Seriously considering 2012 Accord 4dr EX-L V6 Navi

[Vikas]

ILX and TSX look very stylish. What are the competitors for those cars? It seems as if Acura is carving out its own niche in nimble 4-door 4-cyl sporty pseudo-luxury car. If they decide to put the 2.4 Vtech in ILX, it will be a killer car.

Anybody know if Acura calls for 5W20 semi-synthetic? I would probably stick with 5-6K OCI regardless of what the computer says. Annual single drain and fill of DW-1 should be it for next five six years. Do turkey baster PS fluid and brake fluid annually and I could delay the full brake flush for few years or until I need the new pads. The coolant, plugs and timing belt must be on the 7/105 schedule. That leaves cabin air filter (annual) and engine air filter (annual). I almost forgot about wiper inserts! Anybody knows if wiper inserts can be purchased in bulk and saved for decade?

I don't fail for dealer's usual "inspect this" and "inspect that" maintenance items. I would probably have to pay them for first few gravy services just to keep good relationship with the service department but that will stop. Every time the car is on the lift for an oil change, those items get looked over.

 

[adolan21]

They did put the 2.4 VTEC engine in the ILX. That's the 2.4 available with a 6 speed manual. Judging by the specs, it's the same 2.4L that's in the Civic Si the K24Z7.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Yes, the 2.4L ILX can ONLY be had with the 6-speed manual transmission. From what I read, that K24 ILX is a real hoot to drive. The R20 version, which is what you would get if you wanted an automatic, is much tamer.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Anybody know if Acura calls for 5W20 semi-synthetic? I would probably stick with 5-6K OCI regardless of what the computer says. Annual single drain and fill of DW-1 should be it for next five six years. Do turkey baster PS fluid and brake fluid annually and I could delay the full brake flush for few years or until I need the new pads. The coolant, plugs and timing belt must be on the 7/105 schedule. That leaves cabin air filter (annual) and engine air filter (annual). I almost forgot about wiper inserts! Anybody knows if wiper inserts can be purchased in bulk and saved for decade?


1) I think Acura is using 0W-20 in everything now. Check the oil filler cap on the front cylinder head cover.

2) I personally do a drain/fill of the ATF on ours every 15,000 miles, or every 3 oil changes. Annually should work also.

3) Coolant is 5 years or 60,000 miles...or at least is on our '05 and '08 models. I reckon the new models are the same. The timing belt is on the 7/105 schedule.

4) Annual cabin air filter changes would be prudent, but the engine air filter really only needs changing every 30-50k miles. Annual would be very much overkill on that in my humble opinion.

5) Acura/Honda wiper inserts are excellent in my experience. I wouldn't buy them in advance unless the closest dealer is a LONG distance away.

Good luck with your new TL.

 

[Vikas]

Once I am on my own i.e. stopped going to the dealer after couple of visits, I will just mail order the consumables once from reputable Acura/Honda place, including the wiper inserts. The local Honda dealer charges double the list price for any part :-(

Dozen oil filters, half dozen of cabin filters, couple of engine air filters, dozen dw-1 bottles, three psf bottles should be just over two hundred bucks and would last me 60K or so. I will have to watch for oil deals as they pop up. I would most likely still take it to the shop for the oil change but I will provide the oil and filter rather than using his bulk oil. I need to make sure he stays in business

Any suggestion for picking up the official Acura Helm's service manual? [I had already registered at acurazine few years ago and usually snap anything which shows up there if you know what I mean :-] Honda/Acura factory service manual make a great reading material even if I never ever were to make my hands dirty myself.

One disadvantage of buying Acura TL is that all of the internet groups are full of teenager rice crowd but generally there is lot of collective knowledge. Any other recommendation for the car specific forum?

 

[adolan21]

It should be the same 6 speed that's in the TSX and let me tell you that thing is sweet to drive. Great clutch, awesome gear shifter, it really is a pleasure to drive. I really think Honda has some of the best manuals in the business.

 

[Vikas]

Bringing this thread back on the topic, are there any more tricks that I need to be aware of when I complete the transaction by handing over humongous cashier's check to the dealer? I already laughed at the accessory sheet. Is paint protection and rust proofing supposed to pushed during purchase and sale or at closing? And I almost forgot about the extended warranty! Would telling the salesman "Tell you F&I guy to take the day off today" do the trick?

Does somebody have a checklist of things for tomorrow when I pick up the vehicle?

 

[Hokiefyd]

If they push the Honda Care (and they will), offer them half for it. I've bought two extended warranties lately, and I've paid about $600 for each of them, instead of the $1,200-1,500 asking price.

 

[Vikas]

I am home! Picked it up with 12 miles on the clock and now it has around 55. MID shows 29.7 mpg, not bad!

The garage door opener programmed but does not open the garage. Looks like I will have to climb up to the opener itself :-(

 

[Vikas]

With thelp of my son, I was able to program the garage door opener. It is definitely a two people job. In the process, I accidentally erased the GDO memory. That means now I have to go through this rigamarole with the van once my wife comes back :-(

To be honest, I have no idea what was the exact sequence to get the new car programmed for the rolling codes. After three four tries, it did finally worked.

The flow chart on how to do the programming from the Acura's owner's manual is insane. It assumes that you have access to the actual handheld remote control. Thank God that we still have them as the other vehicles did not have HomeLink. If there is a way to program HomeLink without 1) original remote 2) two people, please let me know.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I've programmed the homelink on both our cars by myself. I think you have 30 or 60 seconds from the moment you press the learn button on the back of the garage opener unit (the one near your garage's ceiling) to the time you press a button on the homlink in your car. Was that not the case with your TL?

See if this gives you any less confusing instructions:
http://www.homelink.com/program

 

[Vikas]

Once you understand the principle of Homelink, then it makes sense. Homelink first needs to know the frequency of the remote/GDO. It can only learn that once you use a handheld remote to teach that to the Homelink system. Then for syncing up the rolling codes, you have to tell the GDO to accept the Homelink transmitter. So, it is a two stage process by design.

I managed to get all the remotes working now.

My wife is "forcing" me to drive the new car. What can I do? I just follow the orders! It was a blast to commute to work today. One of the nice thing about this engine/transmission setup is how closely it performs to a nice manual shifting transmission, including all the engine braking! It feels good to drive the car.

Amount of buttons in the car are overwhelming. The owners manual alone is 600 page and that does not include the navigation/audio system which has its own book. It took me half of my commuting time to tune to my usual FM morning show. Forget about doing anything with the navigation while driving. At least blue-tooth integration with iPhone is flawless.

I am still tweaking the seat and mirror positions to find the perfect setting. All in all, car is a blast to drive and handles surprisingly well for a big-fat-rear-[censored] car. Is it worth the significant premium over an Accord? I had thought "No" before driving the TL. Obviously, I had a change of heart once I took few test drives in TL. I guess this was more from the heart decision rather than from the head.

 

[k24a4]

Well, if you plan on keeping the car for 200k miles, best your heart be involved. Sounds like a great car, enjoy! Keep is updated. BTW what does your son think of Dad's new ride?

 

[Hokiefyd]

The TL will become very intuitive to use with some more seat time. I find that Honda's navigation systems are among the easier to use. Their screens don't have the highest resolution, but their user interface is pretty straight-forward.

And yes, isn't that V-6 a honey of an engine? The transmission holds gears very well; you can drive it just like a manual without the 3rd pedal.

 

[Vikas]

Son was impressed when he came back from school and saw the car in the driveway. He liked the color. Well, he better because it was his choice! When he saw similar one at the dealer lot, it still had all the white protectors on it. "The front looks good", he says. Smart kid, huh? In the evening I took the family to a nearby temple. After coming home, my son asks "when do I get to drive this car?" "How about right now??" So we switched the seats and he takes us to his high school and back. He finds it little better than his 99 Camry

Having been in this country now for almost 35 years, I still have not developed the accents which the car can understand. The salesman was telling me, "you need to talk in American accents before the lady will understand your commands!" Life would be so easy if only my car would understand me.

First annoyance with this car:- No way to get both odo and trip displayed at the same time :-( Would it have killed Acura to add an extra line on that MID?

Second annoyance:- It allows all windows and moon-roof to open via remote but if you want the reverse operation i.e. close everything, you can only do that with a real mechanical key in the door. With the keyless remote, you will take the physical key out from the fob, insert it in the door, turn it and hold it until all the windows/roof are closed.

Not annoyance but getting used to:- keyless locking can not be verified i.e. after you lock it and then go to check it, it instantly unlocks again.

The engine/trans combo is only next to 535xi in terms of the feel and the performance. I like the way it uses engine braking rather than coasting when I let the gas pedal go. This could be totally irrational preference but for me it does add to driving enjoyment.

Any other 4GL TL users around here?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Second annoyance:- It allows all windows and moon-roof to open via remote but if you want the reverse operation i.e. close everything, you can only do that with a real mechanical key in the door.

It's a safety issue and it's a typical approach on most/all cars. They want to avoid getting sued if someone sticks their hand or head in the window and it gets pinched because you inadvertently force close all windows while not seeing the car (standing some distance away).

Some cars will allow you to reprogram the ECU to over ride it, alas a dealer would never agree to doing this for liability reasons.

 

[Coprolite]

QP, the autoreverse(pinch protection) should keep anything from getting caught in the windows.

I was filling the tires in my F30 335. When I closed the door and leaned through the window to feed the compressor power line to the 12v, for some reason the windows started to close. When it hit me in the stomach, it stopped.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Well, I suppose some of these autopinch protection systems are more sensitive than others, but it's still possible that one might harm a small child, especially if it somehow malfunctions.

 

[Vikas]

Anybody tell me the advantages of the auto dimming mirror? This is the first vehicle I am driving with that feature and I am not sure I am liking it. I don't even know if it is really working or not but it does have the green light on in the mirror.

I am also shocked that XM loses reception when the car goes under a overpass. How in the world that technology took off with such a restriction? Is there a setting which allows receiver to do some buffering and time delay the material to overcome temporary loss of satellite signal?

It is difficult to keep the car under speed limit and my cumulative gas mileage is dropping after every trip. To properly break-in, it needs to be accelerated briskly at least few times during every trip. Well, that is what I am telling myself

- Vikas

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
To properly break-in, it needs to be accelerated briskly at least few times during every trip. Well, that is what I am telling myself

Sounds like a plan to me.

There is time to beat MPG records. And then there is time to have some fun.