Topic: Used Vehicle Review: Acura EL, 2001-2005

[Weexy]

Interesting - our 2001 Civic with 120,000 on the clock has had zero issues.  Even under the impatient lead foot of my 22 year old step-daughter who is now the primary driver

Manual or Auto?

Auto

[chrischasescars]

Wow! I bet the author and half of the posters don't own the 1.7 EL (and never have owned it, never mind have driven one). Nothing wrong with that, though 

Wow! I bet if I owned every car I reviewed, I'd have a lot of cars and no money left! (Not to mention, nowhere to keep them and no time to drive them.) 

[wing]

But don't you wish you did own every car?  Just for a little while, like a week?

[aaronk]

A friend of mine has I think an '02 or '04 Civic, of the same body style as this Acura, and as stated in the review the ride is bone-jarring. It feels unsettled in almost every situation except glass-smooth new asphalt. I'm not sure if the EL took care of any of these issues, as sometimes in luxury models there is additional soundproofing or suspension softening, but that alone would prevent me from looking any closer at this car.

[dr_spock]

I would rather someone else owns every car paying capital costs, insurance, fuel, etc. and lend a different one to me to drive each week or two.  

As for Honda auto, I have the poor man's version of the 02 Acura EL (aka Civic).  No auto transmission problems yet at over 150K.  But problems with alternator, airbag module, power window, stabilizer mounts, and trunk release.  There was a problem with the low washer fluid sensor but it went away after going over a bump on the road.

[T.W]

I purchased a 2001 EL with the manual and while a boring car in general, it was still a solid vehicle.
It had a excellent interior room, good seats, a huge trunk and the heater was a blast furnace, easily the hottest I ever encountered.
The 1.7 was small, with a lack of power at the low end, but quiet and refined overall, and great on gas.
The EL had upgraded suspension over the Civic so ride quality was never an issue for us. I believe Honda dumbed down the handling for 2001 to appeal to the soft ride crowd, so handling is not bad, but not great. First thing I did to improve the handling was replacing the crappy Firestone OE tires.
We had very few issues; rear defroster stopped working and some sort of issue with the daytime running lights.
Lets see, what else; the brakes were replaced all around, new rear struts , replaced the timing belt, and that's about it for over 100000 kms.
Best of all; the depreciation rate is so incremental compared to other cars.
Buying an automatic was never an option for us, but the choice is limited as most of these cars are not manual.
Which is a shame as the 1.7 likes to rev so choking it off with a slushbox doesn't make a lot of sense, but manual drivers are a dying breed.
I encourage everyone to teach your kids, spouses, or whoever on how to operate and appreciate the manual transmission before they’re gone forever.
Even if they protest and make a hash of the gear changes, keep at it.

[gut]

Wow! I bet the author and half of the posters don't own the 1.7 EL (and never have owned it, never mind have driven one). Nothing wrong with that, though 

Wow! I bet if I owned every car I reviewed, I'd have a lot of cars and no money left! (Not to mention, nowhere to keep them and no time to drive them.) 

as i said already: 

[Erik]

Always liked these. Seemed like a nice little near-luxury car.

[fish]

I had an '01 EL with some problems. Both front struts gave out just past 60k km (out of warranty). This is a common problem and Acura wanted $800 to replace them. Spent lots of time on the phone with Honda /Acura and eventually got them to cover the cost of the parts and I paid the labour to have them installed. Still terrible to have both struts replaced 2 years and 60k km into the car's life though.

Also had the fuel filler door not opening just when I was running low on gas. Took it to the dealer and had the release cable replaced under warranty. Luckily I had enough gas to get home and to the dealer the next day.

Otherwise a great car. Good mileage, usually got 6.5 L/100km highway driving. Power was OK since my previous car was a hand me down '89 Corolla with 300 k km.

[mbernardo]

I just bought a 2001 Acura 1.7 EL with standard transmission today. It is quite disheartening after reading this thread as it seems there are more people with problems than there are satisfied ones. I bought it because I finally got rid of my 1990 Civic and 1991 Integra. These 2 cars were so reliable, easy, and cheap to fix. I was expecting the same from a model a decade later. Crossing fingers. 

[articsteve]

No real issues with the manual transmission units.  Probably has had new front struts by now.