Hey everyone, this is my first time on this forum as a member, i'm in the market right now for a Third generation TL. Found one that i'm planning on buying. Just wondering if anyone has any tips or things I should look for before I buy one. I'll be honest i don't know too much about TL's or cars in general for that matter but I'm excited to learn!

 

If you can post a link to the cars, i'd be helpful for us to see some of the photos and give some comments!

Just a few tips, if the car is around 90-110K miles, you are going to need to do the timing belt/waterpump/valve adjustment which can run anywhere from 800-2000 dollars depending on the dealer. I suggest that you try to knock down the price a bit if it is near that mileage. Also are you looking for a 2004-2006 TL? 2007-2008 TL-S?

 

I assume you've done the autocheck / carfax to find a clean car.

I was rather surprised how many potential cars I ruled out even looking at after running a few reports on them. I was then left with two possibles in my area and price range. I went with the higher mileage car since the interior was cleaner, tires had better wear, and fewer obvious issues that would crop up with getting a one time MD inspection done. The other was more expensive, interior was in terrible shape, lots of holes cut in stuff, one sun visor was just missing, and the dealer was evasive as hell about fixing inspection issues. I figure I can do and probably will do maintenance myself, so a bit of maintenance for the better car was a no brainier.

 

Check condition of trans fluid. If it's higher mileage, see if you can find out if it's been serviced before. If it's got 75k+ miles on it, and it's never been changed, I'd stay away.

If you are looking at a TL-S, or a 6 speed TL, that has Brembo brakes, check the pad thickness. OEM pads run about $150 wholesale for just the fronts, $200+ if you buy them at the dealer parts counter.

 

I'm also in the market for a 3G TL, '05-'07, around 45k-50k miles. I've seen references to high maintanence costs, and was wondering kind of maintanence is needed and the cost prior to reaching 100k miles.

 

Actually I've found the maintenance on this car to be respectable. Mostly oil changes every 10K miles. Of course the usual brake pads, tires, fluid changes but nothing major until you hit 105K and that's the timing belt.