siegen

The HSC.

This thread has several high-res shots of the '09 TL in various colors.

I have no problem with small cars.

I'm surprised, I figured they were going to bring back the last gen smaller Tundra and pass it off as the MMC, I'm sure they still have all the tooling.

Sample size is approximately 0.6% of all new vehicles sold between November 2004 and April 2005. A fairly good size sample, but still leaves a fairly large margin for error. I don't disagree that the Accent is reliable, but who wants an Accent? If I had one I would never have problems with it, because I'd never drive it.

Well ya better go sit in one. My 6'3" friend said there was plenty of room, even with me (the driver) having the seat back for me to be comfortable. My 5'11" friend in the passenger seat could stretch his legs completely forward and the guy behind him (sale guys) wasn't complaining (nor would he anyway). I was also very pleasantly surprised by the width increase, as two people can share the middle arm rest now without touching at all. It felt noticeably larger inside than the '08, and I liked the controls better as they seemed better placed.

Some more exterior/interior colors (these are official pics, not photoshopped like the blue one above):

The '09 TL is what the RL should have been from the start. It is more substantial, has more presence, and more performance. There have been spyshots of the next RL mule, using a chopped up '09 TSX body. The proportions are that of the old Legend, which indicates a longitudinally mounted engine, and it is very likely to be RWD with SH-AWD option or only RWD-based SH-AWD. It is very long as well. So I have no doubt the next RL will trump the '09 TL, but that won't be for another year or so. Until then, RL sales will probably continue to suffer (we'll know next month, when the August sales reports are released and the mid-model change RL has had a month to sell).

The RL has been made almost completely irrelevant by the 2009 TL, at least that is the opinion of most people. The RL still offers some tech options that the TL doesn't have, I think. The new "real" RL is a year or so away. The problem with Acura's current lineup is that the cars all receive their full-model changes in short order, which leaves a three year period where there is no FMC for a car. Also, the TSX receives its FMC first, then the TL, then the RL, which is the opposite order it should go in. The higher models need to receive FMC first, then new tech and styling can carry downwards, and they don't end up with a lower end model overlapping a higher model.

The Fit is not "outdated". Despite being old (2001 model) it is still at the head of its class against much newer vehicles. If the supply was there, it could probably go on another 2-3 years in its current form and become the sales leader for sub-compacts. Possibly the reason it has nearly doubled in sales the last month may be because we are getting the last of the old model supply from other countries which are now selling the new one. Or there may be somewhere that is still producing the current model and we are now getting 100% of that supply. I know that Honda will produce the new Fit here as well, perhaps they have shifted some domestic production to the current Fit. There is no argument against the fact that the Fit has been severely limited in supply since its US intro. I've never seen more than one or two on the dealer lot. Honda has stated before that it doesn't care if it is the sales leader, and it doesn't produce a model to achieve that goal. Matching or beating the Aveo and Yaris in sales is not important. Edit: Also the Yaris and Aveo both have two models to the Fit's one. The Fit does have a sedan variant, but it probably won't be sold over here.

Full Article Overall a very positive review. My favorite quote: With a 6-speed manual, the super-handling TL should be in the low 5 second range for 0-60, depending on how aggressively launched it is.

The new TSX is not small, and the back seats are pretty roomy. The V6 and AWD are probably the main reasons. There may be some features unique to the TL as well.

You can get optional wood trim, which will probably make it look more "luxury" and less like the Accord. Both the Accord and TL have a sporty/techno style interior, which is why they bare a resemblance. It isn't nearly as bad as the resemblance the Lexus IS has to the Camry and Corolla.

I saw one on the road. The spoiler doesn't fit the car, and looks a little bit ridiculous. Didn't get a good look at the front.

Not surprising since about 70% of the reactions on www.vtec.net are also negative. It's the same story as it was with the Civic, CR-V, TSX, RL, Pilot, Ridgeline... pretty much every new Honda product.

I present the 2009 TL Type S in Electron Blue Pearl!

I see what you mean, the door cut line is strange. Why didn't they make that last bit of chrome part of the door? Oh well it certainly isn't bad. It could be much worse..... 10 e-cookies for the first person to guess what car this styling disaster comes from:

Looks very nice, I'm liking this car. The tail lights still aren't quite fitting, but not bad. I can't wait to drive one of these, in black which should look 10x better. Why do they always stick the "what this means to you" bits in at the end, with utterly meaningless dribble written in them? The world will never know.

While we're spouting out gross exaggerations, I would never buy a RWD car because they spin out every time you touch the throttle, and the driveshaft hump takes up at least 50% of the cabin space.

Looks like a hopelessly generic Kia/Hyundai product. The main thing I didn't like on the concept was the side crease, which is horribly cheap looking. Even the hood vents weren't bad. The concept looked pretty damn good actually. What happened? This production vehicle carries absolutely none of the feeling that the concept did. Perhaps it is just the angle and picture, but I think not. Did I mention the side crease looks bad? The one thing they could have changed from the concept and they didn't.

Wow, Chrysler fleets practically half the vehicles it makes!

Gotta love sensationalism! "Let GM Die", what a title. What is accomplished by this interview? I didn't really take away anything insightful or thought invoking from it. That guy sure seemed happy to yammer on though. Why is he talking again? And that Yahoo employee needs to stop pretending like she didn't just graduate from college with a general studies degree and this is her first job. "GE... err GM, oops, what's the difference? *giggle*giggle*"

If any of you are interested, new numbers are available at fleet-central that are only a couple months old. Here is the complete spreadsheet of all models retail and fleet sales and percentages.

Or if they made AWD standard on all their cars with no option for FWD. The real answer is to go back to longitudinally mounted engines and proportions like the old Legend. Thankfully they are moving that direction already, spyshots of next RL mule using a chopped-up TSX body. RWD proportions FTW