Faults:

- all dash lights and tail lights blew out same day we bought the car

- heavy vibration when accelerating on highway

- gas mileage not what dealer said it would be

General Comments:

A HUGE mistake. We bought the car used with only 120,000 on it. First of all, ALL the dash lights and tail lights blew out on the way home of the SAME day that we bought the car. VERY disappointing. So... the next day, we took it to the Acura dealer. They fixed the lights, or so they "thought". We were on our way home again, and all the lights blew out again. So... we took it right back the same day. They did fix all the lighting.

But now there is a VERY noticeable vibration, especially the more you accelerate on the highway. Could this be a transmission problem? Or does it sound more like a wheel/axle problem? The transmission shifts smoothly and accelerates effortlessly. But I just want it to STOP VIBRATING.

If anyone has any idea what could cause this, please share the info with me: lilydi78@Yahoo.com.

-Sincerely Disappointed with Acura

Faults:

Transmission problems. Also, little things like replacing head lights...$200 with labor because you have to take the bumper off. Seats wear badly as well. This is not typical Japanese quality.

General Comments:

Do not buy this model year...2001 TL. Dealer is not much good either. Never going near this manufacturer again.

Faults:

We bought the car new in late 2000, and in late 2002, at 45,000 miles, the transmission went (started shifting hard between 2-3 gear). The dealer replaced it under warranty, and Honda sent the letter extending the warranty to 100,000 miles.

In late 2004, at 85,000 miles (40,000 on the new tranny), Honda sent a recall letter stating that a "jet-kit" needed to be installed to better lubricate the 2nd gear and clutch pack. Of course, at this point, I had 40,000 miles on the new tranny operating without the additional lubrication.

Last month, at 125,000 total miles (80K on the new tranny), it failed again. I had it replaced at my cost and traded it in on a Lexus.

General Comments:

Honda has yet to take ownership of this problem. They screwed up and they want it to go away. They would not consider any shared cost of tranny #3, saying that I needed to take "ownership" of the problem. I took ownership of a new Lexus instead. Honda lost a customer forever. Funny thing is, they just replaced my dad's Odyssey's failed tranny at no charge at 105,000. Maybe a small claims action for breached warranty of merchantability will get some money back. Apparently the class-action on this hasn't gotten legs.

Honda/Acura? Never again!

Faults:

We went on a 1,000 mile road trip to PA, and on the way home (at night, in the pouring rain, with a toddler) we lost our transmission. This was on a 65 MPH highway. The tranny slipped from 2000 RPM-5000RPM and back a few times. By the time I could get safely pulled over, the car would not move.

We had it towed to a local garage (thankfully, my mother with AAA was with me and we were about 30 miles from home!). They called the next day to tell us that the tranny was gone and they have such a high failure rate that they go for $2000 even at junk yards. They quoted us $3650 for a rebuilt, with a new computer (Acura required) and labor.

The kicker is, we had only been over our mileage by 3K. We were at 103K miles when we could no longer move. I cannot believe that Honda/Acura can have the #2 most reliable vehicle reputation.

After simply searching for "2001 Acura TL transmissions", there were pages upon pages that have had their trannys replaced as early as 25K and some have even had two replacements. How is this the #2 most reliable car company? I do not think a tranny should go at 100K, if maintained properly, there is no reason for it.