drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  522,318

Odometer (ILX):  40,353

For many of us, our commitment to the Honda & Acura brand runs deep.  Today I’m spotlighting a friend who’s as big of a fan as I am.  He joins the blog from Atlanta, Georgia, and comes from a long history of Honda ownership, starting out with this 1988 Accord.

He later moved on to this 1994 Accord.

I’ll let Paul tell the rest of the story in his own words:

Here is the story about my 1998 Acura 3.2 TL. After pre-inspection I bought it one owner from Ed Voyles Acura in Atlanta GA, on 1/30/2008.  I love my TL; it’s very reliable. I bought the car with 114,582 miles on it.  The car was purchased new in Georgia and has been in Georgia its whole life.

Here is a list of the repairs it’s had.

• EGR valve replaced @ 112k right before delivery
• 2 timing belt water pump services at 90k, 190k
• New rack and pinion 210k
• New starter 185k
• New radiator, thermostat, hoses, condenser fan 178k
• CV axles
• Motor seals
• Brakes and rotors
• EGR cleaning
• Paintless dent removal

The car now has 235k miles on it and still runs perfectly!  The only modifications that I have done are:  window tint, speakers, head unit, 2004 TSX rims, and had my driver’s seat covered with high quality leather and new padding inside.  It’s the original motor and trans.  Let me say that I probably would have lost confidence in her, had I not come across Drive to Five.  It was a real find for me, I couldn’t believe Tyson put 500k on his Legend.

In high school, my dad had a 1994 Legend LS 4dr in emerald green. My car was a Volvo 1990-740 sedan, so needless to say the Legend was special to me . I loved driving that car around back in those days.  It always made me feel special and important. The 1998 TL is the last Acura model with the Legend 3.2 and 4-speed automatic, as well being the last TL to be built in Japan. I wish they built a 6-spd, it would be the perfect car. I think the design has stood the test of time well. People always ask me what year it is.

I have been on some great road trips.  My favorites are:

• Atlanta to San Francisco
• Atlanta to Shelter island NY
• Atlanta to Minocqua Wisconsin and upper Michigan

Thanks, Paul, for sharing your love for Honda!

Here’s the photo gallery he provided.  An “oops” shortly after purchase:

Fixed up and riding on new wheels.  That is some glossy Starlight Black Pearl.

This is the latest photo set from May 2013 after a detail:

Pretty stellar looking car for being 16 years old and with 235,000 miles on it.

My ILX went in for a 40,000 mile oil change with 0W20 oil this week and came back with a clean bill of health.  Next Wednesday will mark my one-year anniversary of ILX ownership.

Over the weekend, I parked next to a friend with similar automotive tastes.  I’ve known Jim for several years now.  He upgraded awhile back from a 1998 Acura 2.5 TL to a 2008 TL.  Love that bodystyle!

I’ll be traveling 3,949 miles this weekend but it’ll be on Southwest rather than on Acura Airlines.  I’m hitting up a 2-day music festival event called Orion Music & More.

Of the 30 or so bands in attendance, I’ll check out Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rise Against, Deftones, and more.

I hope you all hit the highways this weekend and share your drives with ME instead!  Until next time.

This entry was posted on June 6, 2013 at 11:47 am and is filed under Reader's Ride. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.