So the girlfriend's car broke down, and she's sick of it and wants something else along the lines of a practical sport compact. We test drove an '07 Civic (weak engine), Scion tC (no rear headroom, dumb stereo cover). We didn't really look at an Si; the dealer had a $2500 markup on it, so we rolled our eyes and left. We also tested a Mazda3 hatchback, and found it nearly ideal (practical, decent power, decent ride and handling), but the interior didn't win us over (thin steering wheel, cheap-looking center controls, uncomfortable seats, although the Mazdaspeed3 was much better).

We then decided to hit Acura dealer on a whim. Surprisingly, the sales dude (whose title was actually "Internet Manager") just gave us keys for test drives and let us drive alone, even though we had told him we were just looking. The other dealers had insisted on riding along. We first test drove a base RSX -- they were out of the Type-S, which he said were gone within a week of the announcement that there would be no 07. Nothing you guys didnt know already.

The TSX was next. Driving it makes it pretty clear why the RSX is being axed.

The salesguy had taken a beat-up S2000 in trade earlier, and said he'd been "evaluating" it earlier. I asked if we could try it out, and he handed us the keys. He even left his sunglasses and a wad of bills in the car.

I thought it would be like one of those meet-your-washed-up-idol horror stories, where you meet Elvis, but only after the beer, drugs, and fried peanut-butter sandwiches had finally caught up with him. It wasn't. After tiptoeing out of the dealership and around the corner, there was a long dusty straight back into town, with just houses under construction on one side. I punched it ... waaaaaAAAAA *SNICK* aaAAAAAAAA *SNICK* AAAAAAAAAA .... and I finally let off the gas, way above the speed limit, with construction workers looking on and wondering who'd left the asylum doors unlocked. It was just so damn telepathic and rewarding to drive; Honda should have a "free open test drive" policy to hook budding driving enthusiasts, instead of the Honda dealer that barely let us breathe on it.

*deep breath*

Anyway, the gf's set on a TSX, mainly for its impressive attention to interior detail. (As opposed to Sonata in which general recipe is there, but "steering wheel audio controls" doesn't include even controls to change tracks. Reminds me of people who buy all their food off the McDonald's dollar menu -- it's good bang for buck, but something's still missing.) Nothing was obviously cheap, unlike the hard plastic panels in the RSX, and there was a lot of "surprise and delight," particularly with the nav system. It doesn't look like there's anything particularly prone to failing either, from what I've seen online. Anyone care to comment on this?

It was outside our target budget range, but the dealer has a bunch of '06s and said he'd be willing to deal. I really don't know how how kids pay for stuff like this, unless a) their parents bought it for them, b) they're drug dealers or dot com millionaires (same thing), or c) in debt for the rest of their natural frickin' lives, and then some. Anyway, wish us luck -- hopefully I'll be a card-carrying AZ member soon, instead just wondering why you bums don't have a forum for the car I drive already.

 

To answer your last paragraph:

Their parents are in debt up to their eyeballs and are trying to buy their childrens love with vehicles.

 

How long are you planning on keeping the car?

And have you considered looking at a used 04/05 model? They aren't that different from the 06/07 models and will be substantially cheaper than a new car.

 

Not sure, but we don't really flip through cars quickly if at all -- she's had her '95 Integra for over 5 years, and it's getting very creaky. The general answer is usually "until the world runs out of gas."

Most of the decent 04/05 models seem to be going for around 22-24k, and she likes the memory seats while I like the Bluetooth. The dealer indicated he was pretty desperate to get rid of his '06s, and there's a 1k dealer incentive plus the 3.9%/36mo or 4.9%/60mo financing to work with.

Failing that, we might just get the Mazda3 (used or w/ S-Plan) instead.

 

The TSX is a great car, I love mine and really no issues with almost +70k on it. Underpowered for me now, but overall awesome car.

 

My cousin has a TSX, very comfortable car, and he has no problems with it.

 

What is S-Plan?

 

Employee pricing through some relationship with Ford. It's basically guaranteed invoice pricing on Mazdas, except for in-demand models (i.e. CX-7, MS6 were on restricted list, now the MS3 is).

 

the TSX is a nice car. I have a TSX for a loaner right now.

 

Might want to check out the Accord V6s. Maybe some 06s in stock there. But the styling on the TSX >>>>> the Accord styling.

Just be careful not to over do it. I work with a guy that over did his truck payment and is now considering down sizing after owning the truck for a very short time. He's going to take a terrible loss if he does that but the almost $700 a month car payments are nickling and diming him.

 

I was @ my local Honda dealership this past weekend and test drove an AV6 sedan 6MT (w/Navi) and they were asking $24.9k on a leftover 06 model. ...and the driving experience was A LOT more impressive than I anticipated.

Sidenote: The same dealership offered an equally optioned 07 model for $25.5k.

 

Picked it up for 500 under invoice and the 3.9% APR. Pics coming soon if I get around to taking and posting them, but you guys probably all know what a silver TSX looks like anyway.

Good lord it's a nice car.

 

Congrats on the TSX. I've currently being driving by friend's TSX for the past 3 weeks since he's out of the country and its a nice, comfortable, rewarding car. Good choice and post pics once you pick it up

 

Congrats on the car!

 

Nice purchase.

Which dealer did you say again that had this guy who offered free test drives?

 

I'm down in SoCal, so good luck. I don't think he'd appreciate it if a bunch of AZ'ers went to him demanding their turn in the S2k ...