I have an 09 SH-AWD with 21k on the odometer. Bought it in spring of '10 as a demo, and have the 7 year/100k extended warranty for being "certified". It's got the $230 Takeda Noisemaker on it, and is wired for a sub, but otherwise is stock.

I have an 07 TL Type S, purchased last December, also certified. 22k on the ticker, and 7yr/100k warranty. Bone stock, with some pretty chewed up gunmetal Type S wheels and due to replace what are probably the original PS2 tires before winter this year.

The 07 is paid for. The 09, I owe about 14 on - but could probably knock it out this year if I wanted to; not like money is earning interest anywhere.

I'm a car guy, who is also a new daddy. The 07 TL was bought to replace my wife's coupe, and ultimately, I ended up selling my immaculate and fully bolted S2000 to make room in the garage for the 07.

The wife doesn't do clutches - so both cars are auto, as it made sense for flexibility with the kiddo.

I've got "that itch" again to "make it go faster daddy!".

Background: I work from home 50% of the time, which is a god-send since the office is about 45 miles north of home. The 2-3 days per week I drive in, are all expressway, but it is some mileage and a good bit of ground to cover. I had been driving the 09, and getting an average of 26-30 mpg depending on how traffic moved. After the kiddo was born last month, I left the larger, safer, more comfortable 09 at home for the wife and the boy, and started driving the 07. In stock trim, I'm getting 29-30 mpg on the journey, so its the better commuter choice of the two.

The wife is probably going to stay home with the kiddo until it's pre-school time. This cuts the income a bit, but we do alright. Mainly, chops the toy budget down, as does diapers and baby needs.

The initial plan:

I have a deposit for the PCD on my 4G down. I intend to buy them and the J Pipe, all the P2R gaskets, spacer, lightened pulleys, and a lower intake manifold to polish, and throw them all on at the same time. I think it's not unrealistic to expect a 40hp gain across the powerband with all this done.

The reality: PCDs delayed again, J pipe not ready - cost on both up.

The new thought: Build the 07. Buy the PCD J pipe combo for 750 and get a magnaflow resonator. Buy a catback, an intake, all the P2R gaskets and spacer, pulleys, and a lower intake manifold to polish. Effectively the same bolt ons - just for the vehicle that has the parts available.

I would think the 07 would be a rocket at that point, as I've seen 300 whp dyno sheets on these bolted cars.

Advantages I see of building the 07:

1. It's paid for.
2. It needs wheels and tires already.
3. Cheaper to modify
4. You can put it on the dyno without all the headaches and dial it in.

Advantages I see of building the 09:

1. It's more comfortable
2. It's more exclusive
3. SH-AWD kicks ass; nuff said.
4. Stereo smokes the 07s.
5. Navigation / iphone integraiton smokes the 07s.

I have to maintain the safety/driavability factor of whatever I would decide to tinker on so that it was safe and operator friendly enough my wife could drive when needed, and both will still be used to transport my little guy around.

So what say you 3G crowd (I'm going to start a thread in the 4G side too) - Do you build the 4G, do you build the 3G, or do you say hell with the wife's permanent ban on threat of death and just go buy another motorcycle instead....

 

Personally, I'd build the '09.
shawd ftw.

I have PCD's and jpipe on a base 6MT and torque steer sucks. I always have to be careful around corners.
Whereas, I assume, the SHAWD will blast through a corner without babying the throttle.

 

I'd get another car....neither is going to do JACK when you are done with it. But thats JMO.

Honda - Hold On Not Done Accelerating. (torqueless wonders greatly)

 

^lol

 

Helical diff and a new clutch; you'll not think it's the same car.

 

Input appreciated, but not really what I was looking for.

It never ceases to amaze me how people think that cramming a 7 liter V8 into a leather clad malibu makes the end-all be-all of touring cars.

Give me the tuned 2 liter 4 cylinder in a purpose built car over a pushrod V8 any day.



Pwning a CTS-V with my torqueless wonder

 

You're not going to like my answer- take whatever money would go to the mods on either car, then pay off the 09 and enjoy a car payment free period for the next several years. It sounds like both cars will last quite a long time if you don't put too much mileage on them. Nothing beats being out of debt. My answer is also dependent on how much all of the mods you indicated would cost.

 

Believe me, that's a consideration as well. We end up getting completely raped on taxes if we don't max out 401 contributions, HSA deposits, and make some substantial non-profit donations every year. I could shift cashflow around to accomplish paying it off pretty quickly, but then part with 35% of that income in taxes as opposed to sheltering it. The loan on the remaining balance is 36 months @ 1.9% or something absurdly low through the credit union, so keeping the payment is actually the cheaper option short and long term.

I'm thinking all of this is $1500-$1800 investment at most; adding tires/rims for the 07 not included.

 

This....

Unless you really want to mod it. You'll eventually get bored at some point.

 

If your wife primarily drives the '09 I'd leave it alone. Mod up the car you drive most, which sounds like the '07. I have an '04 that I would like to mod but I won't touch it for a while as my wife drives it usually and I don't think she'd notice the difference or appreciate the changes.

So instead I put my play money into my motorcycle

 

As a fellow 07 type-s owner who recently test drove an 11' w/6-speed shawd, I'd recommend the 4g. As others have said, I'd pay off the cars first then mod.

 

I have to question anyones decision making when they say they would rather have a 2 liter 4 banger over a bad ass V8. Pretty much every car manufacturer is or has moved to V8's for its performance line. BMW M3, Lexus IS-F, C63 AMG...cars like that.
I have never seen a 7 liter V8 in a Malibu, but if your referring to cars like the CTS-V as a leather clad Malibu then you are extremely misinformed. Funny how GM's "antique" pushrod V8's are lighter, produce more HP, more reliable, and get better fuel economy than its much more sophisticated imported versions. I personally would never be caught dead driving a little S2000 even if its 4 banger produced 700hp

Back on subject I dont know why everyone is bringing up the money situation and paying off cars etc etc. Thats for you to decide only. Your question was based on which car to keep or mod. Its a tough call because the 4G does have some nice upgrades over the 3G....as it should its the latest design. As far as modding thats up to you since your wife drives it not sure why you would wanna mod it. Even with a jpipe, intake etc etc its not going to be really fast. Same with the 3G Type S. Sure they are quick, but not fast. The 3G certainly looks more attractive as that 4G is still the most awkward looking thing on the street. Acura for sure improved it with the revised 2012 but its still a weird body style that looks too big and similar to the side profile of a new Maxima. Its a tough call for sure. The 3G S is paid off and is a nice unique car. The 4G has nice features and upgrades over the 3G, but looks are questionable. And my answer is.....I dunno.
Hope this helps

James

 

fyi: the next m3 will be inline-6 twin turbo. Even formula 1 is slated to move to 6-cyl turbo engines in the near future. Personally, I'd take an r35 over a v-8 any day!

 

I agree with the poster that feels you should mod the car that's yours, that is, the 07 TL-S. I did very few mods to the wife's CTS as she primarily wanted to keep it stock. My TL is more modified as I wanted it to my taste.

Money no object, here's what I'd get instead of modding one of the cars:
The Ariel Atom V8, 0-60 in <2.5 seconds, power to weight ratio of 1000 HP/ton:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyYnN71rEKk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIiWh...eature=related

Enjoy the videos...and apologies for the thread drift.

 

Running a stock car against a highly modified car is not that impressive. lol

BTW....ya...I know someone with an S2000 running the following: 9.9 at 141mph - and that was last season. Not heard what he has done this season...lol.

But again....not really an apples to apples comparison either is it? It takes a bit more than a "tune" on an S2000 to hang with the stock V my friend...lol. And a shit-ton more money! You can get a V for $18,000 bone stock that will walk a S2000 stock all day long....and to even keep up, that torqueless wonder has to dump BOATLOADS of money into it to hang reliably.

Whats funny is YOU NEVER MENTIONED AN S2000 BUT AN ACURA TL, which in fact - isnt worth building IMO given the $ it takes to get it to perform.

Whatever you get.....it needs more LSx. Trust me.


Found it....here ya go.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1lCjOgoyEM

 

There is truth in there is no replacement for displacement. I've had high strung cars. I've had turbo'd cars. I still loved my ls1 the best. You can make cars fast other ways, but its just not as fun.

 

I'll take my total invested $23,000 Honda 4 cylinder putting it all over a $55,000 factory performance car any day - but it's sold and gone. I have no delusions of a TL even staying a dot in the mirror of a CTS-V in anything resembling streetable trim.

I'll eventually rebuild my old J32A2 and drop it into a civic or something and throw a bottle on it for something to snipe the big dogs.

Friend of mine owns Cincy Speed; who is getting amazing power out of the LSx platform. Price per pony, you're not going to beat the LSx right now. Displacement is the easy answer; extracting 800HP from a soda bottle and an air compressor is engineering bliss. There's a couple extreme guys putting down mid 7s with track prepped S2000s and pretty substantial boost...840-850 WHP.

The J motor has always been second fiddle to the honda 4 cylinder lines as far as performance parts go. With a proper tune, fuel management, and some breathing work, there's no reason the J37 can't put 375-400 to the crank - all motor, and with AWD and sub 4000lb curb weight - that means it could be a 13 flat car...maybe high 12s on a spectacular 60' launch. If popping 1800 or so into the AWD gets it knocking on the door of flat 13s - that's quick enough for the comfy ride for me.

 

I think you should just save your money on performance mods. I've spent a lot of money on performance mods on my 06 and the amount of time and money spent does not equate to the amount of power I got back in return. Although the car is fun to drive, if given the oppurtunity I would not do it again.

 

If I had the financial situation you claim to have, I would mod the 4G. You can clearly afford the higher price that comes along with modding a newer gen car. The aftermarket is quite a bit more mature than that of the 4G, so mods will be cheaper on the Type-S. You don't see many modded 4Gs yet, but, the 3G platform has pretty much been covered.

On the flip side, given the family situation you're in, this would make me lean towards modifying the 3G. Technically, this car is yours free and clear. The bank still has a lien on the 4G. The wife drives the 4G. The wife factor probably won't appreciate lowering springs, exhaust, yada yada.

My $.02 worth.

 

Whichever I don't claim as "mine" will probably end up being replaced by an MDX once the wife gets over the "I'm not driving that honking huge thing" and decides "It's a PITA getting the stroller in and out of this damn car". I'm game for either, but that's the conflict.

What I'm not hearing is from the modded 3g guys going 'Hells yeah man, that thing will be a rocket and you'll love the mods!' - which makes me want to leave both of them alone.

 

Alright here is what I came up with after reading through this thread again.

The 4g is basically the wifes car for now until she wants an SUV. Even though you have a great rate and dont owe all that much that will mean two car payments when the MDX comes assuming you finance it. As I said before the 4G does have some nice added things such as the AWD and other technology feature such as keyless go and push start, better stereo, higher resolution screen (assuming you have nav), bluetooth audio. Other than those things for being an all new generation the 09-11 TL's didnt get a whole lot of extra features.

Here is what I would do. Keep the 3G TLS and do whatever you want to it. Get your new wheels since you said the originals are damaged or whatever. Get an RV6 V3 jpipe and whatever else you want and be done with it. The TLS is still a very attractive car and grabs my attention wayyyyy more than any 4G going down the street. Infact the only reason I look at the 4G's when they pass by is because its just so weird looking. My point is they have been out now for basically 3 model years and it still hasnt grown on me.

Enjoy your paid off TL-S, let the wife cruise in the 4G and get her the MDX she wants when the time is right. Hope this helps.

james

 

Sounds like a good plan.

 

Your not gonna hear "hells yeah man, that thing will be a rocket" from modded 3G owners lmao. Its only so far you can go with these cars. Unless your talking about going turbo or SC then its a whole diff ball game as far as reliability and performance is concerned.
If your talking about being faster than or as fast as a semi rare bunch of cars SRT8's M3's, GTO's TLS isnt that car, if your talking about gettin at maximas, 370z's, G35/G37's, not modded 335i's than mod the TLS.

 

fine, Ill say it....

Hells yeah man, that thing will be a rocket and you'll love the mods!!!!

did I change your mind?

 

Like other said when time comes you probably need/want another "bigger" car. Therefore, you have to get rap of one car I will probably keep 4G cuz it is "bigger" (correct me if i am wrong). The most important thing: You want your kid and wife to be safe and comfort right?

 

Pretty much what I was telling him. I spent HUGE money on my car, and while it was formidable for what it was....it was still a turd greatly in many ways dollar for dollar in comparison to the value you can get from an LSx motor in any way. I will admit....I was being a rabble rouser about it greatly in the way I went about saying it and just went to the bottom line, but it is what it is.

 

Sell the 3G TL, buy a 2G CTS-V, give the 4G to the wifey

Like others have said, I would love to pour money into my car to make it faster, but it's still somewhat limited. My next car will have plenty of power stock so I don't have to add shit to it.

Personally I would rather see you mod the 4G over the 3G. Not as many people do stuff to the 4G and it will most likely draw more attention.

 

I did that too. Dropped 10-15k modding a car. It was fun, but damn was it stupid. I could have taken that money an bought a stock car that was faster. Which is when I ended up in a used Corvette.

 

I agree with debt free. If too much money and higher tax bracket is a problem invest your money into a business that eats up yearly to keep your bracket lower.

If shit goes south and you owe money on any car, with a weak or non-existant dollar no matter how much you have in the bank if the title is not in hand then its not yours. Spend the money and make extra house payments.
Start a college fund for your new born baby in case "life isn't all good" when he/she is 18 and starting life.

I spend money on my car but I am stupid and make crazy oilfield money.
I have 5 kids and they have never experienced a bad xmas like I did growing up.

Taxes, insurance & death are the only things you can't avoid.

I am holding out for the 13's or 5th gen tl's and hope acura pulls their heads out of their asses.

My opinion which is what you wanted was opinions. Good luck to you sir.