I have the 2008 Accord Brochure

[frainc]

My son, who own's a S2000 know a local Honda salesman because he too owns a S2000, gave him the new brochure tonight.

I have no scanner, sorry!

IMO, why buy a TL when you could get a new Accord. I really like the look of this car in and out.

Could only get the White Diamond Pearl with the EX-L V6 (Ivory Leather).

New color is a Polished Metal Metallic (Black or Gray Interior).

Brochure is broken down like many others, body, interior, engine, frame, etc.

I believe they will sell a ton of these.

[stevencrosbie]

IMO, why buy a TL when you could get a new Accord. I really like the look of this car in and out.



In my opinion...the new Accord doesn't offer much more than it did before besides the bluetooth in the Navi version.

You buy the TL for the driving experience....which was much better than the 7th gen.

The new Accord should sell like hot cakes though. It is really a nice car.

[chanke4252]

The current TL is still better than the 8th gen accord. What does the 8th gen accord have that the TL doesn't? The interior of the TL is better and the TL has a LSD, the quality of the leather will undoubtedly be higher, it looks better, it has more power, etc. I guess I just don't consider adding even more power to a ff car w/ an open differential much of an upgrade, even in combination w/ bluetooth and a few other things that I don't even consider when making a car purchase. I'd much rather buy a new TL (even a base model) than a new 8th gen accord, not to mention the TL-S 6speed.

[frainc]

OK, I know the TL is better than a Accord, but I also look at the cost of the total car, and the new Accord (EX-L V6) has alot to offer for the cost vs. a TL.

I did own a 2003 TL-S and was a really nice car, but again I also look at cost when buying a new car after the TL.

I'm not into speed or taking turns like a sports car, just a good around car that looks good and takes care of me in everyday driving.

[chanke4252]

Yah, the TL is more for "driving" than the accord is and doesn't quite have the bang-for-your-buck factor that the accord does. I'm really anxious to see what the pricing is like on the 09 TSXs though. Right now it is more or less the same price as a 6spd accord, but just trades a bit of the power for some luxuries. I wonder if it is going to go up significantly if it gets awd and a turbo k or if it will still be sold as an entry level sports sedan.

[dgs]

I think the argument can be made that the 2008 Accord has closed the gap between the TL and the Accord tighter then ever before. With the 7th gen Accord and the TL the TL had enough features and horsepower over the Accord that the large price gap was warranted. I don't believe that's true any longer. I'm sure if you do a feature by feature comparison of a 2008 EX-L to a TL (non Type S) the differences will be small. As a matter of fact the only thing coming to mind is HID headlights on the TL.

TL is a great car, and some people will buy it just because they need to see the name "Acura" on their car, but the smart money goes to the Accord now. There is no one who can convince me a 2008 TL with navigation is worth $5,000 more then a 2008 Accord EX-L with navigation.

[chanke4252]

The performance is a lot better on the TL in all departments. The only 0-60 numbers I've seen for the 8th gen have put it at more than a half a second slower than the 7th gen 6spd, and almost a full second slower than the 2008 TL-S. Not that 0-60 is everything, but what's the point of having so much more power if it doesn't add up to your actually being able to drive a car that performs more powerfuly? Now maybe it means that you don't have to shift as much to keep engine performance up like you do w/ the 7th gen, but maybe not. It's just plain too big and too heavy for what it is. That's my take on it anyway. I wonder if the 0-60 numbers will change once a few more people review it?

[SCABADA]

You buy the TL for the driving experience....which was much better than the 7th gen.

Now there are always exceptions since dealers are independently owned, but with the with premium brands like Acuras you'll also get a better buying experience and service experience too.

[dgs]

The performance is a lot better on the TL in all departments. The only 0-60 numbers I've seen for the 8th gen have put it at more than a half a second slower than the 7th gen 6spd, and almost a full second slower than the 2008 TL-S.

Where have you seen any performance numbers? I haven't seen any performance numbers yet for the 2008 Accord. Just a few driving impressions. I would be very surprised if the 08 EX-L is any slower then a TL. It has more horsepower and torque, plus it weighs less, so unless there is some magical gearing on the TL I don't see how it's faster.

As far as the TL Type S, I think a better comparison would be the 6-speed coupe. I think that would be a very competitive battle. Horsepower is almost the same, and probably torque, but I'm sure the coupe is lighter. That TL Type S is very heavy, I think at least 3,600 lbs. From what I remember from some performance stat I saw it has the 6-speed TL Type S at 14.3 in the 1/4 mile. Nothing special about that number. I bet the new Accord coupe hits that easy, considering the 7th gen 6-speed coupe does 14.4 in the 1/4.

I really don't think the performance difference is much at all if you compare auto to auto, and 6-speed to 6-speed. And as far as luxury features I don't think there is much difference now in the top of the line Accord and the TL. These cars will definitely be cross shopped now more heavily then ever, unless someone has to see that "Acura" badge somewhere on their car, or Honda seriously updates the TL to further differentiate it from the Accord in features and performance. A top of the line Accord with navigation for $30,000 or a TL with navigation for $36,000, that's an easy choice for me. I guess $6,000 means different things to different people, but I'm not seeing $6,000 more car in the TL. That $6,000 is buying you a badge now. There will always be badge car shoppers though who don't care about value as much as saying "look at what I can afford and you can't." If there weren't status symbol car buyers BMW and Mercedes Benz would have been out of business a long time ago.

[fastball]

There may be a slight performance advantage with the TL when comparing it to the 8th gen sedan, but if you get the coupe with the 6 speed, I think it could give the TL quite a run, and may even beat it. Even the Type-S.

But you certainly pay for any performance advantage of the TL with the premium fuel requirement. I'm actually quite dissapointed they discontinued availability of the 6 speed manual in the base TL and moved it only to the Type-S with a sticker of 40k. I may have considered buying one before, but certainly not now. Plus you add in maintenance costs of those high performance tires and brakes, the Type-S is almost as big a money pit of maintenance as a BMW.

I'll buy an Accord coupe, keep 12k in my pocket, and enjoy the legendary low maintenance costs of a Honda.

[Nimoxp]

The performance is a lot better on the TL in all departments. The only 0-60 numbers I've seen for the 8th gen have put it at more than a half a second slower than the 7th gen 6spd, and almost a full second slower than the 2008 TL-S. Not that 0-60 is everything, but what's the point of having so much more power if it doesn't add up to your actually being able to drive a car that performs more powerfuly? Now maybe it means that you don't have to shift as much to keep engine performance up like you do w/ the 7th gen, but maybe not. It's just plain too big and too heavy for what it is. That's my take on it anyway. I wonder if the 0-60 numbers will change once a few more people review it?

On one I did see a 0-60 in 5.8 seconds and that was the sedan. Coupe six speed should beat it.

[chanke4252]

Where have you seen any performance numbers? I haven't seen any performance numbers yet for the 2008 Accord. Just a few driving impressions. I would be very surprised if the 08 EX-L is any slower then a TL. It has more horsepower and torque, plus it weighs less, so unless there is some magical gearing on the TL I don't see how it's faster.

As far as the TL Type S, I think a better comparison would be the 6-speed coupe. I think that would be a very competitive battle. Horsepower is almost the same, and probably torque, but I'm sure the coupe is lighter. That TL Type S is very heavy, I think at least 3,600 lbs. From what I remember from some performance stat I saw it has the 6-speed TL Type S at 14.3 in the 1/4 mile. Nothing special about that number. I bet the new Accord coupe hits that easy, considering the 7th gen 6-speed coupe does 14.4 in the 1/4.

I really don't think the performance difference is much at all if you compare auto to auto, and 6-speed to 6-speed. And as far as luxury features I don't think there is much difference now in the top of the line Accord and the TL. These cars will definitely be cross shopped now more heavily then ever, unless someone has to see that "Acura" badge somewhere on their car, or Honda seriously updates the TL to further differentiate it from the Accord in features and performance. A top of the line Accord with navigation for $30,000 or a TL with navigation for $36,000, that's an easy choice for me. I guess $6,000 means different things to different people, but I'm not seeing $6,000 more car in the TL. That $6,000 is buying you a badge now. There will always be badge car shoppers though who don't care about value as much as saying "look at what I can afford and you can't." If there weren't status symbol car buyers BMW and Mercedes Benz would have been out of business a long time ago.

I'm thinking TL-S here. I think it has a 5.6 or 5.7 0-60. I can't remember off the top of my head what people have achieved w/ the base TL auto but it was about on par w/ the 7th gen auto if I remember correctly. For the 8th gen I've seen a couple 0-60 times from various sources, none of which are terribly reliable though, and they list the 8th gen having a 0-60 of somewhere between 6.4-6.6, though I don't remember the exact number. One of the references to the 0-60 time was on a forum, I can't remember which, and the other was in motor trend (see reference to my opinion of motor trend in some of our recent, heated discussions, lol), but I wasn't aware that anyone had really gone in and done any in depth testing of the performance of the 8th gen yet. I also am not sure whether these numbers were for the coupe or sedan and whether it was auto or manual, though they were for the V6. I have not seen anything below 6 seconds, though I would expect slightly better than what I've seen, but not by too much. Mainly I just can't believe there's not an LSD w/ that much power. 1-wheel-drive ftl :thumbsdow

[bluestars80]

[QUOTE=fastball;167959]But you certainly pay for any performance advantage of the TL with the premium fuel requirement. I'm actually quite dissapointed they discontinued availability of the 6 speed manual in the base TL and moved it only to the Type-S with a sticker of 40k. QUOTE]

It makes sense. You have to go Type -S if you want the 6speed, higher horsepower, stickier tires, etc.

[frainc]

I think the argument can be made that the 2008 Accord has closed the gap between the TL and the Accord tighter then ever before. With the 7th gen Accord and the TL the TL had enough features and horsepower over the Accord that the large price gap was warranted. I don't believe that's true any longer. I'm sure if you do a feature by feature comparison of a 2008 EX-L to a TL (non Type S) the differences will be small. As a matter of fact the only thing coming to mind is HID headlights on the TL.

TL is a great car, and some people will buy it just because they need to see the name "Acura" on their car, but the smart money goes to the Accord now. There is no one who can convince me a 2008 TL with navigation is worth $5,000 more then a 2008 Accord EX-L with navigation.


This is what I'm talking about, is the TL worth more than $5-6K more with the added features on the 08 Accord. This will go on forever with the guys who drive the TL, but after owning both models, the Accord is almost TL like.

They will have to make major changes to the 09 TL and then at what cost?

[chanke4252]

Well, you'd think they'd have to keep the cost down somewhat or they'll lose their target demographics and the TL will be the new RL or something, which doesn't sell very well. Same thing w/ the TSX, but I think the TSX sales wouldn't hurt so bad if it went up in price a little bit, though I really don't enjoy the thought of this as I want an awd tsx. :thumbsdow

[dgs]

This is what I'm talking about, is the TL worth more than $5-6K more with the added features on the 08 Accord. This will go on forever with the guys who drive the TL, but after owning both models, the Accord is almost TL like.

They will have to make major changes to the 09 TL and then at what cost?

Exactly! I completely agree, the new EX-L Accord is too close in features an performance to get people to pay $6,000 for the TL. That is unless someone is a badge car shopper rather than a value price car shopper.

But I also agree with chanke4252 that if the price of the TL significantly goes up Honda/Acura may lose their target demographic. Already in my opinion the TL Type S is a tough buy when for the same money you can buy a Lexus 350 or a Infinity G35 and get RWD.

Honda really stepped up to the plate with the new Accord sedans and coupes but I could see them cannibalizing sales from Acura. I guess it's all the same company at the end of the day. Honda is going to have to significantly upgrade the TL in performance and features to differentiate the TL from the Accord while keeping the price upgrade small, and that is a tall order. Of the top of my head the best way they could do that is to make the TL a RWD or AWD platform, but it certainly isn't the most low cost option.

[Marc]

Exactly! I completely agree, the new EX-L Accord is too close in features an performance to get people to pay $6,000 for the TL. That is unless someone is a badge car shopper rather than a value price car shopper.

But I also agree with chanke4252 that if the price of the TL significantly goes up Honda/Acura may lose their target demographic. Already in my opinion the TL Type S is a tough buy when for the same money you can buy a Lexus 350 or a Infinity G35 and get RWD.

Honda really stepped up to the plate with the new Accord sedans and coupes but I could see them cannibalizing sales from Acura. I guess it's all the same company at the end of the day. Honda is going to have to significantly upgrade the TL in performance and features to differentiate the TL from the Accord while keeping the price upgrade small, and that is a tall order. Of the top of my head the best way they could do that is to make the TL a RWD or AWD platform, but it certainly isn't the most low cost option.

I think they had to do this because their plan is to beat the Camry on all levels (features, styling and sales....).

:notworthy