hi all,

i'm making plans to get a 'new' car probably later this year, and i thought the 3G acura TL was the most beautiful thing on 4 wheels when it first came out when i was in high school, and you know how those memories stick with you.

anyway, my 2003 honda accord is pushing 340,000 km (210,000 mi) and i've been looking into the 2007/2008 TL. i'm in toronto, canada, and it seems that the automatic base/navi is going for about $15,000 to 18,000 (asking price at dealers) at about 100,000 km (60,000 mi) +/- 20,000 km.

my question is, what other types of costs should i anticipate and is this a good price point at which to purchase the car (i.e. good price/mileage ratio).

at 100,000 km (60,000 mi), you might need a new timing belt/water pump..and that could be about $500 or so? are there other repairs that would need to be done on it at this point?

i want to get a good idea about possible additional costs that i need to think about if buying at this km/age.

thanks for your input!

 

Make sure if you see one that you really want that you get it checked out by a certified mechanic before you buy it..

 

thanks for the suggestion. i have a regular mechanic that i've gone to for the last 3 years for my accord.

any idea what else to anticipate on a TL?

 

You can check scheduled maintenance and the maintenance record for the car. I think 60K miles is a bit early for a timing belt. My 2004 3G TL only has 30K miles and has been rock solid. The battery has been replaced a couple times - Acura/Honda got a bad batch of them somewhere along the line. Of course transmissions are the weak link in the chain and you should have your mechanic look at that very closely. Good luck - they are great cars!

 

ya i've been looking at the maintenance schedules and people's experiences. Timing belt is scheduled every 100,000km (60,000 mi), and it seems like you shouldn't mess with the timing belt because it can really mess things up if it goes.

thanks for the tip about the transmission. what do you mean it's the weak link? do they tend to break down in TLs? thanks.

 

Yes, the trannys are a weak area in the Acura/Honda - relatively speaking (relative to the rest of the car being bullet-proof). You should not have any problems with it at 60K miles. Just make sure that the tranny is serviced on schedule and that fluid/filter changes happen when they should be done.

 

ok sounds good. just waiting for the right one to show up...

about the timing belt....i think i'd have to err on the side of caution ...i don't think i'd be able to trust someone else if they sold it at 100,000km (60,000mi) and said they already did the timing belt...

my 2003 accord is still going strong...i'm kind of torn between not wanting it to die and wanting the TL, haha