2005 Acura RSX Test Drives

All in the Family

This sporty little RSX is cut from the same stellar mold as larger Acuras.

"Teenagers will love it!"

Do you think that's what Honda was thinking about when it created the Acura line way back in 1986? We don't. We think it wanted to rival Mercedes-Benz and BMW, to do those luxury marques one better.

HIGHS: A great chassis that lets you steer blindfolded. LOWS: Torque steer and a peaky motor.

As it turned out, Toyota's Lexus took that mantle and today is the leading Japanese luxury carmaker in America, with the likes of BMW and a surging Cadillac fighting Lexus for the top sales honors each year.

Acura? Well, Acura holds its own. But the funny thing that happened to this marque was a schism between its lower-end Integra (now RSX), and its higher-dollar cars like the Legend (now RL). The RSX is dug by the "tuner" crowd, kids with computers, wrenches and lots of time (plus 15 part-time jobs to support their habit) who like to take stock Japanese compacts and convert them into Porsche killers, one part or tweaked microchip at a time. Meanwhile, the RL, TL and latecomer TSX appeal to a somewhat older, wealthier clientele, the people that Acura was out to capture back in the 1980s.

Oh, and don't forget, there's also the MDX, a splendid crossover that blends what's best about minivans with what works so well with SUVs. Thing is, the MDX appeals to yet another demographic.

You'd think, then, having the kids, the sophisticated singles or parents of older kids, and the parents of infants all attracted to your brand would be a great thing. But unlike Lexus (and like, perhaps, John Kerry) , Acura's ability to stay on message has always been a problem. Is it a sporty, youthful label, like BMW? Is it a brainiac's brand, like Audi? Is it about pure luxury, like Mercedes? No, no, no. It's a mixture of all of these things.

And that's been the trouble. How do you grow a brand that can't decide what it wants to be?

Lately, Acura has been doing a better job of this. The TSX, TL and the magnificent new RL (which we'll review in a few weeks; hint: it's splendid) are all -- at last! -- cut from the same mold. Get out of one and into another and you know darn well that each is an Acura. Each has sporty handling, light but precise steering and an engine that's quiet at idle but will snarl when you want to play, and is composed right up to the border between aggressive driving and the sort of tricks you should pull only on a racetrack. Yet this doesn't fully solve Acura's image problem.

Yep, sales of the TSX and TL are both up significantly in 2004, and although the RL is brand new, its monthly sales are already outperforming the outgoing model. Still, this leaves Acura with a bit of a puzzle. The MDX sells incredibly well, even though it doesn't quite fit the image of the company's sedans. OK, that's a good problem to have.

But the RSX, the entry car in the Acura lineup at $20,275, isn't like its brethren. It has a very peaky motor, with top horsepower arriving just below redline, at 6,500 rpm. And in the $23,670 RSX Type-S, the subject of this review, peak horsepower doesn't hit until 7,800 rpm. These are motorcycles with four wheels, and although they share the Acura label, they don't really fit the mold of a luxury marque.

It's no wonder the kids love them, but with declining sales this year, even that customer may be shopping elsewhere. Is this a problem for Acura? Keep reading.