JKWright

Yeah, I'm brand new. I've been browsing for several months as my wife and I decided what her next car would be. After driving a dozen or more cars we said, "TSX!" and ordered a Premium White Pearl/Parchment 6MT with Navigation at the end of December. We were given a written delivery promise of no later than March 1. How exactly the dealer will do that unless they plan to fly over to Japan and build the car themselves is beyond me, but nonetheless there it is.

We ended up paying an $1100 premium to get that car over the '06 PWP/Parchment/Navi 5AT they had sitting on the lot. Ticked me off almost to the point of walking away entirely from the TSX, but both of us fell in love with the car and decided to bite the bullet. Two other Dallas-area dealers offered horrendous prices of $2000 to $2500 over invoice for special-ordered cars and told us basically to take it or leave it. So we left it, twice, before finally getting $1300 over invoice ($29,100 including destination) at the third dealer. Hardly a great deal. Fairly sucky in fact. (They practically begged us to buy the 5AT on the lot for $28,000 including destination. Now THAT wouldn've been a more logical purchase.)

This is not a slam to you 5AT owners, but why Honda/Acura has chosen to build so few 6MT/Navi models is beyond both of us. Driving the car with the automatic transmission, it's a gussied-up European Accord. Dull as dishwater. Smooth. Nice. Well crafted. But unexciting in the extreme and slow enough to be embarrassed by Kias on occasion. The manual transmission absolutely brings this car to life. The little VTEC I4 just begs to rev to 7000 rpm and beyond without the slush of a torque converter to deal with, and it's such a joy to drive. I know about the whole nobody-drives-manuals-anymore-and-we-can't-sell-'em dealer line, but that clearly doesn't ring true with this car. Every dealer we visited said the same thing: We get in one or two 6MTs a month if we're lucky, and they're gone as soon as they're off the truck. Heck, only one dealer had a 6MT we could even drive, and that was a non-Navi model.

And on top of that, two dealers searched for 6MT/Navi models through a five-state area and came up with a total of seven vehicles, most in weird color combinations.

Contrast that with Infiniti and the '05 G35 6MT sedan in my garage. Nissan builds a decent number of 6MT sedans and ensures their dealers have a reasonable selection, so when I decided to get the car last year, I had my choice of colors on the lot as well as a ton scattered throughout Texas they could grab. I finally had mine trucked in from Austin at $500 over invoice just a few weeks after the '05s arrived on dealer lots.

Enough of the Honda inventory/production rant. Great car, we're excited, and like the true nerd I am I'm all atwitter about the friggin' incredible Honda/Acura navigation system and HandsFreeLink. (The TSX may be down on power, but no manufacturer even comes close to Honda's navigation systems at twice the price. I've looked at 'em all.) Assuming the car comes in before I die of old age, I'll post photos here. This forum seems like a nice place to be.

Thanks, and best regards!

'06 TSX 6MT Premium White Pearl/Parchment/Navi [on order]
'05 G35 sedan 6MT Pearl White/Stone

GIBSON6594

gsclifton

iTrader: (2)

What dealerships did you work with?

LuvMyTSX

Those prices really aren't bad, at least compared to NJ and other places where a lot of dealers won't even go under MSRP. I'd be happy with what you got. Congrats and enjoy.

julyccc

First I want to say welcome to the forum. I am brand new myself. I just picked up a
2005 TSX with Navigation 6M (carbon Grey)

The dealers has two 05, one red and one carbon grey and they are both 6M with navi

It seems like the are having a hard time selling becasue it a 6M and 05

They gave me a deal on the carbon grey with navi 6M i got below invoice. 26700 + (wheel locks and guard) + tax and fees

i agree that 6M is the way to go on this car. makes a huge difference. Most dealers do not want to stock too many 6M as they are not in high demand

Newplay1

awesome... but parchment interior eh? wifey said so?

JKWright

First off, thanks for the welcome everyone. And LuvMyTSX, I really appreciate your comments on the price we paid. I know you have to take Internet posts with a grain of salt, paricularly regarding deal-bragging, but I've seen so many "I paid $500 under invoice for my '06 TSX" posts that my perspective on price is probably skewed.

We haggled with Vandergriff in Arlington, David McDavid in Plano and Goodson in Irving. We bought from Goodson. I had the worst dealer sales experience I've had in 10 years at Vandergriff regarding pricing. Puzzles me still because I've seen a bunch of favorable posts about that dealership. But the guy gave me a number, and I told him it wasn't even close and here's my (I thought very reasonable) counteroffer, and he politely showed me the door. E-mailed me the next day to say, "If I got to number X, would it help?" I told him yes but we'd still have talking to do and never heard back from him. Not even a, "Sorry, can't do it, good luck." And this was the Internet sales manager. Great service.

That's opposite of what I experienced. Could've been lied to of course, but all three dealers said the same thing: Acura sends us what they send us and we don't have much say in it. And what they send are 5AT cars by the bushelful for every one 6MT, and that one 6MT generally lasts a handful of days on the lot before it goes home with someone. And on top of that 6MT/Navi cars are so rare, they claimed, you'd think I was looking to buy a purple polka-dotted Ferrari for all the cajoling it took to get one.

That was a mutual decision. I really dug it and so did she. The last several cars we've had all had black or gray interiors. Time for something different. And we thought the plood was some of the best-looking stuff we'd ever seen. Makes some REAL wood trim, like the extra-cost factory Rosewood veneer available on the '05 and '06 G35 that I thought was sorta sharp, look fakey.

Again, thanks for the kind words!

JeffS

Hey, be nice to us auto drivers. I do know what you mean about the stick is soooo much more fun, but city driving is a pain some days. I am half way thru this tank, and my average MPH on the trip computer is 11. I get excited when I get up to the speed limit anymore. How sad is that?

Tintin

Congrats!

IlliNorge

What you say about the 6MT being essential rings true to me. I could not agree more. I just put a deposit on a 06 6MT navi--red with ebony interior. Got invoice +1000, which is as good as I could do with such a "rare" beauty. They offered a reasonable amount for my trade-in considering it won't be until April until it happens. IL tax (6.75%) and license fees ($137) are relatively low. I talked with the GM and he said they are authorized to receive about 8-9 TSX's per month (which is a lot, according to him) and he has complete control over which is 6MT and 5AT. He says he usually gets only two 6MT's and these are special orders, because Chicago is big time auto tranny land. Fact is, the dealers are NOT told what they can and can't order from Acura.

gsclifton

iTrader: (2)

About what I expected.

Back in Nov of '03 haggling on a 2004

DMD = no haggle period

I purchased from Goodson as well. Congrats on the new ride.

xingu

Just to make you feel a little better, I don't think anyone is paying $500 UNDER invoice for an 06 TSX. The best prices we've seen on this board are more in the $500 OVER invoice range.

West6MT

Welcome, and congrats on the new car.

psteng19

You must not be negotiating properly.
NJ has some of the best deals out there because there are at least 4 dealers within a 50 mile drive from where I am.
If you check around the forums, most are getting TSX's for a couple hundred over invoice.

And congrats to the OP and his wife for keeping manuals in demand

Eeyore

Amen Brother!

paranode

Hey I know just what you mean. We probably drove the same 6MT, was it that black one at Vandergriff? The only one I could find in the metroplex. I ended up ordering an Arctic Blue Pearl 6MT for a good price from Vandergriff, though Goodson had a decent offer too.

ninjamyst

Hey, Just wondering which dealer you went to? Did you actually get to test drive a 6MT?? From what my dealer told me, no one has 6MT on their lots yet. Also, is 6.75% IL tax standard? I thought it was higher for people living in Chicago...

vitocorleone

Congrats. Guess I find dishwater more exciting than rowing through gears stuck in traffic on the hills of downtown Seattle and the surrounding freeways. You have some traffic in Dallas, but you have no terrain. Also, I never race cars, so I don't care if a bicycle is faster as long as I'm comfortable and having fun carving corners (if you bought the TSX to have a fast car you bought the wrong car - it's easy to buy a fast car, impossible to buy such an exquisitely balanced package for the price of the TSX). To each their own.

IlliNorge

Continental in Naperville. I test drove an '05 6MT figuring the gear box was the same for '06. You are right--nobody has '06 MT on any lot in Chicago. The 6.75% is for every IL county but Cook (I live in Kane). There is a surplus for people in the city itself.

Brandon24pdx

Well, It unlikely a dealer will have the exact car you want, whatever the car may be. Youll have to wait but at least you're gettting the one youll be happy with.

They didnt have any 6MT TSX's when I bought mine either. Told me the demand wasnt that great for them, which I fully believe. If theyd had one I would have been tempted im sure, but Im sort of enjoying letting the car do the shifting for a change.

JKWright

No, it was a non-Navi at Goodson. Can't remember the color, just the snick-snick of that great manual shifter.
Sorry if I offended. Really. Didn't mean to do so. My wife and I are both such driving enthusiasts (and yes, manual transmission snobs) that sometimes I may come across too strongly. I ticked off a buddy at work a few years ago when I looked at hime crosswise for wanting to buy a 350Z with an automatic; had to mend the fence there a bit. So please accept my apologies.

And regarding the TSX's quickness (or lack thereof, manual or automatic), you're exactly right. That's why we have the 298-horse G35. However, in our case we like to wring every last horsepower out of a given powertrain configuration other things being equal (i.e., unless the manual is a dog). Besides, my wife is trading her '02 G20 Sport 5MT and its, um, overwhelming 145 crank horsepower, so I know all about buying a car for reasons other than acceleration.

I've seen at least two posts on the "other" TSX/Acura forums from people claiming to have paid a few hundred under invoice for their '06 TSXs. You guys would know more than I, but those posts carry exactly zero credence with me. I think your $500 over invoice number is much closer to the truth.

Bass Mechanic

JK, i think your dealer was handing you a line of bull the 6MT is not that hard to find. they probly just didnt want to trade with any other dealers. a simple search of dealers across the state as well as neighboring states will turn up your car i am sure. white has to be more popular than black. even though i had mine ordered there are 3 6mt navi with black on black in the US. i just didnt feel like having them shipped across the entire US to get one.
as for the color i am trading in a black with parchment, ill never buy another light colored interior car again. i knew it would be hard to keep clean inside but despite my best efforts im glad im trading it in as the floor mats would have to be replace if i were to keep it.
the seats show dirt and need to be cleaned almost every time i wash the car.
but to each his own, if i were you i wouldnt have paid more for a car that had to be ordered. thats plain stupid, they order cars all the time. at my dealer they simply swapped a CG 6 speed navi for my Black on black 6 speed navi with a dealer in texas. both cars are being built on the same day and both are going to be on the same shipment and arrive on teh same boat in LA. they will just switch the order at the dock and the CG we were supposed to get goes to TX and the black comes here.
it takes approximatly 2-3 weeks from build date to delevery date. the cars come from japan to LA in the US and then trucked or sent via rail to dealers across the US.

JKWright

Could be, but as I mentioned two different dealers searched five states and came up with basically the same story. The third tried to tell us what we should buy ("You want a manual in that car? It'll kill resale...") so we walked away before we got that far. So unless all three were in collusion to avoid taking our money, the truth is that it's a matter of Honda's very limited 6MT/Navi supply versus demand, and demand is losing.
That was a classy combination. I think a freshly washed black car looks incredible. But I'm hot natured and a black car in Texas makes me sweat just thinking about it, plus the fact that swirl marks drive me bonkers and I'd spend three hours a week polishing them out.

Regarding the Parchment interior color: Our Infiniti dealer was nice enough to throw in a set of black factory cloth floormats when we bought the G35 and its light-gray interior. They look awesome with the color-matched black upper dash and are a snap to keep clean. Plus we'll have the original gray in brand-new condition when we trade the car. So we did the same thing with the TSX; they'll match the black upper dash as well and should lend a little sportier look to the interior. I'm not sure what you mean about it being hard to keep a light-colored interior clean though. It's a snap on the G35 and we have a daughter in a car seat. Just wash your hands and clothes regularly before getting in the car.
Put the dunce hat on me then. I wasn't thrilled either, but we really wanted the TSX. Then again if cars weren't an emotional purchase for us we would've bought an Explorer.

That being said, Acura was CLEARLY throwing some year-end money at the dealers in December. All three Dallas-area shops we visited offered '06 5AT/Navi from their lots at $28,000 to $28,600 + TTL (including delivery) with hardly an ounce of haggling. None of them particularly wanted to talk to us about ordering a car and allowing us the "privilege" of paying thousands more to do so. Pretty simple to connect those dots: We have a zillion 5AT cars we'd like to move on our lots; Honda is throwing us money for every unit we sell before December 31; we want to increase our year-end sales totals; therefore, buy that 5AT over there today or you'll pay a grand more in three months. Neither of us was happy with that kind of treatment coming from Infiniti and it very nearly killed the TSX altogether, but we loved the little car too much and bought it anyway.

Good luck on your car. That black'll look sharp.