I have been driving my new 2011 PWP 5at non-tech for three days now. Coming from a 05 1st gen TSX, I love the interior of the 2nd gen TSX. The car is wider than I would like it to be but I will probably get used to it. I don't understand why Honda would design a car this wide for the European market.

Don't Like:
1) Width. A little bit too wide. 7/8 scale would be perfect.
2) Steering. Not as accurate as in the 1st gen
3) Stereo. Doesn't sound as good as the one in the 1st gen.
4) Overall styling. 1st gen has cleaner lines.
5) steering wheel mounted shift paddles move with the steering wheel.

Like:
1) Seats and head rest. Softer leather. Better placed head rest. Much more comfortable than my 1st gen.
2) Bluetooth.
3) Rear mirror tilts down in reverse
4) Footwell lighting
5) USB/ipod connectivity
6) Vehicle information display/compass
7) Dashboard design

 

its not.

 

European? Are you sure you're driving an Acura? lol

 

Our TSX is the Accord in Europe (and many other places), and was designed for that market. I recall reading that the width was to accommodate a turbo diesel in Europe, and that Acura's folks in the U.S. were initially bothered by the width, but changed their tune when they discovered its positive effect on handling. There were rumors we would get the diesel, but we ended up with the V6 option instead.

 

I like wide cars, skinny cars are ghey

 

I've had mine for 3 days now and it does feel and handle like a big car...then again I was driving a honda civic si coupe before. I wonder how this thing will be when I parallel park it

 

I am starting to get used to its size. Although the steering is lighter than I would like it to be and not too communicative, the car itself is quite tossible around corners.

 

Yup. Steering is sub-par for the class of car it is. Big dissapointment.

Disagree on the stereo. Stock stereo on 2nd gen is fantastic.

Size of the car is not bad, although I would never get anything bigger, unless I got an SUV.

I love 2G styling. Still like 1G, but like 2G better.

 

I'm growing to like my TSX Wagon. I was ambivalent at first, having come from Saab. My wife mostly drives the car, but we took a long trip from NY-NH and I drove both ways. The car was purchased mainly for its perceived reliability over the time we'll be paying for it.

While at first I thought the ride was way too jarring, I have come to like it. I love how the car handles the drainage dips in the road, the corners, etc. when at high speed. Much more stable than our "more floaty" 9-5 wagon. Even though this is a fairly large car, it handles like a smaller one. Steering is a bit numb, but I expected that. Not used to making so many micro corrections, but it's not really an issue.

Power is totally adequate, if not awe-inspiring. I'm used to hitting the gas on the 9-5 and letting the turbo propel me past everything on the road if necessary. Clearly, I won't be doing that in this car, but then that was one of the real strong points of the Saab. 40-60mph supposedly happens faster in a 9-5 than it does in a Porsche.

I'm not 100% sold on the driving position, and the driver's wheel feels a little small in diameter to me. That said, I made it work. However, the one thing I hate is the feeling like someone has a knee in the small of my back. Why Acura would design a seat that feels like it has the lumbar turned up to 100 is beyond me. Give me the choice. The minimum here is what I think the MAXIMUM should be. Give me the option to dial it down a little more.

Love the way the iPod integrates to the stereo, and the stereo actually sounds better with a full car. Switching phones/users doesn't seem to be easy, but maybe I'm not doing it right.

Navigation is pretty horrid. If you're stuck in traffic, the NAV still stubbornly tells you that you'll be at your destination in X minutes and hours, despite the fact that you know it will be much longer than that. We had to stop to pick my stepson up in CT and for over an hour it was telling us, "just 50 minutes more! really!" And on the way back home, it kept trying to send us one way when I knew the shortest route. OK, a lot of GPS' do this, but ONE TURN in CT was the difference between the display reading over 4 hours to go, and then suddenly just 2 hours to go. How is it possible that there could be such a difference going one route vs. another? Shouldn't it have recalculated again for the shortest route? I have very little faith in the GPS at this point.

Glad I got the black interior. The taupe loaner I got looked pretty worn at only 8K miles. Sure, it was a loaner (and probably beat on), but I have a 4-year-old, which is just about the same thing.

Backup camera is easily covered in gunk. They should have a sprayer/dryer for it.

Really miss the auto-dimming mirrors and auto-sensing wipers in my Saab. And for the money I paid, I would really expect a bit less hard plastic inside, but I know this is their "entry" model and that it's basically sold as the Accord wagon in Europe. Still, luxury it's not. "Premium," perhaps.

Other than that, I am getting to really like this car. It feels like a well-built, tightly-composed machine. Could just be the difference in ages. My Saab wagon has 135K miles on it, and my 9-5 Aero has 210K. This car doesn't seem to have the "soul" of those cars, but I think it will win me over in the long run.

 

I think the perception of the car is easily skewed by what you drove before. For me, coming from a civic si, this thing feels like refined machine. Everything about the interior is worlds better. I feel more comfortable tossing this car around, as the civic felt floaty. Brakes and steering are my only issues. Feel like you gotta give a fair amount of travel in order for the brakes to start slowing you down (at least in the a/t). And, I feel like a drunk driver (by having to correct the wheel so often, I feel like it's hard to keep the car straight).

 

After playing with different treble, bass and subwoofer settings, I found a setting I can live with.

@spg900ng: I have never driven the wagon but coming from a 1G TSX, the ride of the 2G TSX sedan is down right cushy.

I also love the oversized side view mirrors. They look like they belong to a truck but, boy, I can see everything coming behind me. The automatic back up tilt down feature is awesome. I don't have to worry about rubbing the rim against the curb anymore.

 

I forgot about the brakes. That was the #1 complaint from my wife, and while I don't have as much of an issue with them, it *does* seem to require a lot more effort/travel to get the car to stop. I noticed today Subaru stopped selling three models built in the US and Japan due to the same issue and are replacing the master cylinder in these models before sale. I wonder if Acura and Subaru use the same supplier?

 

Yipes!