Disgustipated

04-06 TL is the best bang for the buck. Best features, it has LSD (Accord doesnt) and has best styling. I used to kwn a TL 6 speed and its wayyy nicer than the Accords.
They perform the same as the 07-08 Type S for half the price

deepbluejh

I own an '06 TL and generally love the car, but watch out for busted 3rd gear syncros on the 6MT version. My third gear is messed up and upshifting from 2-3 is an exercise in patience and absolutely ruins whatever sporty intentions the car might have had (which were limited to begin with, IMO).

The transmission is literally the only thing about this car I don't like. Very comfortable and luxurious overall, but not a sports car by any stretch.

macdaddies911

Wow was unaware of trans issues with the manual. If you don't me asking how much is the timing belt job? At what interval is it done? How expensive is maintenance/upkeep?

To be honest, by "sporty" i just meant not a total slouch. It will be my daily so something that can go through day-to-day paces with the extra grunt when I'm feeling lively is great. Thats what lead me to the TL and Accord V6, they are normal, comfy, everyday cars. But, they still pack somewhat of a punch and handle to a decent degree for their segment.

I'll take other opinions as well.

deepbluejh

There is a major servicing due at 105k miles which includes timing belt, water pump, tensioner, new coolant, and spark plugs. This cost me $1385 at the Acura dealership. I actually bought the car with 119k miles under the presumption that the servicing had already been done. Turns out it had not (I wasn't happy), so I had it done within the first week of owning the car.

The third gear issue sucks, but it's not bad enough to make me want to sell the car. I either shift into third slowly (it works), or skip third all together and go to 4th as quickly as I want to. If I had it to do over, I would more seriously consider the automatic version - especially since my fiance cannot and won't drive a stick.

In all though, a great car for the money.

macdaddies911

There is a major servicing due at 105k miles which includes timing belt, water pump, tensioner, new coolant, and spark plugs. This cost me $1385 at the Acura dealership. I actually bought the car with 119k miles under the presumption that the servicing had already been done. Turns out it had not (I wasn't happy), so I had it done within the first week of owning the car.

The third gear issue sucks, but it's not bad enough to make me want to sell the car. I either shift into third slowly (it works), or skip third all together and go to 4th as quickly as I want to. If I had it to do over, I would more seriously consider the automatic version - especially since my fiance cannot and won't drive a stick.

In all though, a great car for the money.
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How prevalent is this issue? Is there a fix?

hirev

I can only comment about the TL. I owned a 2004 Acura TL with Nav and 6 speed for 90,000 miles and 10 years. I just sold it for $10,500 to a happy new owner. Aside from dings there were not repairs to be made as of this time.

I had a couple of issues: Crank pully has rubber center, that went south recently, changed serpentine belt at that time. I set of front brakes complete. Rear 3rd braklight stopped working well, you can maintain this car yourself, and I did for the most part.

All options known to man, great nav for an old car, voice activation that works like state of the art, cheap leather but sturdy, quiet, smooth, LSD makes the wheel jerk from your hands under accelleration(torque steer city), smooth shifting for a front driver and good gear box, original clutch in mine, more luxury than sporty, nice trunk but no fold down rear seat, 22-24 mpg every day and over 32 on trips, nice stereo, 6 speed manual was one of 40 made that first year, even more rare with NAV, those were the only two options. Nice muted vtech roar from exaust . nice looks (subjective), a near sports sedan with options that make it state of the art for an older design and trouble free honda reliable.

0-60 times in mid 5 second range.

deepbluejh

There was a manufacturing defect with the transmission. Honda issued a TSB for a free fix. If you got the TSB within a certain period of time, you could have the repair done for free. Unfortunately my car was no repaired so now I have to live with it. Definitely check to see if the TSB has been performed if you buy an 06 TL 6MT.

macdaddies911

What about 04-05?

Disgustipated

It's like an $800 fix... :\

deepbluejh

It's like an $800 fix... :\
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lol... not hardly. They have to drop the transmission, open it up, and replace a set of gears. I was quoted (a little dismissively) a little over $3000. Basically that was the dealer telling me that it wasn't worth fixing.

My advice... just do your research before you buy the car and you'll be fine. You either need to buy a car outside the affected range or buy a car that's been "fixed". To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what years were affected, but I do know that most 06s were.

Good luck.