IS v.G35 v.TL...................
11-07-05, 11:39 AM
#46
AMI, I'll just add one other car to your short list. Subaru Legacy GT Limited Edition! 250hp turbo, AWD, 4door, leather, heated everything, 5 speed manual or auto with nav and fast! And if you really want it special see if you can find a Spec-B, they only made 500 of those. 5 speed manual & NAV, with the WRX STi aluminium suspension pieces and 18"/19" wheels.
Last edited by clubfoot; 11-07-05 at 11:45 AM.
11-28-05, 10:19 PM
#47
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IS over TL or G35
I've driven the TL recently, and brand new it rattled, and the reflection off the guages were annoying, the interior seemed cheaper than the IS. The ride was softer, the sound system was pretty good, the TL looks great, and handles well, and is pretty quiet.
The G35 has a cheap looking interior too, and the painted plastic didn't do much for me, neither did the ugly POD that moves with the steering wheel. The ride was firm, but the noisiest of the bunch, and had more wind and road noise. The exhaust is loudest on the G35, but some like it.
The seats on all three were comfortable, but the TL had the longest cushion.
For the money I'd get the IS 250 hands down, yes even with less power. In reality how often do you need to tap into that mush power? The 6 speed auto has enough flexability to get you where you're going. The IS had the best list of standard features.
Consider the Audi A3 if you want quickness, great handling, economy, and a nice interior. not as nice as the IS, but the leather in the A3 is really nice, better than the TL. the A3 handles like a slot car and is plenty quick even in the 2.0. but the 3.2 is the one you want.
Overall I'd still take the IS. I'm not a taxi, so I don't care if the back seat is small, we're not going across the country in it, maybe across town...it's a one man car, but I have 6 in the family, so we need a van too.
The IS had a firm ride, zero wind noise, comfortable seating position, easy to read guages, and smelled nice too. the TL smelled like BO, the dealer blamed it on the leather getting hot in the sun. No leather should smell like an arm pit.
Lexus has the least number of problems per hundred vehicles by a huge margin, and the highest customer satisfaction, and highest retained value. It's the best deal going.
If you can spring it get the ML audio system. ML makes some of the finest audio equipment in the world, only a handful make better equipment. Krell for one, if you can afford 40K for a 40 watt amp, stick with Krell.
Good luck in your decision.
The G35 has a cheap looking interior too, and the painted plastic didn't do much for me, neither did the ugly POD that moves with the steering wheel. The ride was firm, but the noisiest of the bunch, and had more wind and road noise. The exhaust is loudest on the G35, but some like it.
The seats on all three were comfortable, but the TL had the longest cushion.
For the money I'd get the IS 250 hands down, yes even with less power. In reality how often do you need to tap into that mush power? The 6 speed auto has enough flexability to get you where you're going. The IS had the best list of standard features.
Consider the Audi A3 if you want quickness, great handling, economy, and a nice interior. not as nice as the IS, but the leather in the A3 is really nice, better than the TL. the A3 handles like a slot car and is plenty quick even in the 2.0. but the 3.2 is the one you want.
Overall I'd still take the IS. I'm not a taxi, so I don't care if the back seat is small, we're not going across the country in it, maybe across town...it's a one man car, but I have 6 in the family, so we need a van too.
The IS had a firm ride, zero wind noise, comfortable seating position, easy to read guages, and smelled nice too. the TL smelled like BO, the dealer blamed it on the leather getting hot in the sun. No leather should smell like an arm pit.
Lexus has the least number of problems per hundred vehicles by a huge margin, and the highest customer satisfaction, and highest retained value. It's the best deal going.
If you can spring it get the ML audio system. ML makes some of the finest audio equipment in the world, only a handful make better equipment. Krell for one, if you can afford 40K for a 40 watt amp, stick with Krell.
Good luck in your decision.
11-28-05, 10:20 PM
#48
Lexus Connoisseur
Originally Posted by DaveRA
I've driven the TL recently, and brand new it rattled, and the reflection off the guages were annoying, the interior seemed cheaper than the IS. The ride was softer, the sound system was pretty good, the TL looks great, and handles well, and is pretty quiet.
The G35 has a cheap looking interior too, and the painted plastic didn't do much for me, neither did the ugly POD that moves with the steering wheel. The ride was firm, but the noisiest of the bunch, and had more wind and road noise. The exhaust is loudest on the G35, but some like it.
The seats on all three were comfortable, but the TL had the longest cushion.
For the money I'd get the IS 250 hands down, yes even with less power. In reality how often do you need to tap into that mush power? The 6 speed auto has enough flexability to get you where you're going. The IS had the best list of standard features.
Consider the Audi A3 if you want quickness, great handling, economy, and a nice interior. not as nice as the IS, but the leather in the A3 is really nice, better than the TL. the A3 handles like a slot car and is plenty quick even in the 2.0. but the 3.2 is the one you want.
Overall I'd still take the IS. I'm not a taxi, so I don't care if the back seat is small, we're not going across the country in it, maybe across town...it's a one man car, but I have 6 in the family, so we need a van too.
The IS had a firm ride, zero wind noise, comfortable seating position, easy to read guages, and smelled nice too. the TL smelled like BO, the dealer blamed it on the leather getting hot in the sun. No leather should smell like an arm pit.
Lexus has the least number of problems per hundred vehicles by a huge margin, and the highest customer satisfaction, and highest retained value. It's the best deal going.
If you can spring it get the ML audio system. ML makes some of the finest audio equipment in the world, only a handful make better equipment. Krell for one, if you can afford 40K for a 40 watt amp, stick with Krell.
Good luck in your decision.
The G35 has a cheap looking interior too, and the painted plastic didn't do much for me, neither did the ugly POD that moves with the steering wheel. The ride was firm, but the noisiest of the bunch, and had more wind and road noise. The exhaust is loudest on the G35, but some like it.
The seats on all three were comfortable, but the TL had the longest cushion.
For the money I'd get the IS 250 hands down, yes even with less power. In reality how often do you need to tap into that mush power? The 6 speed auto has enough flexability to get you where you're going. The IS had the best list of standard features.
Consider the Audi A3 if you want quickness, great handling, economy, and a nice interior. not as nice as the IS, but the leather in the A3 is really nice, better than the TL. the A3 handles like a slot car and is plenty quick even in the 2.0. but the 3.2 is the one you want.
Overall I'd still take the IS. I'm not a taxi, so I don't care if the back seat is small, we're not going across the country in it, maybe across town...it's a one man car, but I have 6 in the family, so we need a van too.
The IS had a firm ride, zero wind noise, comfortable seating position, easy to read guages, and smelled nice too. the TL smelled like BO, the dealer blamed it on the leather getting hot in the sun. No leather should smell like an arm pit.
Lexus has the least number of problems per hundred vehicles by a huge margin, and the highest customer satisfaction, and highest retained value. It's the best deal going.
If you can spring it get the ML audio system. ML makes some of the finest audio equipment in the world, only a handful make better equipment. Krell for one, if you can afford 40K for a 40 watt amp, stick with Krell.
Good luck in your decision.
11-29-05, 12:38 AM
#49
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Originally Posted by D&G
Sounds like you got yourself a lemon!!! Sorry to hear about your bad experience. But my 2 buddies loves the TL and they have none of those probs like you mentioned. All car manufacture will have its lemon no doubt about it. I have a friend that had an 2003 Audi A4 and he had to bring his car back to the dealer 14 times within 1yr and just had enough and traded it in. Same w/ my other friend's friend that had alot problems w/his 2004 BMW 3 series such as replace tranny/computer issues/and starting problem etc..!!! If everyone that bought a TL and experience what you experience I don't think Honda will last very long in this industry. But Honda has so many yrs to back up with great quality cars and so has toyota. I am not trying to defend the brand Honda but it is too bad you got yourself a lemon. But nice to hear you moved onto something different b/c I would do the same thing.
By the way, what car did you trade in your TL for?
By the way, what car did you trade in your TL for?
They said sorry, we can not fix your car, and we are not going to even try because we do not know when or if we will ever have a fix for the 1500rpm harmonic vibration / noise maker (they somewhat do 18 months later they came out with a TSB to add a harmonic damper into the front sub frame, and it still is not completely fixed according to other posts, and it is huge block of something).
They flat out blew it and now many with the 2005 have the same problems and cannot get it fixed due to Acura's limitation to only 2004 TL's for the vibration attempted fix.
I had many other issues, about 20 or so.
Acura corporate never tried to fix one, the only person to ever ride in my TL to see the issues was a tech, you know why, because they knew they all existed and had no fix for all the TL owners.
I know of at least 12 other owners that got buy backs via lemon law or mediation.
The Executive VP of Acura/Honda even admitted in a USA Today "Automotive Round Table" in the paper in early 2004 that Acura's quality numbers were dipping way below norms due to many quality issues in the 2004 TL (and still not fixed if you look at those forums).
Just a few things they redesigned due to flaws in the TL:
1. Tires were reformulated to reduce vibrations and flat spotting (flat spots occurred only after 5-8 hours in sub 60F temps). The blowstones they had on the car were really cheap crap, and still are even after the reformulation (just search for vibration at the TL site and see how many hits you get)
2. Front seat cushion due to "butt prints" and deep creasing of leather that made a 6 month old car look 100yrs old.
3. Harmonic Damper added (in addition to the huge hunk of metal in the front bumper that was already shown as a damper in the svc manual out of the factory) for AT cars.
4. The dropping headliner.
5. Engine control management that would trigger the check engine light above 5k revs (gee, I guess the test engineers never pushed the car).
Numerous other issues
They messed up the TL and bad. Just the other day I met another TL owner at the Lexus dealer looking at the IS or GS, and yep, they had all the same issues I had and no help from Acura. They were so fed up they had to get out of their TL, even at a major loss. Just about every TL owner I talk to has issues with their TL.
IMO - stay away from the Acura TL (and the RL as I have heard from my old svc manager that they are a disaster also).
Acura put the mighty buck in front of customer satisfaction on the TL and now the RL and it is starting to show. Honda/Acura for too long has been relying on its reputation, but the word is spreading (luckily for Lexus and others) quickly.
11-29-05, 11:28 AM
#50
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Was going to get the TL but after i test drove it i felt like i was driving my moms old 99 accrod with a faster motor. On top of that the leather seats on the TL felt like garbage compared to the IS's. i did end up having to pay about another $60 a month for the lexus but the feel of the drive and quality of the car beats the TL hands down. And by the way u can talk to the IS's nav and tell it the address of where u want to go unlike the TL.
11-30-05, 08:16 PM
#51
AM1:
Well, you get what you pay for. The G35 is a cheaper deal. But it has to be one of the plainest looking and boring cars out there. Heck, a Ford Taurus SES has better lines, is just about as quick and the tires are cheaper..
If you must have a import, and save money, you can go get you a Tiberon (sic)..
I wanted a better car , so I ordered a IS350, to be never driven in the snow.
next.
Well, you get what you pay for. The G35 is a cheaper deal. But it has to be one of the plainest looking and boring cars out there. Heck, a Ford Taurus SES has better lines, is just about as quick and the tires are cheaper..
If you must have a import, and save money, you can go get you a Tiberon (sic)..
I wanted a better car , so I ordered a IS350, to be never driven in the snow.
next.
11-30-05, 09:48 PM
#52
Lead Lap
My other car is a TL
I also have an 04TL but have have only one MINOR problem with it. The headliner did have a tendency to "druup" (is that even a word?) but they did fix it after three trys. I have had none of the vibration issue others in here mentioned (If you read the TL forums you will find that 90% of those issues were related to the standard tires - I had the upgraded tire option). I've had VERY few rattles. Prior to my TL I owned a 7-series BMW and a high performance Benz. The TL does have more road noise than those cars did but mine does not rattle. I've also ridden in the new IS350 and it is noiser than my TL so I said "no thanks" to the salesman who was trying to get me to trade my TL in the last time I had my GX470 in for regular service. The G35 is a nice car (reclining rear seats in some models make it "cool") so it's not a bad choice but the resale value on infinitis have been abismal. Based on current valuations of 04 cars (G35 to TL), the TL's resale is holding up better. The bluetooth is something I have been working with B4 the TL and the way they deployed it in the TL is PERFECT. The NAVI in the TL is FAR, FAR, far, far superior to the NAVI in the Lexus vehicles (At least this forum did help me find the hack that allows me to enter address information while moving now even if 50% of the streets aren't there included in the Lexus system and the method for "looking up" addresses is SO poor in the Lexus version). With the TL NAVI I can enter a fraction of a companies name and then select the location by distance. With the Lexus (if it finds the name at all) it trys to send me to a location 600+miles away? What's the use of that? In short, these are all good cars. The TL is a good value at under $35K including NAVI. The 350IS is over priced but the GS350 is reasonable (at around $50K) and therefore competes with the similarily equipment M35 form infiniti and the RL from Acura. Unfortunately, the IS250 is underpowered for it's primary competition (the G35 and the TL). I truely considered a new IS (because of how happy I am with Lexus quality service and my GX) but in the end, the price simply wasn't right IMHO. I'm actually thinking about spending more just to get back into a nice Benz (maybe a used '04 E55)
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