Help - I made a downpayment on a 2005 RL this week with the intent to purchase the car over the weekend. My wife and I fell in love with the car and are excited about it. Now after visiting this site we are getting nervous about the expensive problems that appear to be taking place with the RL. The car has 62k miles on it, but is in excellent shape. It is a certified pre-owned vehicle which will provide us with a warranty up to 100k and 1yr / 12k miles bumper to bumper. The option exists to extend the bumper to bumper to match the drivetrain warranty. What can I expect for issues with this car and will we love it once we own it? I cant afford to have a car with many problems. Some coments and direction would be much appreciated.

 

The only expensive problem I've had with my RL in about 43k miles was a whistling driveshaft bearing. It was replaced for free under warranty, but would've cost about $3k to fix otherwise. Then again, it really was only a nuisance, not a real problem. Definitely MUCH more reliable than the Audi and VW I owned before it.

 

Thanks for the feedback. We are excited about the car. For us the nearly 20k that we are spending is alot of money. Just want to make sure that we are headed in the right direction with this purchase.

 

See if you can find out where the car was originally sold and serviced. I have found the dealers are very helpful in providing the service records. If the previous owner was attentive, you may find that most of the minor problems have been already taken care of.

 

How long do you plan to keep the car?
How much will the bumper to bumper cost you?

Call other Internet Dealers such as Tim at Hondacuraworld.com and find out about the cost and applicablility of an extended warrranty. He saved me over $1500 what was quoted for an extended warranty offered by the dealer. Make sure it is a Honda/Acura warranty, and not some third party company. I would consider this bumper to bumper because the car does have something like 16 computers, and is a technological marvel in many ways. Fixing something could be expensive. It is a peace of mind thing.

My experience is that this is a very reliable car, but I estimate it will be expensive to operate (premium gas) and to maintain, as is any all wheel drive car with the extra differentials and so forth, but it will be cheaper than the German cars to maintain.

That said, my 06 has less than 30K miles on it, and I have had it since new with 8 miles on it.

 

Nickdog, I receently purchased an '05 and have had the same thoughts that you are experiencing after reading some of the posts. You have to remember... the Acurazine members probably make up a small fraction of all the RL owners out there. When you read a post about an owner that has a Nav unit that died, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a wide spread issue and you will experience it also. It simply means that one guy had a problem and because the Acurazine is devoted to Acura's, you are reading about it. If the Acurazine didn't exist, you'd never hear about the issues that others experience. Ok, I'm gonna stop my ramble...

 

Everytime i think of my 05 RL.

I Jizz in my pants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4

 

i didn't think they gave the bumper to bumper after the car hit 50k miles. I bought my 05 rl almost a year ago with 43 k miles on it, certified. It's now got 51k on it and haven't had a single issue with it other than a seater heat bulb go out and a squeak coming from the plastic near the gear shift, which I just recently fixed myself. Other than that, it's been very reliable. I also recently replaced the tires, which aren't cheap for this car, expect to pay 800-1000 for them.

 

Exactly. Those few who have problems are far more likely to find the forum and vent than those who quietly enjoy their car trouble-free and never have the need to find a site on which to vent.

 

Buy the bumper to bumper warranty. I have an '05 RL, one of the very first delivered and love it. But, there's a ton of electronics in this car. If your car's original owner was detail-oriented, your car probably has had all recalls, TSBs, etc. done. But, to be safe, I'd buy the extended warranty.

I have the extended warranty and it has paid for itself more than once.

You will love your car, but it was the first year and better safe than sorry.

 

I echo what others have said. I bought a CPO (Certified Pre Owned) 2005 and it has been a great vehicle. I've had my fair share of glitches but my dealer has been amazing and has fixed everything without question. I think it really comes down to the previous owner and the dealer that you are going to use for servicing. When a dealer is willing to work with you to get things fixed it makes owning the brand that much better.

I would still buy it again now. It's a great car, enjoy.

Chris

 

Last weekend I picked up a CPO 05 RL from the local dealer where I purchased my 99 TL. Bought an extended bumper to bumper to 100K miles for about a grand extra. That was my piece of mind. As others have stated, lots of cool technology in this car.
I actually called the service advisor at the dealership and asked his opinion. I was torn between a low miles 08 TL no nav and this 05 RL loaded. He reccomended the 08 but Driving an Acura on the highway with nav is a completely different experience than without.
Don't over think this- Acura has made solid cars for years and each one has it's little quirks. If something major and widespread goes bad with the cars, typically Acura will stand behind them and issue a TSB to repair- like bad trannys in the late 90's and early 2000's TL's.

enjoy the ride.

 

 

Ironically, at the sales levels of these cars, the members of Acurazine are probably as significant percentage of the ownership pool! Either way, I've been impressed at the hive's ability to identify both the positive attributes and negative issues that I might not otherwise have known about or been able to diagnose.