airgate

Pics courtesy of HondaNews.com

Well, I was in Wilmington on business and decided to try out the new CL Type S with the 6 speed. This is a 260 horsepower V6 with an amazing shifter. An amazing reaction from Honda!

First off, the styling of the CL gets more and more "risque." The nose is now as bad as Babrbara Streisand's and they (Acura) have deleted the fog lamps. With the void of these lights, the car looks "unfinished." The Acura symbol is nearly the size of an ML320's!



The interior was uneventful and the molding around the shifter was unimpressive. I could easily lift the edges of the shifter molding and the shifter itself was quite bland (for a $32k+ vehicle). You are unable to add the NAV system to the Type S with 6 speed, which was sad. . .I guess.



The wheels are horrible. Truly not deserving of such a spirited car. But I'm going on about that and not the drive.

The drive was exactly what you would expect from an Acura. All fo that 260 hp was very abrupt and the shifter is quite different (of course) compared to the S2000. I did enjoy all of the available power. At times, in curves and so on, the car simply felt too large to be sporty or fun.

Overall, if I even had a rating system in place, and it was based on 5 being the highest rating, I'd give this car a solid 3.

pip33

[QUOTE]Originally posted by airgate
[B]You are unable to add the NAV system to the Type S with 6 speed, which was sad. . .I guess.

Da Hapa

Airgate-

Thanks for the post and the write up.

While I haven't yet driven a MT CL-S, I spent quite a bit of time behind the wheel of the Manumatic Type S earlier this year when we were car shopping for my better half. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed.

I owned and loved a GenII 230bhp Legend Coupe LS 6 speed. It was a very nice car and the only problem that I really had with it was the Bose stereo (it sucked and put out way too much bass so I had to constantly have the dealership work on the rear decklid).

It was my hope that the CL-S would be a re-incarnation of this car since the previous CL was a real snore, IMO.

It was not to be. I never could get excited about the styling of the car. And I honestly think that the changes for this year make the car look even worse. I agree that the wheels are terrible and for some reason the whole look of the car reminds me far too much of a last generation Ford Thunderbird. Not a good comparisoin, IMO. The design just doesn't inspire passion.

I found the interior to be nice. Lots of goodies and the fit and finish was pretty good for the price of admission. I didn't like the fake black wood accents on black leather cars but the fake brown wood wasn't too bad to my eyes.

The car drives fine. It handles ok, it accelerates well, and brakes ok. The problem (like with the styling) is that the car just doesn't illicit any passion. It feels too big to be intimate, too cramped to be truly luxurious... yada yada yada.

I was sad to hear that Honda is thinking about cancelling the car because sales aren't there. I think Honda has a lot of the right ingredients and are only a front engine/rear wheel drive chassis, a diet, and an inspired design from greatness. That sounds like a lot, but when you think that a fully loaded CL-S can be had for more than $10,000 cheaper than a similarily equipped BMW 330ci, I think Honda has some room to work.

bayarea408

atleast the 03 rims look way better than the 01-02 rims

airgate

You are correct. It is listed as a trim level under acura.com. The salesman (what a surprise) obviously had no clue what he was talking about. He told me that the NAV was unavailable for the 6speed because it would "get in the way."

airgate

You've gotta be kidding. . .the older rims were very, very sweet compared to these new ones! Take a look!

Da Hapa

Here again, I agree with Airgate. Not only are the "old" wheels nicer, they visaully fill up the wheel well better than the new ones do, IMO.

pip33

Tested the G35 sedan with sports package the other day, i must say there is no comparison between a rear drive and a front drive. As much as i love our Acura TL, the G is far more a "driver's car"

Those thinking of the CL might want to give the G35 coupe a try.

S2K4ever

G35 coupe is out? I read some where that the 350Z is going to be built on a modified version of G35's sedan platform. The coupe looks better than the 350Z. That car with a spoiler would look very nice. Still wouldn't give up the S2k for it.

SonShine

The G35 sedan is out now; the G35 coupe is evidently coming this fall. I drove the sedan recently and I was VERY impressed. I still don't think it is superior to the BMW 3-series, but it is one nice car. However, in terms of power and some more recent technology, the G35 is superior.

The sports sedan market is amazingly competitive; lots of really good choices...