I'm thinking about purchasing a TL with some pretty high miles (150k+) and was wondering if I'm going to get myself into a money pit. I had a '98 GS400 with high mileage and never once had a problem with the car. I'm just wondering what I should look for or what I need to get inspected? Thanks!!

Allen C.

 

one word: transmission

 

two words: timing belt

 

Dont do it.

 

well its a 3rd gen with 150... If it was properly maintained i wouldnt see why not :/... out of curiosity.. how much would u be paying for it?

 

11k or so with nav.

 

i agree...i wouldn't do it...

 

no sense in having a nice broken down car,id be happier with a less nice car that wont cost me as much as a new car in the long run

 

Don't do it.

 

i would tell you to get away from the car even though its a Honda, why not get a "slightly" less mileage one for maybe 5 grand more to ease off your mind?

 

Like others have stated, don't get it. You will run into some issues with it and you will spend money that you could have used for a better car. As one member posted, the transmission. You won't know when the fluid was changed and if it was beat on, if the owner did neglect it, you are looking at an easy 4K to replace it. As well, you will probably need to get an alignment, get new tires, new suspension as the old one will be worn out, and a few other suspension items such as the half-shafts. As well, you will have 150K worth of damage such as rock chips.

I suggest you look at a TL that has less mileage, and that has the complete history for it, if you don't have one, you can go to the dealer at which it was serviced and get a copy of it.

 

Holy crap, do these cars just suck after 100K or am I missing something? You all sound like you are driving Ford Tauruses and work for a union.

As far as the automatic goes, I'd say you may be risking it, maybe not. Not everyone has a problem with an auto. If it's a manual, no sweat. Besides the 3rd gear grind which I think is an inherent design flaw in all hondas, they are pretty solid.

I'd recommend any Honda, and I no longer think that 150K is alot of miles. I typically purchase a car with that many miles. I bought my 96 accord with 160K and it still runs like a top. Got my wife a 98 Prelude with 180K and it runs great, only major thing I did was cam caps cause it was leaking and a new cat.

I've put over 35K on my TL in a year and it's by far the most reliable, best running car I've ever owned.

For that price you can't go wrong. Even if you do need a trans, they are about a grand used with less than 60K, and if you do it yourself, you have no labor....

Wish I had only paid 12K for mine....

Good luck!

 

11k for an 150k mile car is too much imho.

 

LOL

You say that as if anyone could replace a transmission. I wouldn't recommend anyone to do it themselves unless they already have decent auto mechanic skills. It's not like changing your own oil.

 

11k is a lot of money to spend on that kind of a car imo.

 

This is the real deal! The car is not going to be perfect but the price seems pretty good. Outside of the auto transmission the car should require just routine care. This group seems to not understand that everybody either can't go near new or doesn't want to.

That said, treat it like any other high mileage reliable car and you should be OK.
There are people here that have 100k+ on their TL's already. Zero reports of the cars self destructing.

 

is it an 04... if so.. it will suggest it is 4-5 years old... a 4-5 year old car should have at most 75,000- approaching 100,000 miles on it as per alot of highway driving and and above the national average... 150k+ shows that the car had been driven for a minimum of 40k miles a year... I wouldn't risk it... with that amount of yearly miles I doubt it was properly mantained

 

These are normal things to be done at around 150K miles, remember, this is no econbox, it's a sport luxury car. You have to remember, you 96 accord doesn't have as many electrical gismo's that the TL has, there is a much larger possiblity for a mechanical gismo to get messed up than a mechanical one, which is an easy fix versus replacing various components only to find a module is messed up.

 

keep ur GS V8.... 150+ 2 much

 

How are you going to use this car? If it is a daily commuter and you will be racking miles on it I'd say don't do it as well. Not worth the potential headache. You can get an Accord with less miles at that price.

If it's just a weekend/highway car then I guess it would be OK considering the price is low. It's a lot of car for the money.

 

For that price, you could probably get a nicely maintained 02-03 Type-S, which IMO would be a safer deal.

 

Take the car to your mechanic, let him take a look at the condition of the car, a mechanic will tell you right away if the car was maintained.

My 00 TL had a high mileage, but I took very good care of it, it ran better than new (mods).

11K for a 04 w/ 150K...I will only pay that amount of if the car is in immaculate condition and all major maintenance was taken care of. (timing belt & water pump)

 

Wow, this is quite the confusing read. I would have thougt that a Honda would be much more bulletproof than what you guys are stating!

My GS400 had over 150k miles and I had 0 problems with it. Just did my normal oil changes, tranny fluid changes, etc and it ran forever? This is the type of reliability I was expecting out of a Honda?

 

Is this from a Acura Dealer, Other dealer or private party??

 

I have 123,000 miles and no major issues. Make sure you do a carfax check.

My parents used to have a '99 GS300 with over 150,000 miles and 0 problems as well.

 

I picked up my 04 last month for $10,500 with 99k miles on it. Other than the typical road chips that show everywhere (NBP color), you'd think the car has 50k on it. It's an extra car, so I'm not concerned one bit, especially for what I paid...

150k miles is a bit different than 100k, but if its been taken care of and the history is solid on it, I'd say go for it for ~ $9k.

 

Lets be honest here we all now the risks in buying a used car. Ive bought a tacoma and a tl both used and both with around 70K on them. Without a doubt i miss my tacoma absolutly bulletproof. (except for when a drunk driver hits you and f's that up). The TL I got was from carmax and it was a 2005 with 69,000 mi for around 21,000. I was scared to death to pay that for that many miles. But it had everything under the sun on it and it was the cleaniest on the lot and i checked the glove box and saw that it had been serviced religously. And surprising it had the most miles of any TL they had. If you can find out how the car was used and if the previous owner was a man (no offense ladies) that can really make a world of difference. Drive the car does it feel like it has 150k miles on it or does it feel like its going to fall apart as soon as you pull off the lot. I would also let a private mechanic (someone you trust take a look at it). Also try to talk the price down a bit. And if all these things check out I would not hesitate and get it.

 

My car is able to be yaken if you take over payments

 

see if they will come down a little in price.............engine should be good for a long time to come.....

 

Way to much milage for the age of the car.....its been run.

 

Its just that thats a really short time to put that many miles. I dont think my mom's '92 cav has that many miles on it.

 

I'm with others here,,,,

150K miles is not that "extraordinary" for a 4 or near 5 yr old vehicle. Do the math - at an average 22 work day/month, this is only a 100-120 mile/day commute. That's about twice what I have and I consider mine short for the Dallas area. My father-in-law has a 150 mile commute each day.
Bottom line, it's probably all easy highway mileage vs the tough on vehicle stop and start traffic crap. Best you can do is check the car out methodically and make an informed decision.

$11K price: Did anyone bother to check... Not that KBB is the used price Bible but an 04TL with 150K miles in my area is stated to go for:

Private party sale
Excellent condition: $13.9K
Good condition: $12.8K
Fair condition: $11.2K

Dealership retail sale
Exc condition: $17K+



So, if it's what you want at the price you can afford - info at hand has the price looking good thus all that remains is how well the car was maintained along with it's overall look and feel. As for a "money pit," that's a gamble you take with any used vehicle regardless of mileage - if out of warranty etc..

Best of luck Alen C.

 

Extremely High, especially with current times ...

 

If the car has that many miles you can take an educated guess and say that those are highway miles which are not as bad as 150k city miles. I know, I know, captain obvious type statement but I would much rather have 150k mile car that was all highway vs one that was subject to alot of stop and go with 20-40k miles less. My opinion of course.

Check the fluids, make sure the timing belt and water pump have been replaced and try and get service records. I don't remember anyone else asking this and I am to lazy to check but I am assuming this vehicle does not have a salvage title and has no accidents? Is this an 04? Check to see if any of the recalls and/or TSB's have been addressed.

 

^^X2. I drive 60-65k a year. I bought a Scion TC brand new in 2005 and traded it in for the TL last July. The car had 147k on it. I changed the oil once a month (5k) and did all the maintence as needed in the book. I never changed the brake pads!!!!! That is a car that never saw city driving. Highway miles are cut in half if you ask me. The car never gave me an ounce of trouble.

I bought my 2005 Acura TL with 30k on it in July of 2007. I have done the same thing that I have done to my Scion, change the oil once a month, trans fluid every 30k, air filter every 15k, spark plugs at 80k. The car has 81,000 miles of Highway driving. The car sits at 2400 rpms in sixth gear all day long. All highway means the car has smooth easy miles on it.

The car you are buying is the same way. If the owner has all documents of the car being worked on and all checks out, then go for it. Try to work a little on the price. You can buy my car in two years when I hit 300,000 miles.

 

Like others have said, get a carfax if possible.

Sometimes they log the work done on your VIN so the matinence would show.

I hear people saying 4k for new transmission, why not get it rebuilt for ~$1,000?

A good inspection can usually tell you alot about a car, if your not qualified call a local shop and ask them if they can inspect it for you.

 

If the car was on a typical 12,000 mile per year lease he would be paying for about 90,000 excess miles.

On a higher rate per month lease for 15,000 miles per year he would only be 75,000 miles over; at 20 cents a mile the excess milage fee would be $15,000.

 

I wouldn't do it either. I mean if there is proof that it was properly maintained then maybe. For instance, I bought a 1990 Volvo 740 Turbo less than two years ago w/228k miles and looked in mint condition leather..., I mean everything...and everything worked. It came with all records and paper work since it rolled out the lot at the dealer! I haven't done anything to the car and it has over 248k now. So if there are some records like that, I would get it. But the wear and tear on just the leather seats would probably be pretty bad, my 04 with 48k miles is ridiculously wrinkled, so really theres a lot of homework to do, so I recommend getting a good mechanic to look at it and maybe stop by a body shop and see if there were any body work done to it . You cant trust carfax all the time because there are ppl that have fender benders and not report them, so make sure the lines on the car line up. GL

 

I wouldn't do it in fact that someone else put 150k miles on it in that time frame. I will in no way knock a honda that has a 150k miles on it if I owned it for the majority of it's use. I spit out the money I did for my car to get it at low mileage and have piece of mind that my car only had one previous owner and about 40k miles at only 3 years old which had me thinking it was probably a leased vehicle. I intend to drive my car into the ground though even once it's paid off. I would suggest you do the same with your Lexus. Ever hear the expression, "It's better to stick with the devil you know than the devil you don't know"? Basically you know the history of your Lexus so that is a safer bet than another used vehicle with such high miles, you have no idea what has been repaired and what may have to be repaired in the future. That just my two pennies though. Good luck in either decision you make though.

 

I'm pretty knowledgable about cars, but I do like to know what to look out for.

I'm just surprised that you guys are that negative about a high mileage car. I agree, it's case by case, but if the car has proper maintenance, I don't see any reason for it be driven 500k+ miles. But the response I'm getting here is making me think twice!!