well i am looking to buy a TL '99-->03
I dont want to spend over 10k
so after looking for couple weeks I seen this car and am thinking its looking good but i will like opinion of ppl who know about this since i currently own a truck and dont have a clue about these cars other than always wanting one since forever.

and is it a good idea to buy a car that's already built or buy base and build yourself? seems alot of the accessories are hard to get for these older models?

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...r_id=284707215




thanks for the help
dragonslayer

 

that guy is a member here. i dont remember his username though.

 

that would be a good first question to the seller- member name on azine, then you can see every post made by them--find out secrets of the car

The part of all mait done, does that include the 105-its 7years or 105--if thats been done its a big plus towards buying that car--otherwise plan on 1200-1500 dollars!
for doing that right--timing belt water pump-hoses, ps fluid change etc

About the only mait. items the book calls for until then are oil and filter, brake fluid, ps fluid.
Ask the seller what they had done-when

The trans is the main concern on all these cars, especially on a car thats probably been driven to extremes with lots of 2nd-3rd gear use in a repeated manner downshifting, mountain or track type driving..enjoying the car
Ask if thats been replaced under warranty before, or how many times its had a 3 qt fluid change, When it fails its $2500 average to rebuild

as for buying built vs stock- you will save a lot in a prebuilt car if it was all installed right.
a $500 exhaust is worth 200 used~
the parts list seemed decent, not the best stuff but good stuff

Next: go to a car sales place a test drive a few TL's to see how stock runs and handles.
Lowered, low profile tires etc. will remove most of the smooth 4 door car type ride, and it can get rough


cars intent TL =Touring Luxury

 

if you read the other buying a car threads,,scroll down main list,
you will see most of us would not buy another TL with the current miles-
love the car!!!,,, but its at a point of zero return, and decreasing reliabilty
whatever money you put into it for repairs or upgrades- you wont get back if you resell car later, its still dropping some value every month,,blue book is down near 6-6500

If you can buy a 200kmile trans warranty somewhere for ~500 bucks, then I would happily buy another gen2 TL
if not- its looking at hondas with less expensive needs

 

That is way overpriced man. The car is nice but the rims are ugly. And that is a NY car. If you are willing to travel for a car, you can find something much better than that at a way better price.

 

look in our Member Cars for sale threads

 

Way too much money, the extras are only adding value to you, not the retail value of the car. But Those rims are sick.

 

tranny would be my concern, with that mileage on an original tranny id run away since thats right on the dot for failure. if its a rebuild tranny find out when it was replaced, if it ever was.

 

get an AV6 6spd

 

I agree. That car is too over the top.

 

Wayyyy to much. Ugly ass wheels too

 

i dont really get why everyone is saying its overdone/too much. other than the ugly wheels and the steering wheel cover (which can both be removed), it looks fine.

anyways, for some reason i remember reading an accident thread with this car. i think he was looking for airbags and stuff. i would really do some research on Azine itself...if you are still considering this car.

 

That's Doc's TL-S's car. I don't remember him having any problems with it, but I could be wrong. Here's a thread with some of his pics:

https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-tl-photograph-gallery-99/new-pics-cleared-corners-639579/

 

i think he must have sold the wheels/car to this guy: Acurakidd

https://acurazine.com/forums/members/acurakidd-194363/

here is his for sale thread from a while ago...

https://acurazine.com/forums/member-cars-sale-49/02-acura-tl-s-loaded-low-mileage-mint-condition-location-queens-ny-788594/

he says it has a clean title, yet he fails to mention that the airbags deployed in a front end collision.

 

WHY do i recall a ABP TL from the northeast having a trunk fire from a shitty amp install (i can't remember exactly who though...)

 

He also didn't mention whether the tranny had been replaced or is still having problems in that AutoTrader ad.

 

yeah the whole thing is shady.

 

Ill sell you mine for ... since your an acuraziner $9000 obo, it has 145k and has been babied... tell me what you think, check out my threads for pics

 

9k is a lot of money for my car, but its in great shape for its age, and its treated me very good!!!!

throw me a price please, and also consider all of the mods and upgrades ive done

read my signature

 

guy must have been crazy to try and sell it for 8k without a working tranny....

 

you make it what you make it. if you want your tl-s to be a peice of garbage its gonna be garbage. i hear about people hateing there tl-s if your gonna bitch about the auto being crap its time to swap that with a six speed.

 

Hey buy my car hello! I was kidding! Lol

 

the thing about `CLEAN` car title is that as long as you do repairs yourself-
or pay for it yourself at a body shop- meaning not go thru insurance--
or not report to DMV as total/parts only registration=
there is NO posted record anywhere of your accident and repairs
(assuming no police report, which may be hard for a potential buyer to get anyway))

always need a real tech with a rack/lift to look the car under and over- pull wheels- look for shoddy repairs..lots of tells to a car thats been majorly repaired/poorly repaired

I used to do this when working as a tech, cking bimmers and rx7s for purchase
amazing what sellers didnt know about their own car--came messed up when they bought it!

 

if not reported, can't exactly have records of things


and as far as inspection, sometimes the best way to look at a car is to actually visually inspect it, and not just relay on paperwork trails



i remember one subie, whole car had been repainted (paint lines in the jams) before, and a couple of body panels did not line up well either (rear hatch actually rubbed the rear bumper); about the only original panel was the driver's door; anyways i think that car actually had a "clean" title to it, but as soon as you looked at it in detail, no maintenance had been done, and it had been beat/wrecked on HARD before

 

well first off thank you to EVERYONE who has answer my questions.

bottom line am def not buying this car and furthermore i really scared to buy any car for that matter i mean its insane that a car could be salvage but still can have a clean title depending on what state wtfkkkk this is messed up.

so i still been looking for a 3.2TL but now i know more things to look for thanks to everyone here helping me. I have found some that the tranny has been replaced under warranty so thats a def plus.

well i found a couple cars that look interesting for the same 9k tag maybe you guys can give your input its much appreciated

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...25&cardist=422

 

That one looks pretty clean. But at that mileage, I can guarantee you it doesnt have the timing belt service done yet. Get ready to shell out at least $1000 for a timing belt and water pump service.

 

godammn man how will i ever find a car that has everything up to date and trustworthy seller?? you seem to know alot about these cars maybe you can help me locate a good car. I use to have a use car before and i shelled out over 12k on repairs over a 6yr period so i always promise to never buy a use car EVER again but i always wanted one of these TL's everytime i see one of these cars i find myself standing there for awhile looking at it. But seems every use car i look into there is one problem or another. Of course there will be problems with any use vehicles but i dont want to buy rubbish at premium price.

 

have you looked in our own Member Cars For Sale section?

for the money- you are better off skipping a TL- all have the same trans and service needs~
and get a better honda or nissan
I dont trust toyotas anymore!!

 

they are out there, and most of the time, it is by accident you find it (and even then most cars will need some sort of work, even if say it is changing out the diff fluids; ie: had a new customer come in with a Subaru forester once, it had a little bit of hail damage on the car [not horrible by anymeans either, but was there], but if you where willing to actually overlook that fact, it was in really good shape mechanically, and it had like 70 or 80k on it already; and iirc about the only thing i found on it, was like changing diff fluids, nothing really much)

 

oh no--now everyone will think we have to do a diff fluid change on the TL~

 

I have owned an 03 TL-S since brand new. I'm an old guy. It is the best car I have ever owned. I'm driving it until the wheels fall off. I'll put em back on and drive it some more.

But....

Check out the badge on the rear deck. It is not the original 03 TL S Badge. The TL S has perforated seats. The seats sure look to me like the standard TL seats. Be careful.

 

Is that you in your Avatar?

Good to hear your TL has been good to you though, give us some some positivity.

 

oh boy...

That car is a 2002. 2002s do not have perforated leather in the door inserts. The pictures are not high enough quality to determine if there are perforations in the seat inserts. But those are definitely Type S seats. The Type S badge on the rear is definitely the original Type S badge.

And really? The best car you have ever owned? I understand it is a nice car, but my 03 TL-S is nowhere near the best car I have "owned" (I own my 03, but I was the primary driver of my parents' RDX, TSX, and 6th gen Accord). Right now, I prefer my dad's Forester over my TL. At least the heated seats work and the tranny is bulletproof in that car. But I guess, good for you for having a good experience with the TL, unlike a lot of us here.

Anyways, Im not personally attacking you, just personally responding

 

To my 20 yr old friend that questions me. I have been building hot rods since before your daddy was born. Small block chevys in the 60's, 426 hemi's (the real hemi's) and Smokey & the Bandit Trans Am's in the 70's and lot's of other great stuff. The 2nd Generatlion TL S is a really good, good car. Can you get better. Sure. But, don't try to fool the kid that is shopping for a good used car. If you rebuilt something and made it nice, that's great. Declare it and be fair about it. I have been a student of these cars for 9 years. If you are the potential buyer, its simple. Don't take my advice. Check the serial number with Acura. They will tell you exactly what you are looking at. God Bless.

 

That's pretty cool. I would love to build hot rods for a living. I'm actually getting my mechanical engineering degree right now, so I probably never will. But I can dream.

I guess since you have so much experience with cars, you may not have as many issues as some of us do. But it is important to note that not everyone who owns a TL took care of the transmission. So buying a used 2nd gen TL is somewhat risky, and the OP should know that. No one is trying to fool the OP into thinking the TL is some horrible nightmare. I knew about the transmission issues before buying my TL. But, I also knew that I wanted to swap in a 6spd once the auto died.

 

and even then you could consider the tranny as your diff...

XT at least? (turbo?)

the older ones are not too bad for power wise, but you get one of the newer ones with the naturally aspirated AND a auto, SO FUCKING SLOW (but then again an automatic TL; that was running about the same as me, when i still had the automatic felt slow)


and the manuals, you can break them, very hard to though (depending on year exactly though), but with some good power and rough driving, you can
then the autos, if not maintained, the pumps like to start to make noise when they start getting some mileage on them ~150-200k miles)



also FYI the heated seats on Subaru's do also break the heater element (not as often as the TL though), they just still be happening to work in your dad's car

you mean the VIN?


and an easier way without having to call up a dealer....
what is the eigth digit in the VIN, and that will tell you right away (should be 19MUA56?

basically a 6 or 7 is a Premium model
while a 8 or 9 is a Type-S

and OP the white one is indeed a Type-S (without navi) by the VIN



btw, you are in the same boat as 01tl4tl, as an OLD FUCK



i KNOW the previous owner took care of the auto, per the severe maintenance schedule (i did it both times, FYI); and it STILL CRAPPED OUT (in a different way then most of them, but it still did though; so it still needed a transmission)

and EVERY vehicle out there has their own set of issues, no vehicle is perfect, every one breaks at some point or needs maintenance done

 

What about these??? BTW lived in Lk Mary while in school at Embry-Riddle and plan on moving back to the area...lol. I hope you check these out in your area. I wasn't sure if you needed navi but i Chose the best TL's I saw.

Here goes...
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

I hope I was a help. You may have to drive or fly to some. They are all under 500miles from you.