2002 Acura 1.7 EL Touring from North America - Comments

Regular maintenace to date.

This vehicle represents excellent value for money. The fit and finish flirt with perfection. The vtech engine is sporty and the transmission is crisp and precise. This is a classy little car. The Honda Civic is a great car. The Acura EL takes things up a serious notch.

I leased a 2003 Acura 1,7 EL and am very surprised by all the good comments. Sure It's a "cheap on gas" car, well, not so good when you rev 3000rpm driving 100km/h in 5th gear (!). If you want to rev and find the power, consumption rises quickly! The performance is poor though, show me the 127 hp!!! I used to have,... year ago, a 77 vw Scirocco 1,6L injection and with 110hp and 4 speed manual, I had better performance on a 220 000km car! Slow to kick off emergency traffic. It's a Civic, but more expensive, nothing better. My car has 64000km and plastics start to move, especially truck (I almost never use!!!) carpet, truck plastic protection, isotherm under-hood protection, in winter you can feel cold air in the door handles and power windows commands!!! Hard to have warm feet in winter and poor A/C in hot weather (I live in Montreal Quebec, no Florida!!!). Road handling is nothing, but OK. Don't think the Acura ads are true!!! This car is everything, but sporty. Don't try it. I had surprising loss of control on wet pavement (20mi/hmax) in a rotary intersection... slipped straight, ABS prevent the car to be controllable & breakable!!! 'had to get the car straight with hand brake! NO RAIN! Just wet! The front end is the first weakness, DON'T try it! For the Money, Forget this car, You'd better pay far less for a base Civic. This is my first and last Acura. Honda took my complain and has change the tire dimension and brand the model year after (2004). For my first winter, I had over-sized the tires (same as 2004 and later model) and bought high performance Pirelli winter tires to help the poor handling AND took the ABS fuse off. The ABS on this car is too sensitive, and with the poor handling, forget any emergency braking on wet/sand/slippery/snow/and damaged pavement (almost whole Quebec!) You won't brake!!! I've passed my two winter without ABS,... scared to kill myself.

Comfort is very average, I'm better sited in a 2005 Suzuki Swift, 10,000$ less. The backrest curve is too much... You can't reach the head rest in a normal position. I'm constantly moving to find a comfortable position. If I want to be OK to lean my head, I have to sit slightly forward to cancel the curve of the seat, THEN, I catch a lower back ache and no support under my legs (I'm 6'2). The Swift Is again better for 10,000$ less. I had it well entertained (always best synth oil and good gas, premium, for it's a high compression engine), always paying attention at cold starts, I did everything to have this car reach those 127hp...

Excellent car to go across the street at the food store, but too expensive just for that!

I personally own an Acura EL Premium.

It's a great small luxury, sportive and economic car.

I have an average of 8.5l/100km with rough city driving and 7 on high way at tolerated speed (110-115… and more).

I was able to got 6.3 at 100 once.

Original four season tires are very bad, and you should consider mags for summer and good winter tire for winter. ABS is quickly in, maybe too much, but I don't reach it use often.

Direction is very soft and has a lack of stiffness (more a girl car). The suspension is firm and handle well, but it's not sport feeling, since center of gravity is too high.

Honda pieces are easy to find.

Insurance cost is OK.

Reliability...?? I will see in few years.

Until now, only a little suspension noise, which have been covered by guarantee!

I own a 2001 EL. Everything has been OK (besides the high amount of road noise in a premium car; CAN'T WAIT for the original equipment tires to wear out..). The part that really disappoints me is the suspension. Starting around 20,000 k, there is a strange "knocking" noise from the suspension over large, low speed bumps. I can actually feel something hitting the floor under my feet when the noise occurs. I've been to the dealer 5 times to no avail. They've replaced a set of bushings on the driver's side front suspension and also replaced a seized pivot. The noise got somewhat better, but within a week was as bad as ever. There's also a strange shift to the right whenever I accelerate from a stop. It's not torque steer; the whole front just shifts a couple of inches to the right.

Anybody have any ideas?

That knocking noise is the sway bar links on the El or Civic. Just as you described - a knocking noise over low speed bumps etc.. A non-Honda dealership diagnosed it over the phone and after the replacement, the sound was gone. I expect it happen after another 80,000km or so.

In regards to the poster that removed the ABS fuse, I'm not really sure what they're talking about. I use Nokian NRW tires on the car, and it is very controllable. And where I live, the temps can go to -40 or lower and the roads can become glare ice. The stock Firestone's should be removed from that or any car before winter.

The car does transmit a fair amount of road noise into the cabin. A lot of that has to do with the treads on the tires.