siegen

There was a 2-part interview on KBB with someone from Acura talking about the specifics of the next TL, and it had several scenes of it driving through twisty mountain roads. The gray/silver color they chose was poor, but it still looked solid. In more interesting colors this car will look great, IMHO. And you couldn't even see the fender flare in the video.

The videos were pulled and I can't seem to find them. I think they must have been posted accidentally and weren't supposed to be released yet. Here's what I remember from them.

The price will range from $34,000 to $42,000. There will be a base FWD model with 3.5L 280HP and a SH-AWD model with 3.7L 305HP. Both models will have one option, the technology package. The ELS surround system nearly doubles in power to the mid 400W range, and has 10 speakers. Navigation is no longer touch screen, but uses the knob. It can have real weather and Doppler radar overlaid on the nav map as well. EPA rating for the FWD model will be 18/26 with automatic. SH model will be 16/24 or 17/25, I do not remember exactly. No mention of manual transmission. The 6MT is possibly coming on the SH model in 2010, not sure if there will be a 6MT offered on the base model or not.

Hmm. I'm still excited to test drive the 6MT '09 TSX.

Lexus and Toyota's days at the top are numbered I tell ya!

These results are from 2005 MY vehicles. With all the recalls Toyota has had in the last couple years, I predict they will fall down lower in the rankings in the next couple years.

When our magnetic field goes the way of Mars we're all screwed anyway. Let's just keep burning oil.

This doesn't seem safe, having the two cars smashed against each other and lifted in the air, especially if hydraulics are slowly pushing them together more. Sharp pieces of metal could become exposed, or a kid could crawl underneath them. I take it the hydraulics are only activated when the exhibit is closed, and then a full inspection is done before the exhibit reopens each day? That seems like the only safe way to do it.

Bring a sack lunch, and leave it at your desk or not in a shared area such as the fridge. Use a cold pack if needed.

There's no way that 280 million people received those checks, there's only a little over 300 million people in the US. There are certain requirements one has to meet, and I did not meet them (only worked in the summer) nor did anyone I know that's my age other than people who work full-time. Obviously anyone under 16 isn't getting one, and neither is anyone who is retired. Those people make up more than 20 million of 300 million in the population.

Still, it was probably a lot of money.

You're right. Going off the CIA world factbook (love that site), the population is approximately 304 million, and only 67% of those are aged between 15 and 64, or about 200 million. Of those people you have to take out all the people who are not working for whatever reason, such as high school and college students who choose not to work, people who retired early, etc. I bet the real number of people eligible to receive $600 is closer to 160-170 million.

But then you have to factor in all the other costs associated with the "stimulus checks". The cost of the government employee's who worked on it, the cost to print all the checks, the cost of the president and other official's time spent talking about the damn thing, plus any interest or other cost accrued. It probably did cost the government $168 billion, even though only 60-75% of it actually went to the citizens. And I wouldn't be surprised if the percentage is much worse than that.

That's the funniest sh*t I've heard all morning!!!

Maybe he meant "assembled in the USA by temp workers who aren't intelligent or concious enough to create anything anymore but instead are used as disposable labor for the REAL world leaders."

Remember: Americans can't even make beer anymore.

Corrected. ;-]

At $40,000 the Volt will be cost effective over a current Pruis at 175k miles

At $30,000 the Volt will be cost effective over a current Pruis at 75k miles

Every bit helps.

Cost effective over the current Prius, but the Prius isn't exactly the most cost effective vehicle. If you could obtain a Prius at the base MSRP, it wouldn't be too bad, but we all know that won't happen. You have to look at both sides of the coin, the Volt will also see considerable markup over MSRP when it first is released. That is, if it is as popular as it's supposed to be.

And will the Volt be cost effective over a $18,500 60 MPG vehicle?

olds, doesn't gm hope to reduce the price quickly? and it would pay for itself very quickly if it was all driving in it's battery's capacity.

GM does plan to reduce the price. The first year will be very expensive and limited production, but as production ramps up the price will fall. I have doubts it will ever fall below $30,000, but it might not be too bad with government tax credits.

And remember, the plug-in power costs money too, unless you have solar panels on your house or something like that.

It was a beautiful sunny day at GM's proving ground in Milford, Michigan in mid-May when GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz invited me to watch him test the E-Flex system behind the new Chevy Volt. Given the enthusiasm surrounding the Volt, I jumped at the opportunity. Would E-Flex deliver on the promise that's been built up surrounding GM's electric car? The answer: Yes.

We taped Bob driving the Volt E-Flex system for our CNBC documentary "Saving GM" which airs tomorrow night. The Volt's "guts" were in a Chevy Malibu "mule" car for the Lutz run. We didn't care. We wanted to see for ourselves how the Volt's battery-powered engine ran. Lutz was only supposed to do a lap at the Milford proving ground. But he loved the experience and performance so much, he kept going, and going -which was in no way part of the plan. With our cameras mounted in the car, he showed the pleasure of driving a car where the acceleration was smooth and the only thing he could hear was wind noise because the electric drive train is so quiet.

After Lutz finished his ride he talked about this being the most exciting test drive of his career. I can see why. If the Volt delivers the performance that GM is promising, it WILL be a revolutionary vehicle. But there are still many hurdles to overcome before we see the Volt in showrooms in late 2010. When we met with GM engineer's at the Volt lab, they showed a quiet confidence that they will be able to conquer the challenges facing the Volt.

Tomorrow night on "Saving GM" you can see Bob's test drive, and the latest on GM's hopes for the Volt. Judge for yourself if you think this electric car will be the "electrifying" game changer GM needs.

Rofl. Well if this isn't about ridiculous.

Putting this into context, suppose Toyota CEO Watanabe test drove the next Prius and allowed some reporters to film it, then afterwards stated it was the most exciting test drive of his career. Would we not all laugh hysterically?

I liked the styling of old TSX way better. The new one is down right homely.

Have you looked it over in person yet? There was an old TSX on the lot, and compared side by side to the new it looks dated and small.

That's funny because most reviews have put it as not a clear step over the last one.

I'm not sure why some reviews are saying that, it is obvious that the new car is much improved in the luxury and comfort department. It feels more powerful as well; although certainly not V6 power, it is sufficient. Not being one that likes to settle, I would prefer a V6, however the 30mpg highway rating of the TSX sure makes it attractive in its current state.

I made sure to test all of the interior surfaces. The upper dash, despite the slightly odd pattern, is still soft touch. The leather is very nice and covers the arm rests in the middle and on the door. The areas that are hard plastic or "fake" aluminum (or whatever it is) don't feel cheap. The seats are very very nice, without a doubt improved over the old one.

I tapped on the front grille, and it is plastic-type material. I wonder how it will wear over time.

Our dealers in Texas are totally out of Civics hence the sales decline. Last couple of months of great sales cleaned them all out. Pilot took a nose dive.

I drive by the Honda dealership and all I see are used cars from other brands. The lot is practically full of them. There are plenty of new Honda's on the lot too, although there are not very many Civics and there might be one or two Fits. It sucks if you're actually looking at buying one of those vehicles, because there will be no room to negotiate and the dealer might try to inflate the price. The Pilot, Odyssey, and other "light trucks" have already seen production slashing to account for the lesser demand for those vehicles. As a result I didn't see very many on the lot. It's better than being overstocked I suppose, for them.

I will repeat what I say about the Camry and it's sales every month: They LEASE the crap out of it. You cannot open a newspaper or watch TV without being bombarded with the Camry at $169-$189/Mo no money down lease being thrown at you! GM offers NOTHING that size for that kind of money in that class. Period. Honda is right behind them with great leases on Accord.

Simply put, if the Toyota and Honda were not so highly incentivised, the numbers might swing the other way or be a bit closer. But, with gas @ $4.00, people are buying/leasing based on payments alone.

Heavy incentives on the Accord? I don't see anything but a couple lease specials, which are $219 for the base model and up, right now. It is the "08 Honda clearance" right now, which they have every year. The leases are probably a little higher otherwise.

I drove the '09 on Saturday. Base model with automatic. Huge step up from the previous TSX, which I drove recently as well (both 5AT and 6MT). While I did like the '08 TSX when I drove them, they were rather mundane. The '09 left me wanting to buy the car on the spot, even with the automatic. Very nice and comfortable interior, with very intuitive controls. I got comfortable driving the car almost immediately. The steering is very quick (short ratio) and precise. It does lack road feedback, but it is smooth and does exactly what I wanted it to. I can say with confidence that the reviews so far that have complained about steering are really nit-picking. The engine is more powerful than before in the midrange, and I had four 170~lb adults in the car. Accelerating on an uphill onramp wasn't difficult, it revved quickly and without complaint, which I did not expect given how loaded the car was and with the automatic (and only 9 miles on the odometer). Above 2500rpms with heavy load (like the uphill onramp) the engine did get a little raspy or coarse sounding, which is really my only complaint about the car. It's not a V6, but I think for a 4-cylinder this is about as good as it gets.

And I must say, this car is very attractive. One of my non-car buds commented on the front end, saying it was "bad ass". Yes that's right, the grill and all. My favorite color is black, but the Blue Pearl color is also very very nice. Overall this car is a huge improvement on the luxury side of things. It felt like a luxury car to me, while the '08 TSX did feel more like a nice Honda.

Now I'm waiting for a 6MT to become available.

I saw one a couple days ago at the local Hyundai dealership as I drove by. Didn't pay too much attention to it.

There might be a program that tells you more about a specific dll process, but I have forgotten what it was. Sometimes viruses and malware will show up in a process, other times they won't. Try running Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and TrendMicro Housecall. Those are both free and are good at detecting malware and viruses. The later is a browser based program. You can also try AVG Free Edition which is another good virus program. After updating the programs with the latest definitions, be sure to start up in safe mode (usually tap F8 during boot) and run them again.

Best advice is to reinstall Windows though. I do it once every other year or so, even though I have zero problems with malware. Windows gets a bit messy after a while, and even the best registry cleaning programs can't fix it entirely.

Of the entire Acura line up, the current TL has always pleased my eyes. The problem I had with it for the longest time was I could not remember what the model designation was, often confusing myself and calling it RL. Pretty embassing when talking car shop with others. Alphanumeric names suck. I finally got tired of not remembering what is was called, I assigned my own name Tender Loving so I could remember the name during car conversations with others.

Tender Loving. Awesome.

New Acura Lineup:

Legend

NSX

Integra

Tender Loving

That is likely the funniest thing I've read all day. lol

Words....just....can't.....describe.....

:sign0200:

No wonder I'm seeing more Fits on the road.

When the new one comes out they're supposed to finally start building them domestically (as well as importing them), so the number will probably see another jump.

2 FCX Clarity FTW!@

I am impressed that Nissan managed to not post a decline this month. It looks to be thanks to the Rogue and EX which are both new models.

Why doesn't Nissan adjust for DSR? Adjusted for DSR and their real increase was 0.12%, which is more or less flat for the month.

Acura is losing it's way.

Lol, how is Acura losing their way? They have been doing things mostly the same since the introduction of Acura. Their recent designs incorporate styling elements from previous Acura's more than ever. Acura isn't losing its way, people's tastes are changing.

More mostly uncovered spyshots here. Very poor quality shots, but it has a nice side/rear-3/4 view.

As soon as I can afford 35k to buy a car I'm going to buy a Subaru WRX STI, so go put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Speaking of rice.......

you haven't seen a stylish car until you've seen a G8 cruising by on the road going the opposite way.

the proportions, fender sculpting, greenhouse, grille and details on the G8 are far superior to any TSX or TL (especially the ricer edition TL with the black wheels etc.)

the TL as it is currently is not ugly, but simply is not on a style level requisite to an upscale car. The current TL generates is buzz from a nicer interior, tech features, and honda dynamics.

Most German lux fans look at the TL as a joke, for example.

Yet its generally agreed the G8 GT is highly comparable in many facets to a 5 series BMW. And can easily be in the presence of it in just about every way.

You need to get out and study the shape of the G8, as it is driving by, and standing still. It clearly is head and shoulders above the TL, current and new, in every way. Just not enough folks have seen it yet.

BTW the 04+ Max is way nicer looking than the TL's too.

I do these things and for some strange reason I get the exact opposite reaction. And I see plenty of G8's on the road and parked; I drive by a BPG dealer quite often, less then 2 miles from my house. The G8's really do blend in nicely with the other Pontiac and Buick cars on the lot.

Germany luxury fans look down on the TL just like they look down on the G8, because it's not German.

Chris:

I can duct tape a piece of cat-turd to a solid-fuel rocket

and make it go faster than Mary-lou's 5.0 Mustang, that

does not make it a better for of vehicular transport. :wink:

Seriously though:

Most of the Hondas that run 11s get 6.5 MPG and

cost twice as much to build up as a Chevy 350

powered car weighing 400 more lbs., so what the

hell is the point of having a raspy little 4-banger

that is constantly trying to kill itself at 8000RPM

and often times DOES? seriously

Why do people still act like it's a big deal that a

Honda can whipp an old school Camaro/GTO or

whatever, it's been done. At the end of the day

the Hodnda comands no respect outside of it's

speed, it's still a $h!box meant to get groceries.

Your thoughts and rants are very unrealistic. I don't expect you to know a lot about Honda swaps, anymore than I know about V8 swaps. But the easiest way to make a drag-queen Civic would be to start with a 2000-2100 lbs 92-95 Civic hatchback, and swap a turbocharged engine into it. Of course all the axles and supporting parts will need to be replaced, but there is a huge aftermarket for just about all of it. Also, there is a wide range of engines to use that all swap into that car with mostly OEM parts. A 1.8L base Integra engine would be the cheapest, at around $300 (non-vtec). It is a pretty good choice since vtec is less important for a turbocharged engine designed for the drag strip. When it is rebuilt to handle the turbo it can be bored out to 2.0L with new sleeves without the need to replace the crankshaft or rods.

The idiots that spend too much on their Civic are the ones that feel they need a "Type R" engine imported from Japan, in which case they will spend $5000-7000 on just the engine. Those idiots are usually the same ones that buy overly priced and extravagant sound systems that don't actually sound that good and rattle their car to pieces. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of those idiots out there. The ones that get horrible gas mileage and shoot smoke out their tail pipe are the ones that are using a cheap engine management module instead of a quality unit like a Hondata, and not getting their car properly tuned by a dyno shop.

As a current 6MT TL owner I am looking forward to the new TL. I'm not currently a fan of the looks, but then I wasn't a fan of the new TSX pics but found it very nice in person. The only deal-breakers for me right now is whether or not I can get SH-AWD with a 6MT and whether or not Acura Canada will actually adjust their prices.

The only GM that I would currently consider test driving is the CTS. The G8 isn't even worth considering... and yes I know I can get it with a V8. Let the car without the hood scoops, boring exterior, and ugly interior cast the first stone.

It sounds like the TL will be offered with 6MT and SH-AWD for 2010, at least based on early leaked information.

See this thread on Sixty's favorite website. :AH-HA_wink:

Usually information that is posted by a mod in a main news item is fairly reliable, even if they can't give out their sources.

dude, the G8 is drop dead gorgeous and is not a muscle car styling exercise. if anything its a GM interpretation of BMW forms. The g8 looks in proper company parked next to any BMW.

the TL....not at all. its a visual abortion.

I disagree. The G8 does not look nearly as substantial as a BMW 5-series. It is plain, vanilla, and really only has muscular proportions going for it.

yet for the same money, the G8 is a much better use of money. more car and performance, unless you're obsessed with nav and a vtec logo on the engine cover. and love it when consumer reports reaffirms your decision.

More car? How is it more car? Because it has a V8?

Well I for one think Acuras are for Nerds, Wrinkled

baby-boomers & momma's boys. After they own

them for a few years (or lease) it becomes a "hand

me down" for a high school or college kid and after

that it goes to some inner city dope with a taste

for hennesey and "GANGSTA" tatoos.

It is at this point that the car becomes even MORE

unappealing when it receives a few gross scars like

perhaps a crunched hood and plastic over its

broken window. Then it gets 2 coils cut out of its

alrady tired springs, and subsequently the entire

undercarriage, oil & trans pans & gas tank get

scratched up as sparks fly when the car goes over

any & all (even minor) potholes & manhole covers.

Of course a all this is complemented by a 2 foot

tall decklid "Red Barron" spoiler, 20" rims with

gawwwd-awful styling & a body kit that is mostly

just cheap injection molded PVC that gets dry-wall

screwed to the squishy & rusty rocker panels.

I'll stop now...

I believe the car you are describing is a Cavalier.

Actually I am certain of it.