Got an (almost) new car

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gnius

Joined
Jul 1, 2008
Messages
413
I love my '98 Camry. It's served me well for a number of years now... but it simply wasn't going to live long enough to see me through my residency until I could afford to purchase one for myself (MD-PhD training takes MANY years).

So my old man, in his continued pursuit to make my life better (I hope I could somehow justify these efforts... I feel that I owe him such debt) helped me to get this beauty:

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2006 Acura TSX
205 Horsepower 4-cyl with literally EVERYTHING... from heated leather seats, to sunroof and HID fog-lights.

I'm so excited. The car simply FLIES... (especially compared to Toyota, which is heavier and has almost 1/2 the horsepower). When I downshift on the highway, and rev the engine to 4.5-5k, I feel like I'm really pressed into my seat. It does 0-60 in a very respectable 7.2s.

It's funny, my dad and I now have matched cars, since he has the TSX's bigger brother, the 2006 Acura TL (he's had it for a little while though), in the same exact exterior and trim colors.

Anyway, sorry to take up your time, but I'm very excited. Unfortunately I can't drive it just yet, since I live in a NYC apartment... and even in my VERY nice neighborhood (pretty much the safest possible), I still feel apprehensive parking the car on the street with a "20-day temporary" tag, rather than normal plates.
 
Nice car, great engine, long lasting. rust on the suspension is a big problem on Honda/Acuras. If you dont do alignments on the regular, the bolts can seize and if you ever need to replace a ball joint you may have to buy a new control arm. Other than that, no problems that i know of.

off topic, be careful of the motor mounts and transmission on the TL.
 
She's a beauty I wish you lot's of happy safe miles:thumbup:

Getting a new car is always a BIG treat:)
 
Thanks everyone for your congratulations. I'm very excited about the car.

I still have to buy an additional key+fob (only have 1) which will be unnecessarily expensive, and then I need to do some basic maintenance.

One thing that I want to know, if anyone here drives a car with a manu-matic type auto transmission, is how to use the manual shifting. As in - when shifting up, do I accelerate, release the gas, etc... same for shifting down.
 
On the manual shifting, you pull the shifter to the left and push it forward or backward to shift. I find that I never use it. Too spoiled with automatic. I got the navigation system on a whim. I thought it would be fun but not real practical. I was wrong. I use that all the time and wouldn't buy a car without one again.
 
It's overall a very classy-looking car. I was looking at a 2007/2008 Honda Accord or a 2007/2008 Nissan Altima with 10-20k miles. However, when I found this car in the same price range, it was really a no-contest. Accord is safe, reliable, but ugly inside and out... while Altima is very sharp-looking outside, but rather plasticky and mediocre inside... and its engine sound is rather loud and high-pitched as heard from the cabin.

The Acura is a very different car (as it should be), and the extra 13k miles and an extra year (compared to the cars I was looking at) don't seem like it's too high of a price to pay.
 
btboone said:
On the manual shifting, you pull the shifter to the left and push it forward or backward to shift. I find that I never use it. Too spoiled with automatic. I got the navigation system on a whim. I thought it would be fun but not real practical. I was wrong. I use that all the time and wouldn't buy a car without one again.
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I don't usually care for in-dash navigation systems. You have to take your eyes off the road to look at it, and the price difference is huge.

I have a Garmin Nuvi360 that works great for me... for 1/10th the price. That being said... no wires with the integrated GPS must be nice... and from what I hear, the Acura GPS is one of the best, if not the best, implementation of an integrated GPS.
 
I'm very impressed with the engineering in the Acura. All the fine details are sweated to the Nth degree. I have done some R&D work in the past and I appreciate what goes into that. They understand that your car is as much a reflection of the owner as it is a means of getting from point A to point B. There are many ways of transporting you, but doing it with flair and style that fits your personality is tougher to do. Mine was the bosses car at the dealership in Florida, probably the largest in the US, and it had the ground effects package on the TL-S. At first, I thought it was a little excessive, but it really grew on me. I love the look of my car and love the performance of it too, even if I only drive it every month or so! (I work from home.)
 
btboone said:
I'm very impressed with the engineering in the Acura. All the fine details are sweated to the Nth degree. I have done some R&D work in the past and I appreciate what goes into that. They understand that your car is as much a reflection of the owner as it is a means of getting from point A to point B. There are many ways of transporting you, but doing it with flair and style that fits your personality is tougher to do.
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Absolutely. I try to go for the more classic styles, and this car seems to fit the bill very well.
btboone said:
(I work from home.)
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I saw your fountain pen. Absolutely beautiful work. My "classic" tastes certainly extend to fountain pens. My current favorite writer is an Ivory Pearl Waterman Charleston (do you detect a color preference? heh). One day when I'm actually finished with school (can you believe it takes over 12 years after high-school to finish this?!) and when I'm actually making money, I'll make sure to look you up and see if I can acquire one of your pens. They're gorgeous.
 
gnius said:
I still have to buy an additional key+fob (only have 1) which will be unnecessarily expensive, and then I need to do some basic maintenance.
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I'm glad I'm not the only one that got a single key with a "new" car. My '06 Impreza only came with one key and remote (I did get a valet key that lives in my wallet though), and I just can't justify paying Subaru for a new remote when the car should have come with two.

Anyhoo, congrats on the beautiful car. A friend of mine has a black '06 TSX and it's a great car. He bought it new and has yet to have any problems with it.
 
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