Whats up everybody. I've been browsing these boards for months since I got my car. My name is Ryan, and I bought a 2002 Acura CL 3.2L (Premium, not Type-S, unforunately) in August. Love the car, had 25K on it and paid $17,500 which I was thrilled about (no navi, automatic). It's a beige color (not sure of the official color name Acura calls it). Like my sig says, so far the only adjustments I made was replacing all the bulbs with stronger Polarg M4 bulbs. I also had the windows tinted by The Art of Tint (a great job by the way, he works out of NYC for anybody who is interested) to 20% all around. I just got to say I love reading about the passion you guys have for your cars. Besides the this initial introduction the first question I had was, without spending a bundle I wanted to start to upgrade the performance of the car. Based on financial restraints, I was wondering if a cold-air intake is a good way to start? From what I've read it seems like it adds horsepower and doesn't take much to install. I guess then after that I'll begin to examine putting in headers (though, I'm not that mechanically inclined so they'll probably have to be installed for me). Thanks for the feedback and hopefully somebody I can get to some of your guys's levels.

 

welcome aboard!

 

yes welcome ....you could go with a Comptech Air box, or a CAI, or just drop in a K&N for a fraction of the price.

 

Welcome and many happy miles!

 

welcome and yeah, intake is definitely a good start and it's one of the cheapest and easiest performance mods to install

 

Welcome to the board. Intake won't really give you a huge increase in power but it sounds cool!

 

Save your money for repairs not mods.
I learnt from experience (Acura Integra GSR) you will start to add or replace stuff on your car and eventually you will just wish you had left it stock. You are going to have to spend a lot of money to really improve on the performance already engineered into our cars. (anything you will notice anyways)

Keep to the maintenance schedule, religiously. Spend your money on that and you will be a lot happier in the long run.

At least do yourself a favor and make sure any mods you make are reversible. They will do NOTHING for the resale value. May even hurt it because a potential buyer will think to himself 'some kid has owned this car = its been abused' not trying to stereotype, but thats the psychology of a car buyer.

 

Dam!
What kind of crap is that.
He was asking what mods to get. Not wether he should mod it or not.

You should do what yo want man. I also have a 2001 Cl-p and enjoy the mods I have on it. Never had anyproblem with needing "repairs".

I say start with the intake

Good luck

 

Hey , spend your money on whatever you want, maybe fuzzy dice, or K-Mart wheel spinners will add some grunt.
Be aware a cold air intake or aftermarket exhaust is going to make more noise than factory. Great if you like that, but I consider our car a stealth street sleeper not some cheesy rice rocket.
Maybe I am just too old..call it life experience...

 

Maybe I should have said Preventative maintenance and not 'repairs'

 

What does a cold-air intake have to do with a rice rocket?

All i'm saying is if he was asking for advice on if he should mod his car or not then give it to him. But, he didn't. So really you are just posting your opinion about something that this thread was not started for.

I enjoy moding my car. It's fun for me. Maybe it's fun for him. Why whould you try and convince him not to do it if he likes it? Just b/c you don't like it? It just seemed rude that's all.

 

Welcome to the money pit.

As for mods, it's up to you what you want to do. The intake is a good start, followed by some springs. If you don't like the louder sound, I would get the Comptech Icebox. Just a little louder than stock and works great.

The exhaust is going to be louder depending on which ones you get. I have the Comptechs on my car and I love them. They sound great and really, I never bought this car to roll up to a Civic to see if he wants to race. No need to have a sleeper.

Headers will give you the best gain other than a custom turbo or supercharger. There are a couple for the CL, but the Comptechs are the best. The others can be prone to fitment problems and leakage.

You need any more advice or opinions, this is probably the place to be.

 

Yes it is just my opinion, so is most of what you will find here.
Like I said spend your money on whatever you want, my OPINION is to save it for maintenance.
Sorry if I hurt someones feelings.
Not really.

 

Your an idiot. That's not what this thead is about. So save it. He didn't ask for your opinion about that. I you have something to add that is usefull then your opinion would be valued. But it is not even what this thread is about. Start your own thread about if it is worth it to mod your car or something.

That's it I'm done. I'm not going to tie up this guys thread with this crap. I just had to say something to this guy.


To the original poster:

I have the Comptech Icebox for an intake and you can barely even tell it's there as far as sound goes. Looks very official in the engine bay too(not ricey at all). It's my recomendation as far as an intake. Can't go wrong starting there.

 

That would be YOUR opinion now wouldn't it, wanker?

 

Thanks everybody for the responses. As for this little debate that broke out here. I understand the issue of preventive maintanence and have taken care of my car very well since I got it. My previous two cars were a 1990 Chevy Lumina and a 1989 Mercury Cougar LX (not XR7). So needless to say, this is the most expensive investment (besides student loans) I've ever gotten into and I want to make sure it's valuable for a long time.

As for the issue of modding, I don't see myself doing a tremendous amount to the car but I do wish to improve it in ways that are both practical and within my budget. That is why i felt like, and what with most you agree, the CAI is the way to start. I don't mind the noise, and I actually prefer it a bit. I'm not looking to put a huge fart can on it and become the embodiment of "ricer."

Thanks again everbody for the words and advice.

 

Look guys it's a n00b war....

By the way, I've had my CL for 2 years, 40K miles and the only thing I have had to do that was not covered by the warranty was brakes twice, Mobil 1 oil changes every 5K to 7K miles and a battery. No more than any other car I have owned. If you want, get an extended warranty. I did, just for piece of mind. And then I "wasted" the rest of my money on mods.

 

Hey I'm offended! jk


No but seriously I have been on here a while, just don't post alot. Unless I really feel the need to say something or I have something good to add. Most of the time these threads are proper and nothing needs to be added. I have gotten tons of information off of here over the years. I couldn't help it today though.

 

I hear ya. The thing is that the parts are not cheep for maintaining the CL or TL. You can get the same parts for a Camry or a Ford for less. But then you will be driving a Camry or a Ford.

If you are trying to tell him that the parts that need to be replaced on a CL is expensive, you're right. But ask yourself, how often he has to change them. I've heard about a lot of guys having to get the tranny replaced for free and paying to get brakes because the brakes suck. But my friends that Audi's and BMW's or anything else complain all the time about much more serious things failing. Some of the other car makers also have the worse service in the world.

Bottom line is you get what you pay for. I have 73K miles on my car, and I drive it all the time, and sometimes hard. If the only things I have paid to have replaced were the brakes twice and a battery, there is NO way you can tell me I am spending a lot on maintaining my car. I have a friend that owned a 2000 Maxima that had about 140K on it when he sold it and he said his rotors warped about 10 times. It happens. All cars need maintaining.