Hi, I'm new to this forum, I just purchased a 2003 tl-s.....Is it a good car???? I've seen a lot of posts about tranny problems....what else should I look for??? I was VERY pissed off yesterday to find 6 chips on the hood of the car....apparently during delivery...I only have 57 miles, and the dealer won't swap the car....just fix them, they said almost half of the cars come with some chips, and they fix them....which may be true....I wouldn't let them touch my car...I was able to pull off most of the interior plastic, so maybe they didn't det a chance to inspect it and fix any defects.

Anyhow, I was extremly excited to see this site with all the mods and stuff, I traded in my 2001 svt cobra convertible to get this car, so I am used to "toying" with my car, and now I still can.

What are some of the best first mods....since I know very little about these cars....THANK YOU for your help...
Chris

 

You had to remove the interior plastic? What kind of delivery is that? When I picked up my car it was flawless, no chips, no plastic covers. I mean perfect, I went over the entire car very closely looking for any defects and found none. It also had 8 miles on it when I picked it up.

 

Yeah and chips in the hood? WTF IS THAT ABOUT? Why'd you accept that car with all the chips? That's seriously not a new car if it's beat up like that. Sorry to hear about that.

 

Agreed... my car was spotless when I got it. I checked it out WITH the salesman. He gave me a walkaround and a walk through to make sure everything was working OK. There was a little tiny scratch on the plastic cover over the guages that you could only see at certain angles with certain lighting... and he noticed it and ordered me a new one on his own. Also, my car had 4 miles on delivery... fresh off the truck!!

 

My 2003 TLS was delivered with 7 miles on it and absolutely no dents or dings at all ..... why did you accepted the BS that they were feeding you??? You pay $30,000+ for a car and it sure as hell better be PERFECT upon delivery ..... enough said!!

 

What time did you pick up your car? I would only pick up a new car when there's sunlight out and when I can carefully inspect it.Are the chips that bad? I really doubt they will do anything about it now. I wouldnt want them to repaint it. I guess it's something you have to live with now. Chips are going to happen anyway.

As far as mods....what do you want? more speed or handling?

Handling: springs,sways, and strut bar

Speed: Intake, headers, and exhaust.

Check out the links on top.

Anyway, good luck with your new car

 

first mods? springs and body kit! makes ur car look SOO much nicer! and handling really improves too

 

I had to remove the plastic, because I wanted to, It was 10:30 pm when I took devivery of the car, I did get a walk around/demo, etc, but you can't notice them at night on anthracite.

I just got back from the dealer...they touched it up...it looks worse, now it has become a "service" issue!!

I have an appointment a week from today at 10:00am with the acura rep....the dealer said he has the power to order a new hood from the factory, with the factory paint job, the sales guys wanted to re-paint the hood...I told them to go F*** themselves if they thought I was going to accept that b.s. The service manager is really understanding, and agrees with me on getting a new hood, he said it is very likely. I will post the results in a week. At least I would be happy with a FACTORY painted hood.....lesson learned though, NEVER accept delivery at night....even on a new car. By the way the chips aren't that bad, but they are chips...on a NEW car. I had to tell the dealer, look up "NEW" in the dictionary...it won't have anything about touch-ups, or repainting.

Aa far as mods go, I am looking for more get up and go.....how long did everyone go easy on the car for a break-in period???

thanks

 

Break-in in the manual says 600 miles..... I myself went 1000 before I started getting into it. Figured I'd own the car for sooo many miles that going easy for the first 1k wouldn't kill me.

As for "get up and go" mods....

Headers: about $1k, but add around 30whp peak... 15-20whp through the rest of the RPMs

Intake: $200-$260 add around 5-7hp

Exhaust: $450-$600 add around 1-3hp

Those are the most popular. Some people opt for pulleys although the jury is still out on those.....