2005 Acura TL Auto w/ navi review from North America

Don't get me wrong. I love cars and I did my homework on this one. The TL seems like a fantastic car on the fact of it. The controls are very well placed. 270 HP, nice interior, loads and loads of features. I really like the navigation system and the fact that it does not lock out while driving like a Lexus does.

But I have been really frustrated with the build quality of this car. Everything seems to be falling apart.

Within a week my gas cover clamp broke off, then one of my rear tires started wobbling.

The B pillar on driver side was making rattling noise from day one.

The cheap plastics Acura uses on the center console were making rattling noises from day one.

The car had extreme torque steer, which the dealer said they will try and correct.

And please don't even think of buying a beige leather in an Acura. The leather starts getting greyish black. Perforation (small holes in the leather) may seem like a good idea to Acura, but is very difficult to maintain.

Anyhow I took the car into my dealer for repairs. They kept it for 13 days and gave me a loaner (which was nice coz the loaner was also a TL, but without navigation which I really missed). The navigation has some issues of its own like its slow, the screen resolution is lower than in Lexus and it has only 2 modes for display in less than a mile whereas I think the Lexus has 5 modes - they are really handy while city driving. But overall it more than compensates in my eyes by allowing me to change my destination without having to pull over and put the car in park. Then I picked my car back and here is when the fun began. Now the car has twice the amount of problems. As per what the mechanic told me, everything in the TL's center console just clamps together in a kinda very tricky way.

So now I have a center console that seems to be doing no noises, but there is a 8 mm gap in the glove box (it just seems to be falling apart). The lower cover underneath the wheel seems to be falling apart.

Earlier I had rattling noises from the B pillar and center console, now the entire car except the center console rattles. The B pillar noises are very troubling (B pillar is where the driver pulls his seat belt from). So these noises are right in your ear. The glove box rattles and the car's developed a rattling noise from the rear.

Here is the list of other complaints that I faxed to my dealer (Miami Acura)

B) The following defects developed with the fix up:

1. The "recirculation" option does not seem to be working as desired. I could clearly smell white smoke when following a bad truck yesterday even when recirculation was on from the start.

2. The wipers are really squeaky and shuddering. They are also leaving marks on the windshield.

3. The wood panel around gear shifter is chipped from 2 corners.

4. There is gap between seat heating buttons and cup holders.

5. There is a screwdriver nick on the back on driver seat.

6. The cover plate under the steering wheel appears to be not evenly put in place.

7. The silver side plastics on console appear to be not evenly put in place.

A) The car was delivered in a shabby condition:

1. The interior had black soot and dust in it. This was very clearly visible on the beige leather interior. Since my wife needed to use the car over the weekend. I had to spend 3 hours on Saturday morning cleaning and conditioning the interior.

2. The front passenger floor mat was inverted and the rear ones were just thrown in and not hooked at the floor as designed.

3. While leaving the car I instructed that the number plate is in the car and since the dealer took charge of title transfer so they should put it on before delivering the vehicle. Despite the car was delivered with the expired temporary tag (which expired on 05/16/05 while the car was in repairs) and my wife got a ticket over the weekend for the expired temporary tag.

Everything about Acura's is like cheap chinese products. Good on the face of it, but very poor in quality.

And I sincerely believe that Acura engineers don't understand the concept of repairability. If every anything goes wrong in your TL and you take it to get it fixed. Believe me it will have more problems after being fixed than ever before. It's just they way TL's are designed - unfixable.

And, I don't think Acura of acura dealers comprehend very well the concept of luxury and luxury care. Acura's seem cheap for the price coz we compare them with the likes of lexus, bmw and benz. Now these may have their share of technical difficulties too, but they understand the concept of taking care of a customer who wants a luxury car. I have a friend who has a 2001 C class. Everytime he drove off from a scheduled service the car was fixed soo nice as to behave and even smell like new. For just preventitive measures he's seen the mercedes benz dealer change really expensive parts just "to be on the safe side". Never expect that from Acura.