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| San Francisco February 18th, 2000 |
| This mornings weather
was simply beautiful, sunny skies, and cool temperatures in the 60’s. Although my
class did not start till the afternoon I decided to go to the event early and watch the
morning classes. This proved to be a good choice since the days events unfolded pretty
quickly. The day was divided into several sections that included classroom work, and
driving. The parking lot we were using was setup into a road course with a slalom, some
offset gates (lane change simulation), a sweeping turn, and some tight S-turns. These were
defined with traffic cones so I felt right at home since I’d been Autocrossing for
the last two weekends! |
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Two shots of
a 2001 3.2 CL with the factory rear spoiler, chrome wheels and front end mask. |
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| In terms of features the
Acura CL is also much better equipped than the Europeans with tons of standard features
that are either expensive options or unavailable at all. The purpose of this review is to
give you an idea of the differences in the driving dynamics of the four cars. For a
detailed look at the comfort, convenience and luxury feature advantages the CL provides,
I'll have more later. |
The
CL Type-S Versus the BMW 328Ci with sport package |
| The first driving exercise
compared the BMW 328Ci (with the optional sport package and 17" wheels) to the CL
Type-S. Where do I begin? I guess we might as well get this out of the way right now: The
CL is front wheel drive and only available with a Sport-Shift 5-speed automatic. These
features are set. They will not change. Ever. If you are so "close minded" that
you won’t accept the possibility that our car can hold its own against the
"Ultimate Driving Machine", stop here and go spend your money on the Bimmer.
I’ll meet you anywhere and show you my taillights! I know that’s a strong
statement, but this car backs it up with equally strong performance. |
| From a performance standpoint,
each of our VTEC generated horsepower carries only 13.5 pounds, in the Bimmer each pony is
burdened by 16.9 pounds! Against the clock, this results in a 7.55 second 0-60 time for
the BMW. |
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In the CL Type-S if you floor
the accelerator with the traction control off, the car easily burns rubber and sprints to
60 in only 6.57 seconds (that’s almost 1 second quicker and to add insult to injury
the Acura gets better fuel economy in both the city and highway!).We do not live by 0-60
and ¼ mile times alone and quite frankly, I expected the BMW to outshine the CL once the
"twisties" started. BMWs have always handled well, and the car we were driving
was equipped with the sport package so I was expecting a lot. What a letdown, I was truly
surprised by how soft the BMW suspension felt. Don’t get me wrong, there was good
feedback through the steering wheel, but throttle response was terrible, and there was
significantly more body roll than I expected.
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The competition was
lined up next to the tent where they had a "chalk talk' to give us pointers for the
selected exericse. |
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| Another surprising aspect was
the performance of BMWs Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system. To illustrate how the
system works the facilitators threw sand in the middle of the second slalom to force the
cars to lose traction. The DSC system aggressively slows the 328 down as soon as the
computer detects any kind of a skid even if the car "feels" like its still under
control. I was flat on the throttle coming out of the sweeping turn and the car just
wouldn’t move! This totally negates any advantage the rear wheel drive layout could
have provided. In contrast the Vehicle Stability Assist in the Acura was virtually
undetectable to me in the "low grip" section of the slalom. If this car could
talk it would say, "A C U R …what did that say? I can’t see the letters on
the trunk anymore." |
The
CL Type-S Versus the Volvo C70 |
| The C70 is positioned
as Volvo’s "sporty" car and the version we were driving was the High
Pressure turbo with 236 horsepower (there is a Low Pressure version of this engine rated
at 190 hp for those of you who want to go slower). Like the BMW this car couldn’t
stay with the Type-S at the drag strip, posting a 0-60 time of 7.30 seconds. The throttle
response was terrible! Big time turbo lag would probably make the C70s 0-30 times the
worst of all the cars in our group. We started the exercise with a full throttle
acceleration run towards a heavy braking area followed by a quick lane change maneuver.
Once the turbo got spooled up, the car gathered speed quickly, but then it was time to hit
the brakes. The Volvo’s brakes were very strong, but the suspension is just too soft.
This produces the most prominent nose dive of the bunch … very unsettling. Through
the slalom and the S-turns the Volvo rolled like a ship in heavy seas, and it was very
hard to "keep up" with the turns. |
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The car refused to take a set
through the fast sweeper, once the car got around to responding to your steering input for
the first of the slalom turns, the next was already upon you and by the third S-turn you
were running over cones. If this car could talk, it would say, "I don’t like
doing this, and you can’t MAKE me!" |
The
CL Type-S Versus the Mercedes Benz 320 CLK |
| As I sat in the Benz I
thought to myself, "Colin, you better be real careful here, you’re going to look
pretty foolish if you start criticizing this car." The trick windshield wipers,
cupholders, navigation system and climate control all scream "German
Engineering." They also show Mercedes’ continuing desire to make simple things
complex beyond belief! But on to the driving differences. |
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The difference in the
suspension between the Type-S and the left and the Luxury on the right is evident by the
extra body roll shown on the blue car |
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| The Benz responded to the
throttle better than the other two cars. This was probably because the car was the closest
to the Acura in terms of horsepower and torque delivery. Ultimately the car is still a
half second slower to 60 mph, but it feels pretty close. As I neared the end of the
acceleration section and just before the heavy braking area, the CLK felt stable and in
control. |
| The sweeper showed more body
roll than the Type-S, but the car was easily controlled and responded well to steering
inputs. It was just slower. Through the slalom and S-turns the Mercedes exhibited less
understeer than the Volvo and slightly more than the 3.2 CL. |
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| I found the Mercedes a
predictable partner, but the slower steering ratio made me work much harder to move
quickly through the tight turns. Lock to lock in this car requires quite a few turns of
the wheel. If this car could talk, it would say,"Why sir are you doing this to me, my
owner will NEVER drive me like this!" |
| In summary, my experience
with the all-new 2001 3.2 CL has shown me that Acura has once again produced a winner. The
CL premium with 225 HP already beats most of the competition and the Type-S with 260 is
far superior to that! Remember the Type-S is no one trick pony either, it does more than
go fast in a straight line. The larger 17" wheels, stiffer springs and shocks, larger
anti-roll bar all combine to make this one of the best handling front wheel drive luxury
coupes available today. |
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