tftimm

I previously had a 2001 TL that I traded in on my 08 TSX. I was nervous about the transmission so I dumped it. With that said, it was a solid car, drove it from 86-106K miles, just oil changes and tires.

I am now looking to pick up a second car. I posted in the RL section because I'd like more of a highway cruiser for my second car where 4 people can sit comfortably. I will say the TSX has been a great car.

I know the 1999 has the 4-speed. I also searched and found something about cleaning some valves. Is that easy, or can you simply change them, is it a DIY?

I'm looking for something in the $3-5.5K range and I'll be paying cash. I'm leaning toward buying it from an owner as opposed to a dealer and I'll ask for the records. Will Acura do what Lexus does if I go to the dealer? FYI, I'm considering:

1) Lexus LS400 (wife doesn't care of the styling)
2) Acura RL, 96-98 (wife likes how they look)
3) Acura TL, only would I consider a 1999 (wife really liked the 2001)

That being said, I'm in the 125-175K mile range. It seems to all depend on how well the owner maintained them. They seem to all be dependable choices.

Any thoughts?

SSTL

iTrader: (1)

My 99 has treated me well. Going on 290,000 km . You can always seaform the engine once you get it, just get it check out by Acura to make sure the transmission is okay. The 99's tranny is usually more reliable then the 00-03 (I believe).

01tl4tl

yes the 4speed more reliable
the EGR port cleaning is what you are talking about- easy DIY and seafoam will remove a decades worth of crud from the pistons and intake valves
Make sure the timing belt-water pump job was done at 105 or somewhere past that
otherwise looking at 1000$ +++ for that job

acura will give you warranty items done list,and recall check 1-800-382-2238x5
there was a recall to clean the egr port and install a smooth sleeve liner- still need to do the real cleaning every 75k miles

99 also had ignition switch recall- acura only replaces once so you should plan 50 bucks to replace that again yourself

miamirice

hope you don't want to play any burned CDs...99s don't do that well.

Bob_F

You can install the 6-disc player that came with the 2002-2003 TL and that unit has no problems with burned CDs. And the installation is Plug-N-Play. I installed one in my 1999 TL.

A bigger concern would be transmission reliability. Even though the 4-speed transmission is more reliable than the 5-speed, it still has significant reliability issues. Consumer Reports subscriber based surveys give the 1999 TL transmission a "worse than average" reliability rating. This is equivalent to the "half black dot" symbol. The 2000-2003 TL transmission gets a "much worse than average" rating or a full black dot. That's the lowest rating they hand out and it's very unusual to see that for any Honda/Acura product.

So a used 1999 TL with 125K to 175K miles may not have much life left on the transmission.

The original transmission on my 1999 TL failed at 173,000 miles.

One strategy would be to try and find one that recently had the transmission replaced.

If dependability is very important to you, you might get a better "bang for your buck" deal on a Honda Accord with a 5-speed manual transmission.

Good luck with whatever you buy.

tftimm

Thanks for the comments. I'm leaning more towards an RL for the reliability of the engine and transmission. If I find a well maintained TL with the recommended maintence done, I will consider it.

I forgot about the burned CD's, my 01 was the same way. I might upgrade it with the 6 disk from an 02-03 but that is the least of my worries.

Thanks for the comments. Any comments about my other choices?

ftLauTL

For your price range I'd stick with the above mentioned Acura models, To get a Lexus in decent shape whether its an LS or GS in the same year as the Acura's is gonna be tough