As the title suggests, I am looking to buy my first car. Recently graduated college and I'm looking for a reliable "point A to point B" car for under 10k for my job. The car market is absolutely abysmal and I've essentially given up on finding a decently priced Honda or Toyota. I found two listings for 4th Gen Acura TLs with technology package, V6, FWD and automatic transmission. They're both listed at $8,490. The 2010 is sitting at about 156,000 miles and the 2011 is at about 161,000 miles. I'm looking for a car that will last me the next few years, my commute is about 28 miles round trip, mostly highway. I'm including some general service history below.

Both cars were well maintained by previous owners, no accidents reported on Carfax. Oil/filter was regularly maintained, transmission fluid replaced every 50k miles. Recent servicing includes brake fluid flush, serpentine belt replaced, timing belt replaced, drive belt replaced, spark plugs replaced, etc.

I need a car A.S.A.P. and I'm getting antsy trying to wait for a good deal on an Accord/Civic/Corolla/Camry. I'm new to cars and unfortunately do not have any car-savvy or mechanic friends. Wondering if this is a good deal or not. Also, any other major concerns I should have with a car with this many miles? Not sure if suspension will be an issue, etc. I'm planning on doing a PPI but would like to be educated beforehand.

 

If the timing belt/water pump situation has been dealt with, I say jump on one of those. The FWD models aren't as good to drive as the SH-AWDs, but there's less to go wrong and would be great as a commuter.

 

no, get a honda civic, thats coming from a tl owner

 

All three of my 4G TL SH-AWD's had over 150k miles when I purchased them. As long as they were taken care of, miles don't matter, in my opinion. My 6MT had the most miles, at 217k when I purchased it. My nonnegotiable aspects are:
1) must have a clean title
2) proof of timing belt/water pump service (either on Carfax or receipt)
3) drives adequately during the test drive

 

Assuming these cars have been properly maintained, you should easily get another 50K+ miles out of either of them before they need any serious service. Echoing above post about making sure timing belt/water pump service has been performed as required. 4G TLs have proven to be solidly built, high quality cars. The price seems in the ballpark.

 

The SH AWD cars are great, but due to their complexity will require more maintenance compared to an Accord or Civic.

If you're not familiar with cars, it may get expensive to maintain one.

The FWD cars are much lighter on maintenance, but the J series just inherently requires more attention than a 4cyl K series.

What you want is a reasonably well maintained 2003 or newer 4cyl Accord. A 2011 to 2014 TSX 4cyl is another good car to look for (but requires premium fuel). Keep an eye on oil level and those cars need almost nothing to keep running.

 

I don’t agree about 4 cylinders, because if you buy any K24Z, then at that mileage(150к+) you’ll have to fork out for a full timingchain kit and labor. K24А were really reliable, but they're a thing of the past.

 

He can probably find a 100K mile Accord with what he's trying to spend, I would think. My wife's K24Z TSX wagon has been the lowest maintenance vehicle we've ever owned. But maybe its an anomaly.

We bought it used in 2014 and it has 136K miles now. It runs so well, I can't see it deteriorating for a long time.

Its had VTC rattle on certain cold starts for like 5 years lol...and we've been successfully able to just ignore it. It needs a $250 VTC actuator and a few hours of my time. But...I likely won't fix it.

No leaks, doesn't burn oil, just eff'n runs every day like its brand new.

I hear some of them burn oil. Ours doesn't burn a drop, even at 9K mile intervals. Because the VTC rattle gets worse with older oil, we do like 5-7K mile oil changes now.

Again, maybe we're lucky? But I still see a lot of Accords and TSX's on the road.

My 2006 TSX was another amazing car. Also had VTC rattle lol. I sold it to my friend when it had 186K miles on it. But it always burned oil the entire time I owned it. Like 1qt every 2-3K miles...which is not great, but not bad. I think that's pretty common for the K24A motors though.

TLDR? I kinda feel like the K24Z is more trouble free than the K24A, if you maintain both reasonably well.

 

I had a 8th gen civic si that I abused in highschool, I would hold it at redline as a joke, clutch dumb daily, Bang gears 24/7 , went fbo and not once did I have a check engine light

 

^^ Good advice too. We have a '13 Accord with almost 130K and the 2.4/6MT combo and it's a superb powertrain. The car still purrs, uses no oil, and routinely gets over 40 mpg on the highway in non-winter conditions. I have a feeling we'll own this car for many years down the road.

 

I would look for a Civic/Corolla with high mileage over a TL. (coming from a long time TL owner).
Better gas mileage, no oil burning issues, just an easier to drive car overall. Those cars are bulletproof.

 

Why don't you consider ILX? Do you know that Civics have the most uncomfortable seats in the class and owners complain about back injuries from them. Corollas are extremely expensive and drive like cheap Chinese toys.

 

I agree corollas are soooo bad, I drove my sisters 10' corolla and I couldn't believe how bad it was