Given honda's stellar relability of their previous gen cars (prior to '98) I am going to tell you that there is no way I would call these things even close to being near the reliability of their previous cars.

Is there even one peson with a 2nd gen TL that has made it 500K on the original 5at? is there a 3rd gen? has anyone made it 300K how about 250K?

you are LUCKY if these cars last 100K on a 5at trans you might as welll put yourself in the hall of fame if you make it 200K cause that is a rarity in of it's self.

Honda/Acura need to go back and look at what made their cars great to begin with and return to that idea.....

I don't see people with Lexus having this kind of issue with thier transmissions and they even hook them up to V8s (gasp!)

your thinking is exacty why the american cars sucked ass for so long (hey it's no worse any any of our competitors lol).

how do you explain the accord guys with weak F23s eating transmissionsin cars barely tipping 3Klbs on the scale?

yeah lets praise acura for their high quality TL where we know that:

1. the 5at is totally screwed
2. your dash may crack
3. your compliance bushings are done by 50K
4. your 6mt might need new third gear syncros beuase the factory ones are made of of some form of brass that wears faster than plasic...
5. your leather driver's seat will wear out before your car even gets out of warranty

Those are 5 major areas on the car that should have never happened in the first place....

and lets not forget that due to the trans getting clogged up with material you have to replace the pressure switches lol

 

250K is not normal. 500K is completely abnormal. These expectations of an auto are unrealistic of any brand. Again, I worked at a shop, I saw what came through there and at what mileage.
I would like to get over 100k but if not, that's ok. There are many on here that are over 100K without a single issue. We see surprisingly few trans failures considering a message board like this generally attracts people when they have issues. You keep saying it's rare to have one last over 100K but look around. You have hundreds of posts on rattles, bushings, all sorts of problems but the trans problems are a small percentage.
I do agree somewhat here. I think Honda is straying from their original formula that made them great.
Toyota has always had great autos. However, we don't have to worry about runaway throttles or the major sludge issues. I would rather have trans problems than an engine failure in 60,000 miles.

To add to that, the 5at turbo TL is holding up just fine with the racing fluid and nearly 400lbs of torque. Those are healthy V8 numbers there.
American cars had the best autos out there up until the '90s when all of a sudden soft shifts became a priority. There's nothing overseas to this day that will match a C6 or TH400 or PG or TF for power handling and reliability and those were designed in the early '60s.Don't know, haven't heard of them or done the research. Chances are it would be easy to explain if I did.
1. The 5at is not totally screwed anymore. It used to be. It became much, much better in '05 and most likely even better in '07 but we'll see. The 4 shaft one looks like it will handle more power but that doesn't alway mean it will last longer in a stock application. Leave it to Acura to install a beefier trans and soften shifts to kill reliability.
2. Agreed, it sucks that some of them are cracking.
3. Agreed on the compliance bushings too. Mine were cracked by 15,000 miles.
4. True, but a change to GM fluid seems to completely cure it for life. Another case of Acura using a inferior fluid?
5. The seats are the only thing in my interior that show the mileage. I really wish they would've held up better.

But again you need to look around. My friend just paid $14,000 for his CL65 Mercedes to get new balljoints and control arms. Apparently this is considered normal maintenence for these cars around 60,000 miles. You're not going to get perfection.
The switches are not getting clogged. I inspected and mine apart. The failures are absolutely not from getting clogged, they're electrical.

I found this interesting in your reference to the autos being reliable up to '98.....I just did a search and guess when the electronics were introduced and when it went from hydraulic controls and on/off solenoids to linear solenoids to soften shifts..... This article is from '99.


AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSIN DESIGN
Like all Honda-designed automatic transmissions, this latest Prelude automatic is a constant-mesh type, with three parallel shafts: input, intermediate and output. Shifting is electronically controlled and hydraulically actuated. Shift management is controlled by a new 16-bit microprocessor. The new microprocessor's greater capacity is used to control two new linear-shift solenoids, that in turn controls hydraulic pressure to the gear clutch packs. The older transmission used a combination of several non-linear (on/off) solenoids, springs and accumulators to control this function. Since the new control is linear, clutch engagement is more progressive. The result is smoother shifting and power transmission over a greater variety of power and gear settings. This is especially noticeable on full-throttle upshifts.
A newly added centrifugal hydraulic cancellation mechanism improves shift control by minimizing centrifugal hydraulic pressure in the clutch packs. As a result, shifts are smoother, with less shift shock.
The new, more powerful electronic control unit also receives throttle-position data electronically, making it possible to eliminate the throttle-cable-actuated hydraulic control used on previous Prelude transmissions. Eliminating the cable helps lighten throttle-pedal spring pressure, which helps minimize driver foot and leg fatigue. In addition, the elimination of the throttle/transmission cable allows for a shorter pedal stroke with better feel. In addition to shifting more smoothly, the new transmission also shifts 10% faster than its predecessor.

Proof once again that Honda's change toward soft shifts ruined relibility. Electronics coupled with crappy FM loaded fluid killed the reliability.

 

He is knower of all on here. He is kind of like a Ken1997TL for the 3G's.

 

I would upgrage and get a KBP Type-s automatic. It still has paddle shifters for the fun times. Having a 6spd now is fun, but driving in the stop and go traffic isn't fun. I'm getting old so that's why I would want an auto. Also, the upgrade from the 3.2 to the 3.5 would be delightful.

BTW I saw a KBP Type-S at the dealer this morning.

 

I would by one of every color and type!!!

 

Our 05 has 71K miles on it. The only problems we've had with it are 1 wheel bearing at 1200 miles (supplier defect), 2 batteries, and 1 battery cable (severly corroded, and brittle). Not too bad, everything was covered under warranty except for the battery cable. I still love the way this car drives.

 

I would definitely buy another 3g TL. Amazing car. I'm glad that this car is FWD because I live in Chicago, and RWD cars aren't really practical during winter.

 

Nah....a good set of snow tires will cure that. I'd still rather have RWD, any day of the week.

 

Love my 04. Only problem in 2 plus years was a bad fuel pump (freak thing if you ask my opinion, $600 whoops) and had to have that replaced at around 48k miles. Wouldn't trade my TL for anything but probably a manual transmission TL.

 

I purchased my '06 new in Sept 2006. Nearly 4 years and 64K miles later, the love affair is going stronger than ever. Like others, I still look back at my 3G after parking it. After a wash and wax I often will stay outside for a bit and admire the car. I'd definitely buy this awesome car again.

Outside of regular maintenance, I've replaced the OEM battery, new set of tires at 52K and front brake pads at 61K. The only trouble had with the car was a most troublesome passenger front seat. I suspect it was an easy fix from the getgo, but the dealer was likely not taking it seriously.

 

Toyota actually has issues with their 5speed autos. We had two 07 Camry's that blew their transmissions in 1500 miles each. The first car was replaced with another car by Toyota, and the 2nd one was purchased back. It included the ES350 with those issues. They had a huge failure rate from 07-08 time frame.