Hey guys, my name is Mike, I would like to say hello to everyone as I am brand new to the forum and thinking about picking up 3.2TL.

Im getting too tired and too old to be driving around in beaters and buying new vehicles every year because my sub 1000 dollar POS breaks and isnt worth the cash or my time to fix. Iv also reached a stage in my life where Im tired of being ashamed of my junk cars and ready for something a little more high class. As a remedy, I am considering picking up a 99 Acura 3.2TL with 95k miles on it, for $7000, from a guy I work with and can trust.

Now I know you guys are obviously biased, but Im wondering about the longevity of these vehicles and how bad they are on maintainance. Iv heard good things about the Honda VTEC motors. If they have been treated right is 95k miles tend to be alot for this motor? Also how about the tranny, Iv never owned an automatic transmission as I have been leary of problems do to high mileage and abuse.

I am very mechanically inclined and will be doing all the work and maintainance to this vehicle myself, so Im wondering if some of the more experienced guys on here could tell me if they are generally easy to work on? Or if everything tends to be tedious and PITA. Is it hard finding parts for the vehicle? Also are the parts overly expensive? I know Acura tends to be high end stuff, so Im not expecting parts to be as inexpensive and easy to find as some chevy econo box, but just wondering if I can afford to own this vehicle.

My goal if I buy this vehicle is to own it ATLEAST 4 years and during that time probably put 60,000 miles on it, without having to constantly be sinking MAJOR money into keeping the thing running. I realize as with any car with 100,000 miles that it will need regular maintainance stuff, but do you think 4 years and 60k miles is a reasonable goal for this vehicle to last?

Other then the regular little things that will invevitably wear out and go bad with the age and mileage, is there anything specific to this vehicle that tends to take a crap?

Basically Im asking you guys if you think this is a good buy for a college kid whose NOT rich and is sick of having to spend most of my free time keeping the car running so I can make it to school and work.

Thanks alot in advance for reading this and any replies.
-Mike F

 

I bought my '02 TL Type S in November of '04, used of course. I have not had much of anything go wrong with it up to this point. If you have browsed the threads, especially in the "Problems and Fixes" section, you will see what the biggest concerns are. The biggest one is the automatic tranny of the 2nd generation TL. I do not know if my current tranny has been replaced and am not in a very good position to find out right now as I am deployed to Iraq. Up to this point though I have not had any trouble with it. I have close to 70,000 miles on it.

For the most part, Honda products are very good cars. My son has the Honda Accord that I bought brand new in 1993. He is having some problems with it at this time, but at 255,000 miles, that is expected, even for a Honda. Up to this point I have had nothing serious go wrong with that car.

The biggest problem I have with my TL is my occupant position sensor in the passenger seat keeps being tripped by cell phones because a cell will trigger it, and therefore turn off the air bag. The car's passengers have not learned to keep their cells off the seat.

Anyway, long story short, as with alot of cars, some people have good ones and some have bad ones. Before buying, if you buy used, go to carfax.com and look up the history. It is a great resource. And view all the TL forums, 3rd gen, 2nd gen, etc. Maybe that will also help your decision making process. I hope that I have been helpful, and if you buy one, show it to us. And feel free to make modifications if you like. We do alot of that here.

 

Does the 1999 TL still have its original transmission?

If so, and if you plan to take it from the current 95,000 miles to 155,000 miles, you might experience a transmission failure. That's a $3,000 to $4,000 repair.

That's something to keep in mind.

Bob

 

Thanks so far guys for the input, it helps me alot.

Ill search around the forum to see if I can find this answer, but Bob, do you know what exactly fails with the auto trannies? Whatever fails, does it end up destroying the entire tranny or do I just need to replace parts? I have some experience rebuilding and servicing trannies (although I never opened up an ATX before) and would DEFINATELY be able to do the pull and reinstall at the bare minumum. About how many miles do people start having problems with the trans??

 

my '02 TL had to have the whole tranny replaced after 56,000 miles. that being said i bought it used with 48,000 and i had a tendency to redline it on a daily basis. 2nd gen tls have been spotty with transmissions and opds (occupant positioning detection system). fortunately i had the extended warranty. as Doc Stray mentioned it varies from car to car.