Hey guys, I am new to the Acura world so I have a few questions. I made a similar post in the TL forum. I am not sure which model to buy! This post is more geared towards the RL itself.

I've looked around and there doesn't seem to be much wrong with the RL. I haven't seem too much about transmission issues, that gives it a step up from the TL in my opinion.

Is the noise from the propeller really that bad? How can I check the rear differential? How about the A/C as I hear there is an issue with that. Should I have all fluids changed upon purchase?


There are a few '05 RL's for sale around me, the private sales range from $11,000CDN-$11,500CDN with 158,000kms and 175,000kms respectively.

There is a dealer selling one with 138,000kms for 14,000. I think even though this one is more 20,000 less kms are substantial.

Anything else you guys could tell me would help. Thanks a lot!

 

Do you want a race car or a luxury car?

 

Do a search. The transmission is solid and not a concern. There are enough other things on the 2005 that may be.

For a quick and broad generalization, TLs are small, light, quick, stiff, and not-quiet. RLs are big, heavy, fast, soft, and quiet. I think the best advice we can give you, besides reading every possible issue with the '05 through searching, is to test drive both cars and push them around. You will notice a difference.

 

I purchased an 06 RL back in May, and after test driving an 09 TL and the 06 RL, it was a no brainer for me. The 2G RL is built much better, with better materials, felt more sturdy and powerful, more room, and def mor luxurious.

Like was already said above, its about preference of luxury over speed, but that is not to say the RL is slow...cause it isn't. But it isn't real zippy either.

The earlier you go into the 2G RLs, the more ghosts. Mine is an early edition 06, and outside of the prop whine, keyless doors that dont always want to lock\unlock and the creeky cabin, it is a great car and I am more than happy with the purchase.

Do your homework, and make an educated purchase, and if it happens to be the RL, you won't be disappointed.

 

Thanks guys!

To be honest I don't know which I want more. I believe the RL is more solid than the TL, I do not see myself wanting to be too sporty. My licence and wallet would not handle the tickets too well!

What I liked about the RL is all the bells and whistles, especially after reading a thread on here about all the cool little features! I also like how large and luxurious it is, I think it would go well with my personality. My main concern is repair costs, would they be on par with the TL? Usually you find the more luxury the more cost to repair.

 

Well your screen name screams the opposite of luxury and if that is your style this isnt the car for you... I would look into something rear wheel drive with more sport features.

Is the RL reliable? I, along with other memebers, who have over 100K would say yes. Sure the 05 has quirks, and any car with high miles will have noises and squeaks. The issues you see here are usually due to lack of maintenance (like a failing battery) or unique conditions (loose wires/mods)

Is it fast? In comparison, no, its heavy and it has power to move, but its not "snappy" off the line and the power comes in smooth. You will not win races, and if you put underdrive pulleys, exhaust, J pipes, light wheels, etc on it you will be able to hang with stock cars... with a lot of spent money.

In short, its a grown up car, 4 big doors, lots of plush room, great cruising speed, but you wont cruise into a parking lot with a factory set up and get a lot of attention.
Sure there are a few body kits and there are some great looking RLs on this site, but there are not a lot of mods short of wasting your money on CAI, or lowering it with some wheels.
Lastly, the stereo options are limited, you have the navtool/usa spec and wiring in a sub, but other than that you will have little luck putting a stereo in it with out a lot of money unless you have some hidden talent.

So, should you buy it (like every other thread), you tell me.

Would I buy it.... I would buy my car over and over again if given the chance. But thats why I have 3k posts and hang out here.

 

I have the s15 for fun so now I am looking for something more luxurious. I do not plan on doing any upgrades on the RL. Even my S15 is not heavily modified I like the clean look, stock with a little extra under the hood.

In my line of work having a nice luxury car I think would go a longer way than me rolling in with my two door sports car which is why I wanted the TL or RL. So far I think the RL is the better choice and I will be putting more of my search focus on that. The TL scares me a little with all the issues I have heard thus far!

I have found another RL with 132,100 kms for $13,900. I am going to try and take a little off the top as I would like to be out the door for $15,000, we have a lovely 13% tax here! What sort of things can I look forward to repairing at this km range?

 

And now we search:
Its a similar car to this: https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-rl-2005-2012-76/what-am-i-getting-myself-into-2005-rl-93k-miles-860295/

105 service talk: https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-rl-2005-2012-76/what-needs-done-105k-maintenance-859759/

and the garage info: https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-rl-2005-2012-76/garage-helpful-2g-rl-info-789209/

 

There is nothing outside of regular maintenance that is expected to cause repairs. The RL has one of the best reliability records of luxury sedans out there. The only thing that comes to mind like any car is struts/shocks any time after 120k miles.

 

I'm on the same search as the OP. Looking at an 06 for my parents. The car has 46K miles on it now. All service records are up to date. Four new tires new brakes all around and differential fluid has been changed.

Thanks for all the helpful info in this thread. I been reading up on the issue with the differential and that is the only thing that concerns me at this point.

The dealer is offering an extended warranty thru Zurich (3yrs 36K miles) for $2,700. The price of the car is $20K and there maybe a little room to go down in price.

 

I just want to say thanks again for all your help! I have decided to purchase an RL at a dealer instead of an owner.

I am now looking at one more expensive but with 114,000kms I believe it is worth an extra $1,500-2,000. The only thing is I believe it is an American model seeing as it does not have the headlight cleaning system. What are the other differences? I only saw that and heated and cooled seats but the American model has the heated seats option so I am a bit confused.

 

Only the canadian models have the cooled seats I think. Makes no sense to me. Gets real hot up there in the Great White North, eh?

 

It was 104 farenheit here today to yes it does get pretty hot :p.

The car I went to see had several issues and I didn't end up buying it. I also went by to see the one from the link HEAVY_RL posted, that car seems to have some issues as well. Upon engine start up there was some loud sqeeking noise coming from the engine, couple that with a breaken rear tail light lens and them being shady dealers I left the car where it was parked.

So the hunt is still on sadly! I was pretty upset as I finally made up my mind and was ready to pull the trigger.

 

On a side note where is the edit function? I keep making minor errors with no way to correct them.

 

It only stays there for a minute or two after you post. It's on the bottom right of the post.

 

As for the squeaking, my engine was squeaking something awful, intermittently. It was like a manic chipmunk or something. I just changed out my tensioner pulley, and it seems to have resolved it. $17 at Autozone. (Carquest and O'Reiley's parts won't fit, by the way).

 

Yeah the noise was bad, and as you described! It only happened on start up for the first two or three seconds, enough to make me wonder about it.

I have no faith that the dealer would make proper repairs as he kept trying to make me sign a contract and leave a 500 dollar deposit. I told him I want the light changed and I wanted to know what the noise was before I did anything, he told me that's what the extended warranty was for. The warranty only covers claims up to 1000 dollars so if it was anything serious I would be on the hook. As for the light he said if it is part of safety it would be replaced, I do not think the crack/small chunck missing from the plastic would fail at safety. One of the tires was low so the cluster had an exclaimation mark, seeing as I don't know how to take that off I couldn't check anything else.

Also I saw that you can lock and unlock the doors by touching the door handle, this function was also not working. It just seems that if you didn't look for these things the dealer would just sell it and you would be shit out of luck.

Other than a few dings and scratches the car was alright.

 

What do you guys think of a rebuilt RL Elite?

I have a chance to purchase a 2007 with 50,000 miles on it and he wants $12,000, he says he will not negotiate on the price. How can I find out what sort of damage and repairs were done? The car was written off in the USA. I believe car proof will only tell me the car was salvaged and then rebuilt.

 

Uuugh....Does this car have a salvage title? If so, I think it'll be hard to get financing. What was "fixed"? Was it a bad accident, flood? Was it repaired with OE parts? Lots of crazy variables involving "re-built".

 

Financing won't be an issue as I am an all cash buyer.

The seller claims it was in an accident, they also claim it was repaired at an Acura dealership using all OEM parts. They say the dealership purchased the car and rebuilt it. I do not know how to verify how bad the accident was or where. The seller can claim anything he wants which is why I am asking if there is anyway I can find out exactly what happened. The title is rebuilt but it has been certified for use on Canadian roads, it is currently on the registered and on the road.

 

Fixed.



I'm still pissed Canada gets cooled seats.

 

2005-2008: US RL has heated seats only - CA cooled seats only
2009+: US & CA RL has heated and cooled seats.

 

Canada has both heated and cooled, I do not think it was an option as every Canadian model RL I have seen has both.

So can anyone assist me on finding out how I can tell the extent of the damage? Car proof will only tell me that it was writen off then rebuilt but as far as I know it will not tell me how serious the accident was or anything like that. Maybe I can ask the seller which dealership rebuilt it and give them a call, or perhaps the state would keep records.

 

[QUOTE=240silvia;13856879]Canada has both heated and cooled, I do not think it was an option as every Canadian model RL I have seen has both.
QUOTE]

Thank You. You are correct, both heated and cooled seats for 2005-2008 Canada spec RLs.

 

You could try taking it to a guy who rebuilds cars. I bet someone like that would be able to tell what has been done to it. Will probably charge you a little to do it, but might be worth the piece of mind.

 

If I were interested in buying it (was written off for a reason, in my mind), I'd take it to a good mechanic and have it looked over thoroughly. I'd also have the suspension checked on one of those laser sight tables. The car may be "fixed", but the frame may still be bent. I see plenty of fixed cars in Texas that look like their partially driving sideways. Maybe imperceptible while behind the wheel, but you know it'll prematurely wear the tires out.

If I were driving this car by yourself, it may be worth considering. But if you have a family or others you'll be driving around, do you want to take that risk?

 

I concur, it never hurts to spend a few dollars and have some one look it over.

No matter how old I get, sideways drivers always make me laugh.

 

If the seller can't produce the repair records which will show you exactly what was damaged and what was replaced with what then I would be very skeptical. Only reason not to have documentation of repairs is to hide something. I say this from my experience in buying a reconstructed RL. I fell in love with the car before he told me about the accident but we settled on what I felt was a fair price. But he couldn't produce records and later I learned some of the minor quirks of the car (paint chipping off the steering wheel, 07 CPMS grill, and seat belt sensor error) are a result of the replaced parts being used from an 07RL, from a shop in California. I've owned it for 2 years and have had no mechanical problems and feel I made a good purchase but I will never risk it again without documentation. I think reconstructed vehicles can be a great value if you get one at 50% or more off typical value and recognize the insurance company will still charge you the going rate but will reimburse you at recon value. The RL is such a highly complicated car that is very expensive to repair. Good luck with your decision.

 

Thanks I decided not to go for that one!

I saw one recently and the tire pressure sensor said to check the left rear tire, to the eye the tire looked fine. How much would it cost to repair the sensor if it is broken?

The car is American with no accidents from what the car proof reports. The car as been at the dealer for a while and I talked him down from 13,000 to 12,000 dollars. It has about 130,000 kms. What do you guys think?

Also since the car is from America I assume I would have to update the navigation to Canada, how difficult would this be for me to do myself?

Thanks again guys!

 

Sorry guys typo I talked it down from 14,000 to 12,000. I think I might be able to pull 11,500 but I am not sure if the dealer will go for it. There are no service records and from the car proof it was a lease. Also the interior is in excellent condition as is under the hood. It still has the protecting film on the door frames. It has some scratches and two dents on the trunk. The paint near the bottom of where the plates would be has worn away but I do not see any rust. Also it is missing the cover where the tow hook would be attached.

The dealer told me he would sell it for 12 grand as long as I deal with the navigation update and unlock myself. It sounded to me like he has had this car sitting for too long, he said normally he wouldn't take 12 thousand but business is slow.

 

Do it! Navi is disc based so should be no issue to update to my knowledge.

 

 

I haven't heard that you can change from us to Canada maps. Can someone verify this is true?

 

The map is based on the disk, right?
Buy a US disc, get a us map.

 

I thought maybe there was some goofy incompatibility (wouldn't have surprised me, honestly). Found this on the navigation.com store:

If coverage for northern Canada is required, a gray-labeled "Canada" DVD is available. To purchase this edition, contact the Acura Navigation Center at 1-888-628-6270.

 

Replacement sensors range in price from $25 to $50, including installation. Sounds like this is a good option.

 

Is it from a Acura dealer or one of those 'storage unit dealers'? A reputable dealer should be able to obtain the maintenance records. As to the tire pressure sensor, it is minor. I would be concerned about the service history first. As to the Canuck vs US RL differences, the Canucks also have headlight washers that pop out (neat) as well as heated/cooled seats. The US versions have satellite radio, Canuck not. Nav updates are on discs, just purchase and use simple/cheap.
Do not buy a rebuilt car....EVER! Good luck!

 

Reference post. For those shoppers I am in the USA and I just got an 05 RL with 38K miles and 5 year 60K warranty for 18.3K I think the warranty was around $2300 of it. I got it from a Lexus dealer and it was a Lexus warranty. $0 deductable - no repair limit.

 

You best check with Acura on the nav as I understand it only works for the lower 48 and includes a short distance across the border. So if you live way beyond in the great white north, upgrades will not help.

 

mod edit (neuronbob): No for sale posts in the forums.