MemphisRheins

My Car:

2004 Acura TSX 5AT Non-Navi
Tein Flex Coilovers, EDFC, Every Sway bar mod, Hawk Racing Pads
Intake/Headers/RTCat/Exhaust/Pulleys
Pioneer speakers, Dension Ice Link Ipod hook up.
Magellian Navi
26,425$ MSRP (Paid 24)

Test Drive:
2009 Acura TSX, 5AT Technology package
Tech package consists of:
10 Speaker 410 Watt Stereo
Navi with Live Traffic and Weather information
Bluetooth
Factory XM/ Aux hook up.
32,775$ MSRP


First off, since people will ask… I chose to drive the 5AT TSX for two reasons: First, My 04 is a 5AT, so I wanted a valid comparison, the 09 would be a completely different car if I drove the 6MT, as much as I would of liked too. Secondly, I like the idea of Paddle Shifters.
Also before I start the review I would like to thank Mike Keen at Jones Acura for letting me play with their new car, he in fact only told me to slow down once.

So the first thing on everyone’s mind is the Exterior, does it really look as much like a Hyundai as it does in the Online press photos?
Thankfully the 09 is a better looking car in person, I will still admit that the exterior styling is a big grope point for me, however it does work with the car as a whole, It is somewhat detached however, I completely forgot what the exterior of the car looked like, until it was parked.
Then once it was parked, I took the pictures nonchalantly, it kind of just reads “Car”. But still it looks a bit better made material wise then other “cars”.

Now the Interior makes up for the lack of an Exterior… the Interior reminds me quite a bit of the TL-S I had been sitting in while waiting for mike to get the keys. Its got a similar overall lay out, that’s spread out and recessed a bit, which seems to be honda’s new theme. The recessed Navi is a real nice touch, there wasn’t much in the way of glare at all.
The New Steering wheel I liked a lot, they made it significantly wider, which gives you a real nice sporty feel, I didn’t really play with all the buttons on the wheel. Mike pointed out and I agree, that the new height adjustment set up is a better way to go then the one on my 04, you push this one in and make your adjustments, rather then pull the lever down and into your knee.
The Seats are much wider then the 04 TSX seats, which should help the McDonalds crowd to actually sit in the car. Thankfully though the bolster is fairly good, its far from recaro’s, but its about on par with the snugness of my 04, (and the pleather doesn’t look nearly as worn)
The Gauges are display are also quite nice, the floating needles are a neat trick, but forgettable after a few minutes of driving. The Tech package has a push button option on that center dial, that gives you live traffic and weather updates, which is a really neat trick.
Now Ergonomically, I felt a bit more comfortable in my 04 TSX, The shifter has moved forward and up, the cup holders and center bin backwards, the Radio and Navi controls up and forward some more as well, It made the car feel much bigger on the inside, which is nice for the TL and a higher level Luxury car, however not quite the cockpit feel for the Sport Sedan Crowd. The Sunroof Controls are finally up by the actual sunroof. Which means your passengers aren’t looking everywhere for it when they want to open the roof like in the 04.
The Shifter on the 5AT has the god awful push button in order to shift, which I am really not a fan of. Its also set up in a completely straight line. I know this is a minor gripe in the long run, but is one of my favorite things about my 04’s Automatic transmission.
The Paddles, aren’t really as much fun as I would of hoped, It feels the same as the 04’s Slapstick, even downshifts respond in the same predictable manner.

Lets talk performance now, because that’s what we care about most after all right? The car has to be fun to drive, and well, it is, just quite different.

The First thing you’ll notice, and the first thing I was warned about is that the Steering Wheel is now completely electronic. At very first it’s a bit uncomfortable, and you feel quite disconnected, regular driving keeps that feel, however once it senses that you know how to drive, and you start pushing the damn thing, it begins to have a more familiar feel being stock, it had quite a bit of under-steer, even with the newer larger sway and strut bar, it took a little more to feel unbalanced however then my 04 used to, with a bit less body roll (that is at least until you really start playing). Jerking the wheel back and forth on my Tein Flex Modded TSX will make a series of very small turns, the wheels feel directly connected, the 09 felt disconnected, more like driving my Grandmothers 86 Jaguar, then the happy puppy feel of a Modded TSX.
Brakes respond in a similar matter to the 04, I gave I a few quick jabs, and a left foot brake during a turn, and it gripped well, Mike said he stopped her hard from 60 the night before and it held up well.
As I said before the power train feels identical, downshifts with the Paddles feel and respond the same way as downshifts from the slapstick, It is a bit slower to downshift in Automatic mode then mine, but I incorporate a lot of that due to the UR Pulleys.
The engine feels like it has a bit more low end torque, however you can feel the added weight to the car, still managed to hit 90 quite easy, but just feels once again a bit more disconnected then my 04. I belive a lot of that feeling has to do with the added Sound Deafening. The K24 motor gives off a bit of a placebo effect in the 04-08 TSX’s given that even pre- I/H/E it has a nice engine tone upon downshifting. This is currently lost in the 09.
Looking under the hood, there is an amazing amount of room to work, which is a nice change from my 04 having a scar or two to prove that. The Intake has been very clearly redesigned, with a smaller airbox, however the peak I had of the resonator made it look quite large. The headers are total crap though, the system looks incredibly restrictive, and these should be replaced immediately.
Back to the interior, the 10 speaker sound system sounds great, it is a major improvement from the Stock 04 Speakers Shame that it is part of a a 3500$ upgrade. This upgrade however may be worth it, the live weather and traffic is a real nice toy, and the Backup Camera is really well done, Mike said they tested it earlier, and when you think you have an inch, you do in fact really have an inch. Hopefully that feature will continue to appear in newer cars, so my 04 TSX wont get any more scratches from idiots who can not parallel park (450$ estimate to repair my current front bumper) the right mirror tilts downwards in reverse when left in the right setting as well, to further help people not hit my car.
I was unable to test the Ipod functionality, The 09 has a USB adapter rather then an apple specific one like the BMW’s, so I can not compare that to my ICE>Link.

All and All I will say that I like the New TSX, it is a nice car to drive, it is however very different from the sports sedan category our 1st generation falls in, its more A6 like then A4 like, which may or may not be a good thing for Acura. It will as Mike put, help it sell to a larger audience then the current TSX, though he agrees Acura will need a new car to fill in the RSX and now the TSX gap. A SH-AWD, K23 Turbo TSX would fit the bill, but that doesn’t seem to be in the works.


The Good:
New Interior
Back up Camera
Navi w/ live update
Stereo
Steering wheel Shape
Bigger Sways/Strut Bar

The Bad:
Heavy
Less Power
Disconnected feeling
Restricted Motor
Higher Price

The Ugly:
Headlights
Grill
Rims

godfather2

memphis, if you could change just 1 thing on the 2nd gen TSX, what would it be?

dom

Nice review.

@ the McDonalds crowd.

prballard

Do you mean less power than your modded 04? or a stock 04? Because I beg to differ if it the later and the dyno's don't support that.

Restricted motor???

dom

But dyno's don't factor in weight. Which is probably why it felt slower. And Jeff's brief dragstriip time with an 09 pretty much confirmed the 09 is slower or just as 'fast' as an 06-08.

prballard

Who said anything about 06-08??

Mokos23

That's not good news about the performance, seems like this is a car that possibly people who buy or drive the Lexus ES350 will look at. I bet you will see that this 2nd gen TSX might become definately an old man's car even if the commercials are trying to sell this to the yuppie crowd.

Yes, now people can feel more snug who eat McDonalds everyday.

dom

Change it to 04-08. Even an 04 did better than 7.6/15.8 in acceleration tests. And its not as if there's a night a day difference between 04/05 and 06 to 08.

MMsTSX

I agree.

Seems to me that the buyers of the new TSX, by in large will be over 40.
That's my guess.

Colin

Its not like most of my customers for the current TSX aren't over 40 either......

Colin

Just for giggles, I went back and actually counted to see if my gut feeling was correct. So between 2004-2008 the tally is....
.
.
.
.
.drum roll please
.
.
.
.
.
.
57 customers over 40
32 under 40

Mokos23

i showed my folks, 2 of my friends who love cars, and my gf and all said that they think the front of the new 09 TSX is ugly. my mom said it reminded her of a Camry and she hates Camrys

jwaters943

....and on the flip side, I've showed my TSX mini-brochure to all my co-workers and they all seemed to like it.

To each their own.


To the OP, thanks for the writup! I really appreciate you taking the time to give your feedback on the new TSX.

MMsTSX

okay, interesting for sure.
so that's 64% over 40, quite a bit.

must concede here of course.

now of course we'll be tracking your percentage on the new ones.
64% is gonna be hard to beat though.

I guess I'll make a prediction just because.

80% will be over 40. That's my guess.

Colin

It is of course, an unscientific result, but I was amused myself. I'll definitely have to select 'older' music for the next video.

One interesting thing is that I deal with zero walk in traffic. All my business is either Internet, repeat or referral.

prballard

I am not talking about 0-60 either. The engine is much nmore powerful than my 04 and the gearing is more agressive and it weighs 150 lbs more. So at worse it is a wash in real world driving.

No offense, but please let the reviewer explain his answers. I seriously don't know if he is talking about a modded engine or not, MMC, what does he mean?

Restricted engine? Is he saying he has reflashed his? I would just like a little back story. No flame here, I am just curious.

For that matter his more expensive comment is a little silly considering the features of the car and what year it is.

mattlissy

06-08 TSX has a 13HP advantage over the 04-05. Before someone gets upset, remember the technique in which the SAE calculates HP and Torq. changed beginning with 2006 models. Using the pre 06 calculations the 06-08 would be 213HP (04-05 is 200HP). This was noted many times here at Acurazine back in late 05 when the 2006 TSX's were released.

odessa

Nice review.

xenonhid

I'm a yuppie and I still would not buy the 09 TSX.

Mokos23

at least you're honest.

MemphisRheins

Heres some pictures from the other day, will come back and answer some questions later:

Mokos23

why did they get rid of the 2.4 i-VTEC DOHC label on the new one?? it looks weird without it.

also, based on your pics, dang our TSX looks anorexic especially from the rear compared to the new TSX.

MMsTSX

agreed.
1st gen = sleek.
2nd gen = bloated.

huge difference between the two.

jwaters943

1st gen = puny, plain and boring (I keed, I keed....I like the 1st gen too)
2nd gen = wider, with more aggressive surface detailing

As one of the reviewers stated, the new TSX is now a Jr. TL instead of a Sr. Civic. That's either a bad or a good thing, depending upon the person.

Mokos23

i'm thinking they did that so that the Euro and US Accords will be a little similar in terms of width, but length the US Accord is Avalon long. also, now i wonder if the new TSX and US Accord will be cross shopped even more now.

MemphisRheins

To be honest, I dont really remember how much power my stock 04 had, I daily drive the modded one, and its been quite a while since she was bone stock... I think I had even removed the resonator/Airbox, and put in a Cone Filter a month after I bought the car lol, then switched to the K&N as soon as It came out...so it was never really bone stock for long.

However, as I said in the review, the sound deafening in the 09 makes it seem less powerful as well, you cant hear the engine at all when you push it, which at least for me is a problem... I have the comptech Exhaust on my car, with the tips, so im not someone that likes setting off car alarms or anything, but its nice to know the car is running. Also as people said before, the Dyno's do not support the extra weight, and differences in aerodynamics, ect...so even with more theoretical power, the 09 can infact be slower then an 06


By Restricted motor, I mean the redesigned Air intake and Header system, the pictures dont really show it, but in person you can tell that they are just not set up with power in mind, however this is a good thing for enthusiasts who wish to mod a 09... Both the CAI and Headers are going to result in significant power increases... Im happy with my 04, but once the modding bug hits the 09 Crowd, I believe they will be able to give us some pretty good numbers.

MemphisRheins

Id Still have to say the Grill, Im looking foward to seeing a mugen style grill on an 09, with some nice volks, sitting on the ground, may actually be pretty good looking

MemphisRheins

I didnt use that exact wording in mine, but Id agree. I did in fact forget completely what the outside of the car looked like when I was driving it, the Interior design and comfort is the focus of the car.

prballard

MemphisRheins thanks for you reply.

cbusAcuracls

ha ha mom said the same thing...and feels the same way about the camry.

cbusAcuracls

gosh the 09 has a big Ars!!! like the styling..but d*mn thats wide!

Celtic FC

In the back, the gap for the license plate seems a lot wider than the 1st gen. It makes the rear look a bit odd to me. I think the 1st gen rear was styled better.

Mokos23

well it's cause it was really designed for the Euro license plates. acura should've adjusted that for the USA market since our plates are much smaller.

JeffS

I got the same impression last night on my test drive. I am guessing the 3 most crossed shopped for the TSX are the Accord, TL and IS because I feel the TSX has moved towards those vehicles and away from the Sr. Civic or the light weight, small and sporty type of car.

MMsTSX

as soon as we left Acura, we went straight to Honda to look at '07 Accords.
The '08 Accord is way too big.

Now that the new TSX and the new Accord have almost identical interiors,
both with strange brand new exteriors, and very similar features, with comparable
prices, made by the same company, ..., yeah, I'd bet for sure they'll be cross shopped more.

MemphisRheins

Well so is the back end of the 04... look at the above pictures, I have Accord Euro Badges on the TSX, with a Euro Plate on the rear

Celtic FC

Exactly! Even with a Euro plate, it seems like there would be a substantial gap.

MMsTSX

there's a big difference.

it's not just the width of the gap between the lights, but how low it goes.


it looks like the same size/shape as the front grille.

on the back of the car.

urg!!

the front is bad enough, we don't need another god awful shape in the back too.

xenonhid

Damn MMsTSX, you should be happy you got an 08 since its the last model before the "butchering".

jwaters943

I wish all you "estatic" 1st-gen owners were secure enough in your purchase to not feel the need to come to the 2nd-gen forum and piss all over those who actually like the 2nd-gen. I'm mainly referring to a few individuals who seem to only come here to repeat the same negative comments over and over and over. (You know who you are)

Well, I guess that's one way to increase your post count. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for expressing how you feel, but we get the point already. You don't like the new TSX. Move along already!

End of rant.