1st - 5 Transmission Fallouts. And yes, I do know why. When Honda/Acura decided to copy Chryslers "Autostick" transmission, they got it all wrong. "Autostick" is a feature which allows you to upshift or downshift the transmission manually, invented in 1995 by Chrysler then was later adopted by VW/Audi in 1998 and so on, now crappy Hyundai's have them. Not to get off topic, The more you use this feature, the more you cut short the transmission's life. All Acura says is "we'll replace it" but no explanation. We had someone investigate it ourselves.
2nd - The seats are only partially leather, id rather pay up for full leather. The Vinyl used is very cheap and is ripping.
3rd - Horrible suspension, unacceptable ride, can't have a drink without it spilling all the time. The car rolls side to side on the highway and on ramps. I can feel EVERY SINGLE bump on the road. (Honda/Acura are known to have bad quality rides and suspensions, no wonder Toyota/Lexus is more sucessfull).
4th - Bad Stereo system. Decent sound quality, Makes you wonder if it is really a Bose Audio system... if you make/burn your own CDs, don't count on it working. takes ATLEAST 10 Minutes for a copied CD to work. Also the cassette player refuses to allow a Cassette/CD/ Minidisc Adapted to the stereo. Which really sucks. Get this car, sell your CD Burner, and go to the old days where you have to pay $20 a CD. Get an Minidisc or MP3 player, don't count on using the Cassette adapter.
5th - The Airconditioning makes strange noises at times. (Another think Honda is known for, Bad A/C units). Sometimes it smells like a refridgerator in the car cause of how bad the A/C unit is.
6th - Braking is A lot weaker than the competition. I suggest getting after market cross-drilled brake discs and Z-Rated Tires.
The reason why we purchased this vehicle is because in 1998 it was $31,000 and fully loaded. I mean Leather, Sunroof, Bose Sound system, Navigation system (which went dead for 4 Months and Acura refused to fix it then offered to fix it for $4000, luckily it decided to work, and is VERY slow). It sounded like a great deal... year later, I regret it, shouldve gone with the BMW 328i.
Crappy Hyundai? Have you ever driven one?
You sound to hard to please.
I agree with the comment above.
If you wanted a luxury or sporty car you should have gone with a Lexus GS 400 not a near-luxury Acura TL.
Toyota makes better quality cars.
I have a 99 TL with 97000 miles have had very few things go wrong. LOVE my TL will buy a 2006 this year. GREAT solid car!
I would tend to agree with the comment above regarding the Hyundai...I bought a salvaged and reliably rebuilt 2001 model for my daughter who is attending college, and it has been very reliable and cheap form of transportation (31 mpg). I would also concur that the reviewer for the Acura must have gotten a lemon because my experience with Acura has been wonderful. I find it hard to believe that all the problems he listed were really that bad. For instance, Bose does not make an inferior sound system, and the suspension system does not spill coffee, unless you're running an obstacle course.
Go with the Lexus. Bought a 98 GS400 brand new for myself. In 99 my wife wanted the TL so I bought her one to replace her 97 ES300. Big Mistake. Drove the car 12000 miles before selling it. Tranny went at 11000 miles and that did it for me, even if warranty covered it. Went and bought her the GS300 and she couldnt have been happier. I've actually kept both Lexus. Usually get a new car every 2 year, not with these two. I will sell them when they hit 100,000 and buy new ones.
The manumatic feature you describe is called "Sequential SportShift" by Acura. Reading your owner's manual would have revealed this "secret" information. Indeed, a similar system called "Auto Stick" is offered by Chrysler, but it was neither "invented" by them, nor was it the basis for Acura's offering. It was in fact developed by Porsche of Germany way back in 1990 for the 964 Carrera 2, and called "Tiptronic" by its inventors.
Further proof that Chrysler was not the inspiration for Acura lies in the fact that Chrysler's manual gate is operated by side-to-side action, while Acura's (like Porsche and the vast majority of other similar systems) is actuated in a back-and-forth motion. Contrary to popular belief, a Tiptronic-like transmission is visually identical to any other automatic. It is merely a computer programme that makes the difference. The additional shift gate that enables the manual shifts simply tells the computer when to activate the transmission solenoids, thus causing shifts (as opposed to having the computer do it for you).
First comment is true: transmission sucks on this car! My mom has replaced it twice, and I am now inheriting the car. I am replacing the CD player, but CD players in 1999 didn't really play burned disc's... as I recall. Other than that I do believe it will last...
It's not as bad as everyone says. Sure it's got some problems, tranny being one, but Honda has, so they say fixed the problem with them. The 99's with 4 speed were not as prone.
It will play burnt discs, you have to find the 'brand' of disc it likes, and even the CD burner made a difference.
It will work with the cassette adapter for ipod - use mine all the time! And Bose ('B'uy 'O'ther 'S'tereo 'E'quipment) is not bad, not great.
Ride is fine, it's not a 323 ride, nor a caddi. But it did what Acura/Honda wanted, got people to buy it instead of BMWs and Lexus. And don't forget it was cheaper than those two. Nobody compares it to a Taurus or Impala? I know it was not as good as Lexus, but it was a lot cheaper - logic told me that.
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