I bought my car April 2003.
I now have 46,000 miles on it.
This is the story so far:

1) Water can get into the head light. Left headlight changed (free)
2) Wind shield wippers replaced at 30,000 miles($22)
3) Air filter replaced at 30,000 miles ($25)
4) Pollen filter replaced at 30,000 miles($45)
5) One recall for the wire in the trunk (free)
6) Oil change every 5000 miles ($30 each with free car wash)
7) Automatic transmission oil changed at 45,000 miles ($80)
8) Wrapped the rotors after a 100-to-0 stop (at 40,000 miles). Front brakes and rotors replaced ($200)
9) The indicator on the battery just turned red this morning... and then now is black. Going to change the battery (or it may be the charging system...) (covered by warranty hopefully)
10) ran over a [big] pothole at 70 mile-per-hour (at 40,000 miles). damaged one of the tire. replaced with a new tire (holy cow $250 for 1 tire!) ($250)

Things not done:
1) the steering wheel always tilted a little bit to the left but the tires look ok. So screw it.
2) rattle noise everywhere... turned up the radio to temporary fix it...
3) wind shield cracked everywhere... not leaking though... so... I think it is ok.
4) Will replace the brake fuild soon
5) Will replace the Air Filter the second time soon.
6) All tires look still like new after 46,000 miles... (I guess $250 each is worth it.)
7) Need to clean the Air Conditioning... coil...(is that the evaporator coil behind the grove box?) it is probably very dirty with all kind of stuffs growing/living in there.


So... what do you think?
Is this a good car or what?
The only problem is that I can't find any after market part.... They don't have anything for 2004 anywhere. (i.e. Pepboys... etc..)

 

Given that it was bought at the very beginning of the production chain, I'd say it's a pretty good car.

If you wish to add aftermarket parts, refer to Aftermarket & Performance, and you have many threads about mods you can do to your car there.

 

3) Doesn't CA have a safety inspection every year? Sounds like that would fail during an inspection.
4) You can let brake fluid go for a pretty long time - it's more time dependant (breaks down/ absorbs water with time not milage)
7) The cabin filter takes care of that - should be fine for now.

Biker, whose 99 Accord has needed less maintenance than this car.

 

1) Tilted steering wheel - There is TSB for it the dealer should take care of it. Check for TSBs here -

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/pr.../tsbsearch.cfm


5) Replace air filter with K&N about $48.00 lifetime use. Wash, dry and use. If you wash it often you may want to spend another $15.00 for the oil to recoat the filter.

 

No. Only a smog check after the 2nd or 3rd year, I think.

 

Seems like a lot of little problems. Is the car being abused?

03CoupeV6, who has a 99 Accord that hasn't needed any of this either -- like biker.

 

I only see this:

Report Date : December 27, 2004 at 03:00 PM
SEARCH TYPE : VEHICLE
YEAR : 2004
Make : ACURA
Model : TSX
Type : PASSENGER CAR

Results : 1 | All records displayed

Make : ACURA Model : TSX Year : 2004
Manufacturer : AMERICAN HONDA MOTOR CO.
Service Bulletin Num : 04012 Date of Bulletin: JUL 30, 2004
NHTSA Item Number: 10010760
Component: POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION
Check to Request Research. Submit below.

 

In California, people... especially government offical... are all lazy ass'es. They don't care nothing but just want to go home early...

For instance... one time I was in DMV. That guy only finished half of the written test. The clark there came over and I quote: "Are u done yet?" [and then the clark looked at what that guy had done so far... which was only half...] The clark said... "This is good enough. Go over there and take the picture."


This is also true with people working in the dealership.

The guy in the dealer wants me to change whatever he can think of.... or else ... he will void my warranty... However, another guy... a more honest guy I suppose... print me a maintainance listing for my car. The printout says that I don't need no shit whatsoever before 100,000 miles.

In a matter of fact, the owner manual says that I only need to flush the brake fiuld once every 3 years regardless the milage.


But the AC smell bad but not too bad... I think I will just crank up the heat to kill whatever is in the evaporator coil. Otherwise, I think I will have to drill a hole there and flush it with chlorine or something like that.

 

Every 4 years for brand new car...
Every 3 years for old yunk..
No smog check for disels.
And no smog check for those very old yunk that has the black license plate.

 

Well... going back and fore to work...
stop-and-go for hours and hours of traffic...
very typical here...

 

<G> I have to wash the thing... crap! this is too much for me... I want something that I can just trash it and put a new one. I am too lazy for this kind of thing! I am even too lazy to wash my car.

 

I am not into racing... and this overpriced 4 cyls Honda is fast enough for me. I want comfort and reliablity. If I wanted something fast, I would have gotten the 350Z or the G35. The cheapest 350Z costs the same as the TSX ($26K). And the guy said he would knock off $3000 for the G35 for me which brough the G35 down to about $30K.... hmmm... maybe I can payoff this car and get a Mini Cooper-S. The Mini looks cool and it runs very fast in the movie.

 

You can get stuff to spray into the vents to do the same thing

 

Sorry dude, I was just answering one of your questions...

Our aftermarket parts section isn't just performance modifications. A good part of it is parts for looks.