I'm in the market for a sporty sedan. Currently looking at a 2011 Acura TSX 2.4L 4 cylinder, 5 speed automatic with 84,000 miles. The seller is asking $9,000. I am planning on having a mechanic look it over, but are these good cars? I plan on driving at least 15K miles a year for the next 5-6 years. I'm also open to any other recommendations - my budget is around $10,000. Thank you
Thank you. Any other recommendations besides Camry and Accord? They are a little too big and I don't want to deal with a timing belt service on V6 Accords. The Camry is pretty bland to me even though I know it's very reliable - I want something that's fun/sporty to drive (stick shift is okay too)
Hmm, 2015+ Mazda 3/6 stick?
Cool I looked at the Mazda 3 and it seems like a good fit for me. Is a 2012 Mazdaspeed3 good? I see it has more power than a normal Mazda 3 so it should be more fun to drive. Are these still reliable? I hope to get another 70-80K miles out of it. I ask because there is a 2012 Mazdaspeed 3 with 78,000 miles ($9,500) for sale near me...
The newer you go the better. They teamed up with Toyota in 2015 so that would be ideal for $9k you could get a regular 2015 Mazda 3 but those back then were OK I guess they were teamed with Ford manual transmission would be prefered on those. Getting 150k miles out of those is definitely likely but I wouldn't pay that much.
Okay thanks. The one I'm looking at is a stick shift. I'll check out a newer normal Mazda3 as well, but the extra power in the speed version is hard to turn down!
On the Acura, those are good cars but they had excessive oil consumption issues with the 2.4 so I would definitely have a mechanic check it out and make sure it was fixed at the dealer if your looking into buying one.
Good luck!
Just make sure it is maintained. For a dealer that is a good price.
Oh the TSX I'm looking at is a private individual selling. I put in the car's info on kbb.com my car's value tool and $9K was in the private party value range. I'm going to try and negotiate it down another $1K or so. I'll also ask the owner for any service records (he's the original owner)
Oh, ok got it.
That sounds like a not unreasonable price for a DEALER.
Buying from an individual, I'd expect to pay considerably less, as you have less recourse if there is a problem, no trade-ins, no financing, etc.
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/all-cars?zip=21113&makeCodeList=ACURA&modelCodeList=TSX
Hmm okay. I thought that price seemed reasonable based off kbb.com car value tool. I'm definitely going to try negotiating the price closer to $8,000 or lower.
Those are good cars! You said you don't mind a manual, so I would consider the 6 speed manual version as well if you can find one. That will make it more fun to drive. Also, consider a 2013-2015 Honda Civic Si. They're not very fast, but still zippy and pretty fun to drive with that really sweet manual transmission. The maintenance and running costs on those will probably be a little less than the Acura, especially since you said you're going to be driving a lot.
Yes they are good reliable cars that should last you a long time as long as it was/is maintained. Almost all acura's are reliable and long lasting.
