Hi all, I've been considering buying a preowned CL-S or TL-S for awhile now but after following this forum for awhile I'm terribly questionable on whether to go through with it. I've heard SO MUCH transmission breakdowns that I'm wondering if i should even take a chance and purchase an acura which seems to have a 50% fail rate on the transmissions from what i see. Please any help would be appreciated.

 

It’s not THAT high.
Something like 1-2 percent I believe.

Just make sure there’s a warranty on the car and if there’s a problem it will be covered.

There are MANY Gen II CL’s here with over 50,000 on them and running just fine.

Shawn S

 

if you look at this site and look for info on tranny failures, you will probably think that the failure rate is much higher than it is because the poop chaps whose trannys fail are VERY vocal about it here and its a constant topic here, but for evey member thats tranny blows out on them, there are at least 10-15 members who never say a word about their tranny because it never gives them problems....i guess there is just a very VOCAL minority and a very SILENT minority..dont let that fool you though, these cars are great, everyone has their gripes with little things but thats just cause most of us are so damn ANAL about our cars!! overall, you really couldnt ask for much more at this price range.

 

Keep in mind that the people on this board are NOT your typical CL owner/driver. We represent a VERY small percentage of TL/CL community. Face it...even I think some of our driving styles are questionable.

People who post their mods...people who post their times...hmmm.

 

If it's a Certified-PreOwned Acura, you'll get a great warranty from what I understand. I beleive I just saw an Acura commercial the other day, and the warranty was 7yrs/100,000 miles or something.

If its got a warranty, go for it!

 

My tranny failed and I'd still recommend the vehicle. It cost me nothing, I drove a loaner TL for a week and total hassle time was a couple hours.

When I go to sell the car I'll probably highlight the fact that the tranny has fewer miles then the odo and should last longer than a comparable CL with no new tranny.

My take on the failure rate is between 2% and 4%. (Looks like some of those old surveys aren't on the site anymore). I don't know how that stacks up against the rest of the industry.

 

12K miles on my 2002 in 7.5 months. 1 oil change, 1 bad radio. No tranny problems. Most members here haven't had any. Most TL guys haven't had any. It's really a toss up though. If you can get a warrranty then fine. But I wouldn't buy a used CL-S/TL-S without one knowing about the tranny issue, sorry, I'm just being sensable here. $2K is alot of money for an out of pocket repair on a 2-3 year old car.

 

Check my sig...40k and no problems whatsoever.

 

Thank you guys for the quick reply and making me feel a little more at ease. I do believe most CL and TL come w/ a 50,000 mile standard warranty but if I purchase an auto that's not from acura would I still be able to walk into an acura dealership and purchase their 7year /100000 mile plan? just wondering if anyone was able to upgrade their warranty. thanks!

 

My guess is that of all the CLs and TLs sold since 2000 with the 5AT, not even 1% are affected. Get the car, it's a blast and drive it hard.

 

As long as the car is still under the factory warranty, you can buy an extended warranty.(From anywhere) It will cost a little more the closer you get to the end of the factory warranty.

 

Just buy the 6 speed.

Seriously, you'll be fine. I had a 01 CL-S for 38k miles, changed the tranny fluid every 15k miles, drive harder than the average 40 yo CL driver (but not as hard as some of these guys here) and never had a problem. Like edgalang said, the same people with failures keep bitching over and over and over so it makes it look like a higher rate than it really is. Just think of all those people happily driving their cars who neverer heard of this place. Also, the people here are significantly younger and more aggressive than the overall CL driving population. I have to believe that is a factor in the failures.