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I own a 2001 Acura 3.2TL. I purchased this car in January of 2001 (21 months ago and nearly 35k miles). Here is a history of the problems this car has had:
7500 mile maintenance - dealership drained my oil, did not refill it, and gave the car back to me. After driving out, I realized what was wrong, brought it back but it was too late, engine had seized. They had to take my car for 2 weeks and replace the "upper block" of the engine. Obviously the dealer's doing, and they claimed to have fired the technician responsible for the error.
around 10-15k miles - noticed transmission was acting a little flakey (little shakes sometimes when accelerating), brought it in, they replaced it. Dealership claimed it had nothign to do with the engine replacement, I suppose this was one of the unlucky 1.6% with a bad tranny.
around 35k miles (recently) - heard a sputtering noise coming from the left of the engine, brought it in, they said the timing belt was worn 75% of the way thru and replaced it. Noted that if I had waited to act, the engine could have been ruined. How does this happen to a car with so few miles? They claimed it was not related to the other two problems the car had in the past. I wonder though if they did not properly setup the timing belt after reassembling my engine.
I only have 15k miles left before the 50k warranty is up, and am fearful that these costly problems could continue. Does anyone have any insight into whether I have possibly gotten a lemon, or if maybe I could be in the clear? Is a car with this kind of history more prone to immediate problems, thus giving me good reason to sell it as soon as it's out of warranty? Final question - about how costly would an extended warranty be on this car, and is it something that I could get for free/reduced from the dealership because of the problems I've had? Any feedback would help. Thanks,
Ben
It doesn't sound like you got a "lemon" under the lemon law definition. But you might want to check with an attorney or the consumer affairs bureau in your area. If you talk to an attorney, it wouldn't hurt to ask them whether you might still be entitled to monetary damages under the original engine screw up. I have a friend whose nearly new BMW 540i was damaged at his dealership. The dealerhip replaced and repainted the front and rear driver's side doors. My friend still filed a claim and settled for an additional $3,500 in reduced resale value.
At 83,000 km I have had few problems and am considering going to the 2003 model. Wind/Rain noise sometimes seems louder than you would expect but at other times I still look down at the speed and am surpised how quiet the car is. Perhaps it's wind direction?
When the car was new I had an annoying rattle. It was only noticeable because the car was so quiet. Finally tracked it down. It was my sunglasses in the overhead compartment! Only thing I've ever complained about was the tail-lights. Was losing 1 bulb per service for a while but now that seems to have stopped (over a year). Perhaps just bad luck with a few duds.
Thanks in advance for any help.
1. How does it look? Cheap, classy, or in between?
2. Did you install all of the pieces? How long did the entire job take you.
3. Do you have any actual pics of the final results posted anywhere? The website did not have a TL pic.
4. Most importantly, did the color match exactly?
I'm really interested in doing this? Maybe not all the pieces but at least 75%.
Apart from the windshield rattling, all the other noise (wind noise, chair squeeks etc) are very very minor. I'm just being EXTREMELY picky there. So, really, it's just the windshield rattling that isn't acceptable for me. However, taking out the windshield rattling, TL IMHO is really quieter than a lot of the other cars mentioned. Of course, this is just my subjective opinion...you are more than welcome to disagree..
sahara1: I am not familiar with what it is called, but the Acura's deep metallic grey or grey/blue I've seen looks great and holds up well (at least our neighbor's has). Black is only for masochists. I had a black Supra. Couldn't keep it clean, showed every tiny scratch, swirl or other imperfection and cooked me alive when left in the sun (and that was in DC, not Texas). Good luck.
There are not many colors that come with the parchment leather, which is a shame....
1)Steering wobbles when braking from a speed greater than 60mph.
2)Rattling sunroof (now fixed by dealer)
3)Passenger airbag cover etc. loose causes very very loud rattle from the dashboard(I keep the music on to muffle it)
4)On rough stretches, the windshield buzzes.
The problem is, the dealer is never able to duplicate the problems. Except for the fact that we would have a huge depreciation loss, a constant topic of conversation at home is when to sell the car!
I hate to suggest it, but does anybody think that the fact that the TL is made in Ohio might have anything to do with these types of problems? Back in 1995, I bought Maxima (Japanese built) over an Accord or Camry due, in part, to the reported fit and finish problems Honda and Toyota were having when they first shifted production of those cars to the US. After 131,000 miles, my Maxima isn't as quiet as it was when new, but it's pretty close. And, so far, my Japanese built S2000 has been perfect relative to such defects. Alternatively, my friend has been told that the rattles he is experiencing in his new BMW Z3 (U.S. built) are "common". The BMW dealership is trying to fix them, but they aren't promising anything. His 1998 528i at 50k+ miles still feels and sounds like a bank vault.
Patriotic sentiment aside, I would very much like to see an independent quality control assessment that compared fit, finish, rattle and squeek defects by manufacturing plant/location. There is too much isolated and anecdotal evidence to suggest that there isn't a correlation. Maybe getting the facts out in public would help fix the apparant disparity.
I personally know how you feel as I just bought a 2003 TL with only 3000km on it and I have some rattling problems of my own. As I have stated in an earlier post, some of my problems include:
1) Windshield rattling when the car is out of balance. UPDATE: I just got my car back from my dealer. Fortunately for me, I was able to reproduce the problem for my dealer and he agreed to fix it. The problem was traced to a body creak and my car (less than 1 month old!) was sent to a body shop here for a week and the roof frame near the windshield was re-welded and repainted. I'm not happy about this at all... However, what my dealer did seems to have rectified the problem. I am just wondering if I have a case to fight for a new car.
2) Whenever I heat up my seats, they seem to creak. At least the springs seem to creak. It is not so noticible when the seats are cold.
3) My safety belt seem to sqeek as well. Quite minor.
4) Wind noise seems a little lound with throbbing vibrations at around 100km/h. This is minor though.
What really got me off was the fact that when I got my car back after the re-welding, they left some bad pry marks around the sunglass holder. They also left me with a very big dent on the door frame. They have thus acknowledged that the pry marks were their fault, however, I had to fight for the dent ... as they said that it was my own doing. Lets say that I am becoming very dissatisfied with the quality as well as the care they take with customers.
Perfect cars and imperfect cars - in varying degrees of imperfection - can come from any factory, IMHO.
(going back to lurk mode now )
But, are you or the other Edmunds people aware of any independent assessments that have been done to rate the quality of production at different plants? I seem to recall seeing that a particular Honda plant in Tochigi, Japan was considered number one in the world; but somewhere else saw it suggested that it was the AMG plant in Germany. Is there such a rating system/agency out there? Kind of like the Mobil guide to hotels?
This was the reason for my ruling out Silver, even though that was my first choice, since the interior was only available in the funereal black.
Later...AH
The Dunlop SP Sport A2 is less expensive, and appears to have superior customer survey ratings. (My source is tirerack.com.) Does anyone have experience with these tires? The Dunlops are HR (130mph) rated whereas the Michelins are VR rated (149mph).
I have Continental Contacs (CH95) on my 2002 BMW. I like them a lot. However, I don't believe they come in the right size for the TL.
The car looks great and the interior has been easy to live with. I think I have been impressed the most with the quietness of the car.
Just wanted to let everyone know of my experiences. Happy motoring!
Hugh
The only other high-performance tire that comes in the standard 205/60R16 size is the Bridgestone Potenza RE92. But I am not too impressed with them, since they came standard on my other car - Subaru Impreza WRX Turbo and I had to replace them with the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S to truly unlock the real performance potential of the car. But on the TL, I think even the Bridgestone RE92s should prove adequate, even though they have a very low treadwear rating.
Later...AH
Thanks - Joel
But the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S which is also listed as "Ultra-High Performance All-season" is leagues better than the SP Sport 5000s in Dry/Wet and Snow grip. But it costs double that of the SP Sport 5000. It has a higher speed rating, higher load rating and is contructed using better materials including the use of Kevlar strands for high speed integrity. It also has a higher Treadwear rating and is expected to deliver the same performance as the tire wears, as when new, unlike the Dunlops who tend to lose their effectiveness as the tire wears.
If needed, I will post the opinions from a person who moved from the Dunlop SP Sport 5000s to the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires, who basically said that the Dunlops cannot hold a candle to the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S. Note: the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S is completely different from the stock Michelins and has absolutely no similarity at all, other than the fact that the same company makes both tires.
Later...AH
Comment 1:
Recently switched on both cars from the SP5000s. The Dunlops are good but Pilots are outstanding, much better than Tirerack's test suggests. Also very quiet. Going with 17" rims means more noise and less ride comfort, but if these Pilots do as well on 17" as 16", they might be well worth the steep price. I'm not even thinking about going to 17" since the WRX handles so well. Why mess up a good thing? I've found the perfect tire.
Comment 2 (from the same person above after a month of driving around with the Pilots):
Thanks for bringing the Pilots to my attention! Tossing out 2 sets of perfectly good SP5000s wasn't one of my most frugal moves but I'm "rationalizing" them as a "mod" (replacing a perfectly good part with something that enhances the driving experience).
The improvement in driving feel is substantial and they are very quiet. With psi set to 36F/34R, the Pilots are far more stable and steering response is vastly improved over the SP 5000s. There's not a hint of squishyness in them, like with the SP 5000s. The ride is more firm than the SP5000s but it's a good kind of firm and they track much better (than the 5000s). Very confidence inspiring and not harsh. The Pilots are a definite step up and on par with the Dunlop SP9000 summer tires on my former S4. As you know, they're pricey (about $300 more for a set of 4) but they are well worth the premium over the SP 5000s, IMO. Today was a real mess with sleet and rain. I couldn't resist putting them through their paces on some favorite twisty back roads (in the WRX of course). These things are incredible in the slippery stuff! I made some sudden stops and it was hard to get the ABS to engage. The car just *stopped* with absolutely no drama, unlike with the 5000s. Instead of sliding around on the curves (as the SP 5000s used to do), they just stick and my speeds were close to what I'm willing to risk on dry roads. Temperatures have been in the 20's and 30's but the Pilots still handle like max performance tires do in summer !!! My S4 used winter performance tires (Dunlop Winter Sports) on stock 17" rims and there is *no way* it could handle like the Pilots in these temperatures and conditions. Even in the dry, the little wagon could probably hang right with the S4 in the summer when the Audi was running it's good stuff. While overall performance is remarkable, what I like most about the Pilots is they make both cars feel more "refined", especially the WRX. A lot of people probably think it's foolish to squander the extra money on tires but IMO tires are the single most important thing to worry about. Regardless of price, tires are cheap compared to what you pay for the car. I've decided to "compromise" with 16" rims all year round, but the folks with 17" rims and summer tires might want to consider the Pilots on 16" stock rims as their winter setup. That way, they won't be too let down when they need to swap tires.
Thanks for the comparo!
The stock ones are Michelin Energy MXV4 plus, 94V. Though I like them okay, I feel they are too expensive...
I would like "Grand Tourings" for this car. I am looking at Continental Contitouring Contact CH95. Which I can get in 92H rating. Is it okay to run on 92H instead of 94V? I could drive agressively but I am never going to go beyond 100mph. So does it really matter if I go with 92H?
Any experiences with the Contis??
The "H", "V" etc., refers to speed rating. The "H" is rated to go upto 130mph while the "V" rated tire is rated to go upto 149mph. Even if you stick with the "H" rated tire, it is okay as long as you do not exceed its speed limitation, which at 130mph is plenty enough.
But the load rating is a key element which should not be ignored and you should not go below the recommended load rating (and recommended tire pressures).
Later...AH
Thanks!