Hansel Acura

• Introduction  »
• Interior / Walk Around  »
• Driving Impressions  »
• Summary

Walk Around

There is a consistency to Acura's styling that ties its current models together and the TSX is no exception. Although it stretches the mold a bit, as it should, there's still no mistaking it for anything but one of Honda's luxury line.

The front end blends elements from Acura's other two sedans, the sporty TL and the more serious RL, and from the MDX sport utility. The headlight housings, for instance, with their squinty lenses curling around the front fenders to reach deep into the arcs of the front wheelwells, look like a direct lift from the TL. The elongated, pentagonal silver bar topping the similarly outlined grille pulls from both the MDX grille. The gaping lower air intake is a new design cue and shaves visual mass from what might otherwise be an overpowering front bumper while adding function by funneling needed cooling air into the engine compartment and reducing front end lift. Hood sculpting defines the TSX's centerline and front fenders.

The side view departs a bit more from the family look, but keeps just enough of the cues to stay true to its design DNA. This is especially evident in the side lenses of the headlight and taillight housings and the silhouette of the trailing lip of the trunk lid, all of which closely mirror the previous TSX. In much sharper relief, though, are the sculpted character lines in the door panels. These add visual bulk and combine with edgy wheel arches remindful, again, of the MDX to make a stronger statement about the car's sporty aspirations. Door handles embedded in the upper crease give the view a cleaner look.

The rear aspect, sad to say, suggests of recent Toyota Camrys more than of the previous TSX in its overly busy styling. A deeply cut horizontal line slices straight across the rear vertical of the trunk lid, itself looking almost concave against the gently convex vertical of earlier models. Taillights bridge the seam between trunk and fenders and the license plate recess mirrors the five-angle grille, visually pushing the trailing lip higher and seeming to add sheet metal across the lower reaches of the trunk lid. The rear bumper cups the trunk opening with unflattering sedan like bulk, which makes the hot rod-spec dual exhaust tips look a little lame.

Six-cylinder models are identified only by standard 18-inch wheels, ?V6? badge on the trunk, and slightly larger lower grille inlets.

Interior

2010 Acura TSX

Liking the new Acura TSX interior is easy. It's comfortable without being plush, sporty without being sparse. Communication between driver and car is, for the most part, open and easy and unabridged.

The front seats are supportive, with enough side bolstering for reasonably rambunctious motoring on twisty roads. The bottom cushion could be deeper, but this is a common shortcoming in many cars. The front seat passenger still gets shortchanged with no height adjustment, which leaves even taller people feeling as if they're sitting in a hole. Cabin measurements show the TSX with the least front headroom, more rear legroom than the IS, and about par elsewhere.

The rear seat is more like a bench than twin buckets, and space for the lower extremities is snug; this is the typical pinch point in compact sedans. Rear head restraints adjust for height, which is a plus for its occupants, although even when at their lowest position they limit the visibility out the back window from the inside rear view mirror. All four doors have dual inside pulls, one horizontal and one angled up, for easy closing by passengers of any stature.

Gauges tell their tales with easy-to-scan graphics and floating needles. The steering wheel sports push buttons and toggles controlling more than a dozen functions, not counting the horn, making it look like it would be just as comfortable in a jet fighter cockpit as in a car. This is good for fighter pilot Walter Mittys who fantasize about mixing it up with the other side's Top Guns or those who like to keep their hands on the wheel at all times, but it could be a bit much if you just want to drive the car.

The center stack, however, with either the base sound and navigation system or the optional Technology Package, is one of the more intuitively arranged that we've seen, with large, finger-friendly buttons and a reasonably easy-to-learn multi-function joystick-like knob for the multi-layered information center-cum-map screen. The high-end audio setup does force the relocation of the CD changer down into the bowels of the center stack, where it's not as easily accessed as with the base system, which parks it at the top of the stack, but that's a minor complaint, and one that won't even show up on the technophiles' radar.

A Grammy-winner helped tune the optional sound system. Rather than the kilowatt of power some high-end systems use, the Acura/ELS uses a more modest 415 watts of amplification, ten speakers, and DVD-audio capability to deliver detailed sound that could very well be the next best thing to being there. Ticket prices and musician fussiness what they are, we think it's better than being there.

Storage is more than adequate. Every door has a molded-in space for a water bottle, the front doors room for the proverbial map, although given a navigation system is standard, think guidebook or CDs. The glove box has a partitioned nook for the owner's manual and associated booklets, leaving the rest for smallish flat items. The front center console hosts a bi-level storage bin and two cup holders. The fold-down center armrest has two more. There's a bin in the front footwells on each side of what once was called the transmission hump.

Trunk space is 12.6 cubic feet, slightly more than BMW's 3-series and slightly less than the Lexus IS, and well behind Audi's A4. Only the center section is flat, the sides shaped by the need to accommodate the rear suspension components, and the opening itself isn't particularly commodious. Space is easily expanded by dropping the rear seatbacks simply by pulling the trunk-mounted release levers.

Go to Driving Impressions