[eap7243]

I just bought (1200 mi.) an Acura CL Type-S 6spd. This thread greatly concerns me. Their are 4 reasons I purchased the Acura over an Infiniti, BMW, Audi or Lexus:

1. Long term ownership. Out of all these vehicles I felt most confident that the Acura would outlast them from a maintainance/reliability factor

2. Practicality. When you sit or test drive an Acura, thinking 'could I see myself driving this in every day situations for years to come?', the Acura wins out. It is solid, controls are most intuitive and the car has the right fun factor without saying 'look at me and my (what may look in 8 years) funky car'. Also, a front wheel driver is a lot more practical if you live in icy or snowy conditions part of the year.

3. Value for $ - No doubt the Acura packs features that no other in the class can match for the money.

4. Six speed - for me this was a must have, because this is half of the 'fun to drive' equation.

Having said all of that, if Acura didn't have any of these going for it, I would have gone somewhere else, and it sounds like they are losing ground on even these. Acura is behind the 8 ball on inovative sytling and the biggest drawback to the CL for me was the fact that it looks like an Accord with gold lettering.

Finally, Acura dealers still offer better service than BMW, Audi and Lexus in my neighborhood. Come on Acura, don't let us down!!!