2006 Acura TSX Test Drive

Featherweight Champion

Sporty and on the smaller side, Acura's TSX is a luxury car unlike any other.

From The Driver's Seat

Acura set out to make the experience of driving a TSX sporty and exciting, and it succeeded.

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The car has a peppy little engine — a sophisticated, 205-hp four-cylinder, which is not the most powerful in the world but revs high and makes for a great boy-racer kind of car. The operative word there is “boy”. The engine's 7,000 rpm power peak seems more appropriate for 18-year-old Scion tuners than executives in suits.

On the other hand, the TSX's six-speed manual transmission is one of the smoothest units on the market. If you're going to teach somebody how to drive stick, this is the car in which to do it. The shifts are tight and short, but light as air. The clutch pedal, however, has a bit too much travel for our tastes.

Handling is world-class, with a steering wheel that is nearly as smooth as the gearbox. Drivers don't have a right to expect such responsive, engaging steering from a $28,000 car, but they get it here.

But the TSX's ride is a different story. It is both one of the sportiest things about the vehicle and one of the reasons why this not the most luxurious luxury car.

So tightly sprung that it would mortify a Mercedes driver, the TSX's suspension is designed to connect you with the road, not isolate you from it, like the suspensions of many other luxury cars. Something about the TSX makes you feel low to the ground and hyper-aware of its contours. This is not the kind of car that makes you feel like you just got shot in the back every time you hit a pothole, but it does make you feel somewhat naked from the driver's seat. If you have ever driven a luxury car with an air suspension, such as a Land Rover, imagine the opposite of that kind of ride and you have the TSX.

Many upscale car shoppers are not looking for this kind of experience. The 3 Series is also engaging, but even that car's ride is not this raw and youthful. The TSX, in fact, feels more like a young man's car than any other luxury automobile except the even-cheaper Acura RSX coupe.

Part of the feeling of adolescent blood comes from the TSX's comparatively small interior. It's perfectly comfortable, but — again — it's a Honda Accord in a Sunday suit. In an Audi, you feel like you're in a design studio. In a TSX, you feel like you stumbled upon the world's most awesome and exhilarating high-school commuter car.

We think the TSX would feel more grown-up with a more powerful engine option — something other than its current, pocket-rocket power plant. You can get way more power in the sporty versions of the IS, 3 Series and A4. But despite all of the issues we are raising here, we end up giving the TSX the thumbs up. Read on to see why.