2000 Acura RL 3.5 litre V6 from North America

Summary:

Very undervalued used car best buy

Faults:

During my ownership, I've only had to replace a burnt out taillight bulb. Did it myself for $5.

Previous (original) owner just did routine maintenance according to Acura's scheduled service intervals.

SRS warning light came on at 100,000 km and a defective warning part was replaced. System has never been activated as car has never been in a collision.

Replaced an O2 sensor at 80,000 km under warranty.

Catalytic converter replaced at 72,000 km under warranty. It was thought to be causing a check engine light.

Entire radio replaced at 42,000 km under warranty due to one knob motor sticking when operated from steering wheel controls.

General Comments:

At its current mileage (almost 160,000 km - 100,000 miles) absolutely everything still works on the car and the car is the top of the line model with every possible option on it (including heated leather, power moon roof, front and side air bags, HID headlights, vehicle stability assist, etc.).

It rides quietly, very comfortably, and the front wheel drive with traction control is nice for winter time driving.

It has a very luxurious interior and an understated elegance. It looks and feels like a large, import luxury car, but, with much lower operating costs than competitors (Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Jaguar, Cadillac, Lincoln, Volvo and even Lexus and Infiniti). It is not quite as fast as its V8 powered competitors, nor quite as firm riding as its German built competitors, but, its price in the used car market is far below those competitors and in the value for dollar spent dept., this is one very hard to beat automobile.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 27th January, 2005

5th Feb 2005, 18:08

I just wanted to correct an error in my original review of my 2000 RL. For "operating costs", it shows my ranking as 3/10, I believe, indicating that I feel the car is very expensive to maintain and operate. For some reason, I felt the lower number was indicating a lower operating cost and my correct response should actually have been an 7-8/10. In other words, I feel this vehicle has very, very reasonable to low operating costs, especially when compared to its competitors.