Consumer Reports, and a couple of other sources, have mentioned that the Acura was "jittery" on the highway. Have you found that to be the case, or heard anything about that condition?

 

Jittery... No.

Rock solid... YES!!!

No problems here.

 

When I brake bard the steering wheel Shakes, but my rotars need to be re sourfaced, I am getting done under warrenty I hope my next oil change..
Dude if you are in North NJ and are conteplating getting an Acura no need you are near Park Ave Acura ANd they got the best costomer service around.. No need , Just buy one, If you allready have one and need it fixed go to PAA and they will take care of it, either way your good!

 

No.
I have to give a second for being rock solid on the highway.

As others have alluded to, there has been an issue with some warped brake rotors that will cause shaking when braking. I don't think anyone with a 2003 model has had this problem yet. We're that it won't happen to us as well.

The dealers (for the most part) seem to fix brake issues under warranty.

Check out the FAQ for rattles and shakes with the CL. Shawn S posted a while back that some of the rattle issues have been addressed and fixed with the 2003 model.

 

I just returned from a road trip to Colorado. Across flat Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and through 1200 miles of Rocky Mountain and San Juan Mountain roads the 6-speed is fast and stable.

 

I drive my car every day on highways at 85mph+ and it's always stable.

....a little too stable. Gets me in trouble with the law.

 

2003 CLS here: A little jittery at 110mph but it could've been the freeway. Not as planted as my old BMW 328is Sport edition.

 

"Rock Solid" on the stock suspension? Jittery? no. Floaty? HELL YES. I swear I felt like I was driving on a cloud of air on the stock suspension. Pot hole coming up? Eh dont bother to swerve to avoid it, the rear would swing out, and just running rite over it ud barely feel a thing. Nice turn coming up? Better slow way the hell down cause the stock tires suck balls, and the stock suspension certainly isn't "rock solid" enough to let you drift safely through a turn (key word safely )

So I wouldn't say its jittery, you just get 0 road feel. Its stable, and easy to drive, you just cant enjoy the twisties. I drove a Vigor before I got my TL, and I can't even explain how dissapointed I was with the TL's handling. The Vigor took turns infinitely better, and gave much more road feel. Granted it was a smaller car, but I was still dissapointed.

Now for the good news. First off, get some decent tires, and that alone will make your car feel like a new ride. Then get some springs, and no more floating on a cloud of air. The ride wont get any harsher, you'll just get a ton more feel, and control the car much better through turns. Finally, since I was pissed at how the rear kept swinging out in turns, I got some sways. And now, my TL handles like a dream With the above mods, I can say with confidence my car is "rock solid". The handling puts any stock CL/TL to shame.

EDIT: I'm sure the 6speed CL-S must handle nicely due to its LSD, but I'm equally sure that it still has a ton of body roll. Any of you 6speeders want to comment on how much springs and sways have improved your ride?

 

I have an '03 with 4500 miles. Nothing jittery about it on the highway or off.

 

EDIT: I'm sure the 6speed CL-S must handle nicely due to its LSD, but I'm equally sure that it still has a ton of body roll. Any of you 6speeders want to comment on how much springs and sways have improved your ride? [/B][/QUOTE]

The springs make a huge difference! Stiff, but not too stiff for everyday driving. The LSD make a big difference too! I feel it working anytime i'm hard on the gas. Flooring it out of slow 2nd gear hairpins is no problem! Just the other morning, I was practicing my starts, even with both wheels smoking, steering wasn't hard at all. As for the sways, i dont know, they are still in the box. maybe i should take it out of my sig 'till i install it.
BTW, no jitters here!!!

 

The CL Type S by no means is floaty on the stock suspension. I would go as far as to say this car is stiff for being considered a sporty luxury car. Obviously for many, it's not stiff enough, but I would not describe its ride like 'driving on a cloud of air'. I feel every pothole and do what I can to avoid them while driving through the city. This is not like driving a mushybouncymobile.

Zero road feel with stock setup - Not.

Ton of body roll with stock setup - well, not a ton, but some.

You really make the stock suspension sound like it's for shit. I totally disagree. Remember that this is a sporty luxury car, not a slalom racer. I think the setup is appropriate for what the car is. You can always upgrade it (like many have) but the base setup is not bad at all.

From what I've read, many of the consumer magazines actually thing the Type S is too stiff and prefer to go with the 'softer' non Type S model for a lighter ride. I've never driven a non Type S, so I cannot comment.

 

Jittery ? Never, very stable.

I've taken her up in the 135mph+ & it was no drama. Very easy to drive fast.

My wife drove it once & it was so stable, she told she didn't realize she was doing 90mph+, & she don't like to drive fast.

 

I've read a LOT of car reviews and never have I seen the word Jittery in one. Regardless, go drive one and see for yourself. The car doesn't "jitter" but does get blown around a little bit in high winds. If anything, I made the car better by putting low profile tires and comptech springs on the car.

 

Solid.....solid as a rock. That's what this love is....


oh...and the car is pretty damn stable, too. I drive 100 mph at least , whenever on the highway....not a jitter.

 

And wait till you upgrade and see how small that rear sway bar is... it will make you sick when you take it out and replace it with a huge ass rear sway bar that is big boy tough...lol

Smitty

 

Perhaps the idiot writing the article was JITTERY ! Did THEY drive the car BEFORE writing the ariticle ???????????????

 

Slimey - just curious, have you driven a CL with upgraded suspension? If not you're really missing out. The stock suspension is by no means "bad", but it is certainly far more towards the lux side of things in the lux/sport trade off. Why do you think you see so many 60+ year olds driving these cars? Or maybe thats just here in San Diego

 

Smitty - back me up man, you seem to be the only other person with springs/sways in this thread

 

Yes (test drove a used one a year or two ago)...and I agree that improvements can be made to 'sport tune' it, but by no means would I consider the CL Type S stock to be total mush.

I'm also not saying that I won't upgrade (in the future) the suspension. I just don't think its as mushy as you suggest.

 

Okay i can agree with both Dave and Slimey... the suspension was not really bad, but the Michelins suck and that contributed to alot of the handling. When I first bought the car I thought it was the shit, just like any new car owner unless you got a lemon... but with the upgrades i made so far the car handles much much better.... When i used to take a right turn at 50 the passanger side front wheel felt as if it wanted to lift off the ground, but now the car hugs that same turn and I did not even install my springs yet til this weekend,,, and i can't wait to take that same turn

Smitty

 

With my setup below 235/40/18 Nittos with Comptech Sways.
The CLS above 85 MPH starts vibrating. I can feel each road surface impurity there is.

The vibrations ( up/down) come to the steering wheels and the gas pedal like oscillations. Lowering the tire pressure helped a bit. Wheels where balanced just 3k miles ago.

I would say that tires plays a big role in road feel.

 

Umm, ya mean like this?:

 

I can't believe you guys are getting into this heated debate without even realizing the difference between a 2001+ CL-S and a 1999 TL PREMIUM

Sure, both suspensions aren't race-stiff, and a lot of us here
like them rock-hard, but the CL-S has 17" wheels and much stiffer springs than the premium TL we're talking about (and I do believe that could've been VERY floaty).

 

 

I DID qualify my posts by stating the CL Type S.

I guess we should look back at the original postthe query was towards Acura and not a specific model. My fault - I guess that I assumed that we were talking CL as this is a CL forum. He might be thinking of the SLX for all I know. My apologies for continuing this thread.

 

The Consumer Reports article was actually talking about the TL, but I figured the CL might have similar attributes. Additionally, someone else wrote: " I recently purchased a 2002 Acura TL-S. The car was a new/demo model and when purchased it had around 4k miles on it. It now has just about 20k in miles. About a month to two months ago I noticed a vibration in the car that I previously hadn't noticed."

Given that, I was just curious. It's obvious that the members of this site aren't jittery!

 

the TL and the CL ARE similar. so is a premium to a type S. yes the type S has bigger rims which should make the car more stable, and somewhat stiffer springs, but other then that there isn't much difference suspension wise, I think the type s and the premium are certainly compareable

shermanlanger - the cl-s rims are 7" wide while the tl-s rims are only 6.5", so the cl-s should feel a bit more stable. as always you should go and test drive them yourself, I just wanted you to be aware there are plenty of things you can do to these cars to make them handle much better than stock. goodluck car shopping

 

OK, OK already.

I went and test drove the car. It was a CL Type S with Navigation. Fabulous...just fabulous.

It felt more solid than my Lexus GS300, cornered much better, sounded much better, and had more gadgets.

I'm buying it soon, so thanks for "steering" me in the right direction.

 

The car stock felt pretty firm, but with springs, Konis, sways and way better rubber this baby handles incredible for 3500 pounds

 

Congrats, anoter conversion

 

No shiet!!!

 

We knew you would see the "LIGHT"!!!!

>;]