Apr 25, 2008 -
2009 Acura TSX test drive
Knowing that the all new redesigned Acura TSX went on sale on 4/24 I went for a test drive on my day off today, the followings are my impressions and observations.
Exterior: Not a fan of the new exterior styling, especially the new Acura corporate grille. The old pentagon design was more sleeker and less "WTF...". I've noticed excessive orange peel on the black demo I drove and the paint quality is obviously not as good as other luxury brands like Lexus, MB and BMW. It's very Honda-like.
Interior: Fit and finish is very good, on par with the Honda/Acura standard. The dashboard has a strong BMW feel to it, the reason of that is due to where the navigation screen is located, right at the center and on top of the A/C vents. Given that I am not a fan of the BMW dashes, I too do not like the new design in the TSX. The old style of having the screen incorporated within the center stack looks much better in my opinion. The big down side of the interior is the utilization of the hard plastic panels. The lower half of all panels inside the car including the dashboard, center stack, center console and door panels are all made of hard plastics. Although the quality is high but it felt cheap when touching it. Also, the aluminum trim is gone and replaced by the metallic paint on plastic; to me that's okay but kind of a downgrade from the previous gen. The interior volume has dramatically improved over the last model, I am 6'1 and were able to sit comfortably in the backseat even after I adjusted the driver seat to my ideal driving position. The best part of the interior is the steering wheel, it is thick and feels very good holding on to it. The seats are supportive but again the leather quality is lacking compare to the leading luxury brands.
Driving: Right off the line the car felt much faster than the previous model, which is not a surprise given that this new 2.4 I4 has 6 more lb-ft of torque. However, when pushed hard, the lack of horsepower immediate shows, in my opinion 201hp is definitely not enough for this car. I took the car around PV on some twisty roads to test the steering response, overall it's very precise and the car will go where the wheel is pointed at. Suspension is firm but very comfortable on rocky roads, the car felt very confident through corners with minimal body roll. One criticism I have for the new TSX is that Acura has replaced the hydraulic power steering with electric-assist. Because of that, the road feel is not as "crisp" as the previous gen and the steering felt much lighter. Oh, by the way, the brake is very Honda-mushy as expected.
Overall I would say this is an mediocre effort from Acura. It won't shock the world but will continue to provide a decent product to the customers who are looking for an affordable entry level luxury sedan.
