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Overview

The Acura CL was a mid-size luxury coupe manufactured by the Japanese car builder Honda for its luxury brand Acura. All Acura CLs were build at Honda's plant in Marysville, Ohio, United States, were are also build the Acura TL and Honda Accord, on which the CL is based. Acura CL had only two generations.

Acura didn't introduce the Second generation of the Acura CL right after the discontinuation of the first CL, but two years later in 2001 and produced it until 2003.

Variants

From its launch until end of production the Acura CL was offered with only one engine in two power outputs. The engine mounted was the same as the one found on it's sibling, the Acura CL, the 3.2 liter V6 SOHC VTEC. For the Acura 3.2 CL the engine produced 225 hp @ 5500 rpm and 216 lb/ft of torque @ 5000 rpm. The engine was mated to a 5 speed gearbox.

The Acura 3.2 C Type S the engine had a greater power output, being rated to produce a total of 260 hp @ 6100 rpm and a maximum torque of 232 lb/ft @ 3500 rpm. This version of the engine was mated only to a 5 speed automatic; in 2003 the Type S was offered also with a close ratio 6 speed manual with a helical limited-slip differential, but very few were produced.

The five speed gearbox was available with SportShift that enabled the driver to change gears either from the wheel mounted paddles or directly from the shift knob. If In sport mode, the 5 speed gearbox also changed gears for its self down or up if the driver didn't changed the gears, on the other side, the four speed automatic, which also had the SportShift option, didn't change the gears if in sport mode.

In many CL's , the automatic transmission fails, because of the third clutch pack that wore so particles blocked off oil passages and prevented the transmission from shifting or holding gears normally. This problem was noted in the Los Angeles Times in September 2002; also Consumer Reports noticed the problem and gave the CL the black spot, the worst rating a car can get for transmission reliability.

To respond to the problem Acura responded with an extended warranty covering the transmission to 7 years or 100,000 miles (160,000 km). The models that received the extend warranty were US models built from 2001 to 2003 by VIN (Vehicle Identification Number). The transmissions were changed by the dealers, but all replaced before March 2005 usually fail again, the ones replaced after March 2005 had a redesigned third gear clutch pack that seems to have fixed the problem.

In 2003 the Acura CL had received a facelift. The update included: the replacement of the 55w road/fog lamps found on the 01-02 models, replacing them with air vents that were purely aesthetic, the grille surrounds and door handles were now painted in body colors, for the 2001-2002 model they were chromed; the side mirrors were redesigned due to may customers complaints over excessive wind noise coming from the mirror seam. Also the interior of the headlights was blacked-out and the taillights had clear turn signal and reverse light. The CL Type S also got new 17 x 7" 12 spoke design wheels.

Additional Information

Beside the failure, the automatic gearbox also had issues about overheating causing it to lock, which will lead to a sudden stop and possibly to a crash. A number of 2003 built Acura 3.2 CL were recalled because of the driver's airbag inflator that could produce excessive internal pressure; if an affected airbag deploys, the increased internal pressure may cause the inflator to rupture and possibly shoot fragments through the air bag cushion material possibly causing injury to vehicle occupants.

There are two moderate reliability issues reported by CL users. One is concerning the Ignition Coil that can fail an cause the engine to misfire, the cost to repair the Ignition Coil is at about $75 of which $55 is for parts and $20 for labor. Second issue is concerning the Occupant Position Detection System (OPDS) Module that is part of the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS); problems with the OPDS will cause the SRS light to illuminate, for this Acura issued a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB #06-008, dated 3/14/2006) that extends the warranty for the OPDS unit for 10 year or 150,000 miles. The costs to replace the OPDS Module are at about $325 of which $200 for the Module and $25 for labor.