So I've been doing some research on the Internet about these cars and I am finally thinking about buying one. I'm a college student with a fixed budget. I was looking at used TL's at dealerships that I can finance and there are some for about $15,000 with a little over 100,000 miles. Seems a bit pricey but I read these cars are really good.
I've always thought these were nice vehicles.

But like I said I've read auto magazines reviews but yet to hear from actual owners.

Do you guys have any advice before buying. Things that go bad on the cars or what to check for and ultimately if you like the car!
Like I said a 3rd gen TL would be nice but I could also go for a late 2nd gen. Like a 2002
Thanks guys,
Hopefully I'll be a proud new owner

 

Sep, welcome to Acurazine.

If you're getting a TL with that many miles on it, make sure the major 105,000 mile tune-up has been done.

 

don't go and buy the 2nd gen TL their AT suck a$$, the trany issue still plague in some 04-05 model to be assure just get the 06 and up. Other than that no big issue with the TL except for rattling issue.

 

for 15k u r only finding tls over 100k?? maybe u r not looking in the right places, these cars are getting old, i feel for 15k u can do better than 100k miles

 

15k for 100,000 miles is a ripoff. Bigtime.

I just did a 30 second search at cars.com for '05 TL's under 90k miles and found a boatload of them between $9-13k

http://www.cars.com/for-sale/used/20...102&yrId=20199

 

Yeah I also would advise not to get a 2G TL. At this point, that car is over 10 years old and it probably wouldn't be the best investment with your money. $15k can buy you a really nice TL but you have to keep searching. $15k should buy you a TL with around 70-90k miles depending on the year.

 

Alot of useful information
I am going to go test drive a 06 today with 99,000 miles for 14500
I can probably talk it down to 13$.
But I was curious,
What is in the major 100,000 mile tuneup?
How much does it cost?

 

timing belt, water pump, belts, spark plugs...i'm sure there are a few items i've missed but that's the short major list.

$700-1500 (depending on where you go).

 

you can find 06 TL base with less than 100K for $15, look

 

For one,it will be hard to find a bank that will finance a car with 100,000 miles,2 u can do better on price for sure...most used car dealerships will have a 3k to 4k mark up...

 

Thanks tlrigirl and everybody else
I'm not ignoring your posts. I appreciate all of em.

And I went to a different dealer than I initially ha planned on going to ( i went to an acura dealer) and ended up test driving a 2006 tl
I loved it
It was priced at 15k and ha 75,000 miles on it.
I really like this car but I know nothing about buying from a dealer. Obviously I need to do some research. What's a good apr? 4.5? Im clueless lol

I was thinking of putting around 3000 down then doing the rest on payments. But what if I want to pay an additional lump some down the road. What would that do to the monthly price? Would it stay the same or lower it?

 

get a pre-approved loan rate from a credit union. take that with you. the dealer will offer their rate, then you spring the rate you've been preapproved at....they will match it. the APR will be dependent on your credit rating. 4.5 is good, but some credit unions offer 1.99. currently loan rates for cars are fairly low.

if you put $3k down and the rest in payments, then pay a lump sum later...your payments won't lower themselves. they get delayed (depending on how your loan is written). for example i overpay a little every month on my loan, the next month's payment will be lower a little, i overpay again...it lowers a little more until you essentially end up not having a payment due for two months or even 2 yrs or so. doesn't mean you shouldn't continue to make payments, it means you aren't immediately obligated to pay that month. you're still responsible for the loan repayment for the duration of the loan (unless you pay it off early). you need to figure out how comfortable you are with making laon payments on a 6 yr old car. ifyou can pay outright, then pay outright.

 

Very good advice here /\ /\

 

Also never settle on first numbers given to u...there's mark up on the vehicle,plus doc fees, TTT..etc..I know your excited,but never pay sticker price