nissle

I just got my 06' TSX last sunday. Well i should have accepted the $695 lojack at the time of purchase but i was thinking about monthly payments, stupid me But anyways, is it really worth it to get it for my TSX or is the antitheft system already in the car good enough? And can anyone here recommend an alarm system? Any help and recommendation is appreciated.
thanks
nissle



P.S. How rare is the white/ebony interior?

SoCaliTrojan

The TSX's immobilizer is great. Sure, they can break into the car, but they can't steal it unless they tow it away or bother to take their time to install a new cpu.

Aftermarket alarms are pretty useless...if thieves want your car, they'll get into it asap and will usually be able to disable your alarm quickly. It's only good for making noise in case someone breaks in to steal something inside your car. My accord has a 2-way pager alarm, but by the time I got to the car, the thief already had made alot of progress in removing my stereo. Remote-starting the car scared him off though. I don't think I'd want to approach a thief though...he'd probably have tools that can be used as a weapon.

Lojack is good in that alot of Police Departments use it. If they do manage to take your car, you can get your car back relatively quickly. The only problem is that this works if the thieves park your car in a lot to see if any cops come after it. If they choose to quickly strip it down, they can do it in about 15 minutes (and possibly find where the transmitter is). Some people don't want their cars back after it's been stolen, but hey...I wouldn't want them to get away with my great car

acura_ak

My dealership offered the LoJack and another GPS one.....I forgot the name of it. But it sounded better than LoJack. Basically you can track your car by GPS on the computer to see where it is going and you can actually disable the car from your computer. It sounded really useful. You can also use it to track where your car is when you let your friends or family borrow your car. They were willing to let me have it for $500. Stupid part on me also......I really should have taken it.

NJJT

We got LoJack as opposed to the vehicle replacement insurance (that was also 700). It's kind a of a no-brainer -- $650 (I got fifty off -- you should haggle here too) -- and you save like 50-100 bucks a year in insurance. Pays for itself in 6-10 years and it has a ridiculously high recovery rate. The vehicle replacement insurance looked good too and I would get that if I wasn't getting LoJack -- both are overkill.

NJJT

Oh and don't sweat the particulars of your car. If someone steals it, the chances are high they want the parts.

nissle

cool, thanks for all the reply. I went back to get the LOJACK but they now want me to pay the original price $995. I'll get it later. With all the horror stories on the headlights being stolen, im getting a two way alarm nextweek. I know it wont help that much but at least i can release my two doggs and let them have fun. Plus my cheapo alarm saved my 92 accord 4 times in front of my own house. So, im pretty sure someone has an eye on those headlights, looking for a perfect time.
thanks
nissle

famous47

why do people want the headlights so bad? why not bmw or audi lights?? do alota people get there lights stolen? ive never really heard of this

mrgold35

I think they are looking to use/sell the HID componets. It is hard to find that stuff for under $500-1000 bucks. A chop shop will buy it for $50 from a punk ass kid and sell it to a body shop for $250. The body shop will charge us/insurance $750-$1000 for a "new headlight".

Black_6spd

Where do you live where you must worry about all these things?

In my opinion, LoJack aint worth it. It's easier to defeat LoJack than the factory immobilizer. I can't share details for obvious reasons, but just ask the ITR former owners who all had LoJack and had their cars stripped down.

There isn't a single instance reported on this board (to my knowledge) of a TSX being stolen where the immobilizer was defeated. The only instance I've read about was an occurrence when the owner left a spare key in the car. Besides, RSX-S' and DC2 Integras are more desired by the Civic hatchcrap owners who want an engine swap or want to do a five-lug conversion, etc.

If you live in a bad area where you're worried about your HID's getting stolen, a cheapo alarm would suffice. Just make sure you get hood locks so they can't cut the horn. Either way, LoJack isn't going help you recover your lights.

derbaff

I read in an article a couple months ago (I think it was Wired mag, but I'm not sure), that the immobilizer in Honda's could be bypassed by a series of ignition turns and handbrake pumps, which is specific to each car. It is a way to make the car drivable if you ever lose your key and need to get somewhere to get a new one made (assuming you have an key without a chip handy). Does anyone know it this is true for Acura's? If it's true, I suppose a crafty theif could get this code (apparently stealerships can look it up), and beat the immobolizer.

importpsycho

this is true?

maybe I should stop using "the Club" lol

jlukja

I use "the Club". Its mainly for visual deterrence. If a thief wants my TSX they'll figure out a way to eventually get it but if its an opportunistic thief then I hope they see the Club and just move on to another car.

cibs

i heard it was really easy to 'disable' the club, takes about a second and a half to saw through the steering wheel because is made of fairly thin metal once you get past all the cushoning and padding... hacksaws are plentiful...

i think the best deterrence is not having anything valuable in plains sight on your seats/dash/etc the car, i think smash and grabs are more frequent than full car thefts. I also the tsx is 'rare' enough that i don't think there's TONS of people out there looking for parts... nothing like integras or civics...

derbaff

Maybe everyone should stop talking about how great the TSX is so it stays "rare".

famous47

i agree, i was in a restaurant and some ladys laptop was stolen in the parking lot... broken rear window.
i say just get fairly dark tint so people cant see inside, and dont leave stuff on the dash.

rugbybrado

What i dont get is this, why would u want to pay lots of money for lojack if someone steals your car, just for a way to track it down when u realize 9 hours later that it was stolen.

What do you pay full coverage insurance for then.? Me personally if some retard steals my car, goes out does power stalls, neutral drops, probley hit a couple of curbs, smoked weed in my car....

They can keep it i dont want it back. I will take my insurance money and go buy me a new one. But then again i baby my car and kinda cringe when some tire plus guy gets in it to pull around to the tire bag to rotate my tires.

harlantsx

I had a CLUB on my old 92 chevy when I lived in an apartment building with a downstairs indoor garage. Thieves took an Eldorado, another car and a camera from another car.
They had torqued my steering wheel and got the club off and broke the ignition lock, but left the car..guess they ran out of time and got scared . So the club did save my car. Insurance covered it fine.
The dealer told me the TSX '06 lights are harder to remove than Nissan or BMW. Seems that the components are mostly protected under the hood, thieves would only get the bulbs. not sure if this is true or not.

jerzpwr

You wouldnt know that ur car was stolen 9 hours later if you get the early warning system. I found out today that it works. While coming to work i guess the early warning thingy on my key chain ran out of battery.. and i didnt know that it ran out until an automated phone call came from Lo Jack saying that my car was being operated without the early warning key fob present.

playindagamewell

Personally, I think that Lojack is the way to go as far as getting any type of alarm.

Most of the thieves out there already know the bells and whistles regarding common car theft systems.

Lojack is fairly new, and with the fact that they help you track the vehicle it helps immensely.

My buddy saw his car pull away by a thief. He started running after the car (hopeless), and by the time he called the cops and, by the time it took the cops to get the message out, the thief was gone.

Had he had Lojack, I am a making a safe assumption that it would have been a different outcome.

Any decent car theft system nowadays will cost you a pretty penny, considering installment fees, etc. I am sure that they are not that far away from lojack.

Just my .02

jwhite4

Besides being a theft-recovery device, LoJack also acts as an insurance policy - you get at least the cost of the LoJacl system back if the car is not recovered, and more (up to $5k) if you have a premium plan (basically pay a higher cost).

A basic car alarm tries to prevent the car from being stolen, but once it is, it's basically gone.

A standard LoJack won't stop the car from being stolen, but once it is, you'll have a way to locate it.

The two combined (or Early Warning LoJack) seem to be a good combination.

Jeff

PS - I have it installed on my 06 TSX.

Sojournin

That other system was likely Mobile Guardian http://www.mymobileguardian.com/vehicle_tracking.html

I thought it was a neat idea, and possibly better than LoJack, but I talked to a service agent and he told me that several people have had it, and parked their car over the weekend or a few days without driving, and it drained their batteries. I guess because it constantly sends out a signal, but that will drain your battery pretty fast.

BriLam

For the money I spent on the car, what is another $600 (which is what I talked the dealer down to)? That's how I look at it.

Plus, the benefits include:
- Car stolen and not found in 24 hours, purchase fee returned
- Car stolen and not found in 30 days, $5,000 payment and purchase fee returned
- Insurance discount

So really, the only "wasted" money is if your car isn't stolen, which is the whole point anyway. Others may not think it's worth it, but like I said, for the money I spent on the car, it makes sense to me.

acura_ak

Yes, that was it. Thanks for refreshing my mind. It sounds really good, but that's too bad if it really does drain out your battery quicker.

Newcleannow

i got my lojack for $500. my dad's friend worked (still works) at Power Acura South Bay...so he gave us the employee discount on every option we purchased. by the way according to lojack, having lojack will lower the insurance cost.
i went to the dealer to install. the installer was from the police department or something like that no one knew where and how to install the lojack system. that's why i waited 4 hours just for the installation because the installer got there late and 2 1/2 hours of installation time. i think it is very safe system. they give me the lojack card with my vin so when i call police station due to car theft, i just let them know my vin then they start to track the car down. talk to dealer, i think you can get discounts at least on lojack.