Thanks in part to this forum, I have decided to buy the car that as appealed to me for years with its handsome exterior and refined interior.

Besides the rust problem on the trunk lip and the cranky navigation system, are there any other potential problem areas I should be on the look out for?

I am leaning toward certified pre-owned from an Acura dealer, mainly for piece of mind.

Does any have the Polar Blue exterior from the 03? How do you like it? I think the RL looks exceptionally nice in the indigo blue and silver, but those are tough colors to find.

Thanks.

I'd go with the '04.

It has power lumbar support (its manual on the '03)

Standard navigation with voice recognition ('03 doesnt have voice recognition)

XM radio (doesnt exist on the '03)

6 disc in-dash ('03 is in the trunk)

Thanks for info on the differences. Unfortunately, 04s didn't come in Polar Blue.

What is the latest DVD update for the NAV? Will Acura continue to provide updates?

If I remember right, you have to buy the CD's from Acura.... $140 bucks now... I remember when it was $90.

i think the latest version is 3.5 or something like that...Acura will contine to provide updates until they don't see a reason to keep providing them.

The 03/04 should be very reliable cars, and you should get a great discount on them. I remember the dealer was only asking for $35.5k in Oct 04 for a brand new RL w/ Nav. At that time, the 1st gen RL was not selling well at all, as the 2nd gen RLs (which are MUCH BETTER) were already in the showrooms.