My brother and I plan to buy my mother a car within the next month or so. She's always said she's in love with my car so we planned to buy her a 2008 Type-S with 40,000 miles on it. It's listed at $24,000 at a local Acura dealer, but after talking with the dealer he agreed to $21,500 OTD since we're paying with cash.

Our budget is $25,000 but we're willing to push it to $30,000 for the right car. So my question is, what cars are comparable to an '08 Type-S? She likes the sporty look and feel of the Type-S, 4 doors required, as well as a v6.

We're close to pulling the trigger on the Type-S, but just wanted to explore any other options. Any ideas?

 

Get her the car she loves

 

Its not difficult to google what cars are in the same class as a 3g tl or a type s. Youll get an answer much faster. If your mum wants the type s and your getting it under budget I dont see what the issue is? Good luck with your purchace.

 

if you're happy with a car at 21.5k why struggle to find a car closer to 30k just because thats your budget? its called a budget for a reason, thats the max you are willing to spend. always better to come under budget.

 

More so just looking at other options in case she would enjoy something else more. Closest thing I found was an '09 is350 f-sport. My brother was a bit underwhelmed with it though. But I think you guys are right.

Thanks.

 

IS350, G35/G37, Accord V6, 3 series, C class

I checked out the IS before i bought my type-s but found IS was way too small

 

IS350, G35

Dont be fooled, its a common mis conception that "Cash" goes further than Financing with a dealer. actually, in a lot of cases dealers (like acura) offer in house financing so they make more money on the interest than cash. and even if you finance through a bank in a "cuddle" program the dealer gets a finance kick back for the referral and the bank pays the dealer in cash as well. either way the dealer makes cash money.

I personally would walk in un expected with your brother, cash in hand and find the salesman. tell him you really appreciate EVERYTHING he did and has done however you are going to have to pass on the deal. you are going to look elsewhere today (the day you stop by) and just wanted to come by and personally thank him as you feel bad! he will ask whats wrong and you will respond, we could only get 20K together and dont want to finance anything and need to have this deal done ASAP for your mother to have a car so you have to find something today. he will do a back and forth for a couple min and they will take the 20K no questions asked.

you can then run to the store and get a nice bouquet of flowers to go with her new car and you and your brother can take the money you saved and go out to a nice dinner together cause you are great kids for doing this for you mother! trust me, it will work.

 

I've had the G35 and hated it. Cant really explain other than Nissan=junk.

For the price you are willing to spend, have you considered the new Kia Optima or Hyundai Sonata? There is absolutely no denying they have stepped up their game and offer exceptional value for the money and reliability is on par or exceeding Honda now.

The 274HP turbo 2.0L is pretty nice - just with it was available with the manual in their bigger sedans.

 

I came "this" close to buying a 2010(11? Before the ugly body style change) Camry SE V6.
Drove like a dream...

Definitely consider one of these. Rides smoother than the TL and is roomier.

Maintenance is cheaper too

 

^blasphemy

 

A used SHAWD 4G TL?

 

The type S doesn't really seem like a fit for mothers. Get her a nice used RL in the 2007-2008 models. Acuras are very reliable especially for mothers. Actually this morning I googled prices for 2008 Acura TL Type S in the 55K-61k mileage range and they were going for $14000 from dealer incentives/instant savings so do some more searching.

 

Do you think your mom will really take advantage of the extra performance of the Type-S, compared to a base 3G TL? Would she even know the difference between a Type-S and a base?

You could save several thousand dollars and get her a base with nav. All the luxury, almost all of the good looks, and a lot less money.

 

this post is very full of win

 

No, really. True story!

 

If it were me I would not try to buy any other car because your mom clearly likes your TL-S...

With that in mind, it's kind of dumb to go off and buy her another car that she "might" not even like.

It's like asking a kid what kind of video game he wants for christmas/birthday and he tells you he wants call of duty and you go out and buy him some other shooter like fall out or borderlands and expect for him to like it because you think it's "comparable"..

M-Benz C-Class, Infiniti G, Lexus IS, Audi A4, BMW 3-Series.

To us car enthusiasts, those cars seem to be "comparable" to our 3G however for a non-enthusiast they wouldn't even see it like that..

 

+1 I'd give this suggestion some thought. You should be able to find RLs in the price range with not-too-high miles.

 

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but OP what kind if car are you driving and what about it does your Mom "love" about it? Style? Performance? Convenience features, Safety?

It's great that you and your brother are doing this for your Mom, but is the purchase a surprise? If not, why not take her shopping with you?

 

 

To clear some stuff up - It is a surprise. We've gone looking at cars a few times because she plans to upgrade in a few years so I've sort of gotten a feel for what she wants. As far as the RL, it crossed my mind, but not sure she'd be too into the styling. Also, we considered the base when I originally took her to look at a few cars, but she really likes the two tone seats as well as the rear end.(exhaust/taillights) So to answer your question, it's more aesthetic than anything. We also crossed off the 4g TL because she had it as a rental and loved how it drove, but couldn't get past the exterior.

You make a good point. lol. If I found a different car I thought she would like I was gonna take her to see what she thinks first. But after looking for a bit and going to the Infiniti dealership, I think we're gonna settle on the TL.

Lots of useful information. I actually had no idea about the financing part.... But that definitely makes sense. Gonna talk it over with my brother and when we go to purchase, we're gonna try to get it down a bit more. Thanks


Thanks again for everyone's input. In hindsight, it does seem a bit weird to look at other cars when she seems pretty set on the TL. I guess I was more curious than anything else. I'll be sure to post pictures when we pick it up.

 

Kia and Hyundai have made great strides in the last half decade, but anyone who thinks they exceed Honda or Toyota on any level needs to step away from the water bong. They may be on par with Nissan.

OP, it's cool what you're doing. How many 20 yo's can afford to do this?

 

what extra performance? there not the noticeable performance difference that there was with the previous gen base vs type S

 

+1

I used to work at a dealer a looong time ago and this is true. People think cash in hand gets better deals but they actually prefer financing because they make money off of that too, plus they still get paid for the car.

2 things though...the bigger the dealer the better this works and do it on the last day of the month and I mean the last day, not 2 days before or the week of...so something like today, the 31st, because dealers typically need to hit monthly quotas so they give out the best deals on the very last day. I once say my manager sell a corolla for $23 over invoice price and a solara for under $100 over invoice. You have more room to negotiate on a used car too. Go to kbb.com and see what the trade-in value is for the car you're buying. That'll give you a ball park idea of what the dealer paid for it. Careful how hard you push on a car like this though, the TLs hold value pretty good and sell well, so some dealers will hold out for a better buyer. Test their limits and be ready to buy when you do. Nobody likes tire kickers.

 

No, it's not as profound a difference as the 2G, but there's still a difference, at least when comparing 6MT to 6MT and 5AT to 5AT.

 

In a drag race, given all conditions are equal, type s will beat a base, stock for stock, and if comparing same transmissions. I will not believe acura would sell a type S and have it be the exact same speed as the base. The difference may not be much but it's there I guarantee it.

 

my point was that if you drive a Type S back to back with a Base model, you would not be like OMG this is great... while the type S is a tad faster, it isn't anything to write home about compared to the base model

Also, there really isn't much difference in the overall engine dynamics between the 3.2 and 3.5. They both have great torque bands and are very rev happy. This was not the case with the previous gen cars despite sharing the same displacement.

Acura should have at least tried to get a few extra ponies out of the type S and kept the weight the same as the base models (or within a few lbs) 28 HP and almost 150lbs more = nothing special.

Don't get me wrong, the type S is a nice car and I would not mind having one...but this time around you are not getting the bang for the buck that you did with the previous gen.

 

Bigger engine, Brembo brakes, lower/sportier suspension.

 

20 year old and his brother with $30K cash? The Feds is watchin!

If she loves your car...why not give it to her and you make a thread about what car YOU should get. That would be easier for us than trying to guess what'll make your Mom happy.

 

my base came with that.

save for the .3 extra liters

 

mine too!

 

The Type S doesn't sit lower then the base models.

 

I could have sworn they claimed "sport tuned" and that it sat .00357" lower.

 

lol at .00000000000000025

 

This thread is pretty entertaining.

I had the opportunity to go to a CBP 6MT Type S once...car wasn't clean though, had paint work, new clutch at 40K and bad carpets...and would have owed 19K after my trade in of my 04...

I walked and I don't regret it one bit.

I stand by my advice...give your Mom your car and go buy something else. 3G TL is fkng fantastic, but even I don't think it's the only car that is.

 

Just bought the wife a 2011 Camry seV6 (before ugly body change) with all the bells and whistles and personally, I like it more than my TL. Not to say the TL is a bad car by any means but that Camry drives very nice, is roomier, cheaper to run/maintain and is pretty bullet proof.

Both are good cars no doubt.

Oh, and I think the Camry is faster...not by much but it seriously hauls ass....

 

again nothing really noticable

 

when you're having a drag race between a base tl and type S, stock for stock, its going to be noticeable when the winner takes home the prize.

 

but that's just it, George...you wouldn't win

 

 

I'm not one to brag, but only a 6MT type S with mods will pull away...a bone stock one I keep up with without a problem.

And TBH, fuck theoretical drag racing and even regular drag racing, I'm getting too old for this shit.