Knox

Since January 30th will mark year five of owning my TSX, I decided to write a review. Hope you don't mind me sharing. Originally posted on cp.com.
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In winter of 2005/06 I decided to shop for a new four-door sedan. Out of the Lexus IS250, Acura TSX and Volkswagen Jetta GLI I chose the TSX. It met all of my requirements and the fact that it was assembled in Japan was a big plus for me.

January 30th of this year will mark 5 years of ownership with my TSX. In typical blog fashion, I am writing a review to share the ups and downs of owning this particular model. Let’s start with the numbers.

Current Mileage: 75,437
Average Fuel Economy / Range: 26.39 MPG / 280.3 miles
Maintenance Costs (including tires): $3,117.31
Personal Modification Costs: $308.05

All generations of the TSX are based on the European version of the Honda Accord which makes it smaller than the US version of the Accord. Part of the draw to own this car was it’s small, sporty size that still has ample interior room for four adults and their accompanying luggage.



For the past five years almost every element of this car has been easy to live with. The heated leather seats are comfortable and they are still holding up well; for the most part, the ride has always been smooth with the exception of the BFGoodrich Super Sport A/S tires I used as the second set; even with my CT Engineering air intake the car is a quiet operator; and the engine has about as much pep from a naturally aspirated i-VTEC four-banger that you could hope for.

Bumper-to-bumper the TSX has held up surprisingly well. The Alabaster Silver Metallic paint has faired well, even when it was beat by the elements for the first three years of its life. The wheels and suspension have remained tried and true to their stock nature. However, the actual front bumper has been a disappointment. After more than five years of owning my ‘01 VW Jetta, the paint on the front bumper took all kinds of shots from rocks, sand and other road debris and looked surprisingly new when I traded it in. Unfortunately, the Japanese-made TSX fails to please in this area. The chrome trim around the grille is peeling (new part is on order as I write this) and the rest of the bumper looks like its taken a hundred rounds from an automatic BB gun. I don’t know if this a plastic+paint marriage from hell or if the TSX has taken more abuse than my Jetta. Whatever the case, be prepared for a respray should you own this model beyond five years.



Even with all of the positives surrounding this car there is one major flaw: the brake rotors. With just 21,445 miles on the TSX I had to have the rotors resurfaced due to severe warping. Just 19,000 miles later, the front rotors were replaced all-together by my local dealer due to warping. After receiving new OEM rotors it wasn’t long until they warped again and to this day I’m still feeling the good vibrations when I apply the brakes. Acura needs to address this issue immediately.

But enough about the bad stuff, let’s talk about how great this car is. To date, knock on wood, I haven’t had any major issues with the TSX. Since the odometer read 6,348 I have run Castrol Syntec 5w-30 through the heart of the engine. At 15,200 miles I replaced the stock paper air filter with a K&N version. It has been recharged twice since the initial install. One thing I love about this car are the aero wiper blades that bond to the curve in the windshield. I have only replaced the blade inserts one time in five years and they’re still going strong.

As you’ve probably guessed by now, the TSX has been a low maintenance vehicle. Based on the numbers above, maintenance costs equate to about $.04 cents per mile. My days usually revolve around a busy schedule so I let my local dealer, Harper Acura, maintain the car which makes the maintenance costs even more impressive in my opinion. One abnormal maintenance item that I ask Harper’s to perform each year is a transmission fluid flush. That may seem like overkill but since I opted for the 5-speed automatic I like to err on the side of caution.

As Car & Driver said, "It’s rare for anyone to emerge from a drive in the TSX spouting anything but superlatives." After five years of owning this car I have to say that I’m very pleased.

Aman

Great review, and good to see you're being honest about its flaws as well

I don't know what you're talking about in the bumper, it looks absolutely brand-new to me. Congrats!

How long do you plan on keeping the TSX for?

Knox

I'm not sure on how much longer I'll keep it. As of now I would guess another 1-2 years. We bought my wife an MDX just over a year ago so I'm definitely next in line.

If I were to trade it today I'd probably end up with an IS-F, S5 or M3. They're all far cries from the TSX but I'm ready for real power.

nj2pa2nc

excellent review-
Makes me want to add up my service invoices and find out how much it has cost me so far.
I agree one of my main complaints is the lousy paint.
my tsx has 118,000+ problem free miles and still has the original brakes.

jchan2

I will put in a third on the lousy paint.

Car makes me smile every time I drive it, even though I've owned it less than a year. I'm going to try to keep it to 200k miles.

Knox

Thanks for the replies everyone.

@jchan2 - 200k, that will be awesome and I don't doubt for a minute you can make it. When we traded my wifes '99 Honda Accord for her MDX it was cresting 120k and was running like a champ. The dealership was amazed when they saw it.

nbtx

Knox: So you didn't like the BFG tires - what did you replace them with - assuming you're on the third set now ... ?

jchan2

My old Civic just hit about 154k and I went to the dealer recently and the service advisors remarked "what a great little car" it was. My dad wants to sell it but if he is adamant about selling, I'm more than interested in buying it from him.

(I'm hoping he doesn't sell it though... would love to see it stick around)

Knox

I decided to head back towards the OEM side and picked up Michelin Primacy MXV4's. Most of my driving consists highway and interstate so I didn't need anything aggresive.

I would pick up an old Civic in a heartbeat.

1Louder

Great review! Could not agree more, except my only real complaint right now would be the paint. I just passed 55K on my 06, and the brakes and rotors are just fine. But then again, I've never demanded much from the brakes other than what you need for normal traffic. I'm pretty gentle on them most of the time. However I will replace them with after market when the time comes.

This should be an interesting ride for me - because of the timing with my kids going to college, I'll be driving my TSX until 2018 at least. My wife's 06 MDX will need to go that long too, so if I'm second in line it could be 2020. That should put me between 160-190K. So I'm taking car of her....

Knox

I'm guessing the TSX will hold up better than you will when those kids go off to college. Haha.

My wife has had a Civic, Accord and now an '09 MDX and she's been nothing but pleased. All great cars but that's what we expect from Honda/Acura, right?

Aside from the front bumper, the paint on the car is in excellent condition. I just moved into a new office with garage parking so now I go from home garage to office garage. As long as I keep that setup the paint should stay in great shape.

nj2pa2nc

my mom owned a 98 accord. When she bought a 08 accord she gave the 98 to my daughter. It now has just over 100,000 miles and is not maintained the way it should. I owned a 05 civic that was a P.O.S. one problem after another. Traded it with just over 36,000 miles for the 06 tsx

1Louder

The paint, as a whole, is just great (i.e. no pealing). I was referring to how soft it is - very prone to rock chips. When you look closely, looks like I've been racing it through a gravel pit. But it's only something that you notice close up.