Should I buy a new 03 Acura TL w/navi, what r pros and cons? Should I wait it out til 04's are out? Whenever that is....whats up with the transmission prob? Lastly, whats fair to pay for a new 03 TL w/navi.

 

Ok as you can tell by my name Im waiting for the 2004 TL.. If you wait you can get a 2004 TL with more features, more hp, new design, and more everything.. but you might have to wait up to a year.. and the 2004 TL could come out to be Ugly..

BTW Are you DESI?

 

Well the '03 is a great car.
You will probably be able to get it cheap compared to the '04.

I expect dealers to try to get close to sticker for the '04, even if that just lasts for a month, they will try.

'03 can be had pretty close to invoice now (atleast that's what I've been seeing people post).

Since the TSX is out and the price of the Lex ES300 has gone up, expect some kind of a price jump on the '04.

So here are my pluses...
'03 is great car.
Acura says tranny is fixed (do we believe them?)
Can get a good deal on one.

Minuses.
New design coming out next year.
'04 will have better navi with voice req.
You will join the masses that already have a TL and won't have something unique.

Whatever you do, please please please, don't be one of these people that buy an '03 and then b1tch that they should have waited for the '04. That drove me crazy when people who just picked up '01s said they got robbed because the '02 refresh came out in March '01.

If they would have done their research they would have known the refresh was coming.

 

Depends on your $$$ situation and what you need. Do you need a vehicle asap or can you wait. If you can wait, I would definitely wait for the 04. If you don't like it when it comes out then you can get a 03 for really cheap. Either way you can't go wrong.

 

pros for getting one now:
cheap price, expect to spend significantly more on an 04
a newly designed model might have problems...the old model's problems have mostly been worked out, or have ways to be fixed
there will probably be less aftermarket support for the 04 at first (if that is a factor)
the 03 looks nice...you don't kno how the 04's gonna look

cons:
your car will be "outdated"
04 will probably have more hp
04 will probably have some reallie cool options
ppl will probably :wow: at you when u drive around...at first...until the new TLs flood the streets again...

but of course, all of it is speculation...you dont kno whether or not the car will look nicer, or be better, or have less problems...
so you shud make the decision based on whether or not you can wait, and whether or not you are willing to spend the extra money for the new model

 

Well the only problems buying the current tls are
1) tranny(well, they say its redesign, but who knows)
2)rattles
3)squeaks
otherwise, great car!
as for the 04, if you can wait, wait for it. but be prepared to pay the extra cash. I seriouly doubt that is gonna be the same price as the current tls.

 

Damn folks, did I miss something here? So IT IS certain now that the '04 will be redesigned? Damn.

Either way though, I wouldn't recommend buying the first incarnation of a new model. At least wait until the second year so that they can tweak any bugs, add desired features, etc....

I personally would never "wait" on a car that I don't even know will look like. You might end up being dissappointed and regret the lost time that you could have been strolling around in a new car while you were waiting.

 

VERD!!

 

If you can wait then wait until Acura announce what's new for the 04 TL. Page 17 of Jan 03 Automobile magazine shows an Accord in the SEMA show that has a 3.2 liter 300HP engine. I hope Honda will drop that engine in the TL soon

 

Thanks to all who replied. I think im going to go buy the 03, I can buy a TL w/navi for 28.8k or TLS w/navi for 30.8k. Ill decide after i test drive both. Its mainly for the wife, our previous car was a VW beetle GLX turbo......she didnt take advantage of the turbo which was about 4000 more that a regular......