Just want to express my feelings on the quickness of the tsx. I was cruising on the highway and decided to floor it. The car did not go at all, the speedo went up very slowly. However, during city driving it is very quick especially using the paddle shifters (leave on gear 2 when slowing down and accelerate to pass someone = so much fun).

 

Have u looked under the hood yet?

 

awwww snap!

 

it seems like the engine was in a cruising state on the highway.
why dont you implement the same down shifting technique on the highway. kick it down to a lower gear and then mash the gas.

 

There is one thing for sure that will sap passing power on the highway. Sport mode with 5th gear selected. The tranny will not automatically downshift.

I actually did this once, used the paddle shifters playing around entering the highway and forgot to shift back to "D" from "S". Went to pass and what a dog! Oops. Plus I don't believe the TC locks up in "S" either, which will hurt fuel mileage.

 

I find the same thing (4cyl). Awesome pickup in the city, really snappy but on the highway after 65mph... not much ooomph..

 

It's a 4 cyl, what did you expect when you bought it?

 

our car is quite torquey...enough for the city. But top end really isnt our thing with the weight of our car and unaggressive gearing etc.

 

I also think it's great in the city, surprisingly so, in fact. It's not exactly a beast on the highway, but it's about what I expected, and the great VTEC sound is a bonus. If I'm in the right gear, I have enough punch for most situations. I just have to get used to downshifting further than I did in my old Saab 9-5 Aero. For difficult merges and high speed overtaking, I do miss the Saab's massive turbo torque. That thing owned the highway.

 

I found the car has enough power and torque for most situation.

With a 6MT tranny, I simply downshift one gear and get it into the sweet VTEC zone for passing.

 

If you wanted any kind of pickup in this car, you should've gotten the 6MT

 

You guys think that your automatic tranny do everything for you... thats why I have manual gearbox, yes I rev... yes I drive to 7500 rpm, yes I service every 10000km, yes I am not slow I dont know whats your speeds on highway, but I have no problems betwen 0 and 200km/h, and thats enough for me.

 

Come on bro, my summer ride is a 12 second LS1 6-speed. That's got power and isn't slow merging traffic.. .the TSX isn't a rocketship. It's a smooth refined luxo that's a lil anemic on top.
The auto trans has nothing to do with a 65mph punch at 5500 rpms in 4th gear. It's still not comparing to a turbo or the v6 tsx at those speeds.

 

When passing on the freeway, I almost always use gear 3. The speed limit is 65mph and cars are usually traveling +/- 10mph of that, so 3rd gear is perfectly suited for that.

When I do the downshift to 3rd I can definitely feel I'm being pushed back into my seat, and I agree that the push could be a little harder.

 

lol I love these kind of threads.

 

I am speechless

 

I find the opposite, lots of top end like on the hwy and no low end like in the city. I believe the hp and tq numbers show that would be the correct assessment.

Keep it in "S", did you test drive it first? or maybe you just got used to it and now need more. That will happen with any car.

 

This is why I got a stick. It's like driving a totally different car.

 

I don't want to sound ignorant or naive, but does shifting down to a lower gear in this situation get you a faster acceleration? I never had the chance to try this on the highway.

 

 

the engine is long-stroke, there's no top end.

 

"Torquey" is one thing the TSX has never been accused of (until you suggested it here). If you feel the TSX is, you haven't driven a car that really is. Go drive a STi or an Evo, or some Benz with a 5 liter engine, hell even go drive an RDX, then come back and tell me the TSX is torquey.

 

It really has more to do with the auto gearbox than the cylinder count.

Seriously. The Auto tranny = crap. Needs an extra gear.

 

for a NA 4cyl i think its pretty torquey. Obviously STI's and EVO's are more so, but these cars you mentioned are in a totally different class. Compare the TSX to other NA 4cyl's and maybe you will see where I am coming from. I totally understand what your saying though from an ACTUAL performance stand point ....but that's like comparing apples and oranges.

 

+1

To the original poster, did you do your due dilligence and test drive BOTH the 6MT and 5AT before buying?

When I test drove both, I felt strongly enough that it was a night and day difference in power.

My

 

coming from a mazda6 v6, the i4 tsx was a serious downgrade. my friend's i4 accord had more torque than this. i test drove the i4 on 2 separate occasions and decided that this wasn't the car for me, so i ended up opting for the v6 instead.

if i was allowed to get a MT, i might've reconsidered the i4. or maybe save some money and get a wrx.

 

I agree. Like I said, I came from a Saab 9-5 Aero, which had massive torque, and I considered the WRX and Mazdaspeed 3 along with the TSX. The turbo cars are in a different league for power and torque, and I certainly didn't expect anything like that from the TSX.

For a normally aspirated four, the TSX motor is very good, and the torque is reasonably well distributed through the rev range. That, combined with the short gearing, makes it decent off the line, and helps with city driving.

I wonder how much direct injection might help matters. I hope it's on the next generation.

 

thank you

 

+1

6mt. Test drove thoroughly. The auto isn't nearly as responsive and one less gear makes a huge difference!

 

This.

 

agreed. the gear ratios are much more favorable with the 6MT vs the 5AT. to really get some satisfying acceleration, you really should be at least over 4,000 RPM and preferably closer to 5,000-6,000.

and yes, as everyone else said...it's barely a 200 horsepower, 4 cylinder engine moving 3,500 pounds, not including you, others, or cargo.

 

Why weren't you "allowed" to get a MT? Wifey didn't let you?

 

I remember the first generation TSX was seriously down on torque. SOmething like 160 lb.ft of torque? I'd say it's down on torque even compared to its competitors: GTI, base 3-series and C-Class, heck even the Accord 4-cylinder. IIRC the 2nd generation TSX uses the same engine, so don't expect much. No engine is perfect. Frankly I'd rather have plenty of torque/power around town and less on the interstate than the other way around. No worse feeling than bogging down in first gear.

That being said, it's just how the gearing is. The lower gears are close-ratio, which is why you feel it's "punchy" around town. The higher gears are set so that the engine is quiet when cruising. Take a moment and see how fast your engine is spinning at 60 mph. My bet is it's around 2000 rpm. Compare that with any BMW at the same speed. Case and point.

 

spec:

Accord euro: 2.4 MT 0-100km/h: 7.9
Accord euro: 2.4 AT 0-100km/h: 9.7

Thank you and good night

 

Ouch

But then again I have a 5AT - solely because the wife won't learn to drive the 6MT, which is what I would rather have.

I would expect better acceleration from the 6MT. It has one more gear and the top end gear (6) is actually a bit shorter than the top gear of the 5AT. Which is why the AT gets better highway mileage than the MT. No surprises here really.

 

^ exactly what he said. we live 15 minutes outside of manhattan and only have 1 car in the family. though i'm the primary driver, we had to get a car she could drive if she had to.

if we were looking for a second car, it's definitely going to be a MT.

 

lols...buyer's remorse, bought the wrong car!

 

i have auto and i pass people easily on the highways. and can accel from 60 to 80 pretty well. enough that im not dissapointed
just put it in 3rd gear.

 

The GTI is a turbo motor, and thus has more torque as you'd expect. It's somewhere between the TSX and the real fire-breathers like the Mazdaspeed 3. IMO, the Jetta GLI is a close TSX competitor, and it would be nice if the TSX engine matched up a little better. Then again, high-revving, low torque, normally aspirated fours have always been Honda's approach, so to some extent it's about accepting that tradition.

But, recognizing the torque issue, the second generation TSX engine was tuned for more torque at lower rpm than the first gen. It lost a few hp, but as I recall gained around eight ft-lb of torque that peaks a little lower.

As for gearing, the 6MT's top gear is pretty short relative to other cars, precisely because of the relatively low torque. The engine needs to be revving high enough in sixth gear to provide some acceleration. It's quiet because it's a well engineered Honda four, not because it's turning over at low RPM. In fact, I think it's about 3,000 rpm at 65 mph in sixth. By comparison, my old Saab with a 2.3L turbo four was doing almost 80 mph at 3,000 rpm in fifth (top gear). At that engine speed, it was right in the middle of its fat torque band, so it could loaf along and still have plenty of punch underfoot.

I would bet the A4 2.0T, 328i, and C300 have taller top gears than the TSX, also because those engines have more torque.

 

^Nedmundo, you are absolutely spot on with your answers.

The TSX 6MT has 6th gear ratio - 0.686 and Final Drive - 4.764; whereas the 5AT has 5th gear ratio - 0.566 and Final Drive - 4.438. In the 6MT you will be at around 3,000 rpm at 65mph, while the 5AT will be around 2,600 rpm, which also explain why the 5AT model has better Hwy mileage figures.