2002 Acura TL Reviews - Page 2 of 13

I owned the car for 4 months. The car had 68,000 miles and the transmission went bad. Acura extended the warranty on this model year because it had known problems - apparently known to everyone but me.

The rear seat leather has not worn well.

Great car, fun car, but not nearly as reliable as the Acura reputation would have you believe.

My transmission was fine until I reached 98k miles when it slipped and would not go into gear after 3 hours of trying. Acura towed my car and replaced the transmission for free, and even through a return line in the transmissions cooler are for free. I have never had problems with my TL except for the transmission, but I honestly think that if you drive the car like an adult, you'll be fine without worrying too much. After all, the transmissions at the junkyard are getting cheaper and cheaper with age if you have to pay for them yourself. Put some Cheveron/Shell 93 octane and Valvoline 5w/20 oil in the car on a regular basis, and you'll be fine after your factory recall on the transmission's coolant area is taken care of.

I had been driving the car nicely, no rapid acceleration, no quick braking. Mainly used to go back and forth between home and work place on a local highway, and the transmission broke down at below 70000 miles. And the dealer wanted to charge me $3369 to replace it. I didn't feel that's fair because it was just couple of months out of the extended warranty.

So I called Honda to ask them to cover the replacement. I told them that I shouldn't be penalized for driving the car nicely. And they should stand behind their product, especially on the well known faulty transmissions. And they seemed reluctant to do anything, sounded like I had to beg them to cover it. Several days later, they called me back and offer a discount on the replacement. I ended up paying $2530.81.

Transmission is the biggest problem so far.

Had a couple of problems with the CD player.

Noticed some problem with the ignition too, took so long to light the engine sometimes.

Had to put in the activation code more than 70 times to get the radio going again after the battery change.

And some rubbing noise from the bottom of the car every morning when I put it in reverse and drive out of my drive way. I went back to talk to the dealer regarding that noise not long after I bought the car, and they said it's normal. And I have been living with it ever since.

There are definitely some minor issues with the car. But I think Honda should handle more seriously on the major components like the transmission. As a customer, I don't feel like I have to spend $2530 to do a major repair on a car that I take care of nicely in under 70000 miles.

Transmission failed at 79,000 miles.. repeated slips when shifting, sudden jerking when going into reverse. We are replacing the transmission and two motor mounts (worn out, they say... don't know if it is a related failure).

We've had it serviced regularly by the dealer since we bought it, most recently the 75 K service. Never had serious mechanical issues with it before.

Acura has known about transmission problems with this model for a long time. In fact, they offered an extended warranty, sent to owners in 2002, which expired 5 months ago!!

We never received a notice of the extended warranty. We bought it 2004 (when it had 40 K miles). But we bought it from an Acura dealer! They should have informed us about the extended warranty. I don't know if they are obliged to do so - it would have turned on a warning light in my mind about transmission problems to come.

Acura has offered some "goodwill assistance", splitting the transmission repair, so the repair (including the two motor mounts) will cost me $2240 plus tax.