2001 Acura CL Type S with Navi review from North America

Transmission failed, but was covered under a recall, and fixed free of charge.

The tech level is well behind what similar American cars had at the time. Steering wheel stereo controls, air handling system, gages, all were inferior to the technology in my 1999 Grand Prix.

Had the same power (260hp) and handling of my '99 Grand Prix GTX, but with a lot more style and class. Also - got me hooked on navigation systems. The 2001 had a small screen, and a slow DVD-based system, but it still rocked my world, and I'll never own a car without one again!

I got in a pretty bad wreck with it (I T-Boned an older model Taurus at about 35MPH) and other than the dust in the cabin and the ringing in my ears from the airbag deployment, I didn't have a scratch on me. The Taurus I hit was totaled, and there was $15,000 of damage to my car ($17,000 would have totaled it), but it made me feel very safe to have experienced that accident, and come out of it like I did.

The car was so nice, I stayed with Acura, and traded it for a 2004 TL.