We bought ours 3 years ago for my son, at the time we didnt know about the tranny issues and spent a month updating and repairing all that needed repairing, including a full 3x3 flush on the tranny. Luckily, we've never had any issues (knock on wood) with it. I read on another post that to tell if your tranny has been changed via warranty you have to see blue covered bolts on it, which I can faintly see on ours. However, I placed a call to Acura and asked what "recalls" our unit had outstanding or performed, and was told the tranny was never one of them. That doesn't mean a previous owner didn't pay to have it replaced, but again, carfax didn't report such major repair in the car's history. Had it been done by a legacy shop it'd have been reported. Either way, we're very happy with car. We're almost done rebuilding it from major front end damage from an accident, it's become our "fun project" car, learning along the way. I do recommend staying on top of the timing belt and all other maintenance, and using oem parts in all crucial areas, it goes a long way.

208k. Turned 19 in July.

Just hit 267K yesterday in my 2000 TL! Will follow up once she hits 300k!

184,000 on her today 2002 TL type S still on the factory stock tranny getting the fluids changed this weekend. After it sat pretty basically for 2 years in a back lot of a dealer ship have all repairs an data on it from birth to date.
My only fear was the time she was pressed into a leased car with enterprise car rental. other then the actuators in the seats not working passenger side an a fuse issue. It has been a dream boat of a car tight steering an brakes that stop on a dime
Basic car and my switch from toyo power to hondo power awesome experience.

2001 Laguna green bought new. 317,000+ and still going strong! Other than tranny going out at 136K miles, only other item that has failed was self induced by me. Last winter doing some routine maintenance and decided to drain/syphon out the old power steering fluid. Went to WalMart and bought the full synthetic Prestone (for Honda and Acura vehicles!), and it basically burned up the pump. My bad on that one!

292k 2003 acura tl.!!:)

316k+ and still going strong on mine. Bought it on '06 with 29k on it. 2 Transmission replacements (2nd one was from an '07 Accord V6 with ~55k on it and I've put on ~100k since it went in. Other than that, routine maintenance. Don't plan on doing the next timing belt change (due at ~ 325k). Will drive it till the belt breaks, with periodic inspections so I have an idea of when to expect it to go. Based on how the other belts came out looking, I figure it'll be good for at least 375k. I've already bought my follow-on car, so the Acura will get less and less use.

I do have some sort of parasitic draw on the battery that I need to track down. Battery drains within 2 or 3 days if I don't use the car.

You gonna wait until the belt is about to break?

I have to tell you, if you're good enough to be able to tell the condition of a timing belt and how many miles it may or may not have on it simply by how it looks, then you're better than any mechanic or engineer I've ever known. Now, if you're saying you don't care; you're going to drive the car until the belt breaks and trashes the engine, and then you're going to scrap the car, then that certainly constitutes a "plan". My concern with such a plan would be, what if the belt breaks when the car is in a dangerous area which in turn puts lives at risk?

I get not wanting to deal with the job, or pay someone to do it, but why let it break. That engine may run to 1,000,000 for all we know.

While I don't suggest I'll know precisely when the belt will break, if I see signs of cracking or any areas of concern on the belt after 325k, I'll refrain from taking long trips with the car. I have an easy commute to work that would allow me to simply coast to the side of the road if/when the belt breaks. I had this happen before with a previous car. When I feel the car may be at risk of a belt break, I'll become more cautious about where/how I drive.

If you haven't had a timing belt break on you, when it does go, the car just stops running. You can safely coast to the side of the road. There's no harsh stop or anything along those lines. Your concerns are loss of power steering and power brakes. I can manage with the loss of those.

The car is nearly 16 years old. The paint is faded terribly. The body was damaged in a hail storm. It has transmission fluid and oil leaks (not terrible, but I'm not willing to fix them due to the cosmetic issues with the car). It has little value to anyone other than me. That said, I do expect it to go another 50 - 60k miles, so I'll do the routine maintenance and when the timing belt goes, I'll junk it.

I've seen lots of belts break which otherwise looked practically brand new; waiting until you see cracks is by no means safe.

As for when they break, no, powersteering is the least of my concerns, however, being in heavy rush hour traffic with no momentum and LOTS of cars, which in turn equals no where to go, is a very real concern. Then there is the fact that manual transmission equipped cars like mine will of course require driver action to allow the car to "safely coast to the side of the road".

My commute to work is largely on rural roads. No rush hour traffic for me to be concerned with. And I have an automatic transmission. I don't have the same concerns as you.