By 2014, I thought I had my automotive life figured out. The leased Chevrolet Volt handled the practical side of things, while the supercharged Mercedes-Benz SLK 230 filled the role of weekend fun. It was a combination that worked surprisingly well — until life changed and there were suddenly two people involved in every automotive decision. That’s when a nearby 2005 Acura TL entered the picture, and within a single test drive, this understated luxury sedan completely won me over.
It’s August of 2014, and Courtney and I had just gotten married.
For our honeymoon, we went on a Caribbean cruise aboard Navigator of the Seas. It was a great way to pause for a moment after everything that had led up to the wedding. When we got back, real life started quickly. Courtney moved into my house and immediately began the process of turning what had very much been a bachelor pad into something that actually felt like a home. It didn’t take long before things started to feel warmer, more lived in, and more like ours instead of mine. The Volt was quickly put to work in that transition, including one of our first post-wedding trips over to Portland to spend some of the gift cards we had received—picking out things for the house and starting to build a space that reflected both of us.
At work, things were shifting too. About two months before the wedding, my old position at the school district had opened back up. TLC had been a great place to work, and I had a lot of respect for the people there, but after the initial excitement of learning a new system, things had started to feel a little stagnant. I missed the variety I had at the school district—the constant movement, the different environments, and the rhythm of the school year. There was something about the chaos of the start of school, the slower stretches that followed, and the built-in opportunities during breaks to tackle bigger projects that I genuinely enjoyed.
But more than anything, I missed the sense of purpose. TLC was a good organization, and credit unions do meaningful work for their members, but it didn’t quite scratch that same itch. I missed feeling like I was contributing to something bigger—supporting students, teachers, and the broader community through the school system.
After talking it over with Courtney, I reached out to my old boss, Chas, and asked if we could meet. I told him honestly how I was feeling—that I missed the district and wanted to come back, but that I also wanted to make sure I was still moving forward in my career, not taking a step backward. He had always been a strong supporter of mine and knew how I worked. As it turned out, he had been thinking ahead as well. He was planning to retire in the not-too-distant future, and I was very interested in eventually stepping into a role like his.
Working with the finance director—carefully keeping my dad out of the process—he helped reshape the position from Technology Support Specialist into Network Support Specialist. The job description was adjusted, and the pay was tweaked to reflect the change. I applied, and then… nothing.
Then one day, I got a call from the district’s HR department. I had the job.
As it turned out, the delay had been intentional. Chas had gone to the school board to get approval for the updated position and to bring me back without going through the full interview process. He had gone to bat for me in a big way, and it meant a lot. It did come with a pay cut, but I was okay with that. Money wasn’t everything, and Courtney fully supported the decision.
So I was going “home” to TSD9, and I was excited about it. The timing worked out in a way that almost felt scripted—we went on our honeymoon, came home and had a few more days together, and then I went back to TLC for one final day before starting at the school district the very next morning.
In addition to my new role at the school district, another opportunity had also started to take shape. My aunt and uncle—and now two of their kids—own a chain of furniture stores in Oregon called Roby’s Furniture and Appliance. What had started as a single store they purchased in 1995 had grown into five locations by 2014, stretching up and down the coast from Astoria to Florence. It was a true family business.
They had an IT person on staff, though the role was a bit of a hybrid—part IT, part sales—and he happened to be leaving. They posted the position, but weren’t getting much traction. That’s when I had an idea. I reached out to my cousin Andi, who is the President of the company, and pitched her something a little different.
Instead of hiring me as a traditional employee, I proposed that they contract the work through my business, Schild Computer Services. I would take on the role of managing their IT, but it would be structured as a contract position. They would pay a higher hourly rate, but only for the time they actually needed. She agreed to give it a try, and just like that, I had added “IT Manager” to my resume, and gave me a chance to build something of my own alongside my day job.
Spoiler alert: I’m about to celebrate my twelfth anniversary in that role. It’s worked out pretty well for both of us.
But this is a series about cars, so let’s get back to that.
The state of the fleet in August of 2014 was my leased 2012 Chevrolet Volt and the 1999 Mercedes-Benz SLK 230 that was back from the body shop, good as new. It was a combination that had worked well for me—one practical, one fun—but now there were two of us making decisions.
Courtney is extremely financially disciplined. She’s an excellent saver and naturally very thrifty. She came into our marriage just one year into her first real job with no debt and a very healthy savings account. I came into it with two car payments, some credit card debt, and not a lot of cash in the bank. We approached money very differently.
Courtney hates payments of any kind, and she isn’t a fan of car leases. At the time, she thought the $400 a month I was spending on the Volt was a waste. I saw it differently—cars have always been part of who I am, and I didn’t mind spending money to have something nice. But at the same time… happy wife, happy life.
So we came to an agreement. When the Volt lease was up, we would replace it with something nice but sensible—and we would pay cash for it.
With that goal in mind, I focused on paying down the Mercedes, and Courtney continued to drive it. Courtney actually wanted to use her savings to pay off the car and my credit card debt right away—after all, it was our money now. But I felt strongly about handling it differently. I had brought that debt into the marriage, and I wanted to be the one to take care of it. So I leaned into the extra work I was doing through my computer service business and used that income to pay it down. It didn’t take long—just a few months—and then it was gone. And when the credit card debt was gone, it was gone for good.
The Volt’s lease was set to end in May of 2015, but we were already getting close to the mileage limit. If I kept driving it the way I had been, we were going to go over. So we adjusted the plan. We would buy the replacement car early, Courtney would use the Volt for her short commute—just a couple miles each way—and I would switch over to the new car.
So in December of 2014, we went shopping.
I had my ideas. At the top of my list was a 2011 or newer Subaru Outback. It checked a lot of boxes for me—practical, all-wheel drive, modern—but Courtney wasn’t interested in spending that much on a car. Fair enough. That meant adjusting expectations.
Next, I found a 2006 Audi A4 online that I absolutely fell for. I loved the way it looked, and the idea of all-wheel drive was still appealing. I had even gone as far as finding a factory-style upgraded head unit with Bluetooth and a backup camera that I planned to install, giving it the tech I wanted. In my head, it was already my car.
Then we went to drive it.
The reality didn’t match the listing. The interior was rougher than it had appeared online, the engine didn’t feel quite right, and the cabin was tighter than I expected. It just didn’t come together the way I had hoped. I was disappointed, but I did the smart thing and walked away.
Another car that had been on my radar was the third-generation Acura TL. Coming from a family with a long history of Hondas, the Acura naturally appealed to me. On that same trip, after the Audi, I found a private-party 2005 TL nearby and decided to take a look.
It didn’t take long.
I was hooked.
The styling felt right, the seats were comfortable, the tech was more than adequate, and the V6 had a smooth, confident pull that immediately stood out. It had around 120,000 miles on it, which, in my mind, was still nothing for a Honda-based drivetrain. It had clearly been well cared for. It also had dual-zone climate control, which was a bigger deal than it might sound—especially for me, who is always hot, and Courtney, who is always cold. The addition of power memory seats was also a bonus, since I’m about 6 inches taller than Courtney.
And best of all, the price was right.
We went to the bank, withdrew the money from our new joint account, and for the first time in my life, I bought a car outright. It was a good feeling.
Not long after we purchased the Acura, we took it on a pretty epic road trip to Colorado to visit my aunt and uncle. The TL proved itself immediately. It was smooth, powerful, and comfortable for long stretches behind the wheel. The HID headlights were excellent. It got decent gas mileage, and we made the trip without any issues. At one point, we even encountered some snow, and the front-wheel-drive TL handled it without any trouble.
There was one moment on the way back that gave me pause. We had stopped at a restaurant, and I noticed liquid coming from under the car. The air conditioning had also been working less and less as the drive went on. I called my dad, and he suggested that the A/C evaporator had probably frozen up. Sure enough, after the car sat in the heat for a while, everything thawed out and the A/C went right back to working normally.
Once we were back home, the TL settled into its role as my daily driver, while Courtney continued to drive the Volt. It was a perfectly nice car. It did everything I needed it to do, and it did it well.
But it wasn’t an EV. It didn’t have a touchscreen. It didn’t have that same sense of newness or technology that I had gotten used to.
It was a compromise—and I felt it.
Still, the plan was to keep driving it.
Until one day, something caught my attention… and sparked the first real disagreement of our marriage.
This brings back a memory of my father in law Paul. He started driving Acuras in 1987 with a new legend. Then he went for a second one three years later, and an RL when they came out. By 2004 he leased a new TL. It was the only one he had issues with. It started with a vibration at highway speeds which Acura determined to be a bad set of tires. Then the leather on the driver’s seat spilt open, again fixed under warranty. But the finally straw was while he was driving out of his neighborhood one morning and he smelled raw gas. He opened the hood to gas spewing from wrong two injectors. He had towed in for repairs and traded it as soon as it was fixed.
He’s the only person I’ve ever talked to that had a bad experience with an Acura product.
Great series on life.
Yikes! That is a bad experience. A lady I work with bought one new in 2004 and still has it with over 200k miles on it and has given her great service. You can get a bad one out of any make or model I suppose. My aunt had a 2003 previous generation TL and kept it for 10 years, the longest she had ever kept a car by far. She did have to replace the transmission in it though, a common issue with that generation.
The TL was an excellent car; better than many realized.
This generation of Acura TL is peak Honda to me. I just love the subdued styling. I had a 2000 Acura TL for six years and just loved it! I lust after these cars, but they are getting old and finding a good one is getting harder. If I were in the market for wheels, I would try to find a nice TL like this one.
Concur about the styling of this era TL, sharp and tidy, not too bland nor quirky, yet also still distinctive and eye-catching. The deep swage line along the flank, running through the door handles and terminating in the marker lights on each fender, nicely pulls it all together and emphasizes the slight wedge profile.
Agree this was peak TL. The S model was awesome as well. When Acura replaced it with that “plenium” design beak, they were on their way off the success path for the next 2 decades.
With my wife and me, it’s the reverse. When we decided to move in together, I had a couple of grand in the bank and no debt and she had about $5k in credit card debt, a student loan, and an apartment she couldn’t afford. We combined accounts right off the bat and I put my savings toward her debt. Together, we had it paid off in about three months.
At the time, one of her coworkers said that she couldn’t believe my (now) wife gave me access to her money. The response was, “I can’t believe he trusts me with his!”
Anybody who walks away from ANY VAG product that has a radiator is doing the smart thing. Congrats!
I really liked the looks of these. Lots of people must have agreed, because these things were everywhere. The later version never had the presence that this one did.
An older lawyer I worked with bought one that was maybe 3 years old, so I got to experience one from the inside too. I could see why he liked it.
The only bad thing I remember about it was that this was during Honda’s era of problematic transmissions – I think this V6/transmission combo was the same one that was in the Honda minivans. My friend got a new transmission through Honda when the original one went bad, and then he had to get a second replacement when something went wrong with the first replacement after a short while. I always assumed that this is why these cars kind of disappeared all of a sudden, while old Civics and 4 cylinder Accords of that time period are still out on the roads.