fdl

For me its 3rd gear from 4k-5k. This is when the smile on my face gets bigger.

But I am just coming out of my break in and have not yet broke 5k so maybe it gets sweeter after that I still have yet to experience 6-7k.

bowersan

Just wait till you hit the 6k mark and the vtec powers up.. the revs rip forward at that point... and the engine growls an aggressive whine, pulling you forward....

Just wait. The best is yet to come.

J.

sauceman

wiz

Just wait til you have over 7k miles on your car and when you hit the gas the engine growls at you. I kid you not...this thing will flat our fly and the engine will growl at you when you get the RPM's up there.

swami

Sweet. I can't wait.

fdl

So you can feel a difference between 7k+ from say...1k? Does it really loosen up that much?

wiz

Well, from what I can tell...yes I think it does. The car just feels a bit more peppier now and definitely sounds better. The gearbox is still as slick as ever, and the car just feels great to drive. I think it will only get better.

DEVO

how many miles do you have on the car? you are not going to break it to experience a full red line charge.

also, don't expect to be slammed to your seat by this "surge", what you will feel, is that the car could go on forever in that gear. you are not hunting for a gear as in other cars. IMO they should think about changing the vtec point a little earlier. 1k isn't enough.

fdl

Whats odd is that I have actually read a couple times that the power seemed to fall off at high rpms, which is very un-honda like. Perhaps this is the trade off for having more torque down low, but I will find out for myself soon

Brad

That's one of the main reasons why I always buy manual shift cars. Whenever I rent a car in the USA, they have only automatics, and everyone of them has ugly spots where the auto tranny hunts back and forth at certain speeds, usually at 27 mph and 40 mhp. It drives me nuts!!!

The TSX review on http://acura.jbroadtests.com/TSX/2004/index.php provides some useful driving impressions about the TSX's torque and rpm. The reviewer said that 3rd gear is "always there for you", from being "useful at 3600rpm/40mph to about 75mph". I've never gone 75 in 3rd gear before, but I do know that Honda's four-bangers are sweet and smooth!

donutchow

3600rpm at 40mph?? that seems AWFULLY high. i would think it should be around 3000rpm at 40mph in 3rd gear.

Brad

I don't even have my on-order TSX yet, so I have no point of reference about rpm's being high or low. The author of the article seemed to be impressed with the 3rd gear's range, tho.

fdl

Keep in mind the 6mt in the TSX is geared quite aggressively. That being said, 3600 is not high at all...especially considering the 7100 redline

Lung Fu Mo Shi

I will agree that the car just seems to keep on pulling past 60....past 80...past 100...and feels like it could keep going until you fly off the road.

DISRUPTV

wait till u get 10-15k miles on ur car...honda cars/engines are notorious for performing a lot better w/a few thousand miles on them and in colder weather versus warmer humid weather

wiz

I was in 4th today and going 40 and I thought the RPM read somewhere around 2600 to 2800...but I'm not totally sure. This would pur 3rd in at around anywhere from 3200 to 3500 RPM's going at 40.