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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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thanks
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.
* 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!
Greg
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.
Doesn't sound right to me. Has it been this way from the beginning?
Can someone in the metro NY area who is driving a new TL, let me know what kind of coverage they are getting?
Is it worse than your previous car?
what carrier are you using?
what cell phone are you using?
it seems a shame to have to install a gooseneck in a car that promotes this whole idea of bluetooth hands free cell phone system....and I REFUSE to get one of those McDonald wire/earpiece crap pieces...
pleaseeeeee someone respond!
thanks!
I found an AT&T Wireless forum site in my searches, and there is a thread about dual mode phones here:
http://forums.attwireless.com/attws/board/message?board.id=gsmgpr- - - s&message.id=15886
But none of them appear to be BT models. With AT&T it appears you can get such a phone, but if you enable it on both networks, you can't sign up for their family plan. (I was looking to consolidate my phone, my wife's phone and at least one for the kids).
Regarding T-Mobile - the February Consumer Reports issue (the one that ranked the TL #1 in its class) also ranked Cell phones and plans. They ranked the carriers in 12 markets. In the 9 markets that both AT7T and T-Mobile were in, T-Mobile was ranked higher in 8 of them. Verizon was ranked #1 in all 12, and in many cases by quite a clear margin.
So, being an AT&T customer, I wonder if I would be moving down to go T-Mobile. It would be great if Verizon offered a CDMA BT phone that worked with the TL.
My pastor is on T-Mobile. He has a family plan - he and his wife have phones up here in Minneapolis, and his son has one going to school at Northwestern in Illinois. He has been very happy with the plan, the phones, and the ability to talk with his son without extra charges.
Whatever I do, I will try and keep with a 1-year plan so I can keep flexible as this market continues to change.
Pieces were for the entire center console- from the armrest to above the radio/heat and air controls, over door locks, above glove box, overhead lights, and over the VSA/side view mirror controls.
Gregory, what are the real material of these Faux wood thing? It seems that you are making your TL inside look more like an ES!
I frequently see illegally tinted windows. They may look cool but they are a safety hazard as one cannot make eye contact with the driver.
Thank you for contacting the Verizon Wireless website. We apologize for the delay in answering your inquiry and will be happy to provide you with additional information.
We appreciate your interest in the incorporation of Bluetooth Technology with Verizon Wireless services. At this time we do not offer products to support this technology. However, our Research and
Development Team has been studying the ability to incorporate Bluetooth technology with our products and services. We hope to have this available by mid-year.
Good luck!
I have tentatively ordered the side molding, but am having second thoughts. They had cars on the lot both with and without. I like the cleaner line of the TL without. All the pics in the brochure are without.
I just don't know if I would regret the extra door dings in 5-7 years (tend to keep my cars for a decade).
Other thoughts? Anyone had a recent vintage car without side protection?
Yea yea yea, safety safety safety. If you guys are so worried about tint impacting safety maybe you shouldn’t be driving at all. Or better yet get a car that has all windows with no blind spots so you can see 360 degrees. Also maybe you shouldn’t get a 04TL at all. There is no need to have that much acceleration and speed. If you want to be safe stay in one lane the whole time unless it’s necessary to turn, don not accelerate more than 5mph per 10 seconds, and always keep your speed at 55 or below. Just to be safe. And ohhh, if you are truly going to be safe keep your radio off at all times and only use the navigation system when parked. You need to hear what’s going on and you don’t need to be distracted by the NAV system. But GOD FORBID anybody has tinted windows because it is soooo unsafe. lol, some of you crack me up. And eye contact with the driver? What? Are we trying to capture love at first site passing a car going in the other direction going 60? What if I want to pick my nose without anybody seeing me? I am paying 35 grand for this car I think I have the right to pick my nose in it with some privacy, don’t ya think?
Seriously though, thanks to the person who gave me the specifics of the California law who actually answered my question.
Interesting enough, the only other car I can think of that has both a character line like the TL and factory-installed moldings is the Jaguar XJ8. It looks a lot better on the Jag of course.
M
You can still break the windows and reach in to take whatever you want, just don't open the door. Hence why I keep all valuables out of sight in the trunk.