thholr

trying to start deciding whether to keep the car past 100k miles or not. I am at 84,000 right now and have full warranty till 100,000 miles.
I have already gone through 2 transmissions one at 41,000 and one at 54,000. But the current one seems to be doing fine. What seems to be the general feeling out there on whether they have solved the issues with the tranny or not. Other than the tranny and a fan switch go bad, I havent had any major things happen. So the car seems to be pretty reliable. It has been paid off a long time ago and I do enjoy driving it a lot, so I am leaning towards keeping the car till about 140 - 150K miles. What is the general feeling out there on reliability.
any experiences from people with more than 100K miles would be great too.

Slimey

I think the long term reliability of recent 5EAT transplants is unknown.

How much does the transmission replacement cost if you were doing it out of pocket? I'm guessing $1-2K (you should verify a cost with the dealer). If the car was otherwise reliable and you had to invest this much once during the 100K-150K mileage period, would it be worth it to you?

IMHO, an old car (>100K miles or 7 years old) will cost you up to $1K every other year for major and minor services (brakes, tires, transmission, suspension, electrical...you name it). At some point we all throw in the towel, but for a while these costs are worth it for an otherwise well functioning vehicle. Your tolerance of these costs are a personal thing.

greyjhu

I have no idea, I just know that when I picked up my '03 in september of '02, I was told that it had a new tranny that would not cause problems. Wouldn't you know it, that tranny only lasted until 26,000.

Tischer Acura quoted me $7000 for a new tranny if outside warranty!!! They worked with some people, doing the install for just about $3500-

Rock2534

for 7g's, you should drive that car through their show room and tell them to keep it.

Slimey

If $7000 is the financial risk of keeping the 5EAT over the 100K mile warranty, then I'd find a new car. $1-2K might be worth it, but a $7000 fix to keep a >100K mile car moving seems a little excessive.

GreenMonster

The risk of spending $7K is something I'd avoid, and even the risk of spending $3500 would probably seal the deal for me.

I had a 1994 Ford Thunderbird as my last daily driver. Nice car, plenty of power w/ the 4.6 V8, but the tranny was acting up (136K miles). I was looking at spending about $1600 for a rebuilt tranny (rwd, so it's cheap to get a tranny R&R'ed), so I decided to cut my loses and sell while the car was still running/driving. Book on the car was only about 2500, and with an ailing tranny I let it go for $700. I just couldn't see spending anymore money on it, but if I had the tranny rebuilt, I'd probably would have gotten another 50-75K at least out of it.

With the Acura auto tranny problems you really can't make any good guesstimates of reliability. Only reason I'm driving a CLS now, is because the 6spd was available. The whole auto tranny mess scared the heck out of me.

russianDude

Yo man, I'd definatly keep it. You probably have updated transmission this time, so chances are reduced for failure. Second, you've been through transmission failures 2 times, I am sure if it happens 3rd time and you go through appropriate channels, Acura will offer you a nice deal.... maybe you won't have to pay for tranny again, or pay very little.

the car is pretty reliable, the only thing I hate is fuking rattles....

dallison

i think i may be getting rid of mine when it appoaches 100k. i don't want the liability of the inevitable

Slimey

I also have the 6MT and never considered the CL with the 5EAT. I anticipate keeping my car for about 10 years or 150-200K miles, as I've done with my other cars.

I hope someone from Acura reads this as well as all the other auto transmission threads. This is a real significant issue. Honda/Acura is known for making cars that are reliable and last a long, long time. It is not unreasonable to expect new brakes & tires, maybe an alternator or master cylinder after 100K miles, but the prospect of a failing tranny is quite worrisome, especially if tied to such extravagent repair rates.

People will be dumping their 5EAT CL & TL at 100K miles, I guarantee it. Acura should really step up to the plate and offer something to those that want the car for the long haul (discount on tranny replacement, longer warranty...).

melo72

You could always get an extended warranty from someplace like AAA and then if the tranny goes, it won't be 7K.

Chaptorial

Talk to your dealer as some places may replace your transmission even after you've reached 100k. Keep it and enjoy it.

pimpgangsterthu

I'm in the same boat - minus the extended waranty. 1 transmission, warped rotors and an AC hose - all replaced under warranty. I have 86k miles and just replaced all 4 shocks - 2 were broken. We have a timing belt due at 105k.

I have adopted the following philosophy:
-fix what I can myself
-locate a reasonably priced mechanic for something like the timing belt
-put the money I would be spending on a car payment aside for a replacement
-my next new car will be slightly used. I drive too many miles to have a brand new car.


I was close to pulling the trigger on a trade for a maxima, but between sales tax, excise tax and shitty trade value, I decided to keep the CL for a little longer.

thholr

what did the dealer offer you in trade in value ?

TL_Type_S

Get rid of it... after 100K .. i'd hate to see you pay for a new tranny and THEN have to keep it b/c you just dumped a couple thousand into it, or have to sell it AFTER you dumped a couple grand into it...

EricL

If was staring at 100K miles right now (or 7yrs), I'd be doing a lot of tossing and turning....

Hey, if anyone wins a big lotto, can someone buy up a bunch of Acura CLS autos with bung trannies and hang them from crosses on the road to Honda HQ in Torrance as a warning to future generations...

Chopsie

greyjhu

HAHA!!! That's some funny shit----

jimmysny

I'm in the same boat - 96,000 miles on the original tranny. I've really never had ANY problems with the car, other than rattles.

I guess I'll keep it for now, but I feel like I'm playing Russian Roullette!

Jim

Rod

I wouldn't risk it. I'd hate to go through the hassle. Luckily I'm only at 50K miles right now.