ClutchPerformer

Here's a link. And here's the text. Enjoy.

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2004 Acura TSX by Ann Job

HIGHS

Expected Acura quality
Fun 6-speed manual
BMW similarity from the side rear

LOWS
4-cylinder power only
Ho-hum front styling
Quirky voice recognition system

OVERALL RATING is 8 [out of 10]


Acura adds a new sedan to finally replace the entry-level Integra four door that disappeared in the 2002 model year. The new TSX is a nice package, but it's no BMW 3-Series.

Normally, I don't spend time talking to my test car.

There I was in the 2004 Acura TSX, joining my traveling companion in playful banter with this new model. The voice recognition system for the TSX's navigation, ventilation and audio controls just seemed to bring out a silly side in us.

It went something like this: "What time do you get off work?" my traveling companion asked the system.

"Set temperature to 85 degrees," came the system response, delivered in a curt female voice. Sure enough, the temperature setting on my companion's side of the car was automatically reset to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. "I don't think she likes you," I said, trying to stifle my laughter at his sudden heat wave.


New entry-luxury sedan
Okay, so we were testing the limits of the recognized commands of the voice system on Acura's new four door. (If you haven't guessed, asking about going on a date is beyond the programmed commands for the system.)

Much of the rest of the TSX is intriguing road machinery for shoppers looking for an entry-level luxury sedan.

The TSX ranks as Acura's lowest-priced sedan with a manufacturer's suggested retail price starting around $25,000.

This puts the TSX just below the V6-powered Acura TL, which has a starting MSRP of around $29,000. It also fills a low-end gap created in the 2002 model year when Acura replaced the entry Integra with the RSX. The RSX, with an MSRP around $20,000, is sold as a hatchback only.

Expected to sell in relatively low volumes of around 15,000 a year, the TSX is basically an Americanized version of the Honda Accord that's sold in Europe.

The Accord in Europe is different than the one we have, and the TSX's drivetrain, interior, features, tires and styling are modified further for American drivers.


No BMW
Acura officials portray the TSX as a BMW 3-Series fighter.

However, I think BMW fans will point out the TSX is front-drive, not rear-wheel drive as BMWs are, and the TSX comes only with a four-cylinder engine, not a six, which is offered in the 3-Series cars.

In addition, while rear styling on the TSX has some BMW similarity and is quite attractive, the front end of the TSX has the ho-hum Acura family styling that's not really as forceful as a BMW front end.


Acura quality anticipated
Still, I expect the Japan-built TSX to have the kind of quality that has put Acuras among the top brands and above BMW in annual J.D. Power and Associates quality studies.

When shoppers compare all they get for the price in the TSX, vis-à-vis other cars in the entry luxury category, it may be easier to eschew that BMW or even Mercedes-Benz nameplate.

Example: While the 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine in the TSX may not sound like much competition for the 2.5-liter inline six that's in the lowest-priced BMW 325i sedan, the TSX power plant puts out 200 horsepower. This compares with 184 horses in the 325i.

The TSX's torque of 166 lb-ft at 4500 rpm isn't quite as much as the 175 at 3500 rpm in the 325i.

The sporty, short-throw 6-speed manual in the TSX makes getting the max out of the four cylinder a real joy, especially if a driver keeps the car in the higher revs. Note the redline in the TSX tachometer is 7100 rpm, and the TSX is the first Acura with a drive-by-wire throttle control system.

The system combines with standard skid control and traction control to tailor the car's response to a driver's throttle pedal movements and incorporate driving conditions in the process. In the test car, the response and feedback was most comfortable—and comforting—during the test drive. The TSX is the first Acura with a bottom-hinged accelerator pedal —the better to drive heel-and-toe —which adds to the fun.

I also tested the TSX's automatic transmission. It's a 5-speed with sequential shifting that lets a driver select gears without depressing a clutch pedal.

The automatic operated smoothly and pleasantly on its own, but after having spent time with the 6-speed manual, I felt the manual provided a true sporty character to the car that was missing with the 5-speed automatic.


A lot of features for the price
You don't have to look far to see ways that Acura sought to make the TSX special. The car comes standard with seats trimmed in attractive perforated leather. Leather is an option costing about $1,400 on the base BMW 325i sedan.

Heated front seats are standard in the TSX, too. They're approximately $600 extra on the Mercedes C230.

Too bad, though, that the front passenger seat in the TSX doesn't offer power controls, and I felt like I was riding a bit low to the floor in that seat.

Other standard items on the well-equipped TSX are xenon high-intensity discharge (HID) headlights for low-beam driving (bi-xenon lights are a $700 option on the 325i) and a power moonroof (which is part of a $1,600 option package on many Mercedes C-Class sedans.)


Decent trunk space
The TSX trunk has an impressive 13 cubic feet of space —and that's before you push down the rear seatbacks and slide long items inside to the passenger compartment. This compares with 12 cubic feet in the Mercedes C-Class sedans and 11 cubic feet in the 325i.

Now, if only something can be done about that Acura voice recognition navigation system. I changed the female voice to a male's—one of the settings provided in the system, but you know, that guy wasn't interested in getting together after work, either.

larchmont

Nice get, clutch. And although it's a fairly favorable review, to me it's one of the very least impressive of all the write-ups so far.

Although he says he drove it, you'd hardly know it. Almost everything he says is what you'd get just from the spec sheets and looking inside the car. When you think about it, there are no real driving impressions.

He got the price wrong (too low).

He makes the reader think that navi is notorious for mistaking regular conversation for commands. He neglects to mention that you have to press that button right before giving navi a command or else it won't hear it. Actually it seems he may not even have known that -- which makes one a little skeptical that he really tried it.

And the stuff comparing TSX to BMW is, again, just "paper-factoid" stuff, with no reference to any driving experiences or actual functional characteristics of the car.

So -- interesting, but extremely disappointing -- not so much in what it says about the car, but as a car review.

jwaters943

Actually, Ann Job is a she. I do agree with much of your impressions of the article however.

....And not to be a d*ck, but this article is a couple months old. Where is my "welcome to last week" pic when I need it?

ClutchPerformer

Oops...

larchmont

Sorry, Ann. (Does this mean our date is off?)

I thought it seemed like it might be old -- really it looked like the kind of thing that would have been written before the car came out. (I don't see that the date of the review is indicated anywhere.)

The reason I so easily made the gender mistake was that Clutch did us the favor of pasting the text over here, so originally I didn't take the link and look at the actual article.

Brad

That's my impression too. The car reviewer didn't come across as a competant one. Aside from spec-sheet comparisons, the comments that it's not a BMW 3-series (or whatnot) should have been backed up with actual driving experience comparisons, such as the shifting, cornering, accelleration, braking, etc. But to make blanket statements that it's not quite a 3-series (or whatever) is shallow and moot. Given the shallowness and incompetant or half-baked "review", I wondered what kind of car the reviewer drives.

Also, it's not clear to me that the TSX is a replacement for the Integra, given the higher price, better specs, and better quality of the TSX. Afterall, the Integra is on a Civic-based platform. The only thing in common is that both the Integra and the TSX were or are entry-level sedans, but the TSX is by no means an extension of the Integra.

larchmont

I agree. This Integra thing keeps getting said, but I don't see it.

If anything, it's more like RSX = Integra, and TSX is a new addition with no ancestor (except of course the European Accord). But the latter really can be said about the RSX too.

And come to think of it, the same model doesn't even always equal itself. Once upon a time I had an '88 Legend. Then they seemed to change it a little bit every year (mostly they GREW it), and after a while the "Legend" bore little resemblance to my car. Then they "replaced" the Legend with the TL (did I leave out a generation?), but that bore even less resemblance to my car. And now there's going to be a TL which (we think) isn't going to be very much at all like the current TL.

Sometimes this paradigm of "car A replaces car B" is accurate; sometimes it isn't accurate but it's still somewhat useful as a concept.
About the Integra/TSX thing, I don't think it's either.

Brad

In markets outside of the USA (not sure of Canada), the RSX is the Honda Integra. As it always has been, it's still based on the very competent Civic platform.

From what I've read, the Euro Accord's underpinnings (chassis) is very very very close to the North American Accord, but with minor differences. Some magazine writers have said it's the same. I've read some specs that suggest very slight dimensional differences.

Therefore, the Euro Accord's (and TSX's) ancestory is the generic Accord platform, but without the abomination of the bloated/bizarre North American Accord's body styling.

The original Legend's and TL's basis of underpinnings are that of the Accord. (I'm not sure if it's simply a stretched version now.) For example, in the first Legend, many of the interior dimensions are exactly that of the Accord. (Of course, the Legend added lots of refinement.) The Legend lives on in markets outside the US and Canada. It's the Honda Legend rather than the TL.

It's also bizarre that the magazine writer referenced the BMW 3-series, as if it's a wholesale benchmark. She compared the styling, for example. Styling? Perhaps the 3-series isn't all that bad if you like car shapes that look like a cross between some low-end Hyundais, Daewoos, and Fiats. Maybe BMW morphed all three together to achieve that "look" in their 3-series? The disjointed styling abominations of the sad, bloated, grossly overstated Z4 and that large full-size (7-series??) car are hardly anything any car designer should use as a benchmark.

Some journalists are little more than "armchair journalists", as evident by some newspaper articles on the TSX that are nothing more than regurgitated spec sheets.

Being new to this forum, I appreciate the article being posted. It's good to see the wheat and the chaff.

larchmont

Great post -- some history stuff that I didn't know (the above quote omits most of Brad's post).

But, if I understand right (and I may not, since I really don't know some of the lingo), this part is quite a bit off. My understanding has been that the dimensions of the TSX are the same as the Euro Accord (or at least very very close), and, as we know, TSX and N.A. Accord differ SIGNIFICANTLY in their dimensions.

TWong1200

What a stupid article. She talks like the nav system is suppose to recognize all commands. This voice command is so awesome. If you say the commands that it understands in a clear voice, it totally recognizes it.