I have a 2001 Acura CL Type S with 83,000 miles. I love the car and am very pleased with it. But, how long do these cars typically hold out before major repairs. Should I trade up for a new one at this point?
If you do the required maintenance, pay attention to the bits and pieces that will get worn out like CV boots. Then you can put a ton of miles on the engine. Transmission may be the first big thing to need a replacement but it's not so bad. Timing belts can be a moderately expensive maintenance item when it's time but that's the same for most cars. Basically, if you love the car and want to keep it, then just take care of it and it will be with you for a long time. You have already gone past the point where the largest depreciation in value is experienced right after it's new so from a financial standpoint the car will be cheaper to maintain than replace.
My Integra 91 has about the same mileage as yours. During the last 6 moths I spent more then $3k us and now I have a running car whose value isn't more then 2k. Did I do the right thing? I love the car and would like buy a new one exactly like this one.
The first major expense was the radiator followed by the clutch (the transmission in your case) then the distributor, the CVs, then an electric motor on one door plus a few miscellaneous. I am waiting for the suspension to go soon. I gave up fixing the air condition and replace the front speakers.
Based on my experience, my advise is, if you love the car and are prepared to spend 3k more and be without AC, keep it, but remember that, after you spent 3k more the value of the car will be about $2k. Do not spend any money if you intent to sell it within 3 years.
In other words, if money is the only consideration, by selling it now for 1k you save about 2k.
I am going to keep it for Winter driving and use my SL500 for Summer.
Regards
John
With reasonable care it should go 150K miles without any major problems
I wish. My 97 CL 3.0, with just over 75k milses, which I absolutely love driving, has had a series of expensive repairs, the most recent being a complete transmission rebuild. It seems to fall way short of Honda's excellent reliability reputation.
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