General Fix or Replace Question for 2007 TL
 

Looking for some general “What would you do?” advice:

I’ve got a 2007 TL I bought from my Honda/Acura mechanic in April, 2012. It had 98K miles on it then and I got it for under $16K. It was an awesome improvement over my then 20 yr old Accord.

The first two years I had it I had a 60 mile/day commute to work, and it spent a lot of time year round parked in a lot at work. Since 2015 I only drive it about 5-7K miles a year and it’s parked in my garage when not being driven. I’m just now up to 178K miles. Mechanically speaking it’s been a great car and I’ve kept it maintained.

No body damage from any wrecks or even fender benders, but…

#1 The first month I owned it I got caught in two hail storms! Never again since then. The hail was tiny and there are no dents at all, but it did leave behind nearly invisible impacts that eventually became visible as paint chips.

#2 About 5 years ago either a straight-line wind event or small tornado touched down in my backyard, tore up a path in my yard leading straight to the side door of my garage, blew in that door and it landed on the TL, leaving a 6 inch long crease just behind the driver’s side, rear passenger window.


Interior Issues:

#1 The bluetooth never worked.
#2 Front passenger heated seat never worked.
#3 One LED out in the climate controls (driver side temperature), so it’s hard to see in the dark.
#4 The dash cracking has gotten really bad, and started after the car was mostly garage kept. That’s definitely annoying. The worst area is around the front passenger airbag, where it looks like somebody tried to cut it out with an exact-o knife.

There’s the general picture, and now (for the past two years) my mechanic—who I trust, by the way—has been strongly suggesting a bunch of work including:

#1 - Rocker Cover gaskets and Cam End Plug Seals
#2 - Front Plate re-seal + Timing Belt (same time to save on labor)
#3 - Rear main crankshaft seal + Power steering rack (same time to save on labor)

The total of those repairs adds up to just over the blue-book trade-in value of the car, thus I am getting to the nut of my question…

If this was any other car I’ve ever owned I’d trade it in and walk away from it in a heartbeat. But I read over and over that the 2007 TL may be one of the best cars Acura ever built, and besides all that, I still love to drive this extraordinarily agile car, locally, though I do want to “retire” it for long road trips, of which I have also enjoyed several times.

I am retired now and let’s just say I’m by no means only scraping by, though I still wouldn’t say I like to or can afford to waste money. I’m looking to get a 2019 BMW X5 xDrive50i for road trips and the occasional times I need to haul stuff (used to use my wife’s CRV for that but she died and that car is now history also).

What would you do? Would you just trade in the TL for whatever you can get for it, or is it worth it to spend the money to get it back in tip-top shape, mechanically speaking? I’d also consider detailing it to fix those hail chips and get it looking sharp again. It would almost be like buying the car over again, for about half of what I paid the first time, and I would still like to have it as my “other car.”

And finally, is there anything practically speaking that can be done about those dash cracks? I can live with the other interior issues.

depends on how long you think you will keep it and how much you care for the exterior.
if you plan to keep it for 10+ years, then yes, fix the mechanical issues...

a car is JUST a car. it will always get dings and exterior boo boos. that's not to say you cant fix the exterior, if you care for that kind of thing...
also, these cars arent worth that much anymore...a few grand, LESS if the exterior is banged up.

if you plan to keep the car for 10+ years and care how the exterior looks, then yes, fix it!

I've had my car for 9 years and will keep it for at least 10 more years. plus, my exterior booboos give it character.


there's a dash cover that is basically invisible to the general public...I saw a friends car with the dash cover and DIDNT even know it was a cover until I inspected it up close

Coverlay dash cover seems to be the best choice for that cracking.....


https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...tistic-977389/

Thanks for the tip!

A pristine looking exterior give a car character as well. :snicker:

I have a hard time paying a mechanic to do work that I know I could do BUT...at the end of the day those are all still incidental and not ongoing payments to keep a car running. getting into a new car would be significantly more; especially a BMW.

Are you performing any mechanical work on the car at all? there's an opportunity to save a great deal there; and I find it enjoyable and rewarding when we're able to take our car out on weekend road trips.

On the other hand X5 is a great car, roadside service is there for peace of mind on long road trips and if it makes you happy then why not!?

full disclosure: my Acura is my daily/road trip car and my BMW is for cars n coffee and scaring the crap out my GF when I throw the back end out around corners. :drag:

Oh, I've done some diagnostics and easy, visible and within reach stuff like O2 sensor, relays, hood lifts, door switches and restoring headlights, so I'm not paying somebody a couple hundred bucks for a $7 part or 15 minutes of my time, but otherwise I'm not a mechanic and I don't play one on TV. :yum:

Gotcha. The valve cover/spark plug seals is about a 3 on a scale of 1 being oil change and 10 being transmission replacement. If you've got sockets, torque wrench, seal puller and a day to hang out in the garage, then you've got all you'll need!