Hello everyone,
My name is Peter and my journey with Acura started at 16 when my first car was an '06 RSX (thanks mom and dad for spoiling me with a brand new car). I am 24 now and have gone through 7 cars (the first two of which my parents paid for), check my biography for more specifics on the models. I have been on many forums and have gone from extremely practical cars to doubling my payments on a whim. Ive gone from 4 cylinder naturally aspirated engines to modifying a supercharged V6 and voiding my power train warranty (Audi S4). Basically I have been through it all and have always been a huge car enthusiest. They are quite literally my weakness and my kryptonite. I love all different kinds and with all the cars ive had I think i can be a valuable asset to this forum. I have come full circle and finally back to Acura.

Last Wednesday I officially traded in my RWD '15 Jaguar XF and purchased my first used car. It is a '12 Acura TL SH-AWD with the tech and advance packages (fully loaded). It had 25,000 miles on the odometer and I purchased it for $27,000. Look at my album for the photos of my TL.


I successfully cut my car payments in half and now have an AWD reliable vehicle to drive through these northeast winters.
Of course with everything working out so well I had to have something bad happen...

So, I purchased the car on Wednesday night and Thursday I drove all day (for work) and really was learning about my car. It is really a fantastic vehicle covering every end of the spectrum and is very versatile. At the end of the day I left my office and headed to the main road to get on the parkway. I am sitting at a red light with 3 cars in front of me and I left a gap for people to pull in and out of the gas station to my right. As I'm waiting for the light to turn green I see a gold ford Taurus pull out of the gas station. Like a cruise missile the Taurus got up to around 15-20mph and smashed directly into the front of my car. MY DAMN LUCK.. Less than 24 hours of ownership my car gets smashed. Luckily no one was injured. I called the cops and had a report filed and made the clueless woman file an insurance claim right then and there so I had a rental paid for. The images of the damage are in my picture album.. I truly thought it was going to be MUCH worse from the impact.

So, the car is in the shop now and I am driving a rental Nissan Sentra around

Anyone ever have this bad of luck?

Also, if anyone could please help me I realized that the car has the spare key lost in it somewhere I brought it to my local Acura and they had 5 people search it and they can't find it nor can I! Its detecting it and my car is starting without my key in the car at all. Anyone know of any secret hiding places?

I seriously love this car with the little time I had it. Great performance and awd system. Comfortable and roomy great infotainment system. My only complaint would be the styling is just good in my opinion def not as appealing as the 2nd gen or the new tlx.

I have a bunch of photos from my salesman texting them to me prior to purchase in my album, but unfortunately not many more in the short time I had the car! Let me know what you all think!


Thank you all in advance!
-Pete

 

Sorry about your experience. The TL SH-AWD is really a special car, at least it wasn't totaled and nobody was hurt.

 

Can a mod please move this to the correct section.. My first post wrong section.

 

Welcome to the forums. Sorry for your misfortune and hope everything works out for you.

Thread moved to 4G TL.

 

Yeah, I am grateful that it is just a mere insurance claim. Hopefully I will have it back soon so I can test it out in the snow!

 

Dang sorry for the loss.

Your situation that you described, leaving a hole for the cars to get in/out from the side side (parking lot, gas station, etc.) is not a safe manuver. Yes it is seen as a "nice" gesture to let traffic through but I've personally witnessed an accident and several near-accidents that occured because of this.

So right now I intentionally block any such path and some may see me as a mean person but it makes the streets safer overall. If there is so much traffic, it's not safe for them to turn in or out due to a likely long line of cars obstructing views.

 

That sux but like panamera125 said at least nobody got hurt. Welcome to the forum and you will enjoy it, especially in harsh winter weather of New England.

 

LOL I think I am taking your advice from now on. The woman literally was staring in my direction the entire time and ran into my car like it was invisible.

 

That truly sucks... At least you're ok. Good luck with everything!

 

Really bad news! glad you are okay.

 

First, get rid of it..front end damage on a fwd car, it will never be the same. Second, it was already used when you bought it, unless you plan to drive it into the ground, you recouping anything on a resale or trade-in is toast.

 

So you had bought a brand new XF and apparently had it only for a short while and decided to trade it in for a 3-year old car? There must be more to that story.

 

probably couldnt afford it.. that would be the reason i would trade it and cut the payment in half

 

Well its actually a crazy story. I got a really good deal on a '13 XF with no miles on it and financed as new ($15,000 under msrp) so I picked it up for around $36,000) I rolled in negative equity and my payments were around $820 a month. My car broke down twice in the first two weeks of ownership ended up being a lemon. I in turn got a '15 Jaguar XF on the same finance plan. This erased a ton of my negative equity.

After owning it for a little while the novelty faded. Rear drive in Connecticut is a terrible thing and with the amount of miles I put on cars after 50,000 miles that car would have been a huge headache.

It had nothing to do with what I can afford as I have owned my own business for the last 3 years and fortunatly make a very good living for my age.

This was the first used car ive ever bought and I am trying to move within the next year, so having something that is used with low miles and a low payment just made more sense (for the first time in my life) than paying 800+ dollars a month basically for a premium badged vehicle.

 

Ive had a $650+ car payment for the last 5 years and business hasn't been slowing down. I guess it comes with growing up and just being financially more responsible that got me realizing paying top dollar for a depreciating asset is a waste of money. Having someone else pay for all the depreciation just makes a lot of sense.


There is that new car smell though that just can't be beat!

 

Sorry to hear about that OP. One suggestion on where the key could be, assuming neither you nor the techs looked here...is the "pocket" that's right by your knee when you're driving. Check the one on the passenger side too.

Good luck finding the key and getting your car repaired!

 

Thanks for the tip I didn't even know there was a storage area there. When I get the car back I will definitely search. Definitely a strange situation with this key lol.

 

I didn't know there was a storage area there at first either, which is why I mentioned it. It wasn't until I had a loaner TL that I spotted it. If I remember correctly it had a lighter interior so it was easier to see.

 

Wow really sucks that had to happen on your 2nd day of ownership!
Either way welcome to the Zine! Its nice to have one more New Englander in here! lol
The Sh-awd really is a great vehicle for our winters here, handles better than most SUVs on the snowy roads (still have to be careful though). Hope you get everything fixed soon and be back on your 4G again.
As for the Key, i second the guys on that pocket around the knees, and also maybe check in the center arm rest, there is a pocket that slides out, you have to click it in in order to have it push out. Good Luck!

 

Sorry to read about this unfortunate accident, but in the end it's a car, and your life is of much greater value. For that I'm glad no one was hurt.

I hope it all gets worked out in your favor.

 

dang man, sorry. I had rough luck too, though no wreck. In the 3 weeks I've owned mys 2010, I did new rear brakes, all fluids, timing belt, etc. Then found out one strut needs replaced and a lower control arm.... Guess I got that one Acura that has had a hard life....

 

This is very good advice. There are a ton of different maneuvers that drivers make, in the interest of being "polite", but which actually jst make the roads more dangerous. If people followed the rules, everyone would still get where they're going, and the roads would be much safer.

I've actually had guys hit their horn to get me to pull forward into the intersection (or crosswalk, at least) to allow them enough room to make a right hand turn. That momentary flash of reverse lights lets them know I've put the car into "park".

 

Actually, the law in several states says that all entrances must be keep clear and unblocked for emergency vehicle access. And such municipalities issue tickets for blocking entrances. So it isn't always done to be nice, it's the law in some states. I personally received a ticket for blocking an entrance to a Wallgreens.

 

I never updated this story for everyone on the boards. I learned a very valuable lesson from this accident and purchase.

This is the first used car I have ever purchased and obviously the first day wasn't so great owning it. I got a call from my body shop a few days later telling me to get down there immediately. I get there and there are sticky notes all over my car with numbers on them. The car had been in a major accident before and it never came up on the car fax report. Here were the issues.

1. The paint MIL's (thickness of the paint) were 2.5 or below on every panel except 2. This meant the whole car was resprayed like garbage. Factory paint is between 5-6 MILs.

2. The rear quarter panel was welded back to the frame and bondod

3. The trunk was heavily bondod

4. Both drivers side doors were replaced.

5. Hood was replaced.

6. Bumper was replaced.

7. The frame in the front was not spot welded properly. (The whole thing was welded back together) The underside wasn't protected and the welds were already rotted through. The frame was welded so wrong my auto body guy said if I got hit head on hard the frame would just collapse. The radiator support and other parts of the frame were welded so wrong and off center that the hood could never be aligned properly.

This story came with a happy ending though. Thank god I was hit the first day I had the car, it was a blessing in disguise. I brought it back to the dealer and said I didn't want the car and demanded their invoice price. Judging by what they bought it for the dealership didn't know this thing was wrecked either. It was only leases for 3 years prior so it was always owned by an Acura dealership (Maryland and Connecticut.)

I ended up getting the exact same car a 2012 TL sh-awd advanced with black interior and only 5600k on the odometer. I literally got a brand new car and this time had my auto body guy inspect it first.

So the lesson I learned...
NEVER BUY A USED CAR WITHOUT A TRUSTED AUTO EXPERTS INSPECTION.

I got very lucky here and actually made out with a better car for less money, but if I hadn't a year or two down the road I wouldn't have been able to bring it back and worse I could have gotten seriously injured with the shoddy repairs that were done to this vehicle.

 

What a story, glad you're ok!

What are your plans for the TL?

 

Thanks,
My plans for this TL are to make it my own.
Cosmetically I've already placed orders on the morimoto xb LED fog lights, LED 3200LM 5000k MT-G2 DRL/Highbeams, and The V3 Triton LED switchbacks (on backorder until April 29th wtf!!)

For performance I am planning on buying the XLR8 Oval tipped cat back exhaust, CT engineering ice box intake and I'm really torn on wether or not I'm going to do the J Pipe. I don't want it to be crazy loud but I want the performance.. Either way I'm planning on making up my mind in the next week I may go the v1 j pipe with HFPC's route.

 

Well, I placed my order with XLR8 yesterday and I ended up going with the V2 J pipe the oval tipped exhaust and changed from the CT engineering CAI to the Takeda intake SRI. The damn CT-Engineering icebox had a 6 month wait for it to be built, so I had no choice. How could it be that long of a wait I've never heard of anything like that? The exhaust is being built, but it will be ready in 2 weeks which is completely reasonable. Heck I would have waited a month or two for the intake but half a year is excessive. Regardless I'm pretty excited to drop my car off at XLR8 and get all these goodies installed.

 

Happy to hear everything worked out good for you.

The IceBox has always been available in limited quantities, I had a longer wait for mine and had prepaid for it too.Regardless,its a quality piece and I am happy I got it .

 

Ive done quite a bit of research and think im going to order the icebox and just use the Takeda for however long it takes, then sell it. I am trying to find one on the black market. I hate to throw away money but I already bought the takeda and just read quite a bit on the heat soak factor the short rams endure.

 

Glad to hear it all worked out. I wonder how such serious damage (sounds like close to a total loss) could have evaded car fax and the dealer's knowledge. Really causes one to doubt whether you can truly rely on any of these services.

 

Wow... accident first day was bad enough, let alone finding out the car was in some accidents. Nice catch on the paint! Props to your auto body guy! Seems like it was indeed a blessing in disguise


Good luck with the new car!

 

Man, it seems everything always works out in your favor, sorry it was such a stressful journey. Was there no indication of bondo/bodywork from a walk around? Did you buy it at an Acura dealer? I find it odd they missed this.

On another note, wondering if you can guide me, where did you buy these: LED 3200LM 5000k MT-G2?

 

My autobody guy told me never to trust those services. He said before I purchase a car just bring it to him to inspect. He looks at things like paint stripped off underhood bolts (to see if parts were replaced) and a bunch of other tricks that a normal person wouldn't be able to tell. The only thing that goes on Carfax and other services are only what is reported so if you do the work yourself nobody will ever know.

 

Yes, I have gotten very lucky on two cars within a year. I couldn't tell at all just walking around! Looked fine to me. Yes I bought it at an Acura dealership. Judging by their invoice and what they sold it for there is no way they knew. I found it odd too but I gathered all the information and consulted an attorney.


The Led DRL/Highbeams took a lot of research to find, I just got them in last week from China. Here is the link of what I purchased. Wholesale Product Snapshot Product name is Cars Use 9005 Bulbs Cree 35W 3200lm 9005 LED Headlight Bulb for uaz, toyota mark 2,mazda demio,vw polo sedan


I have yet to install them, but the guys in the RL forum have had a lot of success with them and say they are basically the same as the VLED ones that were discontinued.


Ill let you know what I think when I get them installed. All my performance parts and lighting mods are scheduled for the 8th of May, I am having Excelerate do all of the work as I am a terrible mechanic. It took me 5 hours to install an APR intake on my S4.

 

Thanks for sharing the link, I look forward to your review. Personally, I don't like the site and the sweat shop pictures, I've had my VISA stolen more than once and try to stay away from foreign sites.

 

I embrace the sweatshops considering the amount of Nike air force one and air max shoes I have lol