Just can't believe how low RL's are going these days. Friend just picked up a certified RL (2007 with nav) and only 16k miles (with aspec package, except for the wheels) for 24k! Oil changes are also covered for a year I believe (this is from an Acura dealership as well)!

 

this angers me

well, only a little.. confident used prices won't continue to drop at a staggering rate, and actually hold for a while.

 

Nice! Your friend got a hell of a deal!

 

Precisely why I'm downgrading... giving the 05RL back on lease ($23K residual is a joke), dropping $1K in piffing up the 97 Accord EX in the backyard, and buying a year-old Harley somebody about to lose.

I'm down to driving 10 to 15 miles a week.

 

Wow, great deal.

 

That's an incredible deal.
I am actually thinking of picking up a 2005 as a winter beater because of the way prices have come down.

 

Saw an '05 Silver/Grey RL with 81K miles go for $12400 at an auto auction last week. It was very clean and a carfax one owner. A bit high on milage, but non the less not bad imo.

 

Wow that'd be so sick! And... I need a new car... Maybe from one of the 1,000 GM dealerships closing shop or whatever it is.. crazy.

<==== gets screwed everytime/needs to buy Lexus, Audi, or BMW for resale val.

 

If those cars start hitting below $10k (looks like they will soon), I may have a decision to make. On the V, an extra set of stock wheels for winter is $3k from the dealers.....then winter tires are another $1200 in stock V size....that's already 1/3 of the way to a winter beater RL.

....and 81k is not that high mileage for an RL engine. The J35 engine is absolutely bulletproof. We've got members with well over 100k miles on their RL.

 

I have been looking like crazy, what the heck dealer did your friend buy from? I have been looking at 2007's in Chicago and Milwaukee and they are all in the $32-34k range?

 

I could never picture the day a RL = beater

 

I need to add a S5 to my garage to compensate for the rapid deteriation and decline of the flagship...

 

Cars are not much in demand, and especially this car which never garnered much excitement from the consumer. Good price for solid hardware.

 

For comparisons sake, I only know as I am looking for something to replace my RL as my daily beater:

GS350-around 25k
550i-around 30k
545-around 23k
GS430-around 25k
M45-around 22k

So they all are taking a hit these days.

 

I just picked up an 06 RL w/ Tech Package for 16k w/ 75k miles on it. I also got a 2 yr 24k warranty that covers everything but maintenance stuff with it. Its a bit high on mileage, but im pretty confident this is a pretty solid car. Being a mechanic as well it shouldnt be a problem if something did go wrong with the car.

 

You should have paid more.. for my sake.

 

I have been wanting a RL for a very long time but been waiting for them to come down a bit. Now is a great time to buy anything it seems like. Hopefully soon I will be in a RL

 

mugen you have all the power, you got the dealer by the cahones..

 

Awesome time to buy. Just keep the NSX for those times you need to have fun, Mugen. Lucky guy...

 

That is sometimes a bad thing. Dont get me wrong we have some great dealers around the area but a lot are far from trust worthy and sell a lot of junk. I went and looked at a RL last week and I was very dissapointed in the quality of the one offered. I have noticed a lot of repo cars on lots due to the bad housing market here. There are plenty of good cars out there but it takes more time weeding the bad ones out with a flooded market of dealers around here.

 

tru dat

 

Thanks, the NSX will be staying I cant see myself getting rid of this car anytime soon. Im looking to replace the Civic for a RL soon. I love the civic but feel im getting a little old for the car and would like a little bit of Style and comfort.

 

Does anyone have the recent Mannheim auction prices for the 06-08 RL's? Can you post them? Please......

 

wow I just checked on craigslist and there are quite a few, mostly privately owned ones that are going for really cheap. Sorry guys but its looking good for us who are looking for used cars

 

It's incredible how different the resale is on the RL vs. other Acuras. I know the TSX hold up extremely well.

 

How cheap? Can you share some numbers with us?

 

Last month I think the auction prices were around 16k for and 05 average miles.

I have seen TSX's going for more than that with same age and mileage....

 

The problem is that the 2G RL, as awesome a car as it is, simply never took off with the great unwashed. As a result, many of us were able to buy it for around $40-42k rather than MSRP of nearly $50k. This, of course, also depressed the resale.



Boooo Acura for not marketing it right!

 

Frustrating, been thinking next car -RL for quite a while, and now is a great time to buy...but my career industry is downsizing, if not disappearing, uncertainty right now.

My 6MT CLS is still a great car, but I'd only get maybe $10-12k? for my CLS/Navi/65k if I could even sell it.

I'm seeing used CMBS RL bargains, but I'd want it de-Paxed or PAX discounted.
hmm.

 

The RL is just gonna go for like a few thousand dollars at this rate.. Yeah, I saw RLs for like 10 g's is what's gonna happen, and so on and so on...

 

There will always be bargains and low ball opportunities. And dealers will always push the bottom of the trade in value.

But these scary low sales being reported out here are a bit out of context with the norm.

Do a simple search on AutoTrader or a like search and you will see the majority are not so terribly low.

I just did a search nationwide on 2006RLs and the lowest was just under $20K, and the vast majority were $26k. Of course that is asking price. Touge's modded RL even came up in the listing in the upper $30K range. There were quite a few low mileage 2006RL <25k miles for < $27K and > $24K. I think that is very reasonable considering the market and the majority of 2006 RL were selling around $41K new.

Yes, there will be low ball opportunities. But I would find them suspect and worth digging deeper to find out why. And no one except dealers and those with purchasing access to auto autions should skew street values with auction prices. Auction prices do not reflect additional dealer overhead for marketing, prepping and floating the loan of the car.

For me, the point is moot since my RL just hit 26K miles, is as solid as new. Other than the !%@^%! stone chips, is often mistaken for a new car. I will likely keep it until the wheels fall off. Then, I will research salvage and parts values.

 

It may be worthwhile still, to clay the car, and get it as good looking as possible and to have a clear bra put on. That was the most worthwhile appearance mod I have made. No stone chips except above the bra. Some scars, especially a big one on one of the fogs, indicate to me that I have been saved a couple good hits.

 

I agree Chas. The clear bra is one mod I regret not taking opportunity with when the RL was new. The Honda painting process may be more enviromentally friendly, but way to fragile.

And not to get too off topic, but I will wait until the next gen RL debuts. If Acura's exterior stylists grow up, I may wait for the next gen ( +1 year as I never but 1st year models). If I do not like it, I anticipate taking my otherwise pristine RL to an uber good paint shop and have the RL refinished better than new with durable tree killing, cancer causing 15 layer paint job I can admire until I gasp my last breath. And yes, then also a clear bra up to the windshield if not the entire car!

 

Gee, my ears were ringing the other day...now you can add: well over 200K.

 

I don't want a clear bra and I just let the chips come then I will clean it up nice again for a couple hundred to a few.

 

I've been looking to replace my DD and have been looking at the TL-S and the RL. My parents have an 07 RL which I've driven a fair amount. They have stock suspension, but the aspec 18" wheels with high perf all seasons.

compared to the TL-S, the RL felt softer to me and not as tight in the turns. Made me like the TL-S more for sportiness, but the RL is much more luxurious feeling, more spacious and much classier looking/feeling.

As far as pricing goes - the RL's are actually as cheap or CHEAPER than the TL-S! I have seen nice certified RL's selling less than comparable TL-S - considering the discrepancy in tehir original asking prices, I woudl thik the RL's woudl be priced higher but I have no doubt that I could easily pick up a nice 06 or 07 certified RL for 25k. to get the TL-S -it woudl proably cost abou the same - yet these cars cost well over $10k different when new...

craziness.

if you were going to spend 25-30k on a nice used car, and wanted to get something that could be reasonably fun to drive - would you recommend an RL?

(I have a porsche boxster for pure driving excitement - but I DO want somethin that is still fun to drive. bone stock I think the rL is too soft, I'd likely have to do aspec suspension to stiffen it up and get 18s with good tires... with that setup vs a TL-S which would handle better?

what else wodul you consider? 5 series? i'm thinking too much maintenance costs once you go off warranty or off certification coverage..

Is350 is too small. i have three kids and need to fit 2 cars seats for the littler ones in the back. (we have an SUV so this is not our full time family car) this would be a DD that would be an "alternative' family car for days when we dind't ned the size/hhauling/etc of the SUV and just want to take a car. then the box is for me to haul a$$ on weekends or do track days, etc...

 

As you have noted, the RL and TL-S are very different cars, and decidedly so. There may be similar feature content, but they are marching to different beats.

The RL is engineered for refinement, comfort, smoothness and even emits a serenity in driving. The TL (and especially the TL-S) is slanted to performace with luxury features, edginess and verve. And I would doubt anyone in the RL forum would not give the RL the nod for solid engineering and materials over the TL, as it should based on cost differential when new.

That said, the RL, in it's smooth, subtle demeanor is a VERY capable vehicle. It's capabilities are very underappreciated and the SHAWD is not to be dismissed for it's contribution to enthusastic driving. Yes, it has more body roll in the curves, but then again, the TL-S cannot offer the smoothness and comfortable ride of the RL. Several oweners here will likely chime in here who have the ASPEC suspension which further buttons down the RLs suspension for more razor sharp manuevering without compromising much on the comfort side. It may boil down to do you want more sporting or more comfort attributes.

As far as cost goes, the RL is a sleeper. The TL-S is an entusiastically received vehicle. Dealers KNOW that. They will CHARGE you for that. The price is driven by popularity more than substance. IMHO the value is with the RL. Aside from a nod to the TL's styling and some performance edge, the RL is simply much more vehicle, better made, thought out and refined. It also has an exclusivity by virtue of the very few who have truly let the vehicle speak for itself over what the media and marketing promotes. There are many former TL owners in this forum now are RL owner and can attest to that.

I once made an anology that is the two cars could speak for themselves the TL would shout "I can do it, I CAN DO IT!!!" whereas the RL would whisper "I bet you didn't know I could do THAT".

And yes, at the low $40K pricepoint when new the RL is a class leader in value. After the 2 year depereciation it is an exceptional value.

 

I'd listen to Tampa if I were you... He knows what he's talking about... Even tho both car can get you from point A to point B with a big smile on your face, TL and RL are 2 different kinda cars... TL is lighter on it's feet, better pickup, more sporty, better gas economy... RL is refined, smooth, with touch of serinity, prestige, comfort... you do get lot more with RL if they are both priced about the same... for RL you get, SH-AWD, better leather, power rear sun-shade, power control head rest for back seat, better keyless entry system, better insulation, AFS, bit more room, more stable (at speed of 80mph, it feels like 40-50mph), bigger Brembo brake, Made in Japan, better craftmanship, etc. all of these mentioned items, TL just don't have them period.... at one point, I was so tempted to have my TL modded to have the TL shell and everything that RL have than I just got myself a RL to save me the trouble.......

 

You should get an RL. You can mod an RL to be sportier-handling. The RL is also a far more refined car. Those things along with the purchase price for a used one should cause you to lean toward the RL.

I say this even though I moved on to a CTS-V....I did that mostly because I got a deal and wanted to experience a V8 sport sedan. If I hadn't gotten a deal, I'd still be in my RL.

 

Okay that was a GREAT comparison (nonprejudice but made total sense)! If all of those outlined evaluation did not prompt you to buy a RL by now, let me add one more word “Exclusivity (sp)?” These 2nd generation RL’s are a rarity on the road (You will be lucky to spot more then 1 RL for a whole calendar month) where other prestige’s automobiles like M3/M5, LS460, CLK/CLS, heck even Ferrari are a dime a dozen.