oblio98

Ryan,

Sounds like we're on a parallel course. Did you put your iPod songs in your iPod using Apple Lossless? I did and it makes a huge difference. From the sound of your post, I would assume you did.

The thing IS real quite. Maybe that's another thing that makes the DVD-A's sound so good.

Did you notice there's an Acura dealer selling TSX Wagon accessories on eBay at a decent discount? I may go for the rubber mat for the back.

Do you like the auto up/down hatch as much as I do. Man, that thing is HANDY! I know some have complained because it increases the weight of the car, but it's so nice to not only have the thing open by itself, but I find that the auto close via the button is extra helpful at times.

Good luck with yours and let's report back in a few thousand more miles!

KillerG

i am intrigued and will be looking into your links.

press guide, menu, and cancel at the same time. it will put your navi in diagnostic mode. if you look around there you should find the version info and stuff about the software ECU. We need the input of a 2011 owner... and while you are at it could you check your navigation disk and tell us what year it is :-"

theres another thread here about modding the navi startup screen and thats the reason i am asking :>

hornyleprechaun

IIRC navigation runs off the HDD not a DVD in the TSX Wagons.

doopstr

That sport wagon is sweet. How's the performance of the 4 banger?

5thTo2nd

Nice review! It's nice to hear a review of our sound system from people who actually know something or two about music. We usually only hear about the blown speakers!

I never keep my Acura binder in the glovebox.

ryancampbell

Yeah, I keep hoping that you will find a way to get 5.1 audio over the USB port

Yup, AAC lossless is what I used for my FLAC and CDs tunes. ACC 256KBps VBR Low Complexity for transcoding other incompatible lossy formats.

Thanks! They look about 10 or 15% cheaper than what my local dealer will do.

I have the rear rubber mat. It's nice and sturdy, the only nit for me is that there are holes in it so that the tie-downs still work. I would rather have had no holes and lost the tie-down points.

Meh. It's nice and I use it, but I would never have paid for it as an option. The best part of it for me is that if you don't quite get the hatch latched it will power latch the rest of the way. I probably had to stop, get out, and close the hatch 20 times on my last car.

Will do. You're already ahead of me on miles, time for a road trip!

Chewbach

Anybody look into a hitch? I've checked a few manufacturers (Curt, Hidden Hitch), but haven't found anybody who makes one.

You would think that somebody makes one for the Euro Honda Tourer...

ryancampbell

The engine is very smooth and responsive, but it is definitely held back by the 5 speed AT. The gear ratios are tuned for fuel economy. 1st gear seems especially tall and there's very little difference between 4th and 5th. For freeway merging/passing, it's plenty zippy for LA traffic and it handles mountain road corners with glee, but it would still take some creative license to call it a sports car. Not a problem for me, and I'm quite happy with the performance, especially given that it's achieved with a solid, reliable, simple motor.

KillerG

fuck. it totally does run off the HDD. but the ECU version would still be appreciated OP

black label

Oblio98,

Don't you have the option to search by voice on your ipod? When you first plugged it in do you remember the car telling you it was "generating voice commands"? Unless the search by voice option has been neglected for some idiotic reason, that is the easiest fastest way to access the ipod. I can get a MDX tech with an HDD system to play Yngwie Malmsteen faster than you could imagine which is kinda funny and impressive as his name is pronounced "Ing-vay" which is what I say to the car but the car says back "Ying-wee" and finds it anyway.

Plug the ipod into the usb, then hit your voice command button and say "search ipod". Hopefully it will bring up a list of search options on the nav screen like "find album..." "find song...", once that list is showing you just request what you want. They left this option out on the 09 TL tech but added it in 10 TL as well as including it when the MDX went HDD in 10. I'd hope they wouldn't take a step backwards on the HDD system.

Unfortunately, I've only had access to 1 TSX tech wagon so far and it was sold before it hit the ground so I haven't been able to play around with it yet.

As for your question a while ago about the HDD music storage... You can only rip CD's to it, you can't transfer from a USB device or from DVD-A. It doesn't rip at a very rapid rate either, sorry. However, it is kinda cool in the fact that if you leave a CD in it for about 15 minutes without skipping a song, that CD will be committed to the HDD and you'll never have to put it in the CD player again. Also, if they didn't screw the voice search, you can do that with the HDD as well by saying "search hard drive."

In 5 years when you go to trade it in and the dealer asks you what it has for equipment, you can tell them them something along the lines of, "it contains the entire discography of Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Pink Floyd and Frank Zappa."

KillerG

Someone has fantastic taste in music. Thats pretty much what my TSX has in it

toss in The Who, Deep Purple, Maiden, the Stones, Sabbath and Priest and you got a party

Baapo

Any idea when the body kit becomes available for the Wagon...it looks rather impressive on the accessories catalog...



I am pretty tempted to part with my TSX and switch to the wagon, but I'm waiting to see what improvements they have made to the 2012 TL...

oblio98

Have you guys heard the Dark Side of the Moon DVD-Audio in your cars?

oblio98

Yes! I did use the voice commands. They did work a few times. I think I have to get the sequence down.

Was it me or does the thing activate the commands every time you plug in the iPod?

black label

It's only supposed to give you the "generating voice commands" once unless you add more songs to the ipod since the last time it was plugged into the car. If you have added more songs, it's only supposed to have to generate the voice commands for the new songs so it shouldn't take too long.

The first time I played around with it it took about 10 minutes for it to complete but I have nearly 5K songs on it.

I honestly think it's faster to find stuff on the Acura via voice commands than it is to use the click wheel or touch screen on the ipod itself.

black label

I heard the whispering, now I think I'm dying.

TSXWG

Hello, I am a new owner of blk/blk TSX wagon exactly like yours

I am very impressed about the ELS audio...(I was in the high-end audio industry for a while) I didn't expect that car audio can be better than many nicely equipped home audio systems. But wow... this ELS rocks!

OP: What is your setting on the audio?

Only thing I don't like is the silver fog housings... especially, for a black wagon. I will probably paint matched them sometimes soon. haha.

But overall, I love this car!

JM2010 SH-AWD

Beautiful TSX. I'm thinking of one to replace our family hauler Accord when the time is right.

Black Label, do I understand correctly that the Ipod Voice Search option is loaded on the 2010 TLs? I wasn't aware I had it - that'd be a godsend for using the Ipod.

Thanks.

ryancampbell

Yep, pretty trippy. I feel like I need to install a laser show on the headliner so I can get the full effect... Well, minus the mind altering substances that is.....

A couple 5.1s I'm liking right now:

Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms
Muse: The Resistance (stupidly rare, eBay had one recently)

Wish there was more new music out in 5.1, every time I go through my 5.1 collection I feel 10 years older. That said, I need to get my hands on The Who: Tommy.

KillerG

what kind of source files do i need for creating dvd-a's? do i have to rip all the sound from like a dvd movie of the bands i like? I imagine most normal mp3s dont fit the bill unless they are artificially split into 5.1 channels or something like that. Would it be possible to use "apollo audio dvd creator" or "sonic dvd audio creator" and create a decent sound?

oblio98

Yes! You need a good source to make a good DVD-Audio, and concert DVDs and Blu-Rays are a good place to start. You can rip the sound with programs like DVD Fab or AudioMuxer, then use the Circlina DVD Audio to make the DVD-A.

Sonic DVD Audio Creator is a very expensive program, but it's professional and will work as well as DiscWelder Chrome.

If you search the internet, you will find tons of DVD-Audio discs that people have created from '70s quadraphonic tapes. Obviously, it's all "classic" stuff, but the surround on many of them is pretty good.

Making DVD-A's from MP3's is fine if you want to cram a lot of tunes on a single disc, but you're not going to get the sound quality that you hear from your Acura demo DVD-A or a non-Silverline store bought DVD-A.

VQPower37

wow congratz on the car ... it looks much better than i expected it would! the body kit looks awesome too! ... i look forward to c what you have planned for the car

neuronbob

Hey oblio98, you are still buying Acuras! I thought you were gone from the site.

I am also looking hard and seriously at the TSX wagon (blue with window tint please!). Man is it good-looking! I love my CTS-V but would like something more gas efficient for daily driver duty, especially with $4 a gallon gas expected this year. If I go this route, will garage queen the V.

oblio98

Hey, What's Up!!!

Yeah, still buying Acura's. Strayed a bit at times (infinity, Nissan Titan, Toyota 4Runner), but I can not tell you how freaking thrilled I am to be back in an Acura, cranking the best sounding ELS system I've heard yet (and I've heard a lot of them), and cruising with the excellent Acura Tech dash and fit/finish.

I have to admit that I really hated (and still dislike) the new "beak nose" Acura's, but always felt the TSX was the best looking of the bunch. When I read about the wagon, and the gas mileage, I decided that if I liked it I was going to get one when they first came out.

My timing was a bit bad, as the week after I traded the V8 4Runner in on the FWD wagon, the snow started! Blizzard after blizzard. The most snow we've had in my lifetime!!! It's a big change going from "real" 4WD with a V8 to a FWD 4 cylinder car in the snow. But, I'm still happy with the decision.

This place has changed since the early days with Tim (was it Tim? ), but I've always checked in from time to time. It's nice to know that it's always been here, in one shape or another.

:-jon

TSX69

Saw my 1st one in the wild today (Forged Silver Metallic) ... very sharp looking wagon. Do wish that they had left the tail lights the same tho ...

hornyleprechaun

Don't know if you've looked at the blue in person, but it was more purple than blue.. at least the one I looked at looked more purple than blue. I think the black on black with window tint will look the best, which is what I hope to get.

whudini3000

iTrader: (1)

I was skeptical at first glance, but this has potential to become the new shagwagon. Nice combo and vehicle.

Invisible

Without a doubt, the BEST looking Acura product right now.

9WON4

Agreed, My 08 TSX CGP 6MT (Which I love dearly) Lease is up next month, I'm debating picking up the wagon. I was skeptical on the looks, it's slowly growing on me.

I'm thinking color matched grill and a "subtle" drop will make the aesthetics night and day!!

Invisible

I'm loving the combination of utility(hatchback) and sporty looks.

Acura really should add another wagonish or hatchback to their lineup. Look how well the pricey MINI division is doing with all their hatchbacks.

pfdanek

Congrats. Just put a deposit down on an identical black-on-black tech package myself, about 10 minutes ago. Car should be in March 5th. Paying 33k flat including delivery, which I feel (for once) I got a great deal. Can't wait!

hornyleprechaun

What state do you live in?

pfdanek

Colorado. From what I can tell these wagons haven't taken off out here yet. Likely because all of the intellectuals buy Audis and BMW's out here; and in all reality AWD would be nice for the month of January and the occasional spring snowstorm.

I fully believe they'll be in more demand as people discover them--I called my window tinter about the TSX to get an estimate on tinting and he had no idea they even made the TSX wagon.

XIS

Oblio - Congrats on the car! How do you like performance COMPARED to the RDX?

DVD-A's... I will try to rip some soon - but WHERE are you finding the new or used ones besides E-bay? That is the only place I can find any... I only have 8 or 9 and would love to find more.

Thank you!

oblio98

I liked my RDX. I *love* my TSX Wagon. The fit/finish is so much better. It "feels" better. It's a much better head turner. The RDX is nice, but it's very CRX-ish. Once I got used to sitting lower to the road (notice it at toll booths and mailboxes), I never longed for the RDX again. The RDX does have much better front cabin storage for stuff.


I was into DVD-A's when they first came out, so that's how I amassed my collection. These days, thanks to the stupidity of the record companies (who are losing their shirt and their customers, BTW), they are impossible to find.

There are now more people with 5.1 in their homes and cars than ever before, yet these morons fail to produce an audio product to play in them.

oblio98

MILEAGE UPDATE - (For those interested in such things)

I am keeping a spreadsheet on my mileage and thought I'd report here once in a while so that folks interested in buying a wagon will get an idea on what the actual MPG's the car is getting. (SURPRISE! It's nowhere near 31 MPG )

I do mostly highway, mostly 10+ above the SL , and here's what I've gotten so far:

I've filled it up 6 times and the MPG's per tank are 25.55, 26.22, 24.90, 26.60, 26.59, 26.35 for an average of 25.91 MPG.

I've used Premium every time but once, at which point I used 89 (!!) because the premium price was crazy.

Overall, I think 26MPG is pretty good! Beats my RDX by a lot.

XIS

26 is very good, but it is nowhere near as fun (or powerful) to drive as an RDX... just sayin'....
I think if I wanted / needed 26 mpg in a wagon, I would be looking at an Audi A3 turbo 2.0.

KillerG

A3 doesnt come with nearly as much tech, doesnt even have a navi option

KillerG

and its not a looker like the tsx is

oblio98

I had the RDX for 2 years and it never got any "looks" from anyone. In fact, when I used to show it to friends and family, they pretty much went "Eh".

In the two months I've had the TSX Wagon, I've turned heads and had people come up and talk to me about the car a bunch of times, almost like when I had my 02 TL Type S with the body kit.

Sure, the RDX was quicker, but I don't feel any loss of power in the TSX. It has given me all of the yarbles I've needed so far. In a much nicer package.