Its a great family car..I drive around with my two little girls in her. Plenty of room in back for two car seats and you can fit a normal sized person inbetween (a bit snug, but they will fit)
. I my self have one more on the way so I'm looking for another kid hauler for my wife inplace of her 01 mirage.

 

Judging from where you all live, the TSX would be fine there...

but not down here in socal! we got random potholes, broken roads, cracked asphault, manholes everywhere...

 

Love my TSX as a fun family car.

 

That happens everywhere!

 

lol i personally didn't really get tsx as a faimly sedan, but it will do just fine.

 

What's not to get? I don't have enough money to buy a comfortable/reliable commuting car AND a safe/practical family car AND a recreational sporty car. If I was rich, I could buy a Lexus IS250 AND a Volvo V70 AND a Porsche Cayman S, but I haven't won the lottery yet. So I'm trying to find one decently-affordable car that can do all three. The TSX seems like a great jack-of-all-trades option.

 

The TSX is not for you. The back seat is small. The suspension is stiff. You will kill your baby in the back seat in no time. I've tried to put 2 baby seats in the back seat. There is no space to do it.

 

If you want the TSX then get it, it is an Accord after all. The Japanese and Europeans use theirs as a family car, it's just small because a lot of us Americans are more big boned and fatter than the Japanese and some European families.

 

Same boat as you, bought the TSX over accord. Dont even think about any coupe. One thing to keep in mind... there are very strong rumors that the new (2006) honda civic Si will come out in sedan form in 2007 - same great engine and 6MT. If it happens, It will be a very interesting alternative to the current TSX. We will all know by next summer.

 

My suggestion is that you go for an Accord. I think it is bigger and generally more "family friendly."

One of the various models available is certainly more in line with your budget.

This from a previous Accord owner, now a TSX owner.

 

I would say it will work if you children are still young. I would not recommend it if you are going to use it to shuttle them around in it all the time. My boys are 7 and 3 and they do fine in it, but there is not a whole lot of room behind the front seats for anyone larger. We use my wifes vehicle as our primary "family" transportation so my kids don't see the backseat much of the TSX. I came from an 02 Accord Sedan so the backseat area being smaller was a bit of an adjustment.

If you really need a lot of room (and you are going to use it as your families primary transportation) I would definitely look at the new accords-we went car shopping for my wife the other day and the back seats on those are very roomy-even more so than they used to be IMO. Good Luck with your decision.

 

I agree, i'm 5'10" ...the backseats are a joke...my power seat is almost scooted back 90% of the way..... there is probably 6-7" max. of foot clearance between the backrest of the driver seat to the backseat.

whoever sits behind me, i tell them go sit on the passenger side of the backseat... they're like why..and i said..because you'll be crammed to hell!! then i would tell the passenger in front to scoot their seat up more.....

 

i just said i personally didn't get(buy) as a faimly sedan lol, i never "disagreed". Well Is250 is about couple of grand more expensive than tsx/nav, and volvo???? but then your budget is 22k, why not camry or accord?? Nice 4 cylinder base model accord would be around your budget.

 

The 4cyl Camry does have a soft ride, but if I have a choice, I'd rather take the TSX. I have access to a Camry and have taken, well, 4 people and the baby, as I recall, in both cars, but the sloppy suspension makes me nervous.

As for the TSX... It's a little tight in the back with the car seat, but it can be done if people don't mind a bit of inconvenience. The backseat isn't small at all. I don't put my seat back all the way, though -- I drive stick shift, so I like to be close enough to work the pedals comfortably.

Coming from a Prelude, the rear seat (and trunk!) seems huge. And to the person who suggested a coupe for a baby seat, you should try it sometime! On the Prelude, I had to put the seat on one side, take the baby in on the OTHER side of the car, crawl across the back seat, all while not dropping the baby.... No, nothing will get you into a sedan quicker than that experience.

Baby likes the TSX just fine. While driving, I recently got some "Wow" comments. Not sure why, but I'll take that as approval.

So, yes, the TSX is a "family" car, at least the secondary family car, for us. It's probably the sportiest thing I could find and still be OK with safety and interior room. As someone else mentioned, you can put the seat in the middle, which I prefer.

Here's what I did -- take your car seat with you while car shopping. Don't buy a car if it looks like there's not enough room, and be sure to sit in the front seats so that you have enough room in the front after moving the seat back and forth. Remember, you need some "air" around the seat. When it's backwards-facing, you need a bit of space behind it so that, in case of a crash, it does not get hit directly by the front seat. With LATCH it shouldn't take but a few minutes to install it -- it goes a lot faster than doing it the old way!

If you need more room, our other car is a Forester, which someone else mentioned above. The XT model is quite fast, and will still give you some sporty feeling. Sure, it screams family car, but it is a sports car on the inside. Lots of storage room, but the seating room isn't much better than the TSX. Worst thing is the poor MPG. Well, can't have it all. It's the primary baby-hauler and pretty nice to drive.

I know the Camry's supposed to be nice and all, but I dunno... just not quite my style! At least the 4-cyl is very peppy. Definitely usable power.

 

I drive a 2005 TSX everyday with myself and my 3 boys. Ages 3, 5, and 8 and we have no problems.

 

Have you seen the back seat on the Lexus? It's about the size of my Civic coupe. The TSX would be a much better family car than the Lexus IS. Besides, when I say I'm looking at TSXs, I mean 2004 TSXs with moderately high mileage, not 2006 TSXs with nav.

One word: reliability. Even besides handling (the S40 and V50 handled nicely when I drove them, but I've heard a lot of poor stuff about the S60/V70), Volvos simply can't compete with Honda/Acura in reliability.

The Camry is, in my opinion, the epitome of "boring car." As for a 4 cylinder Accord, yeah, a 2004 EX 4-cylinder would be very very affordable and would be a good family car. But as I've stated above, I want a car that's ALSO fun to drive, and while the Accord is decently engaging to drive, it can't compete with the TSX (yes, I've test-driven both).

 

But there's a spectrum, not a clear line, between these two categories. Both the TSX and the Accord V6 6MT recently competed in C&D's "Everyday Heroes" test--family sedans that double as sport sedans.

No manual transmission though.

 

Wow, that's an unusual review. I have a few questions:

(1) What brand and models of car seat did you try to fit in there? Was it forward-facing or rear-facing? I'll obviously need a rear-facing one to begin with.

(2) Were you trying to use the center seat, or the side seats?

(3) Did you have the front seats all the way rearward?

 

I'm 5'11 and the first chance I got I asked my ~6'5 friend to try and sit in the seat behind my seat without adjustments. He fit... though I'm sure it wouldn't have been a comfortable ride, but it's not like he had his knees in his jaw or anything. Head room was a different story of course. His hair was touching the roof, but it's not like he was hunched over.
Anyway...
I have a rear facing child seat on the passenger rear side. No the front seat cannot be slid all the way back if the car seat is in the mount, but without the seat there's a good amount of room to slide back pretty far without bumping into the mount. I use the Graco Snugride.

 

That's very useful to know! I'll look into that model. Like I said above, I'm 5'6". When I test-drove the TSX, the driver's seat was at least halfway forward.

 

I managed to learn to move my seat closer, to give my friends some slack, i'm 5'8 and most of my friends are all and don't mind sitting anywhere in the car.

Although middle rear seat sucks no head rest is what people hate heh.