mmarshall

A condensed-review of the 2008 Acura TSX Automatic.

http://www.acura.com/index.aspx?initPath=TSX










(Beige/Wood-trim Non-NAV interior)



(Gray/Metallic-trim interior)








In a Nutshell: Well-built and refined; Despite the firm ride, one of my current favorites among entry-level luxury cars.




Since the vehicles for my next planned (and requested) reviews are not yet available in the D.C. area (it will be several more weeks), I thought I'd write up one of my long favorites in the entry-level-luxury field...the Acura TSX. I had looked at and test-driven one several years ago (one of the the first TSX's to come into the D.C. area....a manual-transmission version) but didn't get around to writing it up. I owned a Lexus IS300 at the time, and, though I also liked the TSX, I saw no reason to trade the IS for one...there were also a number of things I liked about the IS. But, with gas at almost record-high prices (and maybe still climbing), the TSX, today, with its fairly small size, light weight, plush interior, and relatively small but spunky in-line four (like most non-turbo Honda/Acura fours, you have to rev it to get max power), seems like a good choice for those who want a nice, refined, semi-luxury small car for the times. As I did not previously test an automatic version, I chose a Non-Nav automatic version this time to keep the price and complexity down. The Acura marketers have kept the manual and automatic versions with the same base prices (see the attached Acura web site), but, though I don't remember the exact base price of the manual version I test-drove several years ago (I think it was 25 or 26K), prices have crept up some in the last few years.....which may not be that surprising, as this car is popular and is built with very high-quality materials inside and out, though there are a couple of cheap touches.

An all-new TSX will be released soon, but, for now we have this model....and it is a nice one indeed. It is, on the outside, about the same size as the current American-market Civic, and is actually based on the non-U.S. market Honda Accord which is sold overseas. Four versions of the TSX are offered in the American market....TSX manual, TSX automatic, TSX manual NAV, and TSX automatic NAV. All share the same 2.4L VTEC four and a choice of 6-speed manual or 5-speed automatic transmissions. Non-Nav versions start at $28,190 and NAVs at $30,290.

Since the aforementioned, redesigned, 2009 model will be on the market shortly (the salespeople say later this spring, perhaps by next month), I decided not to a full-length review and, instead, just concentrate on the highlights.







Model Reviewed: 2008 Acura TSX Automatic (Non-NAV)


Base Price: $28,190


Major Options: None


Destination/Freight: $715


List Price as reviewed: $28,905






Exterior Color: Nighthawk Black Pearl

Interior: Beige (Parchment) Leather/Woodtrim


Drivetrain: FWD, Transverse-mounted, 2.4L, DOHC, i-VTEC in-line 4, 205 HP @ 7000 RPM, Torque, 164 ft-lbs. @ 4500 RPM,
5-speed automatic transmission with Sport manual-shift.







PLUSSES:


Excellent steering feel (like the Accord coupe).

Torque not as peaky as other normally-aspirated Honda/Acura fours.

Smooth, quiet engine.

Smooth-shifting transmission.

Relatively flat cornering.

Generally nice but somewhat subdued paint colors.

Excellent paint job.

Swiss-watch assembly quality.

Precise, solid-closing trunk.

Excellent, first-rate stereo.

Attractive dash gauges.

Simple, no-nonsense, clearly labeled controls/buttons.

Good interior hardware.

Superlative exterior hardware.

Widely-adjustable, comfortable front seat.

Nice interior wood trim.

Dealer-installed, A-Spec chassis performance package available.

Wind and engine noise well-muted.

Fairly roomy, well-finished trunk.

Fairly generous 6/70 drivetrain and 4/50 bumper-to-bumper warranties match Lexus competition.

Choice of manual or automatic transmission for the same price.









MINUSES:


Base price has climbed noticeably in the last few years.

Are three different shades of blue necessary? (see the attached web site)

So-so seat leather.

Somewhat tinny-feeling doors.

Temporary spare tire.

Marginal rear headroom, with sunroof, for tall persons.

Somewhat tight rear legroom.

awkward, inconvienient rear seat fold-down releases.

Noticeable tire whine on smooth pavement.

Plastic engine cover blocks some access.

Marginal ride quality for my tastes.

Premium gas required.

Deceptively small (?) battery.

Underhood prop rod.






EXTERIOR:

The first impression of the exterior of the car is, strongly, that of a downsized Acura TL. Like the new Camry/Corolla comparison, it is rather difficult to tell the two of them apart except for exterior size. Paint quality, like virtually all Honda/Acura products, is first-rate...smooth, even, glossy, little or no orange peel. Paint colors, IMO are generally well-chosen.....classy, not garish, but not funeral-home dull either....I liked the Arctic Blue Pearl, Milano Red, and Deep Green Pearl. But, oddly, there are three shades of blue; very unusual. Exterior trim quality and hardware, particularly the slick-operating/swiveling mirrors, is superlative...among the best I've seen on late-model vehicles. The doors, though well-finished and precisely-fitted, could be a little more solid...they close with a somewhat tinny sound and feel.


UNDERHOOD:

The hood opens and closes fairly solidly and precisely, but the cheap prop-rod, IMO, is somewhat out of place in a car of this class (entry/level luxury). The transversely-mounted 2.4L in-line four fits in fairly snug, but allows some access around the edges. The ubiquitous plastic top-engine cover, as with many vehicles, blocks access to most of the upper-engine parts, though dipsticks and reservoirs are readily accessable. The battery is deceptively small.....much smaller than the physical size of the batteries in most cars of this size today. One will just have to trust the Acura engineers that it is big enough and has enough cold-cranking amps/reserve capacity to do the job.





INTERIOR:

Open the doors to what is generally, IMO, a very pleasant interior....one of my favorites among cars of this class. Three different colors of leather are offered (no cloth)...Beige (Parchment), Medium Gray (Quartz), and Black (Ebony) My favorite (no surprise here) is, of course, the Beige with wood trim....the Quartz and Ebony come with metallic trim. However, while the leather was of high-quality, I wasn't wild about its look and feel...it had a grainy texture and was not as smooth as the leather in Lexus interiors. Can't complain about the front seat itself, though.....comfortable, supportive, well-shaped, and power multi-adjustable both fore/aft and up/down through a wide range of travel....this made for good headroom in front, despite the protruding sunroof housing.

The gauges were quite clear and attractive, with back-lighting, large blue rings, white markings, and bright red needles....they rank among my favorites. All of the interior hardware was quite well-done except for the lightweight and somewhat cheap-feeling steering wheel...I have noticed unpleasant steering wheels in a number of other newer Honda/Acura products as well. Buttons/dials/switches, in typical Honda fashion, feel durable, well-damped, solidly attached, clearly marked, and are easy to use at a glance. The stereo sound is excellent (bordering on superlative) and is one of the best units I've heard apart from the benchmark Lexus Mark Levinson units.

In back, the seats, are, like in most cars, not as supportive or as comfortable as up front, but are OK nevertheless for two average-sized adults (three would be pushing it). The sunroof housing is more noticeable than in front, so headroom is a little more limited, and legroom/footroom is marginal for taller adults and big feet (yes, like mine)....though the front seats have so much travel that it takes some of the pressure off the limited space in back. The door panel materials and headliner seem to be of fairly high-quality expensive material.





CARGO AREA/TRUNK:

The trunk lid opens and shuts with a solid, precise, well-made sound and feel, not the tinniness you get with some cars. The trunk area itself is well-finished with a nice grade of gray carpet, and, despite the slanted rear roofline, is roomy and has a fairly good-sized opening. Under the trunk floor lies the full-size temporary spare tire/wheel and jack (a car of this class should, IMO, have a real spare tire/ alloy wheel...this is not an econobox). Also somewhat annoying are the two bright yellow pull-straps that are attached to the rear of the two back seats.....you have to bend down and reach WAY back under the trunk lid to the rear seats and yank on the straps to release the rear seatbacks so they will fold down for longer items. That's fine for limber, younger people and those in good shape, but for Grandpa/Grandma and those with arthritis, bad backs, handicaps, etc.....quite a different story. Even the Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Elantra sedans, which are run-of-the-mill compacts and, on average, list for more than $10,000 less than this car, have handy pull-***** at the back of the trunk, right in front of you, for the rear seats.




ON THE ROAD:


Start the 2.4L four with a conventional key/ignition switch, and it settles into a Honda/Acura smooth, quiet idle. Power delivery is equally smooth and quiet, and even though this is a semi luxury sports-sedan, exhaust noise is fairly well-muted too. The engine, though with the Honda-typical high-RPM HP peak and high redline, is noticeably less torque-peaky than most Honda fours.......torque is noticeable at lower RPM, though, of course, not as strongly as the turbo four in the corporate brother Acura RDX. Still, in general you don't have to wind this engine way up to get enough decent power, and there is enough spunk for just about all normal driving without excessive RPMs. I liked this drive train....the transmission is as smooth and quiet as the engine, and has a smart-feeling and snappy shifter whether in full-automatic or manual auto-shift mode. It does, however, lack the shift-paddles on the steering wheel found in some of the competition. The EPA mileage figures (see the web site) are pretty good for a car of this type, but that is somewhat muted by the fact that it you have to feed it Premium at the gas pumps...premium gas, in many areas, is approaching $4.00 a gallon, and exceeds that in a few areas.

The chassis is quite well-designed, with a good ride/handling tradeoff, despite the fact that the ride is maybe just borderline too stiff for my tastes. Handling is relatively flat with little body roll, steering response is fairly quick, and, like the new Honda Accord EX-L Coupe, has a firm steering effort and superlative tactile feel for a front-drive platform. Not quite a BMW, but one of the best I've seen in a Japanese-designed front-driver. Ride, like I mentioned, is borderline firm for my tastes, but not objectionable by any means, and is fine considering the level of handling precision....bumps are felt and heard, but absorbed fairly well by the 50-series all-season tires. Wind noise is extremely well muted, helped by the Swiss-Watch level of build quality and sealing, but, though not loud, a noticeable amount of tire whine penetrates the cabin on smooth asphalt.

Much has been discussed here on CL about sub-standard braking performance on many Honda/Acura-designed vehicles, so I paid more-than-average attention to the TSX's brakes. I couldn't find any noticeable problems, though of course, it was no Porsche 911. The brake pedal had only a minimal amount of sponginess, braking response was smooth, pedal modulation was OK, and stopping distance did not seem that long for the moderately hard brake test I gave it (I did not brake hard enough to activate the ABS on dry pavement). And the pedal spacing was OK for my big feet, with no hang-up problems under or over the brake/gas pedals.





THE VERDICT?

A well-made, generally pleasant-to-look at and pleasant-to-drive small, luxury/sport sedan with a competitive price and an excellent reliability record. A few things need improvement...a real spare tire/wheel, struts for the hood instead of a prop-rod, more solid-feeling doors, a better release in the trunk for the rear seatbacks, and smoother leather on the seats. But, to some extent, these things are water over the dam.....the 2008 TSX is on the way out, soon to be replaced by the 2009 model. I will do a full review on the 2009 is there is sufficient interest in the car or if I get a request to do so. In the meantime, if you like this car, be my guest...it is generally money well spent.

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Thanks for the review Mike.

A quick thought: do you think that the TSX can truly be considered "luxury"?

Acura has been noted to lack certain features of other luxury marques; does the TSX pass for one? Does it compare well to other luxury FWD vehicles such as the Audi A4 or ES350?

mmarshall

IMO, the TSX is a borderline entry-level sport/luxury sedan that straddles the line between the typical uplevel compact and the true small luxury sedan. But, with the upscale Acura nameplate, IMO, it should have some features that are currently missing.....I listed those in the review.

Compared to the Audi A4, it doesn't quite have the Audi's brakes, AWD option, or the versatility of the DSG gearbox, and compared to the ES350, I think the TSX is better-built except for the tinny doors. It is no secret that, like some other people, I am very disappointed with the new ES350, although the ES350 is a little quieter on the road than the TSX.

kit cat

iTrader: (6)

i would love to own one of these if the used ones get cheaper. i loved how it drove/steered.

shyguy16

how would u rate this compared to an is250?
which would u rather have in your garage?

mmarshall

Mixed opinions. I like the IS250AWD for its all-weather traction, but don't like the fact that it only comes with hard-riding 45-series tires...and it is sluggish with the 2.5L engine. The TSX 50-series tires are a little more compliant. The TSX also seems to be slightly more solidly built.....its unibody frame seemed more creak and rattle-proof than the IS, though the TSX doors were a little thin. The TSX had MUCH better steering feel. Both interiors were nice-looking....I like the TSX hardware more. The TSX seemed roomier in front, MUCH roomier in back. The IS, however, seemed to have less tire noise. Its hood, unlike the TSX, has proper strut supports. I like the shift paddles on the IS. And the IS has nicer leather on the seats.

In MY garage? For that kind of money (30-40K), I'd skip them both and get a Subaru Outback L.L. Bean.

mmarshall

Next planned reviews (when the cars are available): BMW 1-series, VW Eos, Lexus IS-F

TRDFantasy

You don't feel the TSX is sluggish with the 2.4L?

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

I've driven the TSX before. the 2.4L didn't feel sluggish at all. Maybe sluggish next to my GS400, but for what it is, it's damn agile. Unlike Honda's older B-series engines, these K-series have more torque with flatter powerband.

mmarshall

Not compared to most in-line fours of Honda/Acura design. Most of those fours have a severe lack of torque at lower RPM's, and require high RPM to tap into both the HP peak and what little torque they have. While the TSX's 2.4L was no dragster, it was noticeably more peppy than, say, the four-cylinders you find in the average Civic, Fit, etc.....

But, of course, it was not as strong at lower RPM as the turbo in-line four (a Honda/Acura U.S. market first) found in its own brother RDX.

blacksc400

iTrader: (4)

enjoyed your review as always, thank you!

mmarshall

Thanks. This review was a litle shorter than usual. With an all-new TSX coming shortly, I didn't think it was worth writing a book about, though I've always liked this particular model.

Shawnmack

Are all TSX 4 doors. By the way good review when do you plan on doing the IS-F?

jwong77

Yeah all TSX's are 4 door, though there were rumors of a coupe coming out a long time ago. I had a TSX as a loaner a while back, it handles quite nicely. The steering and the drive kind of reminds me of how the Hondas of the late 80's/early 90's felt. Very nimble in small places and very good at accelerating from 0-30 mph. The car felt very solid and very refined, but you can still hear the 4-banger when you rev it up.

mmarshall

Yes, all American-market TSX models are 4-doors. Acura marketed the RSX 2-door sport coupe, but recently dropped it.

I'll do the IS-F when they go on sale in my area and unsold ones are available. Most of them, at least for a while, are likely to be already spoken for. The first ones, supposedly, will start arriving next month.

Mike (1SICKLEX) has already driven a prototype IS-F at a Lexus meet. Until I do my review of the production model, you can PM him if you have any specific questions.