My advice is to never become enamored by a car. I was practically in love with my loyal, "reliable" 2006 Acura TL and now my love affair is over! Aren't Hondas and Acuras supposed to be reliable and long-lasting? Does 129,000 miles of smooth, steady driving and loving care deserve a $5,000 transmission failure? What the hell? Should this really be considered a "reliable" brand? My entire perception of Honda and Acura has changed. I was hoping to drive at least to 250,000 miles, at least that's what I expected from the brand. Will now consider Toyota/Lexus or Subaru for a future purchase.

On my way back from Barstow, I had a complete transmission failure. Had the car towed to the dealer and was told the transmission was fried according to the two computer codes. -- "A failure of the torque converter and/or hard parts." Whatever that means. I had an extended warranty for 7 years or 100k miles, but it was expired. My car only has 75,073 miles.

Did not know this car had a transmission problem or I would have updated the extended warranty. The dealer decided to give me $1,200 off the repair bill. Prorated at 25% off the bill since I had 25% of the mileage left to go before getting to the 100k limit. Nice of them to do since they are under no obligation to do anything, EXCEPT... that they are aware of these transmission failures and SHOULD be picking up the tab for this inferior part. Dealer will NOT pick up the tab since there is no formal recall notice for this year and model... BUT THERE SHOULD BE!