junktionfet

Check out this beauty in my garage:


My TL-S is undergoing transaxle surgery right now--enjoying Honda's 3rd gear TSB for the touchy 6 speed manual. There are a few other warranty items that need to be addressed as well. I was given a choice of loaner cars, and out of all of them, I went for the '09 TSX.

I test drove one back when they were first released, and I posted my thoughts here. Now that I had this opportunity, I wanted to spend some time with it and try to get a second impression. I am a former '06 TSX owner and a current '07 TL-S owner. Neither car is/was an automatic, but this loaner is of course.

Overall, my previous impression was somewhat negative. The car just didn't appeal to me, though I could definitely see that it would appeal to a different audience. This time around I tried to focus on that, and it was actually somewhat rewarding for me.

The revised engine does seem to have more grunt at very low RPM than my '06. In fact, the engine seems to be relatively happy over an exceptionally wide RPM band. Only under certain conditions can I detect the VTEC switchover at around 5000 RPM. Most of the the time it is not perceivable--either in acceleration or in sound. Honda's claim that they re-tuned the engine for better drive-ability seems to be somewhat true.

It feels peppy in normal driving, and it did not leave me wanting for a bigger engine. Passing on the freeway is a different matter, however my expectations are clouded by my '06 6 speed and my current TL-S. Still, the car seems to have adequate power for merging and getting out of the way up to a reasonably high speed.

The interior noise under most conditions is very agreeable. It has a more refined and "gentle" (for lack of a better word) feel than my '06--which was no slouch either in my opinion. The suspension is clearly less reactive to things like speed bumps and expansion cracks than my '06 was. Me likes!

I don't like the steering. I found it difficult to the make the car follow the line that I wanted to follow. The level of power assist at anything less than 80mph is just a bit much. I did graze 80-ish mph with traffic and noticed that the steering did seem to tighten up a bit. That's about 75mph too late though in my opinion.

The steering does make for pretty effortless driving though. And that combined with the flat powerband and quiet refined interior made the car feel like it is going much slower than it actually is. In other words, I found it pretty easy to speed.

I really appreciate the technology in this car. The gadgets and doo-dads aren't overwhelming, they are thoughtfully integrated and I think that's cool. And like my '06, the ergos just feel right to me. It's like everything is built around me but I still have plenty of space.

This really is a pretty decent car. I'm not crazy about the grille or the extra dimensions, but if it came down to it, I would own one of these if I had to. Throw a turbodiesel engine under the hood and I could easily look past the power steering.

LuvMyTSX

At first glance, I thought you came back to the fold.

hunterk1

RC51!! YEAH BABY!!!

Yeah, OT, I know.

Nice writeup of the 2nd Gen.

LukeaTron

^^ Hah, yeah, my thoughts exactly. Is that an Interceptor behind it?

junktionfet

^ Haha... yeah that's an '01 RC51 and '06 VFR (Interceptor). Between those and the TL, it sounds like I have a thing for Honda "V" engines--V2, V4, and V6. Now all I need is a Honda V8 and V10 (and a grant or some other large sum of cash).

hunterk1

^ Very nice collection of Vs you've got there.

I've got an I-4 6MT (TSX) and used to have an I-4 6MT (CBR 600F2)... I'll have another someday... yeah I need a grant too.

LukeaTron

I have the grand daddy of one of your Vs. I've got an '82 VF-750 Sabre. It's been in lots of little piece for almost 2 years now as I've been too unmotivated to work on it. It's a fantastic bike though, especially for it's age. Mmm, shaft drive.