Hi all.I have a silver CLS 6spd and am extremely happy with it.I have read many of your posts.Some of you have complained about the paint(chipping) I live in Montreal,where the weather is harsh at times,have had the car since feb.2003 have ridden for 12000km and have yet to see a mark.By the way,how many colors of paint did you have in the U.S. to choose from? Was it the same as us up here? We only had four choices. I would have loved to see this car in more choice of colors.Chunky

 

CL Type S doesn't come in many colors but off the top of my head:
- something white
- nighthawk black
- san marino red
- anthracite
- satin silver metallic
- something blue

The non-Type-S CL comes in more colors but they're all ugly.

I've had my 2003 CL for just about 30k miles (will be 2 years in March 04) and I've got some chips up front, some odd "how the hell did these happen" scratches near the bottom in front of the rear driver's side wheel well, and one "how the fuck did this get here" chip right in front of the pass. side mirror.

 

silver,red,black,blue,white, and PDG the first year!! that's it for CL-S's.
i think the CLP had gold and hunter green as well

 

PDG was only the first year like you said, and Anthracite (kickass dark grey) was only the last year.

 

agean blue is the best color well ok because i have that color on my cl

 

I don't think it's the weather that causes chips as much as it is the speed at which you drive the type of roads you drive on. Pebbles and loose gravel that are kicked up from eighteen wheelers and cars traveling > 60 mph are what chips the paint. At lower speeds these pebbles don't attain a velocity and trajectory sufficient to chip the paint. Here in Texas where the road outside my condo is 60 mph (& traffic moves ~ 70 mph) you'll get a lot of chips. My old '91 Maxima with 197,000 miles had fewer paint chips than my PDG '01 CL did with only 10,000 miles. I also own a '97 LHS with 164,000 miles. It too has fewer chips than my CL-S had after 3 years & 54,000 miles.