I have been reading this forum a lot and want to say thanks, you guys have been very helpful.

I found a 2006 RL private party with 39,000 miles and the person wants $18,000. Mechanically the car seems great. Some issues I noticed were the side mirrors feeling loose and the windshield wipers not going all the way down. He said he would get that taken care of by Acura. The car has no accidents and service was performed at Acura.

Two down sides was the front bumper at the very bottom was cracked so that may cost about $500-600 to get a new one. But this wasn't from a big accident. They just ran into a curb or something. The other thing I noticed was the tires may need to be replaced. I wasn't sure if it was the PAX tires and if yes I'm worried about the cost to replace.

So given what I said do you guys think its worth the 18,000, plus tax of course. I originally wanted to pay a little more to get either an 07 or 08.

Thanks

 

Easy way to know if the car came with the PAX system: Does it have the CMBS feature and the radar shield over the front emblem ? If so, it was a PAX car. If not, it was a regular 2006 RL like mine. Those were the only choices for 2006.

 

Not to fond of those two down-sides (wipers and side mirrors) which may prove it was in an accident (not 100% though) ... being private party is another side for me at least; if you checked Carfax keep in mind that Carfax does not report last 6 months from the date you check it - it simply reported material needs 6 months to get to show it (if it was in accident, etc)... then, another downside for me is: why is he selling it that cheap - any dealer would buy it for more than 18 - if not at least 18k ... low miles is nothing and they can sell it for about 22-23k ...

My suggestions are that:
1. you ensure this car was 1-owner and registered in the state that does report to Carfax (remember only 22 states report to Carfax);
2. Mechanic takes a look at the car and perform test drive;
3. If you have a friend who works in Acura dealership - pay him 100-200$ to check out the car;
4. negotiate the price down from 18k to 16500-17000 due to damages you will have to fix - bumper may be 500-600 but what kind of paint job you get is the question

OVerall, it is a good deal - but sometimes it is too good to be true!

 

I did read on this forum that others were also having issues with the loose mirrors so I was thinking it's common. I live in NJ and for 22-23k you could get a nice 2007 with low miles. I went to look at the car with my friend whose a mechanic and he said that the car is good with the exception of those few things I mentioned and that it doesn't look like there were any accidents.

 

Mirrors are an easy fix and a frequently documented problem on here. A few minutes with the proper sized torx driver will fix that. Not sure about the wipers but I would imagine they can be easily adjusted. The bumper damage is probably a fairly easy fix. Jut keep in mind that NO secondhand paint job is as good as the original.

I would still have a trusted and experienced mechanic do a thorough inspection since you would be buying it from a private party.

 

Are you sure the wipers aren't just in the winter position? Hold both arms and gently push down. They will lower into place. Nothing wrong, it's a feature of the car to allow the wipers to sit a bit higher in case of snow buildup below.

Mirrors can be tightened. Bumpers can be fixes. If that's all that's wrong with the car, it sounds like a good price with the relatively low mileage. PAX tires cost around $2,000 to replace but you can de-PAX for that amount (you'll also have to buy a spare and related items for about $500). One thing nice about the PAX equipped cars is you get the CMBS system and the adaptive cruise control. Both well worth the cost of PAX to me.

LL

 

x2 on the winter wiper position. I ran into this 2 days ago as a new owner and I thought something was wrong. Read the manual for the proper way to do it. but I found it was easy to do as long as you are using both hands to pull both wipers back simutaneously.

18k seems like a great deal as long as the title isn't branded or the car has major issues. I know when I was looking for a rl there was an 06 with 15k miles at a dealer in south Colorado that they were asking 32k on and I believe it sold right away.

 

+1 on the winter wiper position.

39,000 miles seems a little quick for the PAX tires to wear that much. I got just under 50,000 on mine before swapping them out. It's not a huge deal but I'd wonder how roughly the car was driven or how well it was taken care of (i.e. tire rotation) with the tires wearing that quickly.

Does it have a clean Carfax and title?

 

I checked Autocheck and that was fine and he said he did everything at Acura dealership so it is clean. The tires have a lot of tread left, the problem is that at the corner it seems to have begun to crack. I think maybe they began to crack because they said that they didn't drive the car very much lately.

The winter wiper position sounds very interesting, I would have never even thought that such an option exists.

 

There are many who are not aware of the winter position for the window wipers. Comes in handy if your car is an outside car in a snowy area like my RL was.

 

Then, I say you got yourself a very nice deal enjoy it man!

 

I actually haven't bought it yet, but I'm deeply thinking about it. This is what I'm debating now: $18,000 + $1,260 (tax) + $500 (bumper cover) + tires ($2,000) = $21,760.

So about $22,000 for a 2006...I know it is low mileage but I feel like if I wait I can get a 2007 for about $22,000 after tax with maybe about 45,000-50,000 miles.

 

I hear you man... PAX is definitely a cost on long term... that's like doing timing-belt service every other year lol ...

Anyhow, why not look for non-PAX (regular Acura RL with no tech package) with different years, etc? That would save a lot in the future... also, you should probably think about this car as your car for the next few years... only deal is if you decide to keep and drive the car for longer than 4-5 years...
2006 is 2006... getting newer is bit better choice so check the market out thoroughly

I know it's more expensive but... http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

 

I think my ideal would be a 2007 RL with Technology package but no PAX.

That 2009 looked too good to be true for the price. When you read the fine print it says: "This is a CASH only deal. No financing available at this point. This is a consignment car. It has a rebuilt title." I do love the 2009+ but a bit out of my price range. My max OTD budget is $24,000.

 

Car sounds good to me. Given that you'll have to replace tires anyway, I'd de-PAX it; I'm no fan of PAX. But since that's the price of getting the automated cruise control, I think that at the right price it's worth it -- I wish I had that feature.

 

I just spoke with the seller and he is saying that he has no idea if it is the technology package and if it comes with PAX. He will look into it and get back to me. So if it is technology package I think I will tell him no because I don't want to deal with the cost of replacing the PAX tires for $2,000. If it's regular tires then I think I should say yes to this guy. I'm sure I could live without the CMBS, ACC, and PAX. If I'm not mistaken there are no other differences in the car between standard and technology.

 

Honestly I did not even know when I bought my car if it was Tech pkg or not... later on I find out it was not, while I was reading how PAX tires are super-expensive lol... cruise control is another thing I do not really use AT ALL now Adaptive Cruise Control would be the same way - I just do not use that thing at all so I don't miss it... now CMBS system is good stuff - but oh well what can I do... so, yeah - good deal rolling in if its no tech pkg ...

 

Wanted to thank you guys for all your advice. I ended up buying the car today. Negotiated it down to $17,500 + tax.

I'll have to try to post pics when I get a chance

 

Congrats. Did you end up getting the low mileage 06?

 

yep I got the 06 with 39,000 miles. Coming from a 2007 Maxima SL, need to start getting used to the way an Acura drives. Need to sell the Maxima now.

I will miss most my heated steering wheel!!!! Wish the RL had it. Also, I really liked the power folding mirrors (can close side mirror with a button inside).

 

Meh. Minor details. The RL is superior in basically every other way. I came from a 98 Prelude and there are plenty of things that I miss about my old car. There are even things that are on my wife's 07 TL that I can't believe aren't on my RL like downloading contacts from your phone into the car. You won't find a car that has everything but the RL has a lot of features and a ton of refinement.

 

Very true indeed! RL does drive beautifully. And finally I have a car that handles well.

Now I just need to listen closely to make sure that I don't have a 65-70mph prop shaft whine or a 35-40mph diff whirl since I believe I'm still covered under the power train warranty for another 5 months or so.

 

If you put decent rubber on your RL it will handle even better.

Congrats on the purchase and you got a good price.

 

I must say I have A LOT to learn with this RL, so many buttons and options!

Is there a way i can completely reset all setting to default?

 

Actually it is recommendable to do that (to reset learned pattern of the acceleration, etc from the previous owner / driver)...

1. check that all codes (radio and navi) are available to you!
2. Take negative off of your battery and wait a minute or two...
3. reconnect it and you should have reset all of the options;

 

You may want to wait more like 10-15 minutes. The capacitors within the systems will attempt to hold their charge indefinitely when power is disconnected. However, an internal resistance will cause them to bleed out slowly. This bleed can take some time, so if you want to COMPLETELY reset everything, you will need to wait a decent amount of time. Still, there is probably some RAM that will never reset through a power cycle.