Hello everyone. I have been shopping for a 3g TL for about two month's. I finally found one with low mileage but not sure about the price. The vehicle is a 2004 TL with navigation and has 45k. Kbb is 17,250, I negotiated down to 15,900. Should I pull the trigger???

The seller is an older gentleman (2nd owner of 3 years) and the car belonged to his wife who only drove it locally. Both autocheck and carfax check out, and majority of the maintenance has been done at the Glendale Acura (CA).

Everything is ready to go. All I need to do is take it to my mechanic. I don't know why I'm still hesitating the car looks and drives clean. Anyways, I may be over thinking this purchase...or should I wait for a better deal newer model maybe???

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

 

If it were me at this point I would buy '06+. I'm pretty sure they made some improvements car wide in 06. Correct?

 

You should try to find a newer one, but if not that one sounds great!

 

^in '06, they added TPMS, now the computer checks your tire pressure.

 

tbh, the price is right. but I'd be a lil skeptical about the year, 3G TL has transmission issue and older years took a lot of hits.

 

The vin is ending 06xxxx, which meant it was the "newer" model 04. Would that make a difference?

 

keep in mind that 'local driving' is not essentially a good thing if the local driving means short trip driving. this is actually hard on a car...as opposed to what most people think. reason being is that short trips (~<15mins) do not offer enough time for the oil to reach optimal operating temperature and related viscosity. end result is poorly lubricated engine components and an overall reduced life. i have had extensive training in tribology (study of friction, lubrication, & wear) and the scenario i stated here is very legit and is something people should be aware of when purchasing a used vehicle. i'm not saying this is the case here, but just throwing it out there.

 

Yea, that is another reason I am hesitating. I read a few threads on here and decided to change the fluids, plugs, and filters once I make the purchase. I also want to change the 3rd and 4th switches that a poster suggested to do.

 

I installed a custom oil heater just for this reason...

 

What does that do? How much would that cost?

 

^He's fucking with you. You will never need one in Cali.

 

haha, sorry...did not see you were a new member to the site. Red text implies sarcasm, there is no such thing as far i know (but you never know with this site, I am sure someone could fabricate this)




welcome to the forums though!

 

yea just ignore lucnex comment...he's just being a smart ass. i'm not sure why he made that statement cause, as i stated, it truly is a very valid phenomenon. it occurs when the vast majority of driving is conducted in 'short trips'.

 

man, no one wants to have any fun these days....come on Brian!

 

Sounds Good but newer would be better ! Your Call !

 

this is where communicating over the internet has its flaws. the first part of that statement i was totally joking. given i already know u i can call u a smartass (and vice-versa) . i was serious in the second part but only to let the OP know that what i said was something to seriously be concerned about. all-in-all, no worries man. i just didn't want u corrupting the OP! lol

and btw lucas, u should know better...pretty much all i do is kid around on this forum...ha.

 

Thanks for all the help guys. Hopefully I can join the 3g club

I'll see what my mechanic says...

 

good luck man!

 

This: http://www.wolverineheater.com/

OP good luck with the search/buy.

 

price is good =)
Depends on your budge, if you can spend more then get 07+, otherwise 06 is good too, specially you already able to talk it down below kkb value

 

hmm I'm a little skeptical about the year man. Specially the TLs between 04-06 just like one stated they had a lot of tranny problems. Please i heard while on ss manual the car shifts to 2nd gear on its own ( Just a fact i should throw out there regarding the 3g TLs).

 

Good luck LabCab-let us know what he says and welcome to Acurazine.