New Car Impressions
03-26-2005, 09:47 PM
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New Car Impressions
Today I picked up my TSX; SSM, 6M, Nav, ordered in early December, in El Paso, Texas. I live in the rural area of Carlsbad, NM about 160 miles away so had a little time on the drive home to get some impressions.
For comparison, my previous sedan was a 1995 Nissan Maxima with a 3.0 liter 200 HP engine. In its day it was about the hottest 4 door sedan around. The TSX specs are remarkable similar, but today, 200 HP is not much and I notice many people want to pep it up.
Also for comparison, I will mention that I drove a 2003 Corvette Z06, with over 400 HP, to the dealer (a friends car).
Hoy Fox Acura, in El Paso made a real good impression on me. By far the best dealer experience I have ever had. About the only things I didn't like is that their website shows cars in stock that are not there. Perhaps they are on the way. The Nissan national site also has problems though. The Owner Link section presents that it is able to show you the status of your ordered car, but does not. I was told it does on some models.
The demo car I drove in December was an automatic so I had no experience with the manual transmission. It was a delight to feel the short crisp throws and smooth and easy to modulate clutch. The Corvette and the Nissan are way behind on this. The Corvette 6 speed has a clunky feel and the Nissan has a lot of driveline lash. Another noticable thing is that the Corvette does not want to rev very high. It starts sort of thrashing and you sure want to shift around 5,000 RPM. This TSX four cylinder engine is phenomonally smooth and there is really very little clue of what the RPM is. This is a car that definitely needs the tach.
Where the Corvette is way ahead is on low RPM torque. It is very easy to start this car from a stop. You really don't need to rev it all, just let out the clutch and you have a smooth start. I found the TSX had all the power I want, but it is necessary to rev it a bit for the start, and it does feel a tad weak for the first second or two.
On the way home I had a lot of flat country and one mountain pass, where it was snowing. A lot of the rest of the trip was rainy. The Corvette and I were traveling together, he hitting 150 MPH on one pass of another vehicle, I hit a 100 on one of my passes. At 100 the car felt pretty much like it does at 50, smooth and quiet. Yes, I was following all the break-in procedures; no full throttle acceleration and no hard braking. The RPM at 100 MPH is not that high.
The trip home and some local driving have amounted to about 300 miles today and the computer MPG is sitting very close to 30. I checked the speedometer against the speed on the GPS diagnostic screen and found it very close. 75 MPH indicated was about 75.7 on the GPS.
Speaking of the GPS I have been very curious about it, as I don't see much chat about the things I am interested in. I am a GPS freak from way back, and have owned many automobile GPS models, all Garmins, with various road data bases. My current model is a Garmin 2610, which is a fine unit, that like all car GPS's, as far as I know, does many freaky things. I had bought the manual for the TSX GPS, so was pretty familiar with how it operates. It is very different from a Garmin, but easy to operate. The big negative is the road database. In my rural area it does not have near the completeness and accuracy of the Garmins. In my neighborhood, an "unverified area" it has most of the roads, but many of them are not in the right place. Many of the rural roads are not there at all. Oh well! I sure do like the big, built-in screen and maybe the road data will continue to improve.
This is my first vehicle with fairly low profile tires. On first look I figure, baby, this is going to ride hard. Not so at all. It actually rides a little more floaty and soft than I would really prefer. Very plush really.
The very idea of mods to this car turns my stomach. I thought I made it clear to the dealer that I wanted no extras, and I certainly didn't pay for any, but sure enough, the car showed up with the anti-theft lugnuts, trunk tray and those "splash guard" deals. I'll take all that stuff off tomorrow. Well maybe I'll leave the special lug nuts.
The only mod, I think might be worthwhile is tires. I'm not impressed with these Michelins. They don't have much grip on dry pavement and were really scary on wet cattleguards. If I wanted a lot more power, I would have bought a car with more power, not a car that is so beautifully well balanced, in ride, handling, fuel efficiency and fun.
Oh, fun! Yes, that is the big one. This car is a blast to drive. The smooth shifting transmission, nice suspension, rev happy engine and sublime exhaust note all make it a hoot to drive. And for a bargain price, with lots of nice toys. No choice at all between the TSX and the Corvette. The Corvette would be way better at the race track but is not close to as much fun.
For comparison, my previous sedan was a 1995 Nissan Maxima with a 3.0 liter 200 HP engine. In its day it was about the hottest 4 door sedan around. The TSX specs are remarkable similar, but today, 200 HP is not much and I notice many people want to pep it up.
Also for comparison, I will mention that I drove a 2003 Corvette Z06, with over 400 HP, to the dealer (a friends car).
Hoy Fox Acura, in El Paso made a real good impression on me. By far the best dealer experience I have ever had. About the only things I didn't like is that their website shows cars in stock that are not there. Perhaps they are on the way. The Nissan national site also has problems though. The Owner Link section presents that it is able to show you the status of your ordered car, but does not. I was told it does on some models.
The demo car I drove in December was an automatic so I had no experience with the manual transmission. It was a delight to feel the short crisp throws and smooth and easy to modulate clutch. The Corvette and the Nissan are way behind on this. The Corvette 6 speed has a clunky feel and the Nissan has a lot of driveline lash. Another noticable thing is that the Corvette does not want to rev very high. It starts sort of thrashing and you sure want to shift around 5,000 RPM. This TSX four cylinder engine is phenomonally smooth and there is really very little clue of what the RPM is. This is a car that definitely needs the tach.
Where the Corvette is way ahead is on low RPM torque. It is very easy to start this car from a stop. You really don't need to rev it all, just let out the clutch and you have a smooth start. I found the TSX had all the power I want, but it is necessary to rev it a bit for the start, and it does feel a tad weak for the first second or two.
On the way home I had a lot of flat country and one mountain pass, where it was snowing. A lot of the rest of the trip was rainy. The Corvette and I were traveling together, he hitting 150 MPH on one pass of another vehicle, I hit a 100 on one of my passes. At 100 the car felt pretty much like it does at 50, smooth and quiet. Yes, I was following all the break-in procedures; no full throttle acceleration and no hard braking. The RPM at 100 MPH is not that high.
The trip home and some local driving have amounted to about 300 miles today and the computer MPG is sitting very close to 30. I checked the speedometer against the speed on the GPS diagnostic screen and found it very close. 75 MPH indicated was about 75.7 on the GPS.
Speaking of the GPS I have been very curious about it, as I don't see much chat about the things I am interested in. I am a GPS freak from way back, and have owned many automobile GPS models, all Garmins, with various road data bases. My current model is a Garmin 2610, which is a fine unit, that like all car GPS's, as far as I know, does many freaky things. I had bought the manual for the TSX GPS, so was pretty familiar with how it operates. It is very different from a Garmin, but easy to operate. The big negative is the road database. In my rural area it does not have near the completeness and accuracy of the Garmins. In my neighborhood, an "unverified area" it has most of the roads, but many of them are not in the right place. Many of the rural roads are not there at all. Oh well! I sure do like the big, built-in screen and maybe the road data will continue to improve.
This is my first vehicle with fairly low profile tires. On first look I figure, baby, this is going to ride hard. Not so at all. It actually rides a little more floaty and soft than I would really prefer. Very plush really.
The very idea of mods to this car turns my stomach. I thought I made it clear to the dealer that I wanted no extras, and I certainly didn't pay for any, but sure enough, the car showed up with the anti-theft lugnuts, trunk tray and those "splash guard" deals. I'll take all that stuff off tomorrow. Well maybe I'll leave the special lug nuts.
The only mod, I think might be worthwhile is tires. I'm not impressed with these Michelins. They don't have much grip on dry pavement and were really scary on wet cattleguards. If I wanted a lot more power, I would have bought a car with more power, not a car that is so beautifully well balanced, in ride, handling, fuel efficiency and fun.
Oh, fun! Yes, that is the big one. This car is a blast to drive. The smooth shifting transmission, nice suspension, rev happy engine and sublime exhaust note all make it a hoot to drive. And for a bargain price, with lots of nice toys. No choice at all between the TSX and the Corvette. The Corvette would be way better at the race track but is not close to as much fun.
03-26-2005, 10:03 PM
#3
Cruisin'
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Originally Posted by virtualbong
Congrats, but it took almost 4 months to get the car to you! DAMN! Must of been a hell of a wait, but definitely worth it.
No, I feel great. It was scheduled for May.
03-26-2005, 10:08 PM
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congrats on the new tsx. i used to drive a mustang gt and i think the tsx is way more fun to drive. its got that nice light feel to it that is a great driving point to have.
03-26-2005, 11:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Carlos8542222
PWguy:
I have the TSX with navi. How do you get to the GPS diagnostic screen to verify speed with the speedometer?
Thanks
I have the TSX with navi. How do you get to the GPS diagnostic screen to verify speed with the speedometer?
Thanks
Select GPS information
Press MENU for 10 seconds.
Be carefull!
Cheers!
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03-27-2005, 08:38 PM
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Long write-up man, nicely done though 
Congrats on your new car!!!
Kinda funny that you happen to "compare" (I know you don't really mean to compare them) TSX with Corvette. Also that 200hp today is the same as 200hp 15 years ago, guess the real difference is that car weighs more now especially one like TSX with all the nice standard features it comes with
Anyway, enjoy your TSX! Good choice on the 6MT
Congrats on your new car!!!
Kinda funny that you happen to "compare" (I know you don't really mean to compare them) TSX with Corvette. Also that 200hp today is the same as 200hp 15 years ago, guess the real difference is that car weighs more now especially one like TSX with all the nice standard features it comes with
Anyway, enjoy your TSX! Good choice on the 6MT
03-28-2005, 06:39 PM
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Great write-up PW. Amazing that you can drive a 'vette to pick up your TSX and still remain objective. Good luck with your new ride. Give us more impressions after a week.
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