Ok so I take my car into the dealer for an Oil change and they screwed up my front bumper. I am not gonna say who the dealer is since they came out and admittted it and are paying to fix the problem and let me drive a 07TL to boot. The TL has 17K on it

Pros

Good styling
Ride is sweet
Great seats
handbrake
control more stuff from the steering wheel

The suck

no redline indicator on tach
backlit LCD hard to see in the sun
new 5 spd auto sucks when it comes to downshifting (read very slow) sport shift seems to be a little better (not even close to CL type S downshift time)
STILL HAS THE AUTO 1-2 SHIFT IN SPORT MOD!!!! (you cannot hold car in first while in SS)

I am a rather small dude at 5'6" and it felt like my head was right up on the door frame, I would hate to be any taller and have to drive that car.....

Accelleration is very fast but it lacks the GROWL that a CL type S has even in sock from. I would say it is on par from a dead stop to my ride with headers. while in motion and getting on the gas the CL feels much more responsive and will get into a lower gear quicker.

Audio sounds great, dual heat is nice heated seats missing high low feature. Bluetooth is a neat feature and so are projector head lights

Relocation of mirror and VSA controls to lower in the dash panel is not favorable, interior is a little too flashy. outside temp / information cluster moved to right pod, instrumentation is easy to read but the blue orange combo is well bleh.........

I will drive it a few more days and we'll see if it grows on me..................

 

Regarding the redline -- If I recall correctly, the 100 RPM increment marks on the tach above 6800 are red. In addition, there is a red hash line on the inside of the tach's numerals.

Also, I'm over a foot taller than you and was able to drive my '04 quite comfortably. Maybe keep playing with the seat adjustments?

Glad to hear your dealer is taking care of your bumper -- admitting a mistake is rare these days.

 

so the thing does have a redline u just cant see it until you get there? that's kinda wierd. cause they are not visible on the 07 model...

there is plenty of H/R, it just feels like my head is really close to the sill (on the side) that's all. My CL is the same way but it might be cause I am short legged and have to keep the seat close to reach the pedals. I tilt it back to increase the distance between me and air bag ( I learned the hardway)

 

07 base TL's redline is pretty plain to see. It's indicated by a red, well, line, from 7k-8k rpm, just like the Type-S and the increments are all red. Look closer because it's there and it's pretty obvious!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Powered by Honda &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">07 base TL's redline is pretty plain to see. It's indicated by a red, well, line, from 7k-8k rpm, just like the Type-S and the increments are all red. Look closer because it's there and it's pretty obvious! </TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, I saw it once I turned up the instrument cluster lighting to an insanely lit level and it is visible at night under normal lighting conditions

got to drive it a little more and this is what I like

1. seats are still comfy but are NOT type S seats
2. fuel economy seems to be a tad better even though the car is 108lbs heavier...
3. the outside of the car is awesome looking
4. rear view mirror works better at dimming stuff
5. Placement of the seat heaters is much better and I stand corrected they are high/low buttons
6. covered storage area in console.
7. the car's BT menu actually talks to you....sweet
8. large climate control / radio LCD display

don't like

1. this thing has huge turn in.....I actually looked it up and it's wider?!? @ 39.7ft circle. I cannot turn this thing into my garage from the alley where as I could get the CL type S to turn in although it was tight turn.
2. extremely touchy brakes (and I thought the CL type S brakes were touchy....)
3. fan control **** has been replaced by two buttons with LESS percision in terms of fan speed (ie larger steps) but I can understand the button replacement since it has dual climate control...but lowering of the percision sucks becuase that thing gets loud quick.
4. for those of you thinking that the 5AT is an improvement, it's not- it's a draw. I think it is WORSE than the trans in the CL in terms of shift speed but under normal driving conditions it shifts butter smooth..get on the throtttle from a roll and the engine is willing but it seems like the trans isn't.