rather than one way for the other fixed.

When you reset Ave MPG you still won't see any instant MPG as it will wait for 15 sec. and 'ave' out. I agree ave. is more useful but instant one does tell you how good or bad the MPG is in certain driving pattern or considtion. It's just SW?

igiban

I have a Lexus with ML and was trying the XM radio on TL during a test drive yesterday. I honestly don't really feel the sound is any richer, fuller or crispier than ML. I can feel the surround and some multi-channel effect, but the sound itself does not sound as 'studio-like' as ML. Maybe the the whole cabin is not as quiet as ES or the interior materials in ES are more 'sound-friendly'. Anyway it's good but I am expecting something better than ML and I don't think that's the case. It's certainly better than the base Lexus audio and most of other factory-installed ones. I also noticed that when you sit on the rear the sound seems to be limited from the rear speakers. It's like there's a wall in the middle blocking the front speakers'. Mmmm.

raher

The TL audio when playing regular CD's or XM or just am/fm is as good as any sound system in any car out there. The difference is when you play DVD audio or hybrid SACD discs. The TL 5.1 system leaves them all behind at that point. It truly is surround sound. While there are a limited number of DVD discs out right now, I believe you will start seeing an increase as more manufacturers eventually follow Acura's lead. There are many more hybrid SACD's but they are not as good as DVD audio discs but are better than normal CD's in my opinion.

1hopeck

Are the seat backs of the 04 TL heated also? I would assume so as this seems to be the standard for the auto industry.

ewoq

I'm not aware that it is an industry standard to have heated rear seats. I know that Audi's and Infiniti G35s have them, likely as an option. Perhaps the top luxury cars may have them - S body Mercedes , Lexus LS, BMW 7 series, Audi A8, .....?

grri03

Yes - the TL's driver's seat is heated both bottom and back. The passenger just the bottom because it has sensors for the passenger's position so as to adjust the airbag deployment scheme on that side. To preempt the question of why just on the passenger side: because that's where the most variable sized person would be and could be leaning down, etc. while the driver is expected to be sitting in a driving position and facing forward.

igiban

I am not sure Acura TL along can lead to more DVD-Audio available. I'd think it'd take more DVD-a players at homes to really make that possible. Next time I'll bring a CD to test drive/listen a TL.

danny1878

with its 5.1 channel is 500 times better than car audio that play just CD. 2 channels only maybe for CD. Well said by experts.

I dont know much about heated seats but I think TL only has front driver/passenger heated seats. Since I bought this TL I have never brought anybody to sit in the rear seats eventhough the rear seats are more spacious than 330i. TL is not a sport car nor is 330i, they are just sporty car with different rear passenger feature. One is more spacious while the other tight but heated (back and but.t). It is an industry standard for non sporty car I guess.

ewoq

Oops! I must be dyslexic - misread the original question. You are correct in that the back of the seats are heated, at least in some BMWs and Mercedes.

dulnev

You shouldn't use XM to check the quality of the TL's stereo, because some XM channels don't have that great a sound quality. You should bring your favorite CD or two that you REALLY know well to see the difference.

TL audio system is excellent with CDs, at least as good as Lexus and Mercedes systems.

DVD-A of course is a unique feature so far. You're wrong about what drives adoption of DVD-A and SACD formats. It's not home players, it's the car players. Personally, I don't believe DVD-A will survive as a format, unless they start releasing a lot of hybrid (DVD-A/CD) disks very soon.

kph

Check out the following link - http://www.audiorevolution.com/news/0104/22.flipdisc.html

The DVD-Audio people are planning to roll out a format to support reasonable cost hybrid disks.

I too have worried whether the DVD-Audio format would win over SACD (the TL does *not* play SACDs), since the space in Best Buy is about 2:1 for SACD. Maybe this play will help to move this format to the forefront...

Or maybe both will die, as sometimes happens in format wars.

igiban

It seems that people are confusing heated rear seats vs. heated seat backs on the front seats. Is it correct to say that TL has neither? Seems not a big deal but just to clarified.

On DVD-A for those who have it can you tell us if regular DVD players play DVD-A or SACD disks? Also, how much more $$ is a DVD-A or SACD than a CD in general?

igiban

Is that a std TL feature? Is that by a button on the remote to open the door remotely?

kph

I don't have either of these in my home system (yet) nor in my car, until my TL arrives in March. With that caveat, here is what I understand the current state of the technology is.

DVD-Audio is a new format, and is not directly played by standard DVD-Video players. The typical audio connector between a DVD-V player and your amplifier is a S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) coax or optical connector - and the data content of DVD-A is at a higher bit rate that this interface can support.

That said, most DVD-A disks contain both the DVD-A track as well as a track encoded as a 5.1 digital surround (DD5.1 or DTS5.1) which can be played in a standard DVD-V player. Not as high bit rate, but still a full surround sound digital encoding, as good as you get with your DVD movies.

DVD-A's cannot be played on a CD player -- there is nothing encoded there that a CD player can read. That is, until the new hybrid "flipper" that I posted about a couple of messages ago. With that, one side plays on a CD player, the other in a DVD-A or DVD-V player.

SACD (Super Audio CD) is a competing format which encodes a 5.1 surround signal in a different format. The difference with these is that most SACDs contain a standard two-channel 44.1KHz CD track that *can* be read by a normal CD player -- so you can use these in your CD as well as in a SACD-enabled player.

If you want to play these formats in their native form in your home theater, you need a player - they come as DVD-A, SACD and combined format players -- the combined ones have come down to the about $400 range. Single format ones are in the $200, if I am not mistaken.

Disks themselves run around $18-20 - a slight premium over the outrageous CD prices of $13-17.

dulnev

The premium is far from "slight". I buy all of my CDs from BMG Music for $6-8 per CD with no shipping. Paying $18-20 per DVD-A is a HUGE premium.

I bought three DVD-As recently and, while I thought the sound was better than on CDs (I have the same albums on CDs), it's not THAT much better. I'd be selling these on E-bay and not buying any more DVD-As until the prices come down to reasonable territory.

dulnev

For God's sake, it's not that complicated!

TL has heated front seats. It does not have heated rear seats.

The seat back and bottom cushion of the driver's seat are both heated.

Only the bottom cushion of the passenger's seat is heated because the back contains sensors for side airbag.

raher

I bought Diana Krall's DVD-A for $14 at Best Buy. Most of the music available is re recorded older albums and a lot of them are $14. Quite a bit of classical. Some others at $24. Those will never see my TL audio system.
Dark Side of the Moon hybrid SCD is also a very good sound in the TL. I would buy more but I already have most of them on CD.
KPH.... thanks for the link to the article. I live in Seattle and that is one of the two test markets so I will get them as soon as they Are available. I'll let you know what I think.

mcg12

I had the dealer tint my windows about 8 months
ago. I am having problems with the back window
and "trails" of lights when any headlights hit
it even during the day. It makes it impossible
to see. I am fighting with the dealer over this
because they keep telling me it is normal
 because of the slant of the back window. I am
having a hard time believing that this is how it
is supposed to be. Does anyone else have this
problem? Or is it actually normal (as the
dealer is trying to make me believe). Thanks
for you input.

wculbert

I have a black TL due to arrive in 2 weeks. The dealer indicated I might find a rear spoiler ( the tiny one, not the one that sticks up) over the internet. They are asking $600 at the dealership! Any ideas? Thanks.

wculbert

In my area only Cingular offers bluetooth compatible phones. Is this the case nationwide? Anybody know if Verizon will have anything soon? Hate to change services just for this.
Thanks

kph

I have been researching Bluetooth phones for my on-order TL. I talked to a representative at a Verizon store and he said that he did not expect Bluetooth phones to be a priority for them. They are concentrating on digital services that can make them income -- they don't get any revenue from a phone that has BT.

It appears that so far, the phone makers have only put Bluetooth on GSM phones. I expect that is because Bluetooth has taken off in Europe far faster than in the US, and GSM is the European cell phone standard.

I have only seen reference to one BT phone (a Siemens) that has dual modes -- GSM and TDMA. Otherwise, all the BT phones are GSM-only.

In our area, Cingular isn't a player. I have found that T-mobile is a GSM-only network, so their investments in expansion are all in this arena. They offer a couple of BT phones (Sony Ericson T610 and a Nokia 3650).

AT&T (my current carrier) is TDMA, with a small growing GSM alternative. The sales person from their store commented about not being able to connect with an AT&T GSM phone on a drive from Minneapolis to Chicago -- so I am nervous that GSM is not a priority for them - and they are now up for sale.

I am thinking about trying out T-mobile when my TL arrives.

dulnev

I'm afraid you have accumulated some erroneous information. Here's my take on some of these things:

* There are TDMA/GSM BT-compatible phones (Sony Ericsson T62u, for example), but they don't pair with the TL. Siemens does not make any TDMA/GSM phones that are BT compatible.

* AT&T is concentrating ONLY on GSM these days. They are not increasing their TDMA infrastructure at all. In fact, according to some rumors, they are converting some of TDMA towers into GSM (although I don't believe this). Their GSM coverage still sucks compared to TDMA. Give them another year or two...

* T-Mobile is all-GSM, as you mentioned, but they have THE worst coverage in the nation. They also don't own their own towers in a lot of places and use towers of other carriers. T-Mobile is among the very worst cell carriers, and so is Cingular.

* Verizon's delay of releasing a BT phone has nothing to do with revenues and everything to do with being a huge bureaucracy Ma-Bell. They simply don't move at the same pace as other carriers. There are plenty of rumors indicating Verizon will have a BT phone by the end of this year.

* There is a BT-compatible Verizon phone (Motorola 270c), but it requires an optional attachment and firmware upgrade to work. Even with those, it will work with other BT devices, but not the TL.

* As you're finding out, we're sh*t-out-of-luck, if we want a TL-compatible Bluetooth phone, but don't want crappy GSM coverage. I have researched and tried various things and in the end decided it was not worth it giving up the great AT&T TDMA coverage in favor of hands-free capability. No matter how cool and convenient it is, I've learned that coverage is EVERYTHING!

gbriank

There is a Siemens BT phone available, but in limited quantities, for Sprint. It costs about two hundred bucks... Some folks have found a way to "reprogram" this phone to work on VZ network, but some features (web, text message, downloadable features) do not work.

gregory28

I haven't been here in awhile and noticed a question from a golfer that wasn't answered. What I like is that 2 full sets of clubs fit nicely in the back of the trunk parallel to the rear axle. This way all one's other things that are contained within the cargo net don't need to be moved.

Greg

gregory28

I purchased a kit of additional faux wood from www.exoticwooddash.com and am even happier with the wasy the interior looks. I find the interior of the car to be a bit too contemporary and the additional faux wood toned down the aluminum strips. It has added some additonal richness to the interior.

I installed them myself in less than an hour. There's about 20 pieces and they come on a 2 large cardboard sheets. The surface needs to be dusted and wiped with alcohol, then the pieces are placed on. The final step is to use a hair dryer so that the adhesive sticks properly/permanently.

Voila, a deep, richer interior is yours for $196. The color is an exact match.

achadha

got any pics?