I raced an Acura (what looked like TL) recently and was shocked at my Max's perfomance. We both took off the line about evenly, with him getting just a hair of a jump on me. Well, it took me around 90 mph-redlining my 3rd gear to pass him. I was dead even on his back doors up untill then??
So I thought-kool-it's a TL-S! But when I slowed down (after the win) to see his badge -it said TL (it was also night-time, but I'm pretty sure).
Any idea why my 5spd AE with intake and one passenger had so much trouble beating a (seeminly) TL?
Thanks

 

If it was a 00+ 3.2TL it had the 5spd auto tranny. They have pretty short and close gears between 0-100mph but after that they suck. But still, your 5spd AE should have smoked him... Weren't there some threads awhile ago complaining about how the AE's seemed slower?? You might try a search. I thought I remembered reading something about how the AE's had the 5HP extra, but because of some ECU programming changes they actually made LESS power than a non-AE. I forget...it was really weird. But they were G-Teching their 0-60's and were only getting like 8 seconds or so...

Try searching. This was a real long time ago.

I've outdragged a 3.2TL on the highway before in my lightly-modded Accord V6, so they're not all that.

 

Yeah, I remember reading those threads, I was just hoping my car is an exemption.I guess not
How about a new meaning for 4DSC
(4 dour slow car? )

 

Maybe he debaged the -S ...because a lot of 5sp maxima beat a TL-S so the TL it would be easy.

 

That's the only thing I'm hoping for.
At least a Civic hasn't beaten me yet. (I'm sure that will come,too)

 

A lot of the TL-S guys do that because apparently the "Type-S" badge is a commonly stolen item.

 

LOL...hahaha
who would want to steel an S...stolen item..yeah right

 

It's true. Head over to www.acura-tl.com

It's only a problem in denser areas where a lot of TL-S guys have said theirs was stolen. The rural guys don't worry too much, though.

I guess a lot of Civic drivers want to put the Acura Type-S badge on their cars

 

you did also have an extra passenger .....

 

I have to admit my ignorance...what does "AE" stand for?

 

AE = Anniversary Edition. 2001 model that came with body kit, polished chrome 17's, extra 5hp, nice shifter, drilled pedals, and some other goodies.

 

FYI - I passed a CL-S the other night. I saw it and thought it might be a Type S, so I switched lanes to get up next to it.

At first, I thought it was a regular CL. But it had big wheels and looked sportieer, so I got even closer. I had to get right up almost on top of it to see the Type S badge, so they are very hard to see since they are a dark red. I saw the CL part just fine, but I really had to look closely to see the Type S badge at night. It doesn't show up very well.

Look at the bottom right picture -

http://www.edmunds.com/new/2002/acur...ml?id=lin0001t

 

I saw an eclipse with the whalefin spoiler on it the other day...and right in the middle on the back of his car was a skyline GT-R badge...

must....kill.....ricers......

 

Weird, I have intake and take them better than that .

But I ran 15.0 in the 1/4, most of them run mid 15s.

 

I think I'll just go for a debadged TL-S and a call my car fast again

 

just put the stolen badge on a toyota corolla (as steve said,
this is where stolen ones end up-see acura forums) and enjoy

 

I would bet it was a debadged TL-S. I too have a 5-speed SE and about 2 months ago raced a TL-S (with a very agressive driver) 3 lights in a row. Each time we raced to about 60mph. And each time I was about a 1/2 to 3/4 of a car length ahead at that time. He gave me a shocked look and a big thumbs up.

I raced a '00 TL about 6 months ago and killed him by about 3 car lengths at 60mph.

If it helps for identification purposes, the TL-S comes with some pretty cool looking 17" polished aluminum wheels with five wide spokes. The stock rims on a standard TL are 16" and ordinary looking in comparison. That is an easy way to tell them apart.

 

I spotted a de-"S"-badged CL-S yesterday too. It had 17's. No race though. Traffic. But he woulda smoked my accordian anyways

 

These de-badged CL/TL-Ss, couldn't they also be regular CL/TLs with upgraded wheels?


DW

 

So does that mean now you have a Accord Type-S

 

Good point, and yes that's possible, but I doubt it. The price difference between the TL/CL and Type-S version is so small (not even $2k) that if you were going to pay to upgrade to 17" wheels you might as well just get the whole car to go with it.

 

Actually, the price difference is more like $3500... I sampled dealers in 9 states (while I was on business trips) before I bought a TL-S and that was the price difference consistently. It's probably a result of supply and demand: it's harder to keep TL-S's on the lot than TL-P's.

 

CarsDirect.com just quoted me a difference of $2400 for my Zip code. Maybe you live in a hotter area for Type-S's

 

Where do you live? I checked out dealers in PA, NY, MD, VA, KY, TN, GA, FL, and also one in D.C. One thing though, market conditions have changed a lot since June. That could be the reason.