Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 437

7 Inside The Classified Advertising Index User's Guide On the Internet Find a car to buy, then let us figure the monthly payments. Click on Advice and Reference at chicagotribune.comgocars Motormouth Page 2 Motormouth Take 2 Page 6 Rebates Page 8 Auto loan rates Page 11 Sunday, June 11, 2000 Section 12 JimMateja Auto writer TP Jl Jl III nil flTilT i- TlmEll 1 1 AM 111 I IW The Michigan Transit Museum takes visitors through a military base on 2 old CTA cars Beefier '01 Acura sets itself apart from the Accord Gerald Scott photo Train rides are popular with museum visitors throughout their summer run. (iiru i li'l ll Even with smoke and mirrors, it was hard to hide the fact that the Acura CL coupe was little more than a dolled-up Honda Accord coupe with a different logo and higher price. Rather than foster the illusion any longer, Acura has brought out a redesigned and re-engineered CL that looks and acts far different than its Accord sibling. The new 2001 Acura 3.2 CL coupe sports new sheet metal to counter any styling comparisons with Accord, and adds two inches in length and an inch in width.

Most important, it also comes with a suspension system and power plant that make it more nimble and more lively than its now far-more-conservative Accord coupe cousin. The CL was last offered in the 1999 model year. It's been brought back for 2001 not only with a new look, but also with a new personality, one more in keeping with the Acura image and the Acura price tag. The 2001 is in showrooms now. The new Acura 32 CL coupe shares platforms with the Acura TL sedan, and while both are still built off the Accord platform, each has its own character.

The former CL, like the current Accord coupe, was powered by either a 2.3-liter, 150-horsepower 4-cylinder or a 3-liter, V-6 engine. The new 3.2 CL, as the name implies, boasts a choice of a (base CL) or (top-of-the-line Type S) 3.2-liter V-6. Both are teamed with a 5-speed automatic. The new CL starts at $27,980, the Type at $30,330, considerably higher than the $23,100 on the previous CL offered without Type version, or the $18,500 (4-cylinder) to $21,950 (V-6) range on the Accord coupe. Moving upscale was designed to put even more distance between CL and Accord.

We tested the Type and found the best way to put more distance between the two is to hit the gas pedal. The 3.2 is very energetic, though at times you detect a slight pause between striking the pedal and the engine kicking into action. Though very lively, the V-6 delivers 19 m.p.g. city29 m.p.g. highway.

The suspension is firm, but even on bumpy roads, little harshness came back through seat or wheel. The CL stayed planted to the pavement on straight and twisting roads that tested horizontal and vertical movement. The Type has stiffer springs and shocks, a larger rear stabilizer and larger, wider, lower-profile 17-inch radial tires designed for optimum handling than the base CL, which comes with 16-inch radials for smooth ride. The Type also has higher-effort, variable-rate steering, which is preferred over loose steering with too much wheel play and the feeling that the road controls the car, rather than the car being in control of the road. But no matter how well the Type behaved, it's still a two-door hardtop with neither a rear-access door (like the Saturn coupes) to aid in loadingunloading packages in back, nor a hardsoft convertibleretractable top for open-air motoring.

See Cartalk, Page 10 i mil ASSm-- Photos for the Tribune by Jeffrey Kowalsky The two principal cars on the Michigan Transit Museum tourist train were built in 1924 and ran in Chicago until the 1970s. Woran retoemeni Urx af 4. By Gerald Scott Special to the Tribune they ceased operations, we tooK over operations to the base rail system," said jf- 2. i rnp mncpnm vprn inmP7. a i ELFRIDGE AIR NATIONAL 'XJ' native who worked on the Illinois Cen-GUARD BASE, Mich.

Wei- Zfffjnz tral Gulf electric commuter line as a come to a high-security military 't-y trainman in the 1970s. "We can continue base where 'train club guys to take people out to the base to the Selfridge named Don, Dick, Greg, Dieter, Tim j-v Air Museum and kPAn mir pnninmpnt thprp as and Kenny have keys to the front gate. well" WeU, they have keys to the railroad gate enter- Ever since opened 1917 it operated two ing the Selfridge Air Base, just off Interstate High- coal-powered heating plants fed by a small network of way tn, ueiwetu ueuuii anu rui i nuiuu un lkiiu; ou. military trains and track. But the Clean Air Act of 1992 forced the military out of the railroad business.

When Selfridge found that these older coal plants couldn't meet Clean Air Act emissions standards, it switched to natural gas and the coal-rail system became obsolete. Enter the Michigan Transit Museum, a local nonprofit train club based at the Edison Train Station in nearby Mt. Clemens. "We have a lease with the Department of Defense to Clair, a large connector lake in the Great LakesSt. Lawrence Seaway system.

The Michigan Transit Museum runs a tourist train onto the base on a nine-mile round trip. Every weekend from May to September, the museum's engine and twoKar train is crammed with visitors from throughout the Midwest for a 45-minute tour aboard retired Chicago rapid transit cars. "We had been operating on the weekends, and they the air base were operating during the week, so when 1 1 See Trains, Page 5 Bill Henning of the Transit Museum In Germany, Chrysler loses something in the translation By Hans Greimel Associated Press TUTTGART, Germany Things get lonely at Autohaus Brunold, the only Chrysler dealership in a city better known as the headquarters of Mercedes-Benz, 2001 Acura 3.2CL Type Wheelbase: 106.9 inches Length: 192 inches Engine: 3.2-liter, V-6 Transmission: 5-speed automatic Fuel economy: 19 m.p.g. city29 m.p.g. highway Base price: $32,330 with navigation system Price as tested: $32,330.

Add $455 for freight. Pluses: Front and side air bags, ABS and stability assist standard. Road-hugging suspension complimented by 17-inch radials. Rather potent V-6. Doesn't act like its Honda Accord coupe sibling.

Minuses: Two, count 'em, two doors. One, count it, one very hard metal top and not a soft retractable cover for open-top motoring. sentence This is your new That's how special it is for people to pick up their Mercedes where it was born." Husbands get so excited they drive off, leaving their wives at the pickup center. Some customers prostrate themselves in prayer. The sentimental simply break down in tears.

Picking up a new Mercedes at the Sindelfingen customer center isn't just a purchase. Customers tour the neighboring factory, visit the museum, have lunch on company china and then browse the gift shop for everything from baby seats to money clips and ice scrapers emblazoned with the company's three-pointed star. Buyers also get a detailed lesson, See Germany, Page 7 comes to marketing and sales in Daimler's homeland, one thing is clear the merger's offspring, Daimler-Chrysler, is one company straddling two worlds. For car fanatics worldwide, the name Mercedes is synonymous with painstaking precision and unassailable quality. This sentiment is at its strongest at the Mercedes plant and customer center in Sindelfingen, just outside Stuttgart Nearly 350,000 pilgrims come to the factory every year, and more than 100,000 of them drive away smiling in their new cars.

"We had one American who picked up two cars here," said Nicole Gall, DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman for sales. "I asked him why he traveled so far, and he said, 'I come to hear just one I told them I sold just 200." Across town at the Mercedes plant, however, things are hopping new customers from as far away as U.S. wait like kids on Christmas to pick up their new cars from the source. Proud families pose for photographs as their new babies roll from the factory into the spotless customer pickup center. Others down cocktails upstairs at a bar overlooking the melee, anxiously awaiting their turn.

"My father's picking up an M-Class," chimes a 4-year-old boy, who stops playing with an electric Mercedes race car set to boast When Stuttgart-based Daimler-Benz bought out American automaker Chrysler Corp. in 1998, it was envisioned as a merger of equals. But when it the high-class half of DaimlerChrysler. Two salesmen sit quietly sipping coffee and waiting for customers in a cramped showroom decorated with Life magazine posters and the comic-strip art of American painter Roy Liechtenstein. Around noon, the day's first customer strolls in, breaking the silence with questions about Jeep Cherokees.

"In New York, a big dealer can sell 180,000 cars a year," said proprietor Thomas Brunold. "They would laugh if i.