Hi all,

A close friend of mine has been in the market for a new car for a while, and being a longtime Acura/Honda owner (1st gen TL) I suggested he look at the TSX. The TL and RL were out of his price range, and the TSX seemed like a great fit for what he was looking for - great gas mileage, top notch reliablility and build quality, some power to boot, and an upmarket look and feel to it all. Needless to say we headed down to the Acura dealership a couple days ago, and took an 06 Non Navi 6mt for a spin...

Interior:

We spent a good half-hour exploring the innards of the interior. The guages were great - managing to look sporty and exciting while maintaining a classly look. The plastics used on the upper portions of the dash and door panels wwere all soft touch materials and panel gaps were super tight. The lower portions of the dash and door panels used some harder plastics that despite being hard, had some proper grain and texture to them, and did not at all look out of place. The 'aluminum" trim in our vehicle didn't look too convincing - might have looked better if it were brushed aluminum (maybe it was?), but the "wave" fit nicely in with the car, and added to the style of the interior. Steering wheel mounted audio controls were a plus, and we're cleanly integrated. Room both front and back was fine with me (I'm only 5' 5") but I could see someone 5' 8" and above being "snug" in the back IF there's a tall driver/passenger up front. Overall I'd give the interior an 8-8.5/10. The interior would have looked right at home in a car costing 10k more.

Driving Impressions:

I was ABSOLUTELY blown away. Bare in mind, my daily driver is an 06 S2k which is one of the most fun vehicles on the planet, but I was happily surprised at how the TSX was able to provide a lot of the similar "fun to drive" characteristics of the S2k with a more practical package. The engine was an absolute gem. When revving it in neutral when stopped, I thought I felt a bit of "excess" vibration through the wheel (almost like the characteristic 4cyl vibration I used to feel in my old Accord). But on the go, no such vibration was apparent. Engine was fantastically smooth. It also didn't feel like a "4cyl" with good pulling power apparent from 2k rpms all the way up to redline. Its tough to put into words - you know its not a 6cyl because it doesn't ahve the sheer grunt, yet it doesn't quite feel like a traditional 4cyl. Maybe a bigger 4cyl would be the right word. Furthermore the engine revved SUPER-fast - I mean it was absolutely EAGER to rev. Which brings me to the best part...

The gearbox. Oh MY GOD! They must poor some shea butter inside that thing before it leaves the factory cause it was SMOOOOOOOTH. Smooth with a capital S. Whoa. Totally blew me away. A perfect shifter befitting a luxury car. The S2k has been said to have the world's best gearbox and I believe it does befit a sports car with its "snick-snick" engagement and short throws. However, as far as luxury vehicles are concerned, the shifter in the TSX would have to be right at the top. Much better than even some of the BMW shifters I've sampled. I found myself rowing through the gears at a stop light just to enjoy it again and again.

Engine and gearbox aside, the ride was excellent. Not as softly sprung as a Lex, but just right (for me at least). Imperfections were well damped with no rebound or wallow. Based on what I'd heard and read, I'd expect to feel some "crunchiness" in the suspension over rough surfaces, but didn't encounter any such irritations. Maybe some proper Midwest pothole riddled roads might change my impression. Overall I'd say luxury with a slight bias towards firm damping. Great!

I didn't get a chance to push it too hard in the corners (too busy enjoying the engine and gearbox I guess!) but it seemed to handle tight and nimble. The steering wheel was decently weighted, but I don't recall too much feedback through the wheel. One thing though: it didn't "feel'' like a front wheel drive car, in the same sense that my old accord did, and thats a good thing.

Overall

I'm not going to comment much on the exterior of the vehicle since "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" but IMO, its a sharp looking car, thats very "Japanese" in its styling. Not quite the "class" of the TL's look, but different.

The car itself is AMAZING. And then when you figure in the price, it becomes and unbelievable steal. And to top it all off - its loaded. No options (cept Navi of course).

Last weekend I took my friend's BMW 325xi on a 3.5 hour drive to Baltimore and back. Now granted it was an all wheel drive model, but I felt no where near the same excitement or even interior ambienece or quality that I felt in the TSX. I believe he paid near 35k for it, and it had NO power seats, no heated seats, ......and NO POWER (this is definetely the extra weight of the AWD system). Up hills it was an absolute pig, and felt no where near as nimble as the TSX. Not to mention that at the end of the trip we had averaged some pretty poor gas mileage (something to the tune of 25 - 26mpg). The reason I'm comparing the 325 to the TSX is that their both supposed to be in the same class and furthermore, the FWD all weather capability of the TSX compares nicely to eh AWD capabilities of the 325xi.

If I had to have an all weather luxury daily driver with stellar gas mileage, I'd pick a TSX in a heartbeat. Its a fantastic car that definetly deserves all the accolades and praise its received. All you owners are some lucky chaps - enjoy your vehicles