I'd been looking at new cars off and on for months -- I had to replace my G20 and I would have stayed with Infiniti but the G35 just didn't do it for me. I drove an A4 (nice but slightly tight cabin and pretty spendy) a 325i (I'd had a 320i back in the day; Bimmers are still the standard but it seemed hard to justify blowing 40K to get what I wanted), an IS 250 (nice drivetrain but again too tight an interior and a tiny trunk) and even a Legacy GT (Didn't feel like 250 horses to me and even though they upgraded the interior it still seemed pretty low rent). I even glanced at an S40 (way improved in '05 but still a ways to go).

Then I stumbled onto the TSX -- I'd dropped in to check out a TL (proved to be larger than I wanted) and suddenly it all came together -- here was a car that did it all: superb handling, plenty of usable room, decent trunk, way-above average sound system, bluetooth -- all at a price up to 10K less that anything from Der Vaterland -- so then it was a case of what color and Navi or not. (Now that I'm ancient and I drive in traffic a lot I'd decided to go auto).

As soon as I checked out navi it sold itself; so now the big decision was color. The DGP chip looked great but I didn't like that color on a car, and Silver is nice enough but my G20 (and my wife's car) is silver and I was tired of it. I really liked CGP but I didn't like either the Ebony (never have liked black interiors) or the Quartz (just a bit dark for my taste). That left RBP; there again I thought Ebony was too dark so that left Parchment -- which seemed bright at first but it really grew on me.

The dealer installs splash guards/trunk tray/all season floor mats/wheel locks on all TSXs; only upgrades I'm planning are the tires -- probably Avons or Bridgestones, based upon Tire Rack's recommendations.

I took delivery last Thursday and we drove to the Oregon Coast for the weekend; here's a look see:

 

Wow, that's quite a nice shot, the blue really stands out against the neutral background. Congrats on the car!

 

Nice 2nd post. Congrats on the purchase and welcome to Azine. Your plan now may only be to upgrade the tires but, if you stick around here, you're going to be wanting a sway bar, then an intake, then hondata, then ....... well, you get the point.

jlukja, who doen't like being 6 years removed from ancient.

 

was it 6MT or automatic? which dealership in oregon? HOw much did you end up paying?

 

He went with automatic transmission.

I was debating on getting RBP for my color choice to but the only ones in stock in the pacific northwest were all automatic transmission
I just had to have a manual to go with this car!

There's a dealership in Washington that has like 2 or 3 RBP on the floor but theyre all automatic!

Congrats on your new car!

 

hey NICE car!!!!! btw twisteds2k i believe its a auto...

i like the tsx... but im not sure if the vsa is THAT good? tell me if it is..

 

congrats!!!

 

Wow, nice backdrop! Looks like it belongs in a brochure. Really makes the car look royal...sophistcated! Congrats!

 

I"m still waiting for my 6MT with nav. It's gonna be a long time before I get to sit in one

 

Congrats on the car, now its time to mod it.

 

I'm with you on the "way above average sound system" and the usable room, including cabin and trunk. It's amazing how the opinions of the audio differ on this forum.

 

Thanks for the compliments on the pic -- the TSX is the sort of subject that doesn't require much photo talent to really shine!

I looked at the two closest dealers to me: Ron Tonkin Acura and Acura of Portland. Both are fairly convenient -- I live near Tonkin and I work near Acura of Portland, and both treated me well. We used to own a Legend which had some dealer service at Acura of Portland, so I was happy with the service department. I went with Acura of Portland, though, mainly because they had the car I wanted in stock. I was willing to wait for the car I wanted, but I think a dealer is going to more readily deal with a car on the lot than a car he has to work to get in any way. I ended up paying 29K for the car (w/navi), which is about $500 from what I thought was the best deal possible. One thing Ac. of Portland does is assemble a set of dealer add-ons they call the Northwest Package, which includes splash guards/trunk tray/all-season floor mats/wheel locks. At first these seemed pretty frivolous, but I've come to appreciate the mats and the splash guards -- it does, after all, rain a tiny bit here in the Pacific Northwest!

Acura of Portland also offers a program called 'Customer For Life' which means you get 2 days free car rental/year, various service and parts discounts, and free tires for life (the stock Michelins, alas) if you have the dealer do the required services. This would be a tempting option if they threw decent tires into the mix.

Like I said both dealers treated me well, although one tiny surprize came when negotiations commenced: Tonkin acted like other high end dealers I've ever dealt with (Saab, Volvo, BMW, Infiniti, Jaguar) -- the salesman didn't constantly run to see what the Sales Manager thought, and he never pulled out a sheet with a matrix showing 'your payment will be' or the like. That's what did unfold at Ac. of Portland -- not overbearing, but also something I associate more with mass car lots than upscale ones. Because of this, if both lots had the car I wanted, and if the price were close, I'd probably have gone with Tonkin.

I went with the auto because of my main use for the car -- commuting, often in traffic. If i do need to shift myself, I have a '66 E-type -- but that car doesn't go out much in our Northwest rain, so it's pretty much a summer driver. The M6 is one sweet tranny, but the TSX has the oomph for the A5. I'm still breaking my car in, so I haven't redlined it, but I pushed a test-driver pretty hard. It's amazing how Honda can get 205 horses out of 2.4 liters. Back in the day Jaguar needed 4.2 to generate 265 (although the torque curve is quite different!), which they used to great effect in LeMans in the 50s --

 

Gorgeous color. I love RBP. If I were upgrading from my '04, I'd totally get RBP.

 

Welcome aboard! Please share some more pics with us!

 

where are the rear headrest? nice color, looks good . your lucky... bluuueeetoooothhh....and you got thoe new blue gauges.....

 

nice color and a great pic with that background photo. It makes the color stand out a lot and show that the tsx is the BEST

 

Sweet car dude...I'd lose the splash guards though. They wear away the paint underneath them. Honestly, the car looks better without em anyway.

 

thanks for the write up. One thing I want to add is that Ron Tonkin and Acura of Portland both offer the same 'Customer for Life program' for free I think this is a way to get you to buy their car. As for the Northwest protection package. I opted not to get this since I ordered my car straight from the manufacturer. The dealership usually adds on the accessories then includes the charge onto the cost of the car. Usually the cost is almost non-negotiable. I think it is one of many ways for the dealer to make the extra profit I saved almost $800 by opted not to have these installed on my car. I rather purchase them separately and then install them myself. Anyways, congrats on the new car. I hope to see you driving down 217 one of these days

 

Congrats on the sweet '06, Casey! Welcome to AZ, also. This site is a great resource for info on the TSX, and for mods. Jlukja is right. If you stick around long enough, you might find yourself getting bit by modding bug something fierce!


Enjoy the car. Nice to have another Pacific Northwesterner on board.

 

I've actually found that if you insist you don't want dealer installed option X and you aren't going to pay for it many dealers will give it to you for free rather than take it off or lose a sale.

 

Beautiful picture congrads on the new car!

Later
Damon
2006 TSX
TSX Avg MPG

 

That's a good question. I'd like to know the answer to that one!
Beautiful car! Great colour choice.

 

Great looking car and I am a little partial to RBP, so great colour choice.

I haven't seen that shade of RBP yet, looks great! Once the sun gets a little higher here in the sky, I hope to see some new shades as well.

In May, I will be driving through your State on the way to San Fran, I hope to take some pics along your coast as well.

Congrats.



Excited