kodawg9

Hey guys, new to the forum. A prospective TSX or TL consumer here.

I'm currently looking for a CPO Acura, either a TSX or a TL with a 20K budget. I plan on driving an automatic since I've gotten sick of driving manual in heavy traffic and city streets. I live in Northern California (bay area) but right now, I'm down in socal, 30 min away from LA.

Basically, what year/mileage would you guys expect for $18-20K, A/T CPO TSX or TL? I've been waiting for a couple of months now to see if the right car would become available but so far, nothing. I've been able to wait a little bit but once June hits, I pretty much have to get my car.

At my local dealers, I've been seeing $19K '06 TSX with 60K miles w/Nav. Is that a good deal? Also, if anyone could answer this, can you negotiate down from dealer prices for CPO vehicles? I've been keeping track of numerous dealer inventories, and a lot of the CPO vehicles are gone within a week after posting, so I'm assuming negotiating wouldn't work.


I've also looked around these forums to see comparisons between a TL and a TSX. But in terms of any common known problems/issues with the cars, is there any that I should be worried about with either the TSX or the TL?

Thanks. Glad to ALMOST be a part of the Acura family!

desco21

Strangely I'm in the same position as you with the same budget. The '07 I'm looking to get is a CPO TSX and they want 20,000 for it. It has 33K miles on it. As for the '06, markets vary but I think you could get a much better deal. Around where I live, I'm finding '07 TSX with miles in the 30K for $17K w/ navigation. I'm going back and forth deciding whether CPO is really worth the extra $2K because the dealership would not budge whatsoever on the CPO. Either way I would keep looking and see if you get a call about a "special" deal after you walk out of the dealership

LuvMyTSX

You can usually negotiate some. The trick is knowing what the car is worth so you know if the price is too high or low. These cars keep their value very well, so used prices are not very low.

There have been many threads on common problems. You can do a search for them, and also check out the Problems & Fixes forum.

Welcome and good luck in your search.

kodawg9

unfortunately, in the SF Bay Area market, everything's so expensive. price ranges are about 1K cheaper down in southern california than in the Bay Area so I may just purchase a car while I'm down in southern cal but I guess since the standard of living costs are so high in cali, I can't do much about it.

$20K gets an 07 TSX w/Nav with 55K miles here though so looks like that's the best I could do. i've waited for the right opportunity for almost three months now, but patience is wearing thin and I could probably only make, at max, another months wait before I make my investment.

Jeepsquad

Check with Blue Book and Edmunds TMV. $20k should get you into a '06+ TSX with less than 40k miles at the bare minimum. I'd suggest skipping the dealer and going with a private seller. It's a lot better price wise, and you can tell how well the car has been taken care of after speaking with the owner.

Simba91102

The problem with using the price guides with these cars in that it seems like TSX prices are even more regional than most. What's appears to be a good deal in Atlanta may not be so in Cleveland and vise versa. I think you can really only compare local prices (or ebay) to get a fair representation of what the market will bear (should I say demand) and to perhaps determine what you might have to pay. Of course this also means that any opinions offered here on a good or bad price should be considered based on where the advice comes from (and also why I'm not particularly in favor of these fairly common "is this as good price?" requests posted here).

npolite

I bought my CPO 07 TSX after Christmas for $20,300 (non-navi) with 23.5k miles. I used another local dealer's price to negotiate it close to this level even though the price of the one I was comparing it to was listed at $19k, it has 33k miles. If the deal didn't go through, I would have bought a Camry (I know an odd move) as I didn't like the new TSX and my sister had numerous problems with the 8th gen Accord.

If you can find something even though the car is not at the same pricing and mileage you can use it to leverage the price you are willing to pay. Just be sure the vehicle checks are apples to apples because dealers will use that to null out your offer.

My car was listed at $23,000 and was reduced to $22,500 even though the car was only on the lot for 3 weeks (beginning of Dec) before I bought it.

It varies by location as Simba says but if you can find a local online ad, it could help you get the car at the price you want to pay. Good luck.

bradykp

yeah - i am amazed at how well they hold their value. it's great for us owners - bad for those that want to buy used/cpo. personally, i don't think CPO is necessarily worth it. i'd look up the kbb trade-in value to get an idea of what the dealer likely got it for, and work from that price up. it's always good to contact a few dealerships and let them know what you're looking for - they may be interested in a nice quick turnover on a vehicle so if something comes in that fits what you're looking for they could give you the best deal.

CPO has it's upsides, but really, unless the car was poorly maintained, what's a CPO gonna cover anyways? it's just a little extra piece of mind.

check out what's for sale on this board of course. browse ebay. browse autotrader. you never know. avoid craigslist many scams on there for cars.

kodawg9

honestly, i could care less if its a CPO since we're talking acura's but certain familial members, after we've had our troubles w/a used honda accord and a 01 bmw 3 series, specifically want either a new or a CPO vehicle. there's nothing new that intrigues me personally so i'm definitely looking at CPO Japanese. we've had our share of new cars but after taking a $40K paycut, new acura's are out of the question now.


i've found great vehicles, everything that matches up perfectly to what i want, EXCEPT for the color, the feminine (at least IMO anyways) glacier blue metallic color. i've seen 4 in the past couple of months that match up perfectly, the nav, the prices, the mileage, etc. and then that one big problem, the exterior color ruins it for me.


one more, i guess a new question in a way:

'05 tsx vs '07 tsx. obviously, features aren't that different and there's only a slight difference in appearance. '05s any worse than '07s mechanically?

bradykp

mechanically they aren't very different from what I recall. but you're missing out on a few features that were the reason I waited for an '06 vs an '05 when I purchased in december, 2005. the 06 added memory seats and bluetooth i believe. and a few other minor improvements. don't know if they are worth it to you, but they were to me.

i'd say if you're pressing for a deal, see what you can work on the GBM color. i agree, and also don't like it, but in the end, if you can get a better deal because of color, why not? it's not that bad. i checked the kbb on mine and can't believe that it's almost 5 yrs old, with 75k and still worth 14-15,5 private party, and only slightly less on a trade. amazing.