Honda Car Forum

How reliable are Acuras, and are they expensive to maintain?

Don't buy one with an automatic unless you want to replace it every 10k miles. Other than that used cars are a crap shoot. It all comes down to how well the previous owner took care of it.Snooky - GM doesnt build transmissions for Honda. They build them for BMW.

There is a class-action lawsuit against Honda, the significance of which mostly has expired. Honda was found to have between 3-8% failures of their automatic transmissions, mostly associated with their Honda & Acura, 6 cylinder engine lineup. Failures are due to 2nd & 3rd gear clutch pack failures, and some websites have suggested this is due to either/or some faulty materials, or a faulty design that prevents adequate oil flow to the internals of the transmission...can result in premature failures. Also, the warranty extends to 7 yrs or 108K miles. You might visit the Honda website (see below) for more information. So yes, it could be similar to a roll of the dice...you might get a car with a solid transmission, or not... Also, a replacement to an Acura rebuilt unit could cost up to $4K.Otherwise, the car is IMO first-rate...it's a very nice design.Also, if you're still interested in the particular vehicle in question, you might print out a copy of the link below, and use it to negotiate a better price.PS - Almost forgot to one other thing... The '99 uses a distributer in the ignition system, whereas '00 models and newer are solid state, and never need regular servicing/adjustment.And for what it's worth, I drive an '00 V6 Accord with the same transmission recall 'issues'...have 95K miles on it &'knock on wood', everything's A-OK so far...COMMENTS RE SOURCE FOR HONDA AUTO TRANSMISSIONS CIRCA LATE '90S - EARLY 200S...I had once visited various enthusiast user websites, including V6 Performance.com, & Temple of VTEC, for information on my '00 V6 Accord. I believe it was there that I first learned of the team, "The American Accord" in ref. to the Gen 6, '98 - '02 model. I had read that the dash is manfd by Ford, and the tranny by GM (under license from Honda). The Gen 6 V6 Accord runs a 200 HP, J30A1 motor, the same as the Gen 1 CL/TL 3.0...the cars share the same drivetrain. Accords & TLs come off the same assembly line in Marysville, OH. However, at this point, honestly I can't confirm that the '99 (Gen 2) TL's tranny is from GM, though it is American made. Most all parts on TLs are American made, and I understand that design for the cars comes from American engineering (Honda/Acura employees), located in CA. Therefore, I edited my post to remove my assertion that the '99 TL tranny is from GM (though indications for the Honda Accord Gen 6 V6 versions most likely are). Thanks for your comments challenging my facts.































http://www.hondatransmissionsett

It is an Acura, as in made by Honda.Honda holds the title for most reliable cars.Acura is the most reliable luxury car.No luxury car can last longer unless the Acura was not taken care of and another car was taken care of.All uxury cars are expensive to maintain, but the Acura's are not that expensive. Cheaper than Lexus, Mercedes, Audi, and BMW.

To previous poster...On what plant GM build this transmissions?

really reliable. they are not expensive to maintain.

Acuras are generally very reliable but the 1999-2003 TLs do have a TSB for the 4 speed auomatic (1999 TLs) and 5 speed automatic (2000-2003 TLs). Snooky is right about BMW trannies being made by GM ( explains some of their unusual tranny quirks on the current model), but I don't know about the TL. I do know that the 2004-2006 Saturn VUE used the same engines and transmissions as the TL so it would make sense tat GM would make them. Other than that issue, TLs are very low maintenance vehicles, like every other Honda/Acura product. My friend's father as a 1999 TL with 170K on it and has never had a problem (knock on wood), but I've talked to many people who have had them replaced. Oddly enough, most weren't having problems with their original unit. The dealer was just replacing them in most cases. Honda is pretty good at that. Still the problem could return since the dealer just replaces the old unit with a brand new one without any changes from what I've been told.