I've driven my 2005 tl over 120000 miles. I've maintained it and have had no trouble..still drives like new. Am I living on borrowed time? What problems can I expect down the road and is it time to look for a new ride?

 

Cars still a virgin. Generally yes the 130,000miles+ point is where things start to need repair or replacement. Generally you'll run into suspension things, then possibly some standard maintenance like waterpump and timing belt. It's nothing out of the ordinary. You can expect your car to run well over 200,000 miles before a rebuild is even considered.

 

if you havent gotten the timing belt serviced, then yes you are running on borrowed time.

if you maintained it, then why worry? as cars can last past 300k miles, if you take care of them.

i said cars, yes, all cars. not just Acura's and Honda's

 

I'd be worried about the transmission if it's an auto. Didn't the 3rd gen still have issues? I know my 2006 was acting up at 90k miles when I traded it in.

 

its also a personal choice.

keep the paid off car and dish out several hundred to a few thousand a year.


or buy a brand new car at the cost of $30-40k

 

If you like your 3G, it's paid for and still runs well I'd keep it. Even with the higher maintenance cost looming from expensive services, it'll still be cheaper than a new car.

 

I would keep it at least until the TLX is released. But a TL with 120K miles has another half life ahead.

 

Why keep it until the TLX is released? Then you have a car that's 2 generations old instead of 1. Anyone buying a TLX in the first year is really rolling the dice, Honda transmissions with 8 and 9 gears...ehhh I'll let them work the kinks out first. I'd be terrified to be the test mule for the DSG.

 

 

^^

Been there done that.

 

So you know if you like the new TLX or not. If you do, you can wait for a year or two or just trade it in right then. 1 or 2 generations old is still old.

Rather than trading it in now for the current TL and regret 4 months later. He has a 2005 TL which is the 2nd year model anyway

 

Just hit 180,000 the other day. Still running strong.

 

Save your money dude. I have two car payments right now; my wife's '13 4Runner and my '12 TL SH-AWD. Money can be better spent....er rather... SAVED... elsewhere.

If it still runs good I'd do the timing belt, water pump, and standard maintenance to make it last another 50,000 miles easy.

 

Maintenance is maintenance man. If your cars not rusting like hell or has paint fading or deep scratches that require repaint. Just stick with the car and do the maintenance you need. I sold my TSX with 190,000km but I would have kept it if it wasn't for all the body and rust on the car that needed to be repaired.

 

^^ This, exactly. I often scan the used cars on cars.com to see what I would get if I had to replace my TL. I just got my 105K service done at 95K miles (because of a decent price on the service) and the car runs great. I try to see what a new or newer car would have equipment wise over what I already have and realize that even though my car is 8 years old now, it has everything I want/need in a car (the only thing I might like is a back up camera, but that's not a necessity). It has BT audio (which I installed), heated seats, a fantastic engine that will go the distance with proper maintenance.

Since getting the 105K service done, it's as if the car is new (runs the same but runs as new). I have no plans to retire it anytime soon. If you like your 3G and it looks and runs as it should, keep it, and save the car payment.

New is nice but debt sucks!

 

sorry-my crystal ball is not working-IMO if you have maintained your car it should keep going for many more miles. My tsx has almost 166K problem free miles. I plan to keep it until it no longer driveable. Next goal 200K miles.

 

Suze Orman would be very happy with all these posts! To quote Dave Ramsey "debt is dumb and cash is king". I will check out the TLX but if my car is still performing as it is now a new car is going to be a hard sell. My main concern driving a high mileage older car is the reliability..it can't last forever. My hope is with regular maintenance I can avoid unwanted inconvenience.

 

^ If you do all the regular maintenance, I'd be more worried about the electronic and interior stuff failing before the mechanical bits fail.

I always live by one rule when it comes to cars: Keep it until it doesn't make sense to keep it anymore.

 

I've got a 2003 TL Type S with 150k miles and have had it for almost 8 years. Works great, other than the transmission is starting to slip on hard downshifts. Only the timing belt and brakes/tires/battery in that time (and fluids).

I found an 07 TL with a MT to replace the older one. Looking forward to another 8 years.

At some point it's simply the challenge. Co-worker has an ~05 accord with 258k miles. Parents have a '99 Volvo with 195k miles.

And even a $800 bill for a timing belt at a good garage is worth about 2 months of a somewhat low car payment.

 

This can easily be added, my friend!

For the OP: now that folks have figured out how to replace the navigation with a tablet computer, I have virtually no desire for a newer car. I can't believe everyone isn't jumping on that mod - I love our interior layout, and with the sharper Nexus 7 screen for navigation and graphics for Pandora streaming, I see no reason to change!

 

^^ I agree. Most of the updates to newer cars are updates in electronics (which have been proven to be buggy and hard to use when driving because of submenus in the system to adjust HVAC and radio controls- buttons are generally preferred). Plus, having an iPad in dash would be a very nice feature, but for now, I don't need one. For the majority of driving that we do, I'm sure were not pushing the cars to 9/10 of their handling or acceleration capability (probably more like 3/10 on a drive to work). To pay $40-50K for that privilege of a faster, better handling car when those potentials most likely won't be used, it's not worth the cost.

 

Sure buy a new car, if wasting money is you're kinda thing...

 

We are also Dave Ramsey followers which is why we paid cash for our 8 year old TL since our "fleece" goes back in a month. Obviously Acura has a good track record for reliability. Your car could last many more years as long as you keep the maintenance up. There will be little things go wrong with it, but it will still be cheaper than a new car.


Why not start paying yourself whatever a new car payment would be every month and throw it in a savings account? When your TL finally takes a crap you would still be able to sell it for something and you'd have all that $$$ saved up to pay cash for another car.


Or you could trade yours in plus another $5k cash to get a nice low mileage 07-08.

 

Isn't it a bad idea to wait until 130k+ miles to change the timing belt? I thought that was supposed to be done at 105k miles.