Which model did you come from?

 

no need to debate no need to think just do it. get it and love it. no objections whatsoever.

 

We had a TL before moving to a G37S in 2008.

I -- or more accurately, my wife -- had an 04 Acura TL with a 5AT that I drove some of the time. It was a great car: It was "performance-oriented", but not really what I would consider a hot car. Dependable and fun for sure, but it wasn't a serious BMW 3-series killer. Alas, there was no Type S option on the 2004's.

Don't get me wrong: I liked the TL. But two things dampened my enthusiasm for it.

First, it was nose-heavy as hell, being FWD. Despite its fat all-seasons, it always felt like it was plowing into corners. Horrific understeer even under the best of conditions, which were few.

Second, the manual mode should have been called "babysitted mode." The damn thing wouldn't let you select the correct gear unless it had been pre-approved by Honda's executive board 3 weeks earlier. Clearly the flappy paddles were added to the car to compete with other brands in a checkbox comparison.

I have an 08 G37S, which is better than the 04 TL in a lot of areas, but worse in some. And the differences stem primarily because the TL and the G37 are, at their core, trying to fulfill two different purposes.

The TL is a sporty 5 passenger sedan, made to put a performance edge on everyday family hauling; whereas the G37 is a grand tourer, whose purpose is to provide the driver and, at most, one single passenger with an exhilarating road experience. (Yes, the G37 has a rear seat and sets of seat belts, but let's be realistic. No one with legs permanently attached to their torso can sit back there for any reasonable length of time.)

One thing I noticed when transitioning from the TL to the G is that you will lose the legendary Honda "road in your lap" feeling. In the G, you will see the swoops in the front fenders. You can actually see the hood. You will sit lower to the road. The doors will encroach on your shoulders. The center console will be higher. You will feel like you are in the cockpit of a serious driver's car.

Which it almost is. The auto tranny still babysits you when paddle shifting, but not nearly as bad as in the TL. If you had navi in your TL, the G's navi (well, at least my version in my 08) will **** you off to no end. Even though it can work, it flat sucks in comparison to the Honda units that are years older.

Nissan also had the idea that it would be wise to prevent you from doing certain things while the car is in motion, where your Acura would probably let you do just about anything at any time. One thing that frustrates me is that I can't make it memorize seat and mirror positions while the car is moving. I'm not talking about *changing* positions, I mean that if I tune the angle of the mirrors a little bit, I am not allowed to record them unless the car is stopped. Stupid!

All that said, I prefer the G to the TL overall. The things I like are the wildly better handling and higher power output. I also think the G is sexier looking, but could be improved. Even so, the ugliest G37 is better looking than what most other car companies produce.

 

I personally like the '11 G nav better than my '10 TSX nav. Both have drawbacks, but the Acura version seems quite dated in comparison. The G will actually tell me the speed limit and flash when the limit changes. The accuracy is only as good as the last update, but it does help a lot. My Acura still tries to direct me down roads that don't exist or doesn't know that "new" ones exist, even though the roads around here have got to be at least 5 years old.

I really like both cars for different reasons. The Acura is wonderful for highway economy and the surround sound. The G is great around town and local highways with the booming Bose. I have a feeling the Acura will retire this year in favor of a bigger family vehicle, unless I can convince the wife that the new 3 is worth the size tradeoff now that the horrible interior of the last gen is soon to go by the wayside.

 

Bahaha! Quote of the day!