Summary:
Fantastic car that I will keep until I can’t economically repair it
Faults:
The radio volume control is no longer linear in its action at low volume (it dithers up and down a little as you advance it). That’s it.
General Comments:
I’m adding my experience with this car after reading all of the negative reviews. I have had nothing but excellent results with Honda products, having driven four since 1986, and put 1,000,000 miles on those four cars (my ‘86 Accord alone - 337,000 miles). I have never worn one out; the Accord I just mentioned was not burning significant oil. They were all American made, by the way. I do all of my own work, ALL of it. The worst failure on all of them was a head gasket on a 1998 Civic at 260,000 miles.
As for my CL, it has been the best of the bunch so far (it has 158,000 miles), with zero failures. Mine has a 6 speed, and it is on the original clutch. The rotors were a little warped when I replaced the front pads for the first time (110,000 miles), so I went ahead and replaced them with high quality after market rotors, which are smooth as silk still.
Why is my experience so much different then the others? One reason may be I know how to drive and maintain a car for durability.. I have proven that. I know that my CL was one of the last ever built; maybe they had it together by then. Or, maybe people that get too emotional about cars (i.e. die-hard American car enthusiasts) just want to defame a great car.
I love this car. It’s unique (they only made about 3,500 of them). I like the styling a lot. I like Hondas, as I have said. I like manuals; I have only owned cars with manuals my whole life (I’m 54). My wife likes leather, and this was the only Honda product that year with a manual and leather. And finally, I love the power it has. At the time, it was one of the fastest front wheel drive cars available.
For the most part, Acura CL Type S’s are a footnote in history now, because they are getting old, and there are so few. But, for those who have read these reviews and are now leery of Honda products… don’t be. Look at the reliability numbers from Consumer Reports; they don’t lie. Even excellent brands have a few problems, and you can bet those that suffer the problems will be quick to write a bad review… maybe even an exaggerated one.
