Lycos

I was just about ready to buy a 2003 TL-S, but now that the tranny problem is in the press and very legit, I just don't know.

I didn't realize how dangerous this problem could be.

I also wonder if they have REALLY redesigned the tranny on the 2003 models?

Damn. damn. damn!

Yaron2

Hello .... did you not read the article 1.6% of TOTAL TL's ON THE ROAD .................... C'MON YOU"RE ACTUALLY TELLING US HERE THAT, THAT IS GOING TO DETER YOU FROM PURCHASING ONE OF THE GREATEST CARS I"VE EVER OWNED!!!!

Lycos

No need to YELL!

Yes, it may. There just seems to be an inordinate number of posts: Here and on other Acura/Honda forums, Edmunds town hall, etc.

It's really the potential for sudden downshifts at highway speeds that scares me.

egilsrud

Hey Lycos, did you drive the '03 Accord coupe yet? If so, how did you like it?

Lycos

egilsrud, can you tell I'm just a BIT cautious? He He. Can't help it. When I'm dropping $30k on a car I can't help it.

I didn't test drive the coupe, but an EXV6 sedan. When I first saw the car the other day I liked it. However, before my test drive yesterday I kept focusing on that big rear end! Not sure if I can get past that.

I did test drive the car and to summarize:
-Power: The v6 is nice, although the lack of torque is noticeable. It still goes, although nothing like the TL-S.
-Inside: Seats are very comfortable, and the inside looks nice, although it still feels like an Accord (not as upscale as I thought). I'm looking for something special with this purchase.
-I could go on, but I won't go into great detail here. Overall I really liked the refinement of the car, but I tend to agree with Car and Driver's review, that the accord is more better. Uh huh, and very refined. But it won't win over anyone on its emotional, passionate appeal. It's a great car, but I've had too many Accords and I think I just want something at least a bit more exciting and unique this time.

Now, back to the TL. What do you make of this new article and do you feel safe? I must make up my mind soon or I will go insane. I need to think about other things.

Later and thanks.

Skoraeus

I'm unwilling to believe it's only 1.6%. The first reason is the number of people you see here that have the problem. I'm not talking about the number of people that report the problem in a section that is specifically designed for reporting tranny problems. I'm talking about the number of regular posters that suddenly find themselves strapped with a tranny failure. I'm also talking about the fact that "Only 1.6%" of the cars seem to be causing so many problems that the transmissions are on nationwide backorder, and have been for a long time.

The second is the number of repeat transmission failures. There are people here who have had two or three failures. A problem that only affects 1.6% of cars shouldn't reappear two, three, or even four times to the same person.

The last thing to consider is that there is NO acceptable number of life threatening mechanical problems with a vehicle.

Yaron2

In response ..... the number of members on this board and others doesn't come close to the total number of TL owners nationwide ....

copland007

I'll tell you that this WILL greatly affect my decision when I get rid of this car

TypeSDragon

I will ask you to definitely think about purchasing a TL. Some people might think it is a small percentage of all the TLs that has bad tranny problems, but just imagine you are one of them. I love my car, having this problem made me re-think the built quality on Acura cars. I have own 1 accord and one 96 TL never had any transmission problems! Can't believe that the newer models are having these manufacture defectives that they can't resolve. So, I would definitely look for something else, less of a headache if you have to go through the inconvenience that many have gone through.

egilsrud

Thanks Lycos, nice review of the Accord. I personally haven't seen the Accord - I'm sure it's nice, and I am an Accord fan (having owned two in my lifetime) - but it will never match the TL for features, performance and refinement. It's not meant to either.

You SHOULD be cautious when purchasing any vehicle - after all, it's the second-biggest acquisition (notice I didn't say investment) that most people make. Nothing wrong with doing your homework and asking questions.

I'm happy to see the LA Times article, if for no other reason than to force Acura to acknowledge the issue.

Do I feel safe in my TL? I guess the answer is yes. If my transmission does fail, the chances of it happening at high speed are low. I plan on taking the car in the moment I even suspect that the tranny is going.

Am I concerned about the tranny issue: absolutely. My previous Hondas/Acuras have been rock-solid dependable and I expect the same from this one.

Then again, I may not keep this one too long if I can't get comfortable driving it! I'm thinking A4/330i (although both are overpriced).

Skoraeus

Yaron,

You are correct.... almost. Even though the number of members of this board is far less than the overall number of TL owners, the number of regular posters that have transmission problems shouldn't be much more than 1.6% of this boards regulars. As I'm sure you know, it's definitely more than 1.6%.

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

ahh, true.. on this board it's probably in the 5-6% neighborhood, however, this board probably represents less then 10% of all TL owners... therefore the percentage being below 2% is probably very, very feasible.

Go to any car board.... if there are a handful of people having a problem, that's all you hear about...however, when compared to the average for the car itself... it's a very, very small % of cars. You hear the people with tranny failures being vocal.....what you don't hear is the over 95% of people who have had no problems.....

Lycos

If it is a defect, would it not be in each and every TL made??

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

Obviously not.

It also doesn't seem like it's a specific defect. There are people on here who changed their tranny oil every 15k and their tranny blew.... and others who go 30k w/o a change and they're fine. There doesn't seem to be a real pattern. I've seen guys who are stock lose a tranny or two... but then people come on here with modded cars, and drive like crazy... and they're fine.

darn

Its like the lotto.. I just hope that I don't win this "lotto"

Seriously, the TL-S is a great car and the guys at Lynwood Acura are the best. No matter when I take my car in I get a loaner and not just some cheap car, they usually give out the 2000-01 CL.

First class service and the best part is that they FOLLOW up on any issues you are having.

jimj

Lycos,

I don't blame you at all. I purchased a 03 TLS about 4 months ago and now I wish I had purchased something else. I haven't had any transmission problems, but I do have other minor problems such as rattles and bad brakes. My problem now is how do I get these fixed without going through a big hassle. The dealer that I bought the car from cannot be trusted and his service work from what I have seen stinks so I'm looking for a new dealer. I bought the car with the idea that the Acura dealerships would take good care of you, but so far in my area this is not the case. I wrote a letter to Acura about my experiences and found out that their main office is no better then the dealer that I had problems with. So far my findings is that Acura really is not an upscale car manufacture that really cares about its customers, but I hope this will change, cause I like the car. Good luck on what you do, but right now if this next dealer doesn’t work out for me I will be selling the car and purchase something that I don't have to fight with the dealer. If I were to have major transmission problems right now, the car would be history as well. To me service has to be top notch if you're going to buy a nice car such as the TL and the car needs to be very dependable as well.

Jim

garylee55

Hey, it stopped my boss and a neighbor of mine from looking at the TL-S after seeing my experience...in fact, they are not even buying another Honda product and my boss has owned Hondas since the mid 70s.

DrunkenMaster

Dude lycos... make up your mind!!!!
You are going to drop $30,000 on a car, then do it with a peace of mind. Obviously the TL isn't going to do that for you, so go with the G35 or an Audi... BUT GUESS WHAT?! Those cars will have their problems also. It's a double edged sword no matter how you look at it. Not all vehicles are PERFECT. But for what it's worth, i love my TL-S, but if Honda doesn't get up off their @$$es and fix this issue, they won't see me as a returning client. Once this baby is paid for, i'm using her as a down payment for a bimmer.

roadman

Skoraeus,

I think you are on target with the bogus 1.6% number. What Honda is saying is the 16 trannies out of every 1K fail, well the odds then of the same owner having two failues are extremely rare. By their own stats they are saying that for every 16 trannies that fail out of 1k that 984 do not. Now I know that there are fair more that 16 failed trannies on this board, I alone have 2, do we have 984 members who have perfectly fine trannies ??????

roadman

Does anyone have a breakdown of failures by model ?

TopGum

correct me if i'm wrong but does'nt the AV6, the TL, and the TL-S all use the same 5sp auto? if so, going with a AV6 is not going to solve much.

ferizzo

current AV6 has a 4 speed auto (as does the odesssy I believe).

yute

Guys, you also have to take into account the sampling of TL owners on this board. Most likely, we are more of the automobile 'enthusiast' type, and tend to drive our cars harder than most. Keeping that in mind, it doesn't surprise me that the % of failed trannies on this board is higher than what Honda/Acuara reports. I agree that it is something that shoud be considered when purchasing a TL, but personally, I love way too many things about this car to let the POSSIBILITY of a failed tranny keep me from purchasing. My take is that IF it breaks, they will fix it and I'll move on. No biggie. I just hope it happens at the right time, IF it happens.

Good luck with your decision Lycos, but I say don't let it hold you back.

daeven

1.6% is 16 out of every 1000, not 16 of every 10K.

iNteGraz92

wtf is this emotional, passionate appeal crap?
i'm tired of all the honda/acura bashing in magazines. emotion? wtf they talking about? then they talk about the passat, which has emotions? right.....

edit
btw, the 03 accord coupe isn't out yet. it comes out next week.

noir

why not wait for the 04 model?

TL-S Man

Hey Lycos,

I can only tell you my experience with the Tl Type S which I purchased in October 2002. It has been flawless in performance and I have had no transmission issues although I have only 6K on the clock. I don't beat the sh!t out of the car, although I do drive it brisquely at times.
I love it--now, if you have some other car in mind, go to one of the websites equivalent to this one and you will find folks with nightmarish stories, because these are mechanical beings created by humans, who are themselves flawed.
You can listen to others and you will hear stories for and against--in the end, it is YOU who have to make that decision. I can only speak for myself, but this TL-S is the finest car I've ever owned.
Good luck!

eggbert

I just hope it all gets worked out soon.

I remember when buying my car....

it was assembled in the US....

all except for the transmission, which was shipped whole, to be put into the cars.



.
eggbert

Dizzy

I guess no one read the section where Acura said that they've figured out the problem and have corrected it.

Has anyone here had problems recently?

Dizzy

garylee55

I guess you haven't searched the forum...yes, people are still having problems...they say they have fixed it...but when? Starting with all Acura's built when...May? June? July? Aug? Who knows?

BlueXTC

Not every Tls are gonna have a broken tranny...
but I shoulda gotten a IS300... or the 2003 CL 6speed...

RPMS

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/...+transmissions

californiacat28

My 2002 TL type S's tranny took a dump today! What a piece!!! I dropped it off at the dealer and they don't know how long they'll need to keep it. So instead of another Acura loaner, they gave me a rental car. A cheap-ass rental car that's a death trap! They gave me a freakin Dodge Neon!!! A major POS. Anyway, they probably didn't have anymore Acura loaners because SOOO many tranny's are taking a dump!!!! I hope I get my baby back soon!! I miss her!

californiacat28@hotmail.com

benjmn

My car's tranny dumped 3 weeks ago just as the LA times story described. I was on 280 heading going to work and at about 80 mph, the tranny crunched, the tires locked and I skidded to about 30 mph (2nd gear). I limped to the dealer, mike harvey, and dropped it off. I just got the car back. It is dangerous as hell. I was really lucky to not get smacked from behind.

I had an appt. for a tranny check two days later since it was doing an occasional high rev w/o catching. The TL-S is a harzard and should be recalled. I bought it for its safty, feel, and practicality. They better own up to the car's faults. bummed in CA. Ben