It is with a heavy heart.....

[MrZ]

That I am retiring my 1992 Eagle Talon. Here's my story;

I signed papers tonight, and officially own a 2004 Acura RSX. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow morning. It is a nice car. It's Silver with Black leather interior. There are lots of similarities between this car and the Talon. It has a 2.0 Litre DOHC engine, but it is 160 HP, compared to the 135 HP engine in my car. The difference in HP is mostly attributable to the variable valve timing, but here are some other subtle refinements that contribute. Size and shape are very similar, as is over all interior room.

I bought my Talon brand new in 1992, and when I did, I pretty much got hooked on the car I bought, which didn't have any of the nicities like power windows or door locks, or a sunroof. All of that is standard equipment on the RSX. Plus the RSX has all of the usual new stuff, like keyless entry, dual air bags, anti-lock brakes, etc., etc.

Get this though; I let them access my Talon as a trade in. For those of you who don't know me, or my car, it has 216,000 miles on it. Mechanically the car is perfect, everthing works, including the air, and the car rides, accelerates, and handles like brand new. The body has some dings and scratches, and needs a new paint job, but still looks damn good from a few feet away. Guess what they offered me for trade. $100 dollars! Ha-ha! Eat me! I declined trading the car in, what, do I look like some kind of an idiot?

Anyway, I'm going to put the Talon up for sale. I really have a lot of good memories with this car, and it pains me to part with it. For you young guys, you probably can't relate. For the older readers, I'm sure you understand. I've been driving this car for over 13 years now, and have really grown somewhat attached to it. Think about this; at 216,000 miles, and I will use 50 mph as an average driving speed, that's 4,320 hours of time behind the wheel of my Talon! If you want to break that down further, you could say that I have spent 270 full days (4,320/16hrs per day) behind the wheel of that car! Hell, that's 3/4 of a year!

So, as per the title of this post, I have a heavy heart right now. I will soon sell my Talon, and that really hurts! I am at a loss for further words!

Edit: Picked the car up this morning, here are a couple of photos.




Mark

[1stGenRocks]

is your talon a turbo? awd? how much might you want for it?

[MrZ]

1stGenRocks;
It's non turbo, FWD. I don't know what I'm going to sell it for just yet. I've already had two interested people asking me about it, but I have reservations. The one kid is 16, his father is the one that asked me, and the other kid is my daughters boyfriend, he just turned 18. I just worry that either of these two guys could do something stupid in the car and get killed or something. I'm not sure what I'm going to do just yet. I ordered new plates for the Acura, and for now I'm keeping the Talon insured, this way I can still use it if I want to without worrying about getting pulled over by the law, or heaven forbid, getting into an accident.

Mark

[1stGenRocks]

oh ic i already have a nt that im trying to sell lol. if one of those people wants mine that needs some work give them my email. my is gonna need a automatic tranny before long

[96probegt]

good luck with the rsx i hear that they are fast

[MrZ]

So far I really like the car a lot. Yesterday I was cleaning up the inside of the Talon in preparation to put it up for sale, and I decided to take it out for a drive. Truth is, the Talon rides nicer than the RSX, and it handles every bit as well. The RSX has better power and acceleration, but it is brand new and has 25 more HP than the Talon, so that's to be expected.

I'm still struggling a bit with parting with the Talon. It has held up remarkably well, and it really is a nice car. I can't keep both of them though, so it has to go. I thought about investing a few thousand into it (before I made the decision to get the Acura) to rebuild the engine and go over some other points on the car that might fail, but doing it is risky. I would have to get the car value appraised professionally and might even have to get different insurance, other wise how could I avoid taking a big loss if I were to get in an accident and total the car?

Mark

[Musashi3000GT]

I thought the first generation talons/eclipse/lasers had 158 hp not 135? Is it the 1.8 SOHC? cause I dont see how a DOHC 4G63 could only produce 135???

[MrZ]

Musashi3000GT;
I'm quite sure on the 135 HP, and that it is a 2.0 DOHC. I believe the 1.8 puts out less than 100 HP, but I don't know exactly.

The brand new Eclipse is only 147 HP (4 cylinder), and it has a 2.4 Litre engine. 2nd generation Talons (starting in 1995) put out 140 HP. Of course we're talking non turbo.

Mark

[Musashi3000GT]

Thanks for clearing that up MrZ. I still am amazed its only 135hp, got to admit it dosent feel like 135 though, feels alot nicer!

[96probegt]

i know how it is to part with a talon i recently sold mine and it was hard to do but i couldnt keep both of my cars altho now i wish i wouldnt of sold the talon because my probe blew up on me if i was u i would keep the talon as a back up car

[96probegt]

first gen talons 2.0 n/t 135 hp 2.0 w/t 200 hp i have no clue about hte 1.8l its a worthless motor anyways 4g63 all the way