24th Feb 2011, 17:09
I'm the original owner of a 2003 CLS-6MT purchased in October of 2002. The car currently has 204+K miles. The car burns no oil (not a drop between oil changes) and gets 28mpg on the freeway. I've put on two timing belts, and the requisite water pumps, hoses, and belts in my ownership. It has the original clutch with no slip.
As with my 1993 Acura Legend Coupe, keeping good front brake rotors on this car is problematic. At this point I just concede that I'll replace them once year. I've tried them all, drilled, slotted, frozen; you name it, I've tried them all. Now I just buy front sets of drilled and slotted rotors on e-bay. It takes me about 1.5 hours to replace the rotors.
I change the oil at 7,500 miles and use Mobil 1 20/50 synthetic. I've changed the trans oil twice in my ownership, using Redline MTL.
The shocks gave out at 175K and I chose to replace the springs as well. I must say, that the Tein springs and Tokico shock combination is outstanding. The car has far less lean in corners, sits down about 1.5 inches from stock and still has very good ride characteristics. All of that while improving the looks of the car too.
Oh, and the audio system, while sounding good, is suspect. I've had two head units in the car, once replaced by the dealer and once by me. I'm now considering an aftermarket unit. The problem is related to the CD player jamming. That, and the Ipod technology has since revolutionized auto stereo. Other than that, I would have to say that if you take care of your cars and drive them well, this car is about as good as it gets.
25th Jul 2012, 16:53
You bought a lemon or a car that had been totaled. I have sold my Acura's and Honda's, and the people called me to say it was the best used car they ever bought.
20th Feb 2011, 19:45
Purchased 2003 Acura CL TypeS 6MT new through the internet (carsdirect.com) and was able to get part of the dealer incentive - I think this was one of the last cars off the assembly line. Black on black. 70K miles.
Problems to date:
HID - inverter on left headlamp died. Had hoped it was a burned out bulb and purchased replacements on the Internet (gotta love online deals). Called Acura and they offered me a deal, but would need to go to an Acura dealer - at the time closest one was 125 miles away - so the deal wasn't bad until my time is considered... so had an independent take care of it - they did a great job.
On 3rd set of tires, OEM were fair, had AVIDs, nice, but not long tread life, replaced with Continentals - supposed to be good tread wear, but not stiff enough for my taste.
What I like/love about the car:
Did I tell you about the 6MT? :) Love to go vroom vroom. Have taken it to 130 and it was still stable, but that is really insane... makes easy runs from quasi legal 75 to 100 when traffic allows. The sleeper comments are true... have shocked BMW drivers who wanted to show off their cojones and then left them behind (Car and Driver did a nice comparison between the Acura and the BMW 3 series 2 door - BMW beat the Acura by 1 point - they preferred the engine and tranny over the BMW - major reason I looked at the car). Don't know about everyone with clutch challenges, but thus far mine is fine. And yes... I have been known to see how rapidly I can go fast... but I don't drop the clutch on a regular basis.
I love the analog control backdrops - love the silver that blacks out at night.
What I wished the car had but doesn't - an MP3 connection. I added an IPOD converter and snaked the cable through the middle console so plug it in with a playlist and good to go. When gas went up to $4 a gallon, purchased a ScanGaugeII to monitor mileage and found that engine coasting shut off the injectors... and increased in town mileage over 10% (from 18-20 to 20-22).
Gripes about the car... paint job is not as good as I would like. Went from a 93 Camry (it is now the 3rd family car AKA kid's car) and its paint job was superior. Thicker paint, or so it seems, and less chipping from rocks etc.
Plans for the car... I like it, it seems to like me, I like that I can change the oil, replace the tires, and good to go. Need to do the long term fluid/hose/belt/etc maintenance and plan to replace the OEM rotors (yes, they are still on and not warped) with slotted rotors.