tl-luster

I'm a TL-S wannabe and, having read your forum, you guys really know your stuff. Having read all these really informative posts though, you all have now scared the piss out of me regarding this issue with the TL trannys.

This is my dilemma. My local Acura dealer still has a couple of 03 TL-S (new) still in stock, and they've marked them down really well (~$7K less than the 04). I understand they were among the last to roll off the assembly line, but does this guarantee that the tranny issue has been resolved? Is it resolved for the 04? I've been deciding between the 03 TL-S and the 04 Audi A4, and the TL was winning out on both size AND reliability -- now I'm not so sure about the latter.

Any thoughts? Should I go for it and hope for the best, or risk the 'german reliability' issues?

MikeElmendorf

If I had it to do over again, I would absolutely NOT buy the Acura. The issues with the transmission alone have been totally intolerable. Add to that the many squeaks and rattles--worst of any car I have owned--and the Acura wins the dubious title of worst vehicle I have had the misfortune to possess. Not again. Can't wait to be rid of it. And, for what it's worth, Acura seems to know they have a faulty design with the transmission, but they like to play a "gee, everything is ok if the computer doesn't say it is broken" game. Not surprising, giving the widespread nature of the problem.

My first Acura. My last.

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

ill tell you, i knew about the problems but still opted to buy a tl. i think by the end of production they may have had things all ironed out so you would be ok. and in all reality, even 20,000 tranny failures is still only 3-5% of all the tl's manufactured (based on a report i read that stated 645,000 tl's were assembled here in the united states in 2002 alone so it doesnt include the 2002 models built in 2001). so it's really not as high as it seems. they're awesome cars, and i honestly dont think i would get rid of mine now that i have one. go test drive one if you haven't allready. you'll be hooked. good luck and let us know what you do!

SSTS

juniorbean

iTrader: (5)

This man speaks the truth. The problems you read are exaggurated on the bulletin boards. Don't get me wrong... there are tranny issues with some cars, but you're looking at about 5% or less. The problem is that the few hundred online who had problems are very vocal... whereas the several thousand who have had no problems don't say much. Plus, if you're looking at a 2003 you should be OK as only the early production 2003 models were possibly affected.

If you like the car, go for it and enjoy it... you'll be glad you did. I like my TL so much (and yes, I had a tranny failure, but it was replaced in 4 days and I had a loaner, so no inconvenience for me) that when the new TL came out I didn't even look at it. Not fond of the lines, so I'm keeping my 2002

ou sig

BUY IT!!! Without a question. Any car you buy has the chance of having problems, and anyway, Acura is standing behind their cars with the extended warranty. The 03 Type S is amazing! Dont listen to MikeElmendorf, Ive never even seen him on here.

Hornda

i have no problems with my car so far... as long as my tranny doesn't let me down i wouldn't mind keeping it... I don't care if acura backs it up with a extended warranty because I just hate the feeling of a broken down car in the middle of the highway and ur stranded...

I have went thru hell with an old car that had a messed up tranny... i had to push it thru a toll booth and still pay the toll.....

gagetrol

Agreed. With all due respect to the those who love the 2004TL, I believe the 02-03TLS looks better. To each man his own.

ResidualFreedom

-Take a look at the reality here, the Acura TLs is an amasing car (sorry had to say that), The chance of the trannie going bad is very low (I have heard something like 7%, but I think it is much less).
-MOST of the people complaning about their trannie going bad, had their trannie replaced FOR FREE by Acura.
-Understanding it might be a large inconvience, but what if this was a Accord/Camery/Maxima? The dealer would probably make you pay for the trannie replacement and fight you tooth and nail about the legnth of the warranty.
-Acura has extended their warranty passed 60k miles, to 100k miles, for this specific reason.

- I was at Stern Acura (Aurora, Ontario, Canada) picking up a new cup holder and an "A" badge for the engine cover (missing when car was purchased), the service manager and I were talking about this exact topic. He told me if I haven't had any problems with the trannie by 80k - 90k km, you should (knock on wood) be fine. That was my knock on wood - not what he said- lol

- Bottom Line Acura seems to be almost bending over backwards to help with the issue if it arises. I haven't heard of another company helping out with an issue like this anywhere. I feel fully confident with TL and Highly suggest buying one PLUS if you just got on to this page recently wait untill the gallery gets open again. These guys on this page KNOW WHAT LOOKS NICE NOT RICE which is soooo reassuring when asking for advice.

Enjoy the Shopping - Cheers

hemants

A TL with a 7 year tranny warranty is still miles ahead of the Europeans in terms of reliability.

Heck, even the American's have surpassed the Europeans in reliability. What does that tell you!

ResidualFreedom

LOLOLOLOLOL

I can just picture tha a$$ at the toll booth. "Sorry buddy, 50 cents!" . Di@khe@d!

markhorowitz

I have a 2000 TL and have had the tranny replaced. The car has 89,000 miles on it and I love every day I have owned it.

The older model is classy and a car like this will not come around for a while. It is solid and powerful and yes reliable. My Toyota Sienna had engine trouble at 36,000 miles and then again at 45,000 miles and I just got a letter that they are extending the tranny warranty to 100K so they must be having trouble there as well.

I wouldn't touch the 04 until next year since they haven't had time to iron out the kinks yet.

garylee55

645,000 TLs assembled in the US alone? Why were year end total TL sales only 60,764? What happened to the other half million TLs? I think those production numbers are way too high. I mean the Honda Accord production numbers were just a little over 400k, so wherever you got that 645k from, I don't know.

I don;t think the failures are overinflated at all. In fact I think they are way under-inflated. I say with the build quality in cars today, there are many more manufacturers out there today producing cars that do not have major component failures that have better overall warranties.

Booker

Thanks to this board, I probably saved myself a big-time headache. I had already purchased my TL-S before I even heard anything about the transmission issues. Once I did hear about the issues, I brought my car in for its last, scheduled, routine maintenance before the warranty was to expire. I decided to tell the service advisor that I'd been experiencing some slipping and banging when the car was cold (I really hadn't, but I thought by telling them something, it would force their hand and make them take a look - if not, my concern would at least be noted as having been lodged BEFORE the warranty ran out). Imagine my total SHOCK when I got the call telling me I needed a new transmission! Not only did the dealer offer this totally unexpectedly, they also provided me with a free rental car for the time they had to keep my car there. Was it an inconvenience? To a degree, yes, but I really felt like I was treated more than fairly.

I have had no other issues with the vehicle (well, other than the tire bubble issues that seem to be incredibly pervasive), and I'd recommend it highly to anyone considering buying one.

Ruski

I can't wait for my lease to end. 2 tranny failures. Squeaks and rattles. Hey wanna buy mine? The tranny was just replaced recently. the new one *should* have all the fixes. Yeah right. It already feels crappy.


I don't enjoy wasting time going to the dealer and getting a rental for a few days, transferring all my crap from my car into the rental and back, making sure to remember to transfer the Sunpass toll transponder, and some things cannot even be transferred like the barcode sticker on my car that opens the gate into my development.
I don't care if Acura pays for the new tranny and for the rental. This is a huge hassle.

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

i apologize, your number is totally correct, the article i read quoted, civics, accords, elements and tl's. my mistake, i misread it. i would still be curious to see what the total number of people with failed trannies is. but all in all, 5% of that is still 3000 people, and i wouldnt be surprised if it reached up to 6000 people, which is still only 10% of the population. you can see what i mean by my comparison though, it is a small sample of what else is still running when you have 54,000 trannies still humming away as they should be. and this is just the 2002 sales.

it seems as if somewhat less 2003 trannies are failing, so the 2 year total population of failed transmissions would be around 10% total still out of 120-130,xxx cars if you had 12,000 tranny failures. (i dont have the 2003 sales figures but do remember reading it increased for tl sales in 2003).

if you had 20-30% of the tl population breaking down then i dont think acura would be so non-chalant about it. you would see a recall. but i have to agree with the other members that at least they are warranteeing (sp?) it out to 100,000 miles. you would never see ford or chevy do that. and i too agree, i do not care for the new tl. nice yes, but not for me.

chris_wTX

As one of those "vocal" guys who is on his third transmission, I would still recommend that you buy the car. The late-late 2003's (assuming that is really what is left on the lot) should be fine. The only other issue I have with the car is that of body integrity--my baby rattles a lot. Whether I'm hyper-sensitive to the rattles, or whether Houston streets have reallly beat the car up, is hard to say.

Take everyone's opinions here with a grain of salt (even mine).

Chris

LiQiCE

I've had my car nearly 2 years now. Only ~16000 miles on it though ... No problems with the tranny yet! Car doesn't have any major rattles either. Maybe I'm just lucky. My car has the first important tranny fix, there were a few important changes made afterwards but the first is the most important. A car with all of the tranny fixes should be pretty well off.

I would definitely recommend the '03 TL-S if you like the car! Your chances of the tranny failing with all of the changes is pretty slim. At worst if you buy the car and it has problems, you'll know it in the first 4 years/50,000 miles. You could always trade the car in after the 4 years for something else. Not the best option, but at least you won't be stuck paying for the repairs before that. The '04 TL is nice too imho.

Also the '04 TL shouldn't have this problem to the same degree because of the drive by wire throttle system. It can control the throttle during shifts therefore relieving stress on the tranny.

tl-luster

Thanks guys for all the input -- really helpful! I'm pretty sure I'll buy the TL over the A4 (kind of knew that in the back of my head I suppose). I'll just double-check the manufacture date!

Thanks again.....

gregtomash

Also make sure that 7years/100K applies to your car - may be get it in writing...

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

my tl is a 2002 (manufactured december 2001 if i recall properly). no squeaks, no rattles, almost 30k miles on it now. i have only had it a month and a half and i love it so much. out of all the cars i have ever had or driven personally, this one is my favorite. and i still swear on my life that i turn heads with this car no matter where i go. get it, you wont regret it. the A4 is awesome, but expensive. if i could have afforded it i might have gone with the A6 myself. but i love my tl.

SSTS

LargeOne

As a member of the dead tranny club... I too would recommend buying the TL-S. I have a 2002 and love it. I got a RSX for the week it took to swap out my dead tranny, but other than that, the car has done nothing but perform.

Ajay_RENAMED

I have a 2003 TLS and just hit 30,000 miles. Aside from having the rotors replaced I have have not had a single problem with this car. No rattles either, great car and my next car will most likely be another Acura product.

Punkoz

Go for a test drive. See how much you like the car. If you really like the car but you are worried about the transmission, then think about leasing it. The warranty will cover any fixes that need to be done, if any. The only downside is after the lease term you won't own the car.

thsiao

Were you looking at an A4 1.8T or the 3.0? If you are getting the 2003 TL-S your warranty will be 5 years or 50,000 miles. 7 years or 100,000 miles apply only to TLs previous to 2003. Well I would say that for the first month I was really pissed off at my new car, many rattles and interior noises to be a "new" car but all of them were taken care of at the dealer. As to the tranny failure, I have 15,000 on my car and still no problems (knock on wood). However, if I could choose between the A4 3.0 manual tranmission or the TL-S, I would go for the A4. The A4 after a nice aftermarket body kit looks way sweeter than our TL-S with OEM body kit, atleast that is my opinion.

Ajay_RENAMED

We have an Audi A4, never again - very unreliable car with horrible service to boot. Its only 3 years old too.

NYDesi80

Just curious how much is the dealer selling those left over 03's it has to be dirt cheap?

tl-luster

Done and done.......

Picking up my black TL-S tomorrow, and in good time too! Trading in my 91 Accord and, of course, the ABS light goes on when the dealer's taking it for a test-drive, I start noticing new, bad sounds (on top of the ones that were already there), etc. etc.

I forget who posted, but someone was asking what I got it for. Burrard Acura listed it for $34,800 CDN (down from MSRP $41,800), and they wouldn't go any lower, so I had to squeeze them on the trade-in. I figured I got as low as I could when we arrived at a price, but he refused to throw in the all-weather mats!

Thanks again. Happy to join the brotherhood......

Vicman17

Look for a manufacture date of Nov 03 or later. These should have the updated tranny/ ECU. You should find left over 03 TL-Ss at dealer and they can cut you a great deal sicne they are trying to push them out. Mention as well that you're a member of the forum and see how they would react.

With decent winter tires, the Type-S should be great in winter. The VSA is the best one out there yet short of AWD. See if there are also leftover 03 CL-S 6M , those are even better.

You might also want to try out the G35x for almost the same amount of money.
The A4 is bad news, from what I heard from 4 friends who have them. Audi/VW service is no comparison to Acura.

cologero2

tl-luster i think you made the right choice...i love my 03 TL-S....i've had it since last may i'm at about 13,000 miles and havent had one problem....also maintenance for the audi would be more expensive, if something ever was to happen....again good choice with the TL-S and have fun with it.

`ill*tl

Sweet! Congrats and welcome to the ac' family.

seahawk

tl-luster ,,, Congrats on buying a TL Type-S and welcome to the
family. I bought my TL last August after seeing pics of the
new 04 model . Didn't like the looks of it. You got a good
price to , for CDN. Like the rest of us , you will fall in love
with this car. It is an awesome machine. I found this forum
after I bought and have gottin a lot of good info here . Lot
of talk here about the tranny issue but your car and mine
were probably amongst the last of the 03 builds , so I think
they are O.K. Anyway they got a 7 YR. / 130,000 KM.
warranty. I have no regrets buying this car. The car is solid,
smooth and powerful , so enjoy it ,man.
Ohh , one last thing , I like your choice of color.

Cheers

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

no joke? thats really too bad. i had never heard anything bad about audis until this (except for the fact that they are expensive to repair). in all reality though, i dont know too many people with audis to base my experience on. that's a shame too, considering how "superior" the engineering is supposed to be.

mkrafczyk

Last July I traded in my Audi A4 for a 2003 TL Type S. I loved the way the A4 drove but could not deal with taking it to the dealer every 3 months for problems. The last straw was when the ABS light went on. I took it to Audi and was told it was the control module which is a $1000 item not including installation. Audi service sucks. Have been very happy with Acura service and my car. If I was buying a car for the way it drove I would buy the Audi but I needed a reliable car with good service and therefore bought the Acura.

Cali_310_TL

i dont think anybody is exagerating about there transmission problems, cause when the tranny does finally break it just doesnt die on you, it breaks at the worst time and it breaks hard. Mines gave away while i was doing 65mph, and its scared the **** out of me when it did, if meor my wife got hurt there would of definitly been a lawsuit against acura, cause they are already aware of this problem, so dont say people of overreacting about this problem.



The tranny problem is Real

garylee55

Happened the same way to me too in rush hour traffic going around 70-75. The tranny couldn't find a gear, and I had no control to be able to give it gas and get out of the way of anyone, then suddenly, it kicked in. I won't ever buy another Honda product.

orion_21

i agree. I'll take the new gauges and larger nav, but my 02' smokes it on every other front. (unless I had a bluetooth phone!!!)