Awhile back I decided it was time to replace one of the family’s two Acura’s. We had a 2001 Acura TL that we bought new (although it was a Demo) in 2001 and we also have a 2007 TL which we bought when it was a year old with 14,400 miles on it. Both of these cars have been outstanding automobiles. The one black mark was the replacement of the transmission in the ’01 TL, not once, but twice. The first one Acura paid for and they paid half of the second one. The ’01 had 173,000 miles on it when we sold it last month. We had several makes and models on the list of prospective purchases, but a Certified Pre-Owned Cadenza won out. I did make one big mistake in the purchase of the Cadenza and that was this was to be my wife’s car. What was I thinking?? But, I digress.
We had been planning a trip from Napa to Seattle to visit our son. My wife was unable to make the trip due to some upcoming surgery but she prompted me to go alone, which I did last week. This gave me an opportunity to evaluate the car and learn its features on a trip that turned out to be just under 2000 miles. The car performed flawlessly on the trip but I did have a few pleasant surprises that I would like to share. I sure that you all are up to speed on this car, but these are just a few things that I noticed.
TRIP PLANNING
The ability to designate my own POI’s on Google Maps and send them to the car is Way Cool IMHO! This is a great feature and I used it to best advantage and pre-loaded most all of my destinations. Now if someone can tell me how to do this with my iPad, I would love to hear it.
NAVIGATION
The Nav system worked very well with a couple of exceptions where street names in the Nav unit and the actual street signs were different. I do have the latest software and maps BTW.
I learned that as you approached merging traffic, the Navigation System would announce “Merge Ahead”. This was interesting, if not valuable information. After I heard it a few hundred times I began to get really tired of it and wish I could not get those announcements but still hear the Audio when I am in a strange area.
I feel I need to be a little more familiar with the Route Info screen on the Navigation System. It still seems a bit confusing.
CRUISE CONTROL
Most of my driving was at or a little above the legal limit, whatever I could get away with. I found that when pulling a long gradual hill climb, the transmission would start shifting down to 5th, then back to 6th and repeat many times. It was great to just use the Paddle Shifter and hold it in 5th for those climbs.
RAIN
I did a good portion of the return trip in intermittent light to heavy rain. The utility of the Automatic position on the wipers was a welcome surprise. I had never considered this to be a viable option before.
FUEL MILEAGE
I did a simple test using only Top Tier fuel. The trip up north was made with Regular grade fuel, the trip home was with Premium grade fuel. Mileage was 30.34 in both directions. FWIW, that is what I would expect from my ’07 TL which requires Premium fuel. I was pleased.
MISCELLANEOUS
· The seat ventilation stays on all the time. My choice!
· After Lunch, when you have been holding a cold soft drink, you have a heated steering wheel. ;-)
· Although the turn signal relay in this car is a little quiet for older, hard of hearing guys like me, the lane change feature of the turn signals means I don’t accidentally leave them on as I have been known to do in other cars.
· When listening to an Audio Book and taking a phone call, the book pauses, then resumes right where you were when the call came in.
· On my 2007 Acura, I can read accurate, individual tire pressures via the TPMS. Why not on the Cadenza? This is “no brainer” software programming. I know, the K900 can do it. I just can’t afford a K900.
· I Love the Keyless Entry System.
· The car turned over 30,000 miles yesterday. There is at the present time, 3400 miles on the oil, which remains on the full mark. It has always been serviced with Castrol GTX but I will change to Mobil 1 on the next change. I have always run Mobil 1 on all my cars. No oil debates, please!
Would I buy the Cadenza again? You **** right I would!
