Acura TSX is a Gateway Drug

Bobzilla wrote: If the TSX only came with leather

There, fixed it.

tsx only comes in leather. Wife and I hate leather seats in cars.

rogerbvonceg wrote: Now I'm wondering what my next Acura will be, and dreaming of the day I can fit an S2000 in the garage.

Check the new TL out. It's an improvement over last years TL. I owned a '91 Legend 5 spd, '94 Integra GS-R. '03 TL-S, and an '06 TL. All great cars. You really do need to drive them to fully understand. Kind of like my old CRX and Civic.

Bobzilla wrote: tsx only comes in leather. Wife and I hate leather seats in cars.

Senior moment. I read your post wrong to say the TSX only came with cloth. I agree, BTW. I'm not a big fan of leather, even though I've owned a couple cars with leather. My Legend had a cloth interior that looked brand new when I sold it with 225k on it. The leather seats in my TL were cracking after 50k, and I took good care of both cars. Most people don't know the difference between "Leather" and "Leather trimmed". Most reasonably priced cars have leather only on the seating surfaces. Everything else is vinyl or similar. In many cases this perceived upgrade actually costs the car maker less money than a good quality cloth interior.

bravenrace wrote:

rogerbvonceg wrote: Now I'm wondering what my next Acura will be, and dreaming of the day I can fit an S2000 in the garage.

Check the new TL out. It's an improvement over last years TL. I owned a '91 Legend 5 spd, '94 Integra GS-R. '03 TL-S, and an '06 TL. All great cars. You really do need to drive them to fully understand. Kind of like my old CRX and Civic.

Looks less polarizing on the outside. Do we know if they updated the interior?

May be a perfect car for me to look for in 2020.

All I know is what the article says. It's really an emergency mid-cycle update because so many people think the previous/current TL is so ugly.

Bobzilla wrote: Did I mention we can still get the A-spec suspensions for them?

What does the A-spec suspension include? Did any cars come from the factory with it? What years does it work with?

A-specs were dealer installed. It was springs/shocks complete with the upper mounts. You literally removed the original stock shock/spring and insert the new. IT only lowers about 3/4" but it still rides pretty good and handles better. IIRC, it will fit 04-08, but they "technically" didn't offer them for the 07-08.

I never even thought of a TSX until I drove my sister's 2005 TSX with auto to my 20 year class reunion in the fall of 2009 (better than showing up in our 2004 Odyssey) :) . I love the interior, seats, motor and refinement (I'm used to my 18 year old Civic). Handled really well too. Been looking for one that is within my price range but that is hard to come by. I autocrossed a student's a 2006 Civic Si at our school couple years ago and was pretty impressed with it. Also impressed that the student only had one arm and was able to drive it (manual tranny) with no special setup. I did hate the a-pillar since it got in my way when looking ahead for cones.

None of the new Honda line do anything for me. Most of the Japanese manufacturers seem to have lost the plot especially considering the TSX is considered one of the "sporty" cars of the line.

93EXCivic wrote: ... Most of the Japanese manufacturers seem to have lost the plot especially considering the TSX is considered one of the "sporty" cars of the line.

And why would it not be?

I agree Honda is troubled, and needs to get its mojo back, but driving the TSX was a surprise. It's like everything that was great about Hondas of 20 years ago was kept in this car, and then layered with butter-cream frosting.

Mmmmmmm. Frosting.

I didnt think twice about the TSX till i drove one at the mid ohio school, ofc they had pretty decent rubber, but it was competent and a great learning tool...

bravenrace wrote: All I know is what the article says. It's really an emergency mid-cycle update because so many people think the previous/current TL is so ugly.

Yes, but I saw two of the current model in the church parking lot this weekend and I felt...well...sinful. Lust, envy, you know. That sort of thing.

I think the current version will become a classic, while the freshened version will be more popular. Kind of like the Subaru Tribeca. The original was at least daring and honest. I like it. When I see one, I smile. The freshened one? I can't tell what it is until I see the badge or the backend. Darn shame.

Now if I could only get over the TL's funky instrument cluster.

Yeah, it's hard to get over the fact that the TSX is a Euro Accord in a Skirt and the TL is a U.S. Accord with lipstick on. This has always been my gripe. It's like paying extra just to get a few options and getting your toes done. I definately won't do it up front, but I admit that I do like the TSX and would consider buying a used one. Let someone else take the hit buying it new.

I think it was that silver beak that had turned a lot of folks off of the TL. Especially since the previous one was so good looking in almost every way. I like everything about the newer ones except that grill. You'd think they learned after the first CL had few and little buyers. I've also read good things about the TL's SH-AWD system even though it is a complicated(and probably costly to repair) system.

Bobzilla wrote: tsx only comes in leather. Wife and I hate leather seats in cars.

I hated leather until I had kids. Now my cloth seats are so full of milk stains, I want anything but cloth. And I scotchgarded the seats every year... ugh

Ignorant wrote:

Bobzilla wrote: tsx only comes in leather. Wife and I hate leather seats in cars.

I hated leather until I had kids. Now my cloth seats are so full of milk stains, I want anything but cloth. And I scotchgarded the seats every year... ugh

There is a lot of truth in that statement.

(edited because I can't spell.)

Merc wrote: Yeah, it's hard to get over the fact that the TSX is a Euro Accord in a Skirt and the TL is a U.S. Accord with lipstick on. This has always been my gripe. It's like paying extra just to get a few options and getting your toes done. I definately won't do it up front, but I admit that I do like the TSX and would consider buying a used one. Let someone else take the hit buying it new.

Would Americans otherwise buy a Honda Accord SH-AWD with the same "feature content" of the Acura TL?

Would they lay out money for an Accord Euro S that was smaller (but "sportier") than an Accord EX-L V-6?

Simple answer: No.

Acura is kind of like Lincoln, in that regard, or even the late Mercury. I get irritated by the badge-swapping that goes on (a la Fusion/Milan) but if the upscale product offers real value beyond the badge, who can really argue? Not to mention the opportunity to bring over cars that wouldn't normally make the cut (German Capri, XR4Ti, etc.).

Does anyone mistake the present TL for its Accord brother? Is the Accord available in any version with AWD? Or tuned to the level of the sportiest TL? What about standard equipment? For that matter, how bad is the Accord, really?

The worst thing about the Accord is that I run out of fingers counting them on my way from my car to the front door at work.

In 1993 I bought a 1994 Integra GS-R. When one of my buddies saw it, he said "That's just a reskinned Civic". Then I took him for a ride...

Rusted_Busted_Spit wrote:

Ignorant wrote:

Bobzilla wrote: tsx only comes in leather. Wife and I hate leather seats in cars.

I hated leather until I had kids. Now my cloth seats are so full of milk stains, I want anything but cloth. And I scotchgarded the seats every year... ugh

There is a lot of truth in that statemane.

and we're not having kids so we can keep our cloth interiored cars!

rogerbvonceg wrote: For that matter, how bad is the Accord, really? The worst thing about the Accord is that I run out of fingers counting them on my way from my car to the front door at work.

Our '07 Accord V6 is a great car. No, it is not a miata but against other FWD sedans that size, WOW.

^ You'll really love it when you need to remove the intake for the umpteenth time to reclean those EGR ports, and the transmission pukes yet again.

Those are problems that they've had for 10+ years and have yet to fix.

bravenrace wrote: In 1993 I bought a 1994 Integra GS-R. When one of my buddies saw it, he said "That's just a reskinned Civic". Then I took him for a ride...

When I bought the TSX, somebody (pedantically) said, "It's just a European Accord." And I said, "I know. Isn't it great?"