dom

So I was down in Detroit on Saturday for the show. Its been two years since I was there and the 03 show was where I first saw the TSX and its competitors and decided to buy it.

So this year I decided to take a close look at what appears to be the TSX's main competiton. I came out of the show even happier with my decesion to buy the TSX than ever before. There wll always be a better car available, but IMO, a year and 8 months later the TSX is still the best choice in the sport sedan/entry lux market for under 30K US or 35K CAD.

Mazda 6 - April 03 was the last time I was in this car. I had truly forgotten how bad the interior was. Its plaugued by cheap plastics and a dash reserverd for a kids play set. It comes nowhere near the level of the TSX's interior. and I'm glad I didn't buy one.

Volvo S40 - Can you say small? When this thing first came out I recall we had some arguments about how big it was in comparison to the TSX. The numbers showed it should have about as much interior space as the TSX. Numbers can definently be deceiving, this car is the same size as the Mazda 3 it was built off. No rear seat space and no shoulder room. Not to mention the interior quality still isn't as nice as the TSX's, better than the Mazda's but it still falls well short.

Audi A4 - Can't really say anything negative about the A4. Its looks good inside and out and the interior was beautifully put together and the doors closed with such a beautiful thud I couldn't stop opening and closing it just for that reason (A6 too) Then why would I still buy the TSX over the A4? Price and reliability.

G35 - I know its not in direrct competition with the TSX but since I sat in it for awhile I'll give my Ext styling IMO is awful. I liked the G35 for all of 3 days before the styling looked dated. And I'm not sure where exactly Infiniti improved the interior but it still looked cheap and poorly put together IMO. The plastic looks 3 notches lower than the plastic used in the TSX. The price pushes it out for me as well.

Subaru Legacy - This was the first time I had sat in one. It was a 2.5 GT and I have to say I was quite impressed. The leather felt like a better quality than the TSX and I couldn't see where they cut corners on interior quality and finish, it looked great. Not quite as nice as the TSX but far better than the M6, S40 and G35. It was fairly spacious as well and the exterior also looked sharp. To be honest It was the one car that I wished I had waited for but then the car's $42K CAD price tag would have pushed me away anyway. Subaru did a nice job with this car.

Now if they can only do something about the B9's front end styling

BMW 3 series - Didn't sit in one, too expensive.

Saab 9-3 - Didn't even go in that direction.


The one car I did see that I thought was great was the Audi A3. Great int and ext styling but is was locked so I couldn't get inside and get an idea of quality or space, looks like a winner though.

Dan Martin

Good review domn.

Did you see the King Motorsports TSX in the basement with every possible Mugen part available? That thing was crazy.

NJtsx

what!!! Dont you have any pics of that?

Dan Martin

I do. I'll post some up tonight.

For some reason I have the front, back, wheels and interior but I forgot to take a side shot.

dzuy

you deserve to be hit over the head with a fish.

dom

I have some pics of that TSX as well. The rims had me memorized. They are perfect match for the car, beautiful.

Dan you sit in the M5? Great seats, horrible, horrible interior.

The M45/35 was nice as well. Nice dash layout but agin the plactics used IMO were sub par.

And I'm not sure what the hell Lutz was thinking with all the black plastic moulding on the ZO6? It has a small plastic wing, plastic around each wheel well and around each opening. NOt sure if that will make production but geez, its a 75K car, at least use a hifg quality plastic and a dark black plastic that will be less noticeable.

Dan Martin

I've always said those Mugen rims are the hottest thing for the TSX and I've only ever seen one car with them on. Did you like the 4 wheel StopTech BBK?

I had a seat in the M5 and I thought the same thing. The dash is FUBAR. The engine was a sight to behold though.

I was pretty impressed by the M45 but I kept thinking the exterior reminded me a lot of a Maxima. What the hell was up with that purple umpa-lumpa mobile that Infiniti brought?

There were a few strange bits on the Z06 but I'd still get one in a heartbeat. Speaking of weird plastic wings, did you see that Sebring with the factory ricewing on the back?

dom

No, I didn't see that Sebring, My time at Chrysler was mostly spent around the Charger and SRT's.

Not sure what the hell Lexus was thinking with the new GS either. The rear quater panels are just awful. Really ugly car overall IMO.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Less chit chat, more pics.

Nice write-up, btw,

EDIT: When the fuck are our smileys going to be fully functional?

Dan Martin

Don't worry CG, I have 1.5GB of pics.

Smileys are still on the operating table. The weirdest thing is that some work but others don't.

dom

I didn't take that many pics. I guess because we saw everything before even going nothing had me really excited. Well excpet the F430.

I don't think I've ever palyed such close attention to interiors before. The new Mustang is nice but the interior quality in a joke IMO. Same with the 350Z, the interior is a total joke, I'd never buy one.

Audi on the other hand has interiors down pat, just beautiful.

Dan Martin

I couldn't get near the F430. I had to wait 5 mins just to get a shot of the ass on the SuperAmerica and I probably would have had to wait 10mins+ to see the F430.

dom

Really? We waited a few minutes and wiggled our way in. We were at the Ferrai exhibit for about 30 minutes at least, spending most of our time in front of the 430 and 04 F1 car they had there.

Dan Martin

Well, I need your photos then.

dom

I'll get em on my PC tonight. The Ford GR1 should make for some nice photo's as well. The chrome and blue lighting made for a nice effect.

Dan Martin

That had to be the hardest subject ever to photograph. It was dark, the thing was spinning on turntable, and the whole car was chrome! It was seriously cool but none of my shots are sharp.

dom

Ya, I've only seen my pics through the camera's LCD so we'll see. The F430 was hard to shoot as well. It was too close to the railing and there was alot of backlight. In fact alot of cars were hard to shoot beacuse they were simply too close and spinning. The Porcshe GT comes to mind.

dzuy

which mugen wheel are you talkin about?

Dan Martin

The Mugen NR

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

I love those wheels. Too bad they're so damn expensive...

Belzebutt

Ok guys, lunch break, time to go home and post the pics.

Belzebutt

Ok guys, lunch break, time to go home and post the pics.

fdl

sauceman

Oh! Beautiful, beautiful!!

Thanks for keeping us up on the Detroit show. If I had time, I'd make a detour to spend a few hours there while driving down, but I'd be passing around that place at like 4 AM anyway, so.. I'll be happy to just devour all the pics and info you can bring on!

LannyM

Were they running 17"s or 18"s on that car?

They only have the 17"s on the website for the TSX, but they list an 18" for the Ody in a 7.5" 55, which should fit.

I just don't want to be the Beta............

Dan Martin

They were running 18's.

crisco

well Domn, I agree with your assessments. I would love to get to Detroit one of these days for hte show - even the TO show would be great. Up here in Ottawa, the show is absolutely lame. The venue is too small and none of the Japanese / major Euro manufacturers even bother showing up (no Honda / Toyota / Acura / Nissan / Infiniti / Lexus or MB BMW etc). THere are no concepts or anything else. Its truly a waste of time and money.

Anyways, I stopped by the Subaru dealer the other day - the Legacy is definitely a great looking package. I was very impressed with the interior quality / look/feel and ergonomics - on par with our TSX for sure. Plus - they of course have a wagon to offer that has a stick, is AWD, and a 250 hp turboed engine! What more could I want - ok, maybe a slightly lower price tag. Also, the moonroof was huge in the wagon - offering the backseat passengers some rays as well. The cargo space is very ample.
I'd get one in an instant if my TSX was a few years older...and past the steep part of the depreciation curve...

Powered by Honda

Can you get those mugen rims in gunmetal? How much would they be?

dom

The T.O show is great, its actually considerably bigger than the Detroit show and its full of concepts. The problem, you can't sit in nearly as many cars as you can in Detroit. In Detroit they had 2 new M5's on the floor for you to sit in. In Toronto, they'll be two, but they'll both be locked or on stands.

I think it has something to do with the cars from Toronto coming from dealers that later have to go to customers, wile the Detroit cars are directly from the manfactuer.

I'd be really interested to find out what the Lagacy's are selling for here in Canada. Sure the MSRP maybe 42K but I wonder what the discount is like. I can see mysef in one of those easily.

majin ssj eric

You should have tried out the 3 series. While it is definitely not the bargain the TSX is, there is no denying that it is truly an awesome automobile and worth every penny as far as I am concerned. Unfortunately, I do not possess enough pennies to get one (not that I don't love my TSX). Oh well, I can't wait to get out of school. Can anyone say M3?

dom

Thats why I didn't bother sitting in one, its IMO not in the same price braket as the TSX

darth62

I went to the auto show in Los Angeles last week, and sat in every car on the floor (I went at 9:00 PM in the middle of the week - not too much competition then!).

My thoughts:

Also, unimpressed again by the MZ6. I was very impressed by the MZ3 though, which seemed to be less afflicted by hard plastic. I honestly think the MZ3 is more competitive with the TSX than the MZ6.

I was less impressed by the Legacy than most of you. The interior felt a bit cheap to me and it did not seem all that comfortable. Add that in with the lousy MPG, likely poor resale, and missing features (like stereo controls on the wheel), and I'd give it a pass.

I sat in a RL (which was gorgeous on the inside) and the TL as well. I still a have some regrets about not waiting for the TL and think that is the one car I would have opted for instead of the TSX.

Sat in an USDM Accord again. Have to say that I think the material quality of the TSX is a good bit better. I'd do like all the joints on the Accord dash. Glad I did not go in that direction.

I was very impressed by the new Jetta. I think some upscale sedan buyers might even be swayed in that direction.

Volvo was unimpressive. I didn't like the interior (except for the super comfy seats) and found it to be too small.

I went to see the updated Altima, which actually has a pretty decent interior. The interior on the Maxima is a mess though. If I had to buy a FWD Nissan instead of my Acura, I'd probably go with the Altima.

I think Infiniti did a good job of updating the G35 interior, but I still hate those horrible and silly seat controls.

crisco

speaking of locking the doors, I have to laugh about the Ottawa autoshow 2 years ago. They had an SVT Focus...repeat an SVT FOCUS, and wouldn't let anyone sit in it..

Not sure what kind of discount on a Legacy GT limited wagon in Canada - my guess would be $2000 to start with, but who knows?

Regarding the Maxima - they're offering $4000 off at the moment on remaining 2004 models. A good price, but that car has some issues with the interior....

dom

IMO TSX Interior > TL's Interior in material qualiy and Fit and Finish.

I didn;t like the Jetta. The back end is all Corolla and the front just doesn't look that great IMO.

I agree with the Altima assesment. I sat in one as well (SE-R) to get an idea of the interior improvements and the interior IMO was better than the G35's.

darth62

To me, the interior on the TL looks more clutered. But, I thought it works.

I'm not sure about the exterior styling of the Jetta, but is has yet another beautiful VW/Audi interior.

Slightly OT: While I was taking a look at the Accord, I went to check out the new ridgeline. Just my opinion, but I don't think Honda is going to sell a whole lot of those. It is completely impractical, in addition to being pretty ugly and too wide.

Dan Martin

Don't worry, you're not the only one with that impression. I think it looks like ass.

phile

I'll be in NY to see the NY auto show that's coming up, and that's one of the cars I'm very excited to sit in. RL is another one.

Belzebutt

I sat in the RL at my dealership. It's beautiful, and there aren't many interiors I like. I still prefer the TSX to the TL.

The number 1 feature on the TL I would like to have on the TSX is the LED tail lights (and I'm not talking single LED light bulbs).



Guys, where are the pics????

We all wanna see da mugen!

Dan Martin

There are pics in this thread: https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19802

93Kewl

Too bad. You REALLY don't know what your missing!

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