SlippinNSlidin

Hello, my last Acura just crapped out, and I am trying not to run into a similar situation again. How can I verify the car I buy has a healthy transmission?
1: Should you be able to feel when the car shifts? My friend's Acura has no movement when shifting (unless you floor it), and the cars I have been looking at often have a slight feeling when upshifting, not quite a jerk, but you can feel it shifting and engaging the next gear.
2: Given how old these cars are, is it okay to see a bit of dark material in the fluid, if it mostly looks reddish-orange and not dark, or is that a sign the transmission is failing?
3: Is slight whining a sign of a serious issue, or just a quirk with these transmissions? I'm also trying to make sure I'm not just confusing it with engine noise.
Sorry if these sound like stupid questions, I'm trying to make sure I'm not being overly paranoid and ruling out perfectly fine cars. I'm shopping in the problem years (04-06) so I know it's very important to inspect the health of the transmission before buying to make sure it lasts a while into the future. Thank you.

VictorTL

Why not shopping for 07-08?
07-08 are almost bugs free.

wizurd

My personal experience:..
1) You should feel the trans shifting. Firm shifts are a good thing and replacing the shift solenoids likely prevents failure. If the clutch packs are already on their way out changing the solenoids will not help.
2) If the fluid has been changed regularly you should not see any dark material/fluid.
3) When mine was failing it whined. After a rebuild it does not.