I am considering the purchase of a 2000 – 2003 TL. I found a 2000 with only 18K miles and I love everything about the car. Awesome machine! The only thing that scares me is that I see a lot of discussion of transmission problems. I am not an aggressive driver and I will be using this car to commute about 25 miles/day to work and some shopping around town. I live in Coastal Central Florida so I will not be driving hills and I don’t do any towing. The first thing I would do if I purchased one would be to install the largest transmission oil cooler I could find and I would change the transmission fluid every 25K miles. Is there anything else you could suggest to help the transmission last? I am the kind of person who hold on to a car for 8 – 10 years…..

With all of the above info, what is the opinion of this group? Is a TL right for me?

Thanks,
Fred in Florida

 

If you like the car, can purchase it at a great price, then why not. Why worry about the tranny when it's warranty extends for 100k miles?
But if it bugs you that much, forget about it and find something else.

 

No offense Fred, but this question gets asked here quite a bit. There's nothing anyone on this site, or any other site for that matter, can say that will put your mind at ease. Are there people on this site who have had transmission problems? Yes. But there are thousands (tens of thousands?) of people who don't post here, will never post here and who have never had a transmission problem.

If you like the TL, then get it. Other cars have probems too, you just haven't found a web site that discusses them.

You don't indicate whether this is a private sale, a car dealer or an Acura dealer. A 2000 with only 18K miles would qualify as a Certified Pre-Owned Acura. If the car has not been checked out by a dealer, have it done. Or take the VIN to the dealer and they can pull the service records for the car.

While a cooler can't hurt, I don't think it's been shown that the transmission problem is related to overheated (something a cooler would address) or dirty trans fluid (something frequent change would address).

Get the car checked by a qualified mechanic, know where you will get it serviced (I prefer my Acura dealer) and if the price is right, buy it. The transmission problem effects (guessing) 5% of the cars, so the odds are in your favor. At least you know about it and there's a 7 year/100,000 mile warranty. Heck, I bought a used Chevy K1500 with only 43,000 miles on it and 5 weeks later the transmission went out on it. I only had second gear. Fortunatley, I bought it at a great Chevy dealer who only charged me for the labor to put it in.

 

With that low of miles on it and if you can get a great price id say go for it. the TL is a great car! If the tranny problem we to happen (not saying it will because not all are affected) you are warrantied 7 years (from original purchase) or 100k. Ive got 167,000 miles on mine and love the car even with the known tranny problem.

 

And remember, Fred, a lot of people have no problems...

I will tell you when my tranny took a dump, the fluid was perfectly fine--and changed--3k miles before it happened. It was a sudden kind of thing.

Like some have said, buy it and don't worry or choose another car. I wouldn't waste my money on upgrading with a cooler...

 

everyone had great points ... unfortunately for me, i purchased my tl-s first then found out the tranmission problem...So, instead of thinking about it all the time (which i did in the beginning, now..i just enjoy driving it)
but, you have to decide for yourself what is your comfort level on purchasing the tl with a known transmission problem ... if you keep banging your head over and over everytime you drive the tl...then, i would suggest to ease your comfort by choosing another vehicle.