oldguytsxer

I just got in from a 3063 mile jaunt from Oklahoma to Thunderbay Ontario Canada.

I thought I would share my thoughts....2006 Auto, non-navi..blue

Packed up my wife and a hundred pounds of luggage and left Oklahoma for our destination, the Minnesota north shore area...( Lutsen Mountain area, Grand Marais, Grand Portage)
When we left Oklahoma it was 104 degrees (I find Oklahoma summers a preview of hell).

The tsx has by far, the coldest air conditioner of any car I have owned since my first air conditioned car, a 1967 Cougar, turquoise, black vinyl top , 289 4 barrel.

We made it to Bloomington Minnesota (Mall of America, of course) If you have never been to the Mall of America, it is a Monster. The mall had 4 levels, millions of square footage, an amusement park complete with Rolling coasters, log water ride etc. There was also a lego experience. If you go, wear comfortable shoes. I enjoyed the Ikea complex across the street; it had a good 99 cent breakfast!!


On this portion of the trip, thru the plains of Missouri, Iowa, Lower Minnesota, into a headwind, all freeway we averaged 30.3 mpg. That is averaging about 70 mph.



Our destination was The Cliff Dweller Best Western overlooking Lake Superior.

Talk about a great area, sunny,breezy, 55 degrees at nite, daytime 72-75...we hit 79 degrees one day and the locals were complaining about the heat.....

I saw bald eagles, loons, among other assorted wildlife.
The food was awesome, Walleye, Walleye, and more Walleye.
Drove to Thunderbay Ontario because they had a casino, and it sounded like a neat place.
Canadian customs was a stern looking 25 year old young fellow...Thunderbay was a waste....neat name, average casino. On the way out of town, I had a good tip on a restaurant in Neebing Ontario I believe. I found out that Walleye in Canada is called Pickeral....




heading back to the hotel I was in slow traffic with no passing opportunities and happenned to reset the odometer, and get this....for a 50 mile mostly flat stretch driving about 40-55 mph with good 92 octane gas, coasting and feathering the gas as I was behind an unpassable line of campers and RV'S I registered 43 MPG!!! Blew my mind!!!





After a restful cool 5 day stay, we stopped in St Cloud Minn to visit a friend, from there we headed to Omaha to visit another friend; from there back to Oklahoma..



From St Cloud we got 31.3 MPG, we averaged 75 MPH with air on constantly. There was a stretch in NE Oklahoma on the turnpike (Speed limit 75) where I reset the odometer and did a 50 mile stretch doing 90-95 and got 28 mpg. That is impressive considering we gained luggage weight and the air was on....





OVERALL IMPRESSIONS a fun car to drive .......a really great vehicle, high comfort level, very little noise, when my wife was driving I kept looking at the speedometer as it felt like we were going 50mph, and she was at 70mph....XM radio is a godsend, especially on long road trips such as this.



Passing was a breeze, it got to the point where i was just passing the dumbass drivers on the right side as they would be doing the speedlimit in the left lane and were braindead.....you would think seeing a speeding car in your rear view mirror, you woud move over...(a very few courteous drivers did)

I did have one hazardous road material avoidance drill suddenly at 85 mph a huge chunk of truck tire tread suddenly appeared, I swerved and did an extreme abrupt lane change missing it and noticed the look on my wife's face, I told her she could change her panties at the next rest area.....that moment of confident car handling bliss was way cool.....



In one case, outside of Omaha, I passed a DMF (Dumb mother f##ker) in the left median lane who would not speed up to pass a truck (Call it borderline roadrage) ....the look she gave me was priceless!! Thank god there was no serious road debris...why people pace trucks side by side is totally hard to understand...PASS THE MOTHERF##CKER and GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!!
I rarely saw any forms of law enforcement...had my escort on full alert, just in case.. we went thru parts of Okla, Missouri, Iowa, nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas and Ontario Canada



MY ONLY COMPLAINT.....BUGS!! At the end of long drives, I would stop at spray car washes at 6 different locations to keep the damage down....the last thing I needed to come home to was a pound or two of baked on bug corpses.....I did notice the gas in Iowa was Ethanol at many stations, I guess it was in the 87 octane stuff???


One other note, on the whole trip 3063 miles, I saw ONE other TSX, a 2004-05 in Thunderbay Ontario, it was the same Blue color as mine with a rear spoiler kit..kind of nice to have a car not everyone has...most unusual car I saw was a Lotus Edge being hauled thru Iowa.

jlukja

Sounds like you had a great trip. What was your overall gas mileage for the trip?

oldguytsxer

Overall, an honest 31 mpg.....luggage, passenger, air conditioner. There was probably about 500 miles non freeway, of that about 100 miles city driving.

msbesq

The absolute best way to get rid of bugs easily is to use wet, used dryer sheets. I always keep some in our cars. The bugs wipe right off. The used ones work better than the new ones. My wife knows not to throw them away.

jlukja

Prep work ahead of time also aids in bug removal. Before my last roadtrip I washed, clayed, and waxed. The bugs came off much easier from a slick, smooth, paint surface.

surferdude

What kind of gas? 87 or 91?

oldguytsxer

What is claying? I did wash it and gave it a good "Mothers waxing" before the trip, and the bugs did spray right off, I just never gave them time to get baked on in the sunshine....

NJJT

What does it mean to "clay" a car?

mrgold35

You might want to invest in a clear bra before the next big trip. You can still wax the clear bra for extra protection against bugs.

What is the last thing that goes through a bugs mind when it hits a windshield?
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HIS ASS!

I know, lame joke. But appropriate since he had 3,000 miles of “bug asses” on his car.

star_rob

I noticed this as well. Does the TSX get some kind of industrial sized AC or what?

jlukja

A lot of info on claying in Wash & Wax. Don't want to hijack your thread so I'll be brief. When you "clay" a car you use a bar of clay (sold in auto parts stores or online) to remove paint surface contaminants that regular washing won't remove. Clay will also remove any wax you had on the paint surface so its important to wax or otherwise protect the paint surface after claying. After you clay you'll notice the painted surfaces to be much slicker/smoother than before.

Edit: Excellent info on claying posted by Exceldetail here.

fuckleberry

other than the occasional road rage cussing, overall this is a great write-up

oldguytsxer

I only use 91....the Phillip 66 stations in Northern Minn were 92.

Need that xtra octane for the oomph!!

I was reading a Minneapolis Paper last weekend and they were reviewing a v 6 Sedona I believe (ugh) unless I mis-read it, they showed horsepower with 91 octane and a few HP less with the rot gut 87.

In Iowa, most 87 was Ethanol...not sure it was in the premium.....I do not know much about the new cars and ethanol....anybody got info to share???

Yui

Heh, I would actually like for it to be colder. But then you guys have not had to deal with 119F temperatures =)

LoveMyTL-S

Awesome write-up and review. Sounds like you had a wonderful trip and the TSX performed beautifully...........

waTSX

Great write-up, and this:
is one of my biggest pet peeves of all time. I thought I was the only one

Miamicarfan

Number 1 pet peeve of mine is when some motorist indicates with his blinker that he is turning left or right and then, while the blinker is still on, he does the exact opposite. For example, while going in the center lane of a 3 lane road, putting on the blinker to get on the right, but instead of moving to the right lane, you move to the left lane!!! while the right blinker is still on!!!. I HATE THAT SO MUCH.

And also, what about the driver that forgets he has his turn blinker on and keeps on driving for miles with the blinker on and then, just when you are about to pass him, he decides to get into your lane!! ARGH!!!!!!

And what about this all time favorite: 3 lane road. You are on the right lane. Other traffic is in the left most lane. Center lane is open. Then just when you are about to get in the center lane, the other driver on the left most lane decides he also wants that center lane. ARGH!!!!!!

rsx_r04

You're certainly not the only one.

This particular problem is even worse here in Vancouver, BC, where there are so many immigrants who just don't understand basic rules of driving.