This past weekend, I got my first opportunity to do a marathon road trip in the TSX. Longest drive I've ever done by myself with no breaks.

Stats:
Miles Driven: 897.9
Drive Time: approx. 12 hours total time (round-trip)
Gas Mileage: 29.522
Driving split: 11% city/ 89% highway
Average speed: approx. 75 mph
Peak speed: approx. 90 mph
Average outside temperature: 35ºF

Friday afternoon, I started out from the DC Metro area towards Western Massachussetts. Roughly a 6.5 hour drive at the speed limit. Right before the trip, I had the seat sliding, trunk wiring harness recall, and door rattle TSB performed so the car was particularly quiet. Wheels/tires were also rotated.

The car is suprisingly comfortable for such a long trip. Six hours of music loaded into the CD changer made the trip a breeze and the car just ate up the miles. Minor romps up to 90 mph for passing were easily executed and, as the numbers show, fuel mileage was surprisingly good (the best I've seen from my car by far). Smooth and comfortable ride, the seats were supportive and even in traffic (the entire state of Connecticut officially made my shit-list this weekend) I was comfortable.

Allowing the TSX to stretch its legs like this really highlights the good and the bad of the car.

First, the good:
1. Incredible highway car (just absolutely devours mile after mile of highway)
2. Very sweet motor (anyone that says this engine is inadequate for regular highway driving duties is insane)
3. Excellent seats (six hours in the same seat doesn't lie)
4. Excellent sound system (for a factory stereo, it's pretty damn good, especially after many hours of listening)
5. HIDs are amazing for night-time driving (I must have these on my next car...)

Now, the bad:
1. Despite its weight, it is still affected by crosswinds (heavy 30-40 mph gusts)
2. HIDs are very bright and result in continued flashing from other motorists

Overall, the car is amazing and makes for a great roadtrip car. I almost look forward to the repeat of this weekends drive in 2 months. For all my fellow owners, enjoy the car when you can. It's fantastic. For those considering the TSX, there really is no better car for the price.

 

Nice write up CG. Might be worth noting, what was the average temperature for the trip? This may be a reason why you didn't get +30 MPG considering it was 89% Hwy driving.

 

I used to make freakin' trips down to DC. 6.5 hrs is good time. I remember it took me 10 hours to get down there because I hit traffic in every freakin state that I crossed to get to DC. Connecticut SUCKS big time because it seems like I-84 is in constant road repair. Yeah, your highway MPG should of been a little better than that.

 

Good point. Change made.

And actually, if you account for traffic and my leadfoot, the mileage is not bad...

 

35F explains alot. If it was 55+ you would have been over 30 for sure. Either way, excellent mileage.

 

No pee-pee break?

It sometimes takes me 6 hours to get to Philly from D.C. on Friday afternoons.

 

Nope, I made sure not to drink a lot of liquids before I left, but when I got where I was going, the bathroom was the first place I looked for...

 

The longest trip I have made thus far in the TSX is 280 miles (one-way) and I found it to be very comfortable. It might be even more comfortable than the Pontiac 6000 when it was new. In the 6000, I drove 1200+ miles without stopping on at least three occassions and was not uncomfortable when I arrived.

Here are some planned trips and one-way distances:

Savannah, GA 310 miles, 5.25 hrs.
Washington, DC 500 miles, 8.0 hrs.
New Orleans, LA 710 miles, 12.0 miles

No long trips to Key West, Canada, or Mexico (border towns) are currently anticipated.

 

there's door rattle TSB now? is that passenger or the driver side?

 

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...ht=door+rattle

 

The first long trip I did in my TSX was about 3 weeks after I bought it. I call it my "break it in" trip. My wife and I drove from Calgary Alberta in Canada through Montana, Idaho, Utah and Nevada to Los Angeles and back (9 days). It was a great trip, made even better by our amazing new car. 3 months later we did a bit of the Oregon coast, from the California border up to Lincoln City. We're probably going to do another big Western State trip this June. I can't wait. What made the trip even more enjoyable was bringing my 20GB MP3 player along and listening to my music collection through the FM tuner. No more arguing over what CDs to bring - just bring everything!

 

I agree with CG that the TSX is a great highway cruiser (not too shabby on the twisties either). We've taken ours to San Diego, Laughlin, and Big Sur. No dissapointments yet. It felt equally at home on US101 at 80mph and on CA1 hugging the coast at 35 mph.

Longest trip yet coming up this weekend. LA - San Francisco - Wine Country (Santa Rosa) - LA . Will post a report (and some pics if its not raining the entire time).

 

CGTSX2004:

You had the following quote:

"I had the seat sliding, trunk wiring harness recall, and door rattle TSB performed so the car was particularly quiet."

I was not aware that there aware that there was a seat sliding or wiring hard recall. Specially the seat sliding. Can anyone confirm this and is it on only the 2004s or also the 2005s?

Thank you.

 

Here's some info on the seat sliding issue: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2002

and the recall for the trunk wiring harness is here: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18946

 

Adamtaylor:

When you hooked up an mp3 player such as an ipod through the FM Tuner, didn't you have to change the frequency often as you traveled through different states and got different radio stations?

My understanding is that as you do long distance driving, you will get interference as the frequency your ipod was tuned to starts getting reception from a radio station using that frequency.

Thanks.

 

CG-very welcome review on the highway characteristics of the TSX. Obviously, there's a lot of handling in the twisties reviews out there and we all love the car for that, but my reality is that I will also spend many hours droning down the interstate in pursuit of my daily bucks so its great to hear that the TSX will work well in my typical 200-300 jaunt.

 

Great write up CG!

I too driven my TSX on long distance trips too, many times. Last major (over 10 hours) trip was back in June 2004 from Chicago to Fairfax, VA. It took 13 hours and 698 miles. I averaged about 31 MPG on that trip, though my TSX had trouble going up the Appalachian Mountains on I-68 in Maryland during several occasions....nonetheless a nice highway car, very quiet....

I've made other trips to Kansas, Columbus, Ohio, Toronto in my TSX too, and those have been nice trips too.

 

Good review CG.

Yes, the TSX is an excellent touring car. I actually think it's one of the better kept secrets on the highway right now.

 

Let me guess....5AT

 

He's a 6MT guy...

 

Upgrading the rear sway bar oughta help with the car reacting to crosswinds on the highway right?
I was reading the thread about the reviews on the progress sway bar install and the dude said that the TSX did feel a little unstable at 80-100mph however the progress sway bar made the TSX stable all the way up.

 

The only thing the rear sway bar'll do is just stiffen up the rear. It's still effected by the crosswinds, but since there is less body roll/sway, it's more controllable.

Nice write up CG'! Personally I think the seats are a bit hard for drives longer than four hours. Other than that, they're comfortable and sturdy.
As far as the crosswinds go...
The aerodynamic design that helps slice through the air at forward velocities with a coefficient of drag less than that of the lovely NSX... inhibits, or rather, makes the car more succeptible to the effects of crosswinds. That's the only downside to good aero's.

 

the only thing bad about my road trip was the loud wind noise and road noise at 70+
sounded like i was in a plain. but, my last car was german, so that kind of spoiled me.

 

German cars are quiet on the highway for the most part.
However, you'd think that since our TSX is also the "euro" accord, it would also be designed to run on the autobahn.
I'm not saying the TSX is loud. It's just a "different" quiet than the German cars. Oh well... I have no complaints.