Hey whats up?....just wanted to introduce myself, everyone calls me "goose".....i'm from SFV in So Cal....i am in the market for an 05 or 06 RL.....currently in an 06 G35 Sedan 6MT....my lease is up soon.....also a member on G35Driver.....

This will be my first Honda...and my research has shown that the RL is one of the mos problematic car that Honda has ever produced....is this correct?

If so, what kinds of problems can i expect....if any....i found an 05 RL with 35K on the odo for $21,400....clean CARFAX, 1 owner...looks pretty clean in pics...plan on test driving it this weekend....does this sound like a good buy?

any info would be greatly appreciated....thanks!!!

 

06 rl has less problems go with that year or above. I just got my 06 couple weeks ago, so far so good. Make sure it does not have tech package or you will be payin for some expensive tires. Not many 06's in the market in s. cali so good luck, I lucked out with mine...paid 25.4k for 32,600 miles.

 

I have a 2007 with 108,000 miles and not had problem 1. Get the routine maintenance done and sit back and enjoy. Checkout the link:
http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story....=&aff=national

 

While it is true the 2005 had some teething issues, a quick look at TSBs will help you. If they are all addressed, you should be golden. Make sure the AC works. 2006 and above have few, if any issues.

 

I just bought '05 CPO RL with 51k miles (see my thread with pics). I paid $24k but got the CPO wrap to cover bumper to bumper for 7 y/ or 100k miles. I figure we have 3 yrs of worry-free driving. Based on stories read here, I would be very leary of buying this car w/o protection. CPO seems the way to go. This is my third Acura CPO. We had '94 Legend and still own '99 G1 RL. Both previous Acuras were bulletproof with very few issues. I am hoping this '05 will be the same but bought the wrap to be sure.

BTW - I wanted an '06 or '07 but could not find them in black/parchment in New England. Actually - I did see one '06 with 48k miles and it sold for $29k the day we test drove it. Find a clean one and let the warranty take care of the rest. If you want a private sale - get '06+. Good Luck!!!

 

thanks for all the info......RL 's in so cal are few, so i dont have many to choose from....eventually the right one will come up....

 

have carmax ship one in thats what i did. youre not obligated to buy so its nice to have them bring it to you. but you cannot haggle with them i bought mine exactly one year ago with 43k miles for 25k black on black

 

I wouldn't say CPO is the way to go. I've bought a few CPO cars and I now think it is a waste. If you buy a car that still has it's factory warranty you can extend it no matter where you buy the car. The CPO's usually have all the current services up to date but they charge thousands extra for it. I'd rather buy an RL from a lexus or bmw dealer that got it on a trade and is looking to unload it fast and pay a few hundred to get the services up to date if need be...

 

I agree with briny319 on the CPO subject. I have family members who have purchased CPO cars (not Acura) and the condition of the filters, fluids, interior and etc was very questionable. The air filter on one of the cars was never replaced for 35k miles! Yet, the car was labeled CPO with 180-point inspection performed. Yeah, right. Another car had poor quality tires and 30% brakes.

I bought my 2006 RL from an Acura dealer but the car was NOT a CPO. I was able to get it for $3k less than any other comparable CPO 06 RL in the area. It was so much easier to negotiate when the car was not a CPO. It was a lease return, local car, no accidents, no issues. The interior was very dirty but i was able to get a "free" premium detailing service to be included in the out of the door price. After the detailing, my 06 RL looked and still looks like new. Not a stains, no odor, no scratches...it's spotless. For $3k less than the CPO RL i was initially looking at.... i am VERY happy with the deal!

Sure, my air filter was also very dirty, my tires had only 40-50% left, my fluids were of unknow age, but since the car is under warranty, all small issues were fixed (plus replaced the noisy drive shaft) in 3 visits to the Acura dealer. Soon I will extend the bumper-to-bumper warranty to 100k miles for another $1200 and i should be good.

 

Point - Counterpoint

I agree with BostonBob that CPO is the way to go. My car was a cpo with 13K miles on it. I paid 39K and got a very low interest rate on the loan. I got the full 50K miles warranty on top of the 13K. They also gave me a very good price on the trade in.

After 2.5 years of hassle free ownership, very happy with transaction.

 

is the period button on your keyboard still visible?

 

I have an 06 and note none of the problems with the 05's (knock on wood), save for warranty items. I would get an 06 or later over an 05 if for no other reason than the hassle factor. Why check and see if all TSBs have been applied, etc if the 06's are inherently improved versions.

Power steering hose recall, which affected many Acuras, not just RL
Adjust wiper tension (warranty)
Rattling sunshade (warranty)
Warranty Extension due to odometer, which affected many Hondas and Acuras.

All were taken care of during normal service, except the odometer, which you just add 5% mileage to...

 

if ........i........ could............ see ......the .............period ......button...... i...... would ......be....... able ........to....... tell.......... you.........................................!!

 

regarding the wiper tension, did that fix any squeaking

 

I bet you tell people you bought a CPO though don't you?? Just kidding.

How do you extend the bumper to bumper warranty after the sale? Does Acura provide that option? I don't think my car would have qualified except at the time of sale since it was over 4 yrs and over 50k. If you are under that (which it sounds like you are) that maybe the difference. I think the important thing is to be happy and confident in your vehicle. Perhaps I was impatient and bought too quickly, but so far I am in love. Based on the CPO cars in my area, I think I did well.

 

I just bought a 05 RL from Carmax. I had the Colorado Carmax ship my car from North Carolina. The car has 65K and I paid @20K for it. There are some minor things that Carmax is going to repair for me, but for the most part, the car runs great (knock on wood). The nice thing is that they will repair anything that is wrong with the car within 30 days. If you're picky and observant, this should be plenty of time to make the dealership pay for all of the obvious repairs. :-)

 

Well...i still have a few months on the lease on my G35 so i can take my time finding the right car at the right price, so we'll see what happens.

btw, i did test drive an 07 RL today. What an awesome ride!!! cant wait to get my grubby little hands on one!!!

 

yeah, i must say about the quote this car is the most problematic honda ever built is wrong. My car has been over 129k and still with no major problem at all. and one guy in this forum FN P190 has his car over 260k and also with minor problem. So how can you tell a car is problematic? Good luck on finding one!!!

 

You are correct. The car must be within the original warranty period in order to purchase an extended warranty. You used to be able to buy them online, but Honda recently scrapped that. They were cheaper that way, of course.

 

No i wasnt saying that the RL IS problematic, i just meant thats the info i've been finding on the internet and was curious as to how true this was..Maybe its just a small percentage of the 05's that have been problematic...btw what year is your RL?

 

If this forum is a sample of the 05RLs out there, I have a theory.

It seems a lot of 05RL have changed ownership this past year. Likely that is due to off lease vehicles hitting the market.

From what several members report here who just acquired an 05RL, they have found many of the TSBs were not applied to the car (purchased from an Acura dealer, CPO or otherwise). This is typical of many lease owners who posture as if they have no responsibility to maintain the vehicle and return it as such.

So many 05 RL owners have been reporting, researching and playing catch up with TSBs that were not applies to the vehicle from the original owner. That could appear to make the 05 RL a 'troublesome' vehicle.

Just as a witness to this forum in the past 4 years, there were a trickle of issues and often silence of issues discussed with this car over that time (especially compared to other forums, even Acura models). But this past year has been a time condensed version of these few issues as ever new 05Rl acquisition rehashes the issues we all reported, corrected and moved on from 3 years ago.

Those of us who have lived with this car found very little to worry over. There are some exceptions as no vehicle and manufacturer is perfect. Those who just acquired an 05 RL may be getting a vehicle which needs to be brought up to speed, and then should be fine.

As many have echoed here, if you get a used RL, aside from a typical inspection (best by an Acura Tech), checklist the TSBs & PS Hose Recall with whoever you purchase from and set a baseline should any issues surface after the purchase, you can mitigate. And most important would be a warranty. This is a low volume car with many newly introduced features and components....if any require replacement, they are more expensive than the typical Accord would be.

 

Never had any squeaking. I just felt that the wipers were not pressing hard enough on the glass to get a good wipe, especially with slush. I had them adjust passenger side, and then saw how good life could be, and had them do the drivers side next time I was in.

 

Pretty decent theory. I have observed the same thing as you, speaking of an 06 owner who has participated since I bought the car, but just don't have those keen powers of observation and the silver tongue you do.

Not to be sickening or anything, but it is members such as you, and a super moderator such as neuronbob, who make this possibly the most useful forum I have found. The so called tips, tricks and traps in here are excellent.

 

+1

 

Now take off your kneepads and send me a check.

Oh.....and go dust that dash, dammit.