Honda Car Forum

I have a 96 Lexus ES that I love, but I'm looking to upgrade to something
newer like it. $20,000 range. I think the Acura RL and TL are the same class
car as the Lexus ES. What year/condition could I expect for this price.

I WANT the front wheel drive; I like it bigtime in snow. The craziest driving
I do is 75 MPH around the west side of Washington DC on their really sorry
screwed up, narrow, bumpy, twisty, turny, crowded and otherwise F**ked up
beltway. This 25 miles embodies bad design and dis-repair. I did a panic stop
on a tight curve there once, from 70 (thank you Lexus for those fine disk
brakes). The car pitched and rolled noticably, but never bottomed out or got
out of control.

The ES really has sufficient handling for my needs and I never drove anything
with better brakes, but I want the next car to have a little more feel in
turns. I'm willing to sacrifice some (but not too much) of that plush Lexus
ride for thrills and fun. I'm not going to race any BMW 330s, so I am not
willing to pay much of a premium for the last bit of performance, but I don't
want to get smoked by any Maxima either.

My ES300 is a varient of Camry. Are the TL and RL and Accord all the same
platform too?

And more power too. I think the ES300 would run about 86 mph in the quater
mile. How fast would a 20 grand TL of RL be. Do the RL and TL have the same
engine? Thanks

You sure ask a lot of question! I'll take a wack at them.

On 05 May 2004 02:07:56 GMT, tankie@aol.com (TANKIE) wrote:
> I have a 96 Lexus ES that I love, but I'm looking to upgrade to something
>newer like it. $20,000 range. I think the Acura RL and TL are the same class
>car as the Lexus ES. What year/condition could I expect for this price.

Typically the used cars come off a lease at three years. This might
be a bit below $20k for the TL, probably about there or a bit higher
for the RL. I'm too lazy to check it out for you, see edmunds.com or
something. That is, probably year 2000 models for either/both.

>I WANT the front wheel drive; I like it bigtime in snow. The craziest driving
>I do is 75 MPH around the west side of Washington DC on their really sorry
>screwed up, narrow, bumpy, twisty, turny, crowded and otherwise F**ked up
>beltway. This 25 miles embodies bad design and dis-repair. I did a panic stop
>on a tight curve there once, from 70 (thank you Lexus for those fine disk
>brakes). The car pitched and rolled noticably, but never bottomed out or got
>out of control.

God bless ABS.

>The ES really has sufficient handling for my needs and I never drove anything
>with better brakes, but I want the next car to have a little more feel in
>turns. I'm willing to sacrifice some (but not too much) of that plush Lexus
>ride for thrills and fun. I'm not going to race any BMW 330s, so I am not
>willing to pay much of a premium for the last bit of performance, but I don't
>want to get smoked by any Maxima either.

Then you've come to the right place, Honda/Acura design specs give a
bit more handling and feel than Toyota specs, which focus on smoother
riding. The actual track performance is probably very, very close,
however.

>My ES300 is a varient of Camry. Are the TL and RL and Accord all the same
>platform too?

The TL is an Accord base, the RL is larger, ... I think.

>And more power too. I think the ES300 would run about 86 mph in the quater
>mile. How fast would a 20 grand TL of RL be. Do the RL and TL have the same
>engine? Thanks

Year 2000 TLs came with base engine or the S engine, but for tooling
around town they're going to be very, very comparable with your ES300.
Maybe a little faster because they are newer technology than your
1996. The RL engine I believe is the same block but stroked for a bit
more displacement.

All of the above off the top of my head, I hope some parts of it are
accurate.

One last item, if you've never checked lease prices on new cars, it's
worth a try, if your annual mileage stays reasonable and your commute
doesn't do the car serious damage. Maybe your bad roads suggest you
buy used, but check out the numbers - the new TL is a pretty nice
machine, by most accounts!

J.