Well, I finally sold my 2003 TL-S nav with 90k for 11 g's to Carmax (yea i know it's pretty sad). I had it with Acuras. I had a RSX-S before the TL and if you guys didn't know, they got some serious grinding issues for the manual tranny, just check it out over at clubrsx. Hopefully they fixed that problem by now. Sold the POS RSX for the TL-S to get rid of the tranny headaches, and I later learn that it has a problem with the tranny as well, and one that can't be fixed!! I owned the TL for over 2 years, and had to deal with crap brakes that vibrated the car to hell (Even the RSX new rotors warped to hell after one year). The TL was also rattle city (as well as the RSX) and the door panels were falling apart. Add to this, my fog light lense on the driver side cracked and it costs over $100 to replace that so it can crack again? No thanks. Why should we go through the hassle of getting aftermarket parts like Lexan to fix a defective part which can be fixed by Honda? Worst of all, the damn tranny. Wth is this? Mine never had problems, but I did get the blinking D5 light once in a while. I don't know if my trannie was circling the drain, and I'm glad I won't find out.

I don't know how you guys put up with this bull, and it's amazing how you guys are dedicated to your rides. I was too, but now I'm just fed up. I read so many tranny death stories on here and it just pisses me off, how some of you go through so much shit because of these "reliable" cars. Don't get me wrong, it's a great car, but Honda should have stepped up and fixed some of these issues. It's not like were buying a DVD player or something, I forked over $30 g's, and I don't have money to blow, and I'm sure most of you are in the same boat as me. No new or used car owner should go through this bullshit. It's a huge investment, and many of us purchase cars to keep for a long time (which I planned to do with the TL-S). Now this reliable car can't even go beyond 100k miles without worrying about having to pay few thousand dollars to replace defective tranny with another defective tranny. It's actually kind of sad to see message boards having forums dedicated to specific problems like our trannies. Seeing poles like how many trannies died and stuff. Truth is, it is needed to inform people. I also take my car in to Cerritos Acura to get my radio codes, and it's more discouraging when the service rep there tells me to get rid of the car, and he says it's almost certain my tranny will die sooner or later. Well, I followed his advice and lost shit load of hard earned money. It sux the value of these cars took a nosedive. Hopefully, those updated trannies i hear about work for you guys.

Well, I just been mostly a lurker and learned so much here. I enjoyed reading through here and I wish you all luck with your cars. I got myself an 02 Lexus IS300 and no issues whatsoever. But damn, the TL-S blows the IS in power, I sorely miss that power and sound of vtec. But with the IS, I don't have to read about, or experience brake issues, rattling problems, squeaking seatbelts, constant ticking noises, tranny death and so on.

Sorry for the long post and taking up space, just needed to vent. I am officially done with Honda/Acura and will never purchase one again.

According to Kelly Blue book, I could have sold my car for little more private party, but I can't live with the fact of making my problems, somebody else's.

 

my car is a rattle trap... =/
wish i can gt one thats rattle free.
gl with the IS

 

I think I'd rather pay for new transmissions in the TL than stare at the old Lexus IS interior...

No, I jest - good luck with your new ride. For all its ricerboy looks, the IS is a good car.

 

the tranny issue isnt that bad. its not like it happens to you everyday. i wouldnt sell my car because of the tranny issue. the tl has alot of car for the money. you gotta remember its not just the honda/acura that got issues, but other makes as well. every company is gonna have issues with something. nothings perfect. anyways GL with the new whip.

 

Sorry for your problems, but not all are bad! See ya!

 

I am confused. You had to do some brake work, you had some rattles, one of your fog lights broke, and the car never had any transmission problems yet somebody told you it would one day so you are selling it and you are through with the brand forever.

Brakes wear out, rotors warp. You live in a big city which is only going to accelerate that type of wear. Ummm, omg the glass fog lamp broke. Holy shit man - look at half the cars on the road with glass fog lights and you will find most of them cracked/broken. Did someone tell you that the fog lights were bullet proof before you bought it? Or did you just not put 2 and 2 together to figure out that a thin piece of glass traveling at high speeds 1 foot off the road surface is going to be susceptible to cracking/breaking. How in the hell do you think that the fog lights are defective. I don't know whether to laugh at you or get pissed off and write this long post. How many times did you take your door panels off? Mine are rock solid - nothing falling off the door panels.

I just read through all ten of your posts here.

Six of them were responses to tranny posts, claiming you have had no problems

One of them a year ago you say in response to a "how many miles does everyone have" question:
"03 TLS, approaching 80k miles, running like new on original tranny, all stock"
(that's a direct quote from you)

One of them you ask a question about your new brake rotors and pads (you probably installed them hence the problems you had lol)

and two of them you felt it necessary to tell us you bought a lexus. (this one included)

 

although ive been thru a few trannies, ive never had any rattles or brake problems.

 

I agree with you 100%...but in his defense....

You would think Honda would have the sense to make the fog lenses out of something tuffer than a thin layer of glass. Also, it is well documented that our door pannels fade all too quickly(including mine). These are both aggravating problems that could have been solved from the start on the drawing board easily and inexpensively. I've had no rattles and no tranny problems (84K original tranny). However, we can all admit Acura messed up big time on the tranny and we can sympathize with people who have had problems even if we haven't ourselves. I don't blame him for selling the car at 90k miles. No doubt the second generation TL, like all others, has its probelms but it is still a great car. It is all a matter of if one sees the cars many strong points as outweighing its negatives. I guess for him, it wasn't worth it. However, no matter what brand car he buys, he will always find flaws. As long as he expects perfection he will always be dissappointed.

 

He doesn't like the car he now has because of something he actually experiences (lack of power), but got rid of his prior car for things he read about but never experienced?!?!?

I'm sure there's counseling for this...

 

my 99 w/123k miles has original tranny and runs great and once warmed up very smooth and I have all the bolt-on's, no rattle, no break problems, I wish I had fogs and door panels are rock solid, no fading problems at all(I detail and condition every inch of my car). My 7yrs old TL is in excellent shape in every facet. I love it, Acura rules! the IS is a nice car, but too small and underpowered. I love dusting those when I see them.

 

[QUOTE=seanmcd]I am confused. You had to do some brake work, you had some rattles, one of your fog lights broke, and the car never had any transmission problems yet somebody told you it would one day so you are selling it and you are through with the brand forever.

I believe that's what i said. Don't know about you, but I was at 90k miles, I don't think I can hold on to a car that will most likely fail at any given moment due to a design flaw, and have to pay out of my own pocket to fix it. There's no peace of mind, if you know what I mean.

Brakes wear out, rotors warp. You live in a big city which is only going to accelerate that type of wear.

OEM rotors warp abnormally quick, and I see it everywhere here on the forums...don't know where you been. It's not only me and I don't think where I live has to do with the rotors warping less than 2k miles, unless I go aftermarket parts. Same thing happened to my RSX, OEM brakes warped within short period and no it's not my driving style.

Ummm, omg the glass fog lamp broke. Holy shit man - look at half the cars on the road with glass fog lights and you will find most of them cracked/broken. Did someone tell you that the fog lights were bullet proof before you bought it? Or did you just not put 2 and 2 together to figure out that a thin piece of glass traveling at high speeds 1 foot off the road surface is going to be susceptible to cracking/breaking. How in the hell do you think that the fog lights are defective.

Is that so? Only if Honda followed your advice, we wouldn't be having this problem. At least we got Lexan replacements.

I don't know whether to laugh at you or get pissed off and write this long post.

Well you obviously took the time to look up my history, your choice man

How many times did you take your door panels off? Mine are rock solid - nothing falling off the door panels.

Never took off my door panels. Sorry I didn't go into detail, the inner door panel vinyl was splitting away from the plastic where the window controls are. It looked pretty bad. I recall it happening to several members here.

I just read through all ten of your posts here.

Six of them were responses to tranny posts, claiming you have had no problems

One of them a year ago you say in response to a "how many miles does everyone have" question:
"03 TLS, approaching 80k miles, running like new on original tranny, all stock"
(that's a direct quote from you)

Umm, like I said, I had no tranny problems, like I said here and before. Don't know what your point is and why you're reiterating. Only thing I had was the blinking D5 light but that's it.

One of them you ask a question about your new brake rotors and pads (you probably installed them hence the problems you had lol)

Please don't go there with the assumptions. Are you really 33?

and two of them you felt it necessary to tell us you bought a lexus. (this one included)

Necessary? No. So why not? I also own a 97 Honda CBR600 F3, and the other car in the family is a 05 325Ci (the wife's), I got nothing to hide dude.

Why are you so worked up man? You have to look at the bigger picture. I experienced most problems several other people also experienced, and that is NOT our fault. It's a great car, but I'm at 90k miles and the warranty is almost up. Yes I had no tranny failure, but with the info we get from this board, I don't think I'm going to set aside several thousand dollars in the bank just in case my tranny does die. Will my tranny die? I don't know, so far it seems like a gamble to me, odds are pretty slim I heard. But is it worth the risk? To me, no. I hear about the updated trannies now, and I wish you guys best of luck with them. I was just venting man, because I loved the TL and planned on keeping it as long as possible...

TLsu, I actually do expect perfection, but obviously no car is, and especially the used car I purchased, but at least I'll have the peace of mind....for now (Factory warranty ends in 2009, with 40k miles to go).

fla-tls, please read the original post again.

 

BTW sorry you had a bad experience, mine has been great and most others on here will agree their's has been great as well, with minimal problems. Lexus does make great cars though so I don't disagree with your decision, I just would never buy an IS300 myself unless it was a boosted "fun car".

 

to each his own, hope the lexus brings to you a piece of mind.

 

i know what u mean, i got doubts on mine, and me being young, if the tranny happens over 100k im fucked....or insurance, but yea....most def will sell out the 99, and most likely buy another 99. i like the 4spds, call me gay but yea enjoy the IS. i like the new ones too.

 

After the second tranny, I started to have doubt but I still love my 02TL-S. It is one capable vehicle and acura Navi is #1 !!! . I have 05 Nissan ARMADA and the Nissan Navi sucks big time compare to acura.

Good luck on your vehicle searching. I would rather spend some $$$ get a new model rather than the ricey IS300.

Just my $0.02.

Cheers !!!

 

Agreed. I know ive done more non warranty work on my friends lexus than ive done on my Acura. (hes had 2 starters, on his 2nd tranny, gone thru 2 sets of shocks, rotors are worse than the acuras, replaced the brake light sensor 2 times, pads 4, and hes got more rattles than the TL (which mine has none.)

eshine1..
You come on here with 10 posts, compare your self to acouple other members and their problems and make them out to be like a epidemic, and bash acura/honda. Your going to get flamed.

 

He has a point about some things. Statistically speaking, Lexus > Acura - of course there are bad examples of Lexus and exemplary examples of Acura, but as a whole there is no other car company that comes close to Lexus in terms of quality.

And, the transmission problem IS an epidemic on this board. Transmission failure isn't a guarantee in a TL, but design flaws do exist, so the probability of one is higher than that of a Lexus IS300 I'd say.

However, I agree with you, Kris, about him coming on the board with 10 posts and comparing himself to dedicated and knowledgable Acurazine regulars. That's a nice way to get flamed immediately.

 

I wasnt talking about the tranny problem persay, (i if any one knows better) I was talking about him complaining about fading door panels, the seperating door panels, the cracked fog lights, the warped rotors (i never warped mine and i raced mine)

And to sum it up best

You read about it. so you dont actually have some of the problems? Its a forum. EVERY thing appears to be a huge problem when you get a few with problems. Hell look at 3rd gen. they whine about more crap. If the car was as bad with rattles as they make it out to be, honda wouldnt be selling record #'s of them.

 

when I was buying my car, I test drove an 02 IS300. Wow that thing was small, the trunk was smaller than my 97 Prelude's trunk and that thing was tiny. Also I felt like for the money, you don't get much car. My knees were in my mouth in the rear seat. I don't see anyone but women driving the IS. SO I went with the TL-S. You really get the most for your money with Acura. Consumer report recently named Toyota/Lexus and Honda/Acura their 2 best car manufactureres you can buy. So if acura has a little rotor warp, imagine what problems pop up with other brands. Congrats on your new used car. But you might end up buying another one cuz that IS is just tiny. Plus if u got your IS with nav, it won't allow you to do anything with your nav while your driving. Toyota nav sucks major balls. In our Ac's u can select a destination or whatever while ur driving. My moms hihglander and my uncles RX330 u have to actually stop the car and then it'll allow you to make a modification to your destination or type a dest. in. Major pain.

Alright, pro's and cons to all cars. Good work keeping it in the toyo/honda realm have fun

 

In his defense...I can some what agree with him...

I purchased my TL with 6,000 miles on it, expecting the reliability of an almost brand new luxury car. Within 10,000 miles I have been to the dealer 4 times to fix a loud squeaking ball joint problem that was finally corrected on trip number 4. I have accumulated numerous rattles since the day I bought it that have been driving me crazy trying to find and fix. A weird ticking noise from the exhaust, a problem with my passenger window, seat heater needing to be replaced……etc.. To be honest I feel that this car has not lived up to it’s expectations and at times I also want to get rid of it…..but there are a lot more positives than negatives, and that what keeps me driving my TL.. I would love to elaborate more on the positives, but I am at work right now and I don’t have time…..In conclusion….TL has some problems, but overall it is still a great car…

 

I am assuming those were dealt with under warranty...

You think Carmax is going to put your car up their rectum??!!?? If that was a legit reason, you should have rolled it off a clif, for Pete's sake.

You are still here??? I thought it might be "good-by and good-riddance" go cry to your Lexus board.
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hehe, I am a bit "touchy" today. :wink:

 

I just don't get how you can drive a car for 80,000 miles, and state "it's running like new" (and never complain about it in any other threads from what I can tell) - and then when you sell it @ 90,000 miles all of a sudden it's a POS because the fog light cracked, you had to work on the brakes, and someone TOLD you the tranny will die? How many times did you have to replace your brakes between 80,000 and 90,000 miles? And you only got $11K for it? Seems like it would have to be in pretty poor shape for a 2003 TLS with Navi to only garner $11,000!

 

Every car has problem; even the same two cars have different problems. I can deal with every problem TL has, but the repeated tranny problem is what it is going suck my money. You don't just buy a car and sell it any time you want. If money is not an issue, then I would donate it. Why wasting the time and energy to sell it. I wouldn't totally blame him for his comments.

 

wow u only got 11k?!?!?1 shit my 00 tl-p will get like 4 then so sad............ might as well keep her as a beater

 

Yeah, I had to change the rotors on mine recently because of warping at 29k and then again at 45k, but the first time Acura did it for free. Yeah, I agree the fogs lights could have been designed a little better, but mine broke because of a 1/2 bolt that fell off of a truck and hit it at 80+ mph. I watched it happen but I was going to fast to react to something that small on the freeway. A bolt that size would have gone through just about any reasonable thickness of glass at that speed. I just hate the fact the dealership wants 169 to fix a fog light. Yeah, I worry about the transmission going out, but nothing has happened yet @ 55k miles and I've got 45k mi left until I really have to worry. Yeah, my interior rattles a little here and there and my seat squeaks, too. My right rear strut had to be replaced as well, but the dealer did it for free. My random SRS lights have gone on from time to time, too, and the dealer says it may cost 600+ to fix an OPS or something.

I agree Acura's build quality could have been better on my 02 TL, but I still think it was a pretty good value. I get props when people see my car. I get close to 30 mpg on the highway (my girlfriend lives 90 miles away). I'm going to convert my car to a Navi soon since I've decided to keep it for a long time. All of these things combined with the fact that I love driving it make it a good car for me, but I certainly understand your frustrations. Of course, the next time I buy a new car I'll definitely consider other makes, but I won't swear off the Honda/Acura brand. I've driven many different vehicles in my 26 years and trust me, lots of other things can go wrong. Ask my GF who totally got screwed by Saturn when her A/C unit was acting weird. She told them to check the compressor and they said it was something else... 1500 dollars later, they ended up changing the compressor which fixed it and they wouldn't refund the previous work/parts which wasn't needed. Now we've sworn off buying American cars, but that's a sentiment many people have anyway.

 

Yea you really don't get it, sorry man.

Stiletto - At least the Carmax customer will have warranty and other options if something does go wrong with the car. BTW, Carmax has very strict standards, I doubt they will sell a car on their lot with almost 100k miles. Not sure what they do with those cars, but it ain't going up their ass.

fsttyms1 - I could care less if I get flamed, or how many posts I have, that's not stopping me from posting, you should know better man, you're a mod with 20k+ posts.

 

The main issue with the low trade value is the high mileage. His car is right on the KBB estimate for a fair condition 03 TLS-Navi with 90k miles. I have an 03 TLS-Navi with 27k miles and the fair condition trade value is $16,700. I guess the lesson is take care of your car and don't put 30k miles a year on it if you expect it to maintain its value. I can understand where he's coming from on some level though - some people don't want to deal with the stress and worry whether the tranny will fail. I'll probably get rid of my car next year right before the 4 year warranty expires as my car wasn't included in the extended tranny warranty as it's outside the VIN range. I would still buy another Acura though. Good luck with the Lexus.

 

[QUOTE=stiletto]I am assuming those were dealt with under warranty...

...you know it....gotta love warrenties

 

DAMN 11K!!! my car has 143k and its a 99, and i almost traded in for an 03 tl-s, dealer offered 8500, but mine also has a warranty with 19k and 19 months left, too bad the car was gone when i went back the next day...

 

I just got my CR mag & the TL had good ratings again, better then the RL.

 

Thats not a bad deal TLS with 90k for 11,000. You definitely got a good deal. Especially since its almost reaching 100k and the tranny wont be cover.

 

hey eshine1, congrats, the IS is a nice vehicle. did you get the manual or auto? my only complaint is the size of the IS (i'm a fairly tall guy with long arms and legs) and the fact that the RWD wouldn't suit me here in NY during the winter. are you considering any modifications?

SSTS

 

Georgy, dealer offered you a 8500 for your car with 143K/ 99 model??
that's pretty good, isn't it?

 

I don't mind with IS300 at all...I always like the model and look, but too bad it's a RWD...:P but hey have fun with your new toys.

 

Too bad its RWD thats the best spot to drive the wheels!

 

yeah I know, but I hate it to drive in the winter...I drove my bro's bimmer and boy it was a bit annoying. But during summer...yeah it's nice!!!

 

2 words for ya. Snow Tires! makes the world of difference on rwd!

 

yeah man, I have driven my friend bimmer with snow tires...mamamia big difference!!! but again sometimes with limited access on garage is rather painful to have extra snow tyres.
BUt yeah no doubt about its capabilties of RWD!

 

The summer tires on the floor with a big piece of glass on them make a GREAT coffee table in the living room!