D&G

This would be a no brainer for me. I would go with the Acura TL no doubt about it. I have 2 friends that bought one a few months ago and it is a great car and they love it. I test drove it and it has plenty of hp to spear. The Navi and sound system is the best one I seen and heard. The interior is far the best in looks and technology in my mind. During the night, it gives off a blue glow to the interior. The exterior I would choose the IS250 and TL for second. I test drove all 3 cars and for $35k it is no doubt a winner. However, I would personally spend another $10k for the IS350 b/c of the performance it gives off. But for $35k that would be my first choice. The G35 is very stale in terms of interior and exterior. I feel Infiniti has cut alot of corners in that car. It just didn't feel like a luxury sport sedan. I feel I am driving a Nissan Altima. I see nothing I liked about the G35. The IS250 is a great car but I think it is price too much for a 200hp car. So hope you make the right choice and let us know what you choose.

LexFather

Wait about 2 months when the car starts falling apart. The Tl inteiror is a mimic of a Lexus interior, down to the electroluminicent gauges. You cannot say the G35 cut corners and not say the same thing about the TL.

picus

Aside from exxagerating a bit, 1SICKLEX makes a good point. As good a value as the TL/G35 are both companies did skimp on the interior materiels to make up for the money they spent on the engine/drivetrain in the case of the G35, and the features/options in the case of the TL. Every time you read about one the phrase "good value" comes up, and it's true - but there is a reason for that. It's the same reason the IS250/IS350 may not currently be bargains but will have better interior quality, and will still sell cars. They have a nameplate power.

Infiniti was all but forgotten in the sports/lux area a few years ago and Acura doesn't have the brand name to compete with Lexus/BMW head to head, so both companies had to offer cars that were "good values" to compete, which is great - it means you can get a 35k spots/lux sedan with a 298hp/260tq smooth V6 or loaded to the gills like the TL, but it also means that you're getting that deal at the expense of something, and in this case it's plastic aluminium trim, and rattling windows. That doesn't make them bad cars, far from it - it just means they need to be priced less and stand out to compete, and that takes a little corner cutting. It also doesn't mean Lexus/BMW's are perfect - they just have the luxury of having a nameplate that comands a little more respect, BMW as the "ultimate driving machine" and Lexus for incredible luxury, reliabilty, and refinment.

Cheers

super_cjc

I will always go for a rear-wheel drive when choosing a sports sedan.
TL may look good on paper but still can’t beat the driving experience of good rear-wheel drive sports sedans.

newr

well said.

Nauticalx

I agree with many of the comments made on the TL. The best day of my experience with my 2005 TL was THE DAY I GOT RID OF IT.
The car is a POS, why?

Rattles, Rattles, and more annoying Rattles
Constant vibration at 1500 rpms coming from drivetrain, unknown problem but almost all TLs have it
**** poor durability, paint chips like a ****, deep leather wrinkles in seat within 500 miles, dash board that fades to a nasty milky white (mmmm just need some oreos now!)
Misaligned body parts especially the trunk causing rust and paint problems
Auto tranny- still characteristic of the poorly performing trannys in the older TLs and CLs
Paint mismatch in color betwen bumpers and body of car
Paint mottling or swirly uneveness in the metallic part of the paint
Headliner that droops or falls down repeatedly
Subwoofer that busts repeatedly and rattles
Problems with whinning noises from under hood when car gets over 30,000 miles, unknown cause!

The car is a piece of crap to put it nicely and what makes it unbearable is acura has the worst customer service I have ever seen. It is a disgrace how they treat people, their customer service line is a "you did it and its your problem" line.

Its a great designed car but it is built and supported like crap, stay away. But if you dont, PM me in a short while when you cant stand the car anymore so I can feel sorry for you.

Minarets

whoa!

easy partner

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?

picus

Unfortauntely I don't think he would have been able to exercise lemon laws on that car, since most of the issues were with fitment, and not the operation of the car.

AM1

iTrader: (6)

well i finally test drove a IS250 today and i have to say that the engine is not strong enough. it drops out at the top end where the extra 1.0 liter displace ment would have helped. and the car felt very small and cramped especially in the back. the dealer where i test drove didnt have any IS350's to test drive so i guess i have to wait a while. the dealer said that they might be willing to discount maybe a couple hundred under msrp but not much more since they were selling them before they even got to the dealership. after that i went to test drive a 2005 g35 and loved the power and the interior was greatly upgraded. hmmmmm...................

jeffyee123

I just went through the same decision and this was what I thought

TL: Best price by far, but drove like a tank (felt like my mom's old volvo 940). Since I like performance i disqualified it. Looks wise, i liked it better than the g35, but not better than the IS

G35: Best value if you get all the extras. Best handling and was the funnest to drive. You can get a fully loaded g35 (nav, sports package, etc...) for A LOT less than the IS350 fully loaded. Also you can actually find these cars at the dealership. The dealerships are willing to make good deals (invoice +/- a little), especially since the IS just came out and they're losing business. You can get a great deal on a 2005 right now. Nav doesn't have voice activation.

IS: Best looking interior and exterior in my opinion. handling is just under the g35. just as fast as a g35 (maybe faster) Most expensive car since it just came out. Really hard to find a dealer who will give you anything off MSRP (eventually i was lucky and found what i was looking for for invoice +1000)

I really liked the IS but was having a really hard time since I personally don't like paying MSRP for a car...Invoice + 3%-5% is what I'm used to doing. I went back and forth between the G35 and the IS350...even though i liked the IS more the pricing thing really bugged me.

For me, I wanted everything orginally, but after playing with the Nav, and realizing that deals probably couldn't be made on Nav models (high demand), I realized that an offboard nav system could be added (tom tom, etc...) at a later date and I'd be just as happy.

By, giving up the Nav, I got a smokin fast car, that looks great...and at the price point i wanted. i gave up on a couple bells and whistles, but am a happier man because of it.

It really comes down to this...a car is a big expenditure...if you're like me, you'll buy 1 every 6-8 years, so my friends gave me good advice , "buy what you would be happy driving". Nothing would be a worse feeling than buying something that you felt you got ripped off for, or getting the price you wanted but not liking everything about your car.

Don't buy a car and wish that, you hadn't spent so much money for it, or left out that option, or bought a different car later...all three cars are great....just depends on what you like!

Jeff

ShenLong

All great cars but G35 for the best driving experience. I hated the 03 & 04 interior but I was actually comfortable in the 05 interior, great value.

Bluestars

I have a 2004 Acura TL with 49,000 miles on it. And I am dying to get ride of it, unfortunately I have another year on the lease. Nauticax experience is not usually. I experienced a lot of the same thing that Nauticax experienced with my TL. I had a rattle from day 1. It was a minor rattle/vibration but never the less when you get a new car even if it is an economy car you don’t expect to hear any rattling or vibration. I called customer service, nothing – they acknowledge the problem but couldn’t do anything about it. Now I have a rattle in my rear passenger door. The rattle is so loud and annoying that I always have the radio on when driving. I have to bring in the car in for the third time to see what the cause of the rattle. The back light illumination on my seat heater button and some of the satellite buttons on my steering wheel does not illuminate at night. I have a black interior and the dashboard like Nauticalx said has faded and now it looks like it has this chalk dust on it. The leather seats have not stood up very well. The seat cushion of my driver seat has cracks. The rear plastic covering on passenger seat came off and was fixed under warranty. The Bluetooth stop working and had to be replaced under warranty. The torque steer is pronounced when accelerating and I have an automatic. When I brake hard the car wants to verve off. For the value you are missing some basic things that are standard on a lot lower cars like automatic and daytime running headlights. The stereo is good, but don’t buy it because it plays DVD Audio because mostly likely you will never use it, DVD Audio CDs are expensive and have limited titles. The good thing about this car is the Bluetooth, and Navi other then that I could not recommend this car from my personal experience. I truly regret leasing this car

LexFather

Welcome to Clublexus

BaLLzZz

I have too agree with the majority. I have a 2004 tl navi with 39000k. All same problems. Blk dash wear, seat cracks, dead bulbs, squeaky breaks, check engine light on(broken sensors) I also think acura has the chepaest paint around. HmMMM what else now i have a ticking noise from my engine some mroe rattles and when they fix one thing they breka another. My steering wheel was so faded they gave me a new one and broke the ring in the steering wheel had to wait extra day then they put that in and broke another plastic piece and had to wait another day. Car needs wheel alignment blah blah i gave acura a list of 26 things my invoice paper was 9 pages long. Cannot wait until i get my is350 in feb-mar(dont want to take delivery in middle of winter).
P.S. Brother just picked up 06 rx330 loaded beatiful car. Hes with lexus i cannot wait