OVERVIEW
Our engineers designed and crafted the CL body to provide a
bold and
elegant shape, a spacious seating area, excellent visibility, and
a
passenger cabin optimized to be free of road and wind noise
and
highly resistant to impact forces.
Stylists penned the body's dramatic lines to impart a vivid sense of sophistication, sportiness, and style. The shape is both beautiful and functional, with a low, sloping hood and a large greenhouse for excellent visibility, combined with a wide, muscular stance for fine road-holding and expansive interior room.
Dramatic details include a bold center line running the length of the body, an integrated chin spoiler, rakishly angled headlights, and a sharply sloping rear end whose smooth lines are unbroken by a trunk key cylinder.
A redesigned front grille and body colored bumper skirts and side sills have been added for 1998 to further enhance the exterior of the CL.
PRECISE FIT AND FINISH
To enhance the look and feel of the CL, its body panels were
designed
to have very narrow gaps and a flush fit between adjacent body
panels. The fit between glass and metal has also been kept to a
minimum.
INTEGRATED HEADLIGHTS
For improved flushness and gap control, combined with a
smooth and
clean appearance, the CL uses integrated, one-piece front
headlights.
These multi-function lamps incorporate the high- and low-beam
reflectors and front positioning lights into a single assembly
behind
a one-piece polycarbonate lens, eliminating unsightly gap lines
between the various headlight pieces. Additionally, the headlight
reflectors are adjusted inside the headlight housing, improving
fit
and finish tolerances by allowing the whole assembly to remain
in a
fixed position on the vehicle.
INTEGRATED 7-FUNCTION TAILLIGHTS
To complement the clean, sweeping styling of its rear deck, the
CL
uses one-piece,
7-function taillights that are smoothly integrated into the body's shape. When unlit, the taillights have an all-red appearance for bold visual appeal. By using a cyan and red inner lens, however, the unlit appearance of the backup-light outer lens changes to the required white when lit.
NO TRUNK-KEY CYLINDER
To preserve the sweeping beauty of the CL's tail, designers
opted not
to include a conventional trunk-key cylinder in the rear decklid.
Instead, the trunk can be opened with the standard remote
keyless
entry system by holding the button for two seconds, or by a
release
in the cockpit. The result of this innovative thinking is a striking
design whose purity remains unmarred by the demands of
conventional
styling cues.
ONE-PIECE FIXED DOOR MIRRORS
The CL is equipped with newly designed, one-piece fixed door
mirrors.
Compared with previous folding-mirror designs, the new mirrors
are
simpler to manufacture and provide a measurable reduction in
mirror
vibrations and wind-turbulence noise. The mirrors are also
carefully
shaped to provide excellent visibility in the rain by directing water
flow up the side windows--rather than allowing it to splatter
against
the window glass.
On the 3.0CL, the door mirrors are heated to reduce fogging and prevent snow or ice buildup.
VISIBILITY
The large greenhouse contributes to a spacious feeling for the
occupants and also provides excellent visibility for enhanced
safety.
Visibility was optimized by using a low, sloping hood and a low
beltline, plus thin but rigid C-pillars--which greatly reduce the
rear-quarter blind spot compared with competitive vehicles.
The CL has an outstanding total visibility of 318 degrees.
HEAT-REJECTING GLASS
To minimize solar heat transfer into the passenger cabin and
greatly
improve climate-control-system performance, the CL is
equipped with
newly developed, heat-rejecting solar green glass. This glass is
specially formulated to reflect radiant heat by absorbing infrared
and ultraviolet rays. This new type of solar glass performs
significantly better than conventional blue, bronze, or standard
green glass in keeping the interior cooler.
TRUNK STORAGE
To enhance cargo carrying capacity, the CL features a large trunk
with a low liftover height. To increase the versatility and utility
of the CL, the trunk has been equipped with a lockable
pass-through
hatch that allows the storage of long items such as snow skis.
An
optional ski bag is available to protect the interior from wet skis.