In golf, politics and life, playing to the middle keeps you out of the rough, out of the headlines and away from the chiropractor. Playing it safe is, well, prudent but not at all passionate.
When playing it safe is applied to automotive product planning, as it has been with the 2009 Acura TSX, it means the vehicle's sales will continue to linger at steadily mediocre levels and reviews like this one will continue to remain graciously lukewarm. When the biggest news to report is a stiffer chassis, more hiproom and an optional ELS sound system, you can pretty much guess how this story is going to end.
That in no way means the 2009 Acura TSX isn't a well-engineered, comely and reasonably priced front-drive sedan. It is definitively all of those. The problem lies in the fact that it is only those things, but nothing more.
D'Accord
Based on the slightly smaller European-spec Honda Accord, the 2009 Acura TSX still presents as a 7/8ths scale 2008 American Accord. This time around, the TSX's new-look body is a mix of slab-sided doors, the customary (and ubiquitous) pronounced wheel arches and a high rear deck. It won't be mistaken for either our Amer-Accord or the sleeker 2008 Acura TSX. While the new styling is different, it's not particularly lust-worthy, especially in this market segment.
As before, the 2009 Acura TSX is available with either a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission, and the only engine remains a high-revving, 2.4-liter inline-4 with a 7,100-rpm redline that prefers premium fuel. This year, a little reengineering has provided a slight 8 pound-feet bump in torque output to 172 lb-ft, but a decrease of 4 horsepower to 201 hp, neither of which does much to address the desire of current owners for more usable power. Max torque arrives at 4,400 rpm, while hp peaks at a lofty 7,000 rpm, one tach-needle width from redline.
The Performance/Efficiency Matrix
Despite a 140-pound weight gain, the 2009 TSX's fuel-efficiency improves by 1 mpg city/2 mpg highway to 21 mpg city/30 mpg highway. Still, we can't reconcile the fact that a supercar with an engine three times the size and 2.5 times the output can almost match the TSX's engine for fuel-efficiency. A Chevrolet Corvette Z06 with a 505-hp 7.0-liter V8 earns 15 mpg city/24 mpg highway.
Drivers will discover that the Acura TSX is the only choice in this segment with a naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine, which gives it a unique character that expresses Honda's motorsports tradition. But we can't help thinking this brave bit of product planning limits the TSX's potential audience. Consider that the BMW 135i's twin-turbo inline-6 makes 300 hp while earning 18 mpg city/26 mpg highway.
As one would hope, the TSX's automatic transmission is far more intelligent with gear discipline in corners and on grades in Sport mode than in Drive. Be that as it may, the TSX is not the only car we've driven that feels like the Sport mode is how the car was intended to be driven, and the Drive mode is there to merely increase fuel economy at the expense of drivability. The new shift paddles work in manual mode, but also temporarily override Drive for driver-initiated engine braking or passing maneuvers — a clever, thoughtful feature.
The TSX feels like an entirely different car with six manually selected gears, however. The shift lever glides smoothly from gate to gate with reasonably short throws and accurate location, but the biggest benefit is that the engine feels more directly connected to the driver's will. It's more eager to play and more exhilarating to drive, and this is what an Acura TSX is really about. But we're told that used TSXs with manual transmissions are harder to resell when that time comes.
Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
At its foundation, the 2009 Acura TSX's sturdier unibody structure is fractionally larger. The car's footprint is larger and there are a couple more inches of hip- and shoulder room, but the head- and legroom are effectively the same in each of the five seating positions. The trunk is a little smaller for 2009 as well.
The car's structure itself has been reinforced with numerous cross braces, a revised rear bulkhead and repositioned frame rails. Yet despite a suspension that breathes better than before, with revised geometry and more sophisticated dual-path shock valving, the promises of luxury-car road isolation fall short of expectations.
One of the dominant characteristics of the current TSX has been road noise emanating chiefly from its front tires. The TSX's newfound structural rigidity plus a lot of sound-deadening materials help address this, but there's still a perceptible amount of tire sizzle and hum that only gets worse as speeds increase — particularly on grooved, concrete freeways.
Adding to the TSX's highway manners is a new electric-assist power steering (EPS) system that's meant to improve fuel economy while providing engineers more precise mapping of the steering effort — light in parking lots, heavier on the highway. As we've seen in some other vehicles with a similar switch from hydraulic to digital steering, the end results can be a mixed bag of utter isolation and incongruously poor straight-line stability.
Without question, the TSX is at its driving best on twisting roads with its driver in command of the car. Body motions are well controlled and the car stays relatively flat and attached to the tarmac in even the most aggressive turns. Suddenly, the steering begins to make sense and most of its deserved criticism is temporarily pardoned.
Show Me the Money
It's evident that the infotainment/electronics package received most of the engineers' focus for the new model. The standard 360-watt seven-speaker audio system accepts a single CD in the dash (including WMA or MP3 files) and there are both a mini-jack and a USB port (powered) for use with portable MP3 players. Current-model Bluetooth-enabled phones (with hands-free profile) offer standard connectivity in the TSX, and a 90-day subscription to XM Satellite Radio is included.
Opting for the Technology package adds to or replaces the above with a 10-speaker, 415-watt ELS Premium true-surround audio system that additionally plays DVD-audio discs from an in-dash six-CD changer. The system's sound clarity and ability to separate distinctly is utterly astonishing.
This package also includes a rearview camera and Acura's updatable DVD-based navigation with an extensive Zagat-rated restaurant database, XM-linked real-time traffic plus a new, local/distant weather function. Automatic trip rerouting, utilized by selecting "avoid traffic incidents," works in 76 major metro areas. The voice-recognition function is extremely sophisticated and recognizes 100,000 words, or 1.7 million city and street names. Yet the display's chunky graphics (does it run on DOS?) belies its sophistication.
Foul-Weather Friend
The onboard weather forecast, provided by Baron Services, uploads every 2-3 minutes via the XM signal. As we discovered, its forecast proved more precise and far more accurate than our morning check of Internet weather pages. A certain Web site widely predicted partly sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s, while our TSX foretold "heavy snow" in the display.
Sure enough, snow fell heavily for three hours and we were thankful for the TSX's front-wheel drive, standard stability/traction control, ABS and, for the very first time, we were happy with Acura's practice of fitting mud-and-snow-rated tires. All this helped keep us on the crooked and narrow path from the mountains back to sea level while countless SUVs, pickups and summer-tired sedans careened off guard rails and into ditches — including two local sheriffs in their Ford Expeditions, one of whom ended up on his lid.
As comprehensive as the infotainment package is, it requires as many buttons, knobs and dials as an Apollo space vehicle. We're quick to criticize BMW for its complex, menu-driven iDrive controller and screen, but Acura's opposite approach, with 33 hard-touch and even more numerous virtual buttons controlling the audio and information systems, seems like an equally distracting design. The Mercedes-Benz C300 is an example of doing it better.
Squandered Opportunity
The 2009 Acura TSX could've been the low-priced alternative to the entry-level German sport sedans, but it's not. Trying to entice young sophisticates with increasing amounts of telematics, electronics and high-end audio at a sensible price sounds good in a product planning meeting, but we all know that it's really naked desire derived from fresh styling and competitive performance that will lure the aging Gen-Xers or young Gen-Y buyers Acura so wants to impress.
In the end, the TSX remains not the sport/luxe sedan those trend-conscious people want, but the one they can afford for now. Unlike the Acura TL (especially in Type S) which is the best-kept secret in the sport sedan arena, the TSX lingers as a low-priced entry into the Acura brand.
Prices for the 2009 Acura TSX and its 2008 on-sale date have yet to be announced. Currently, 2008 TSX prices range from $28,000 for a base car up to $31,000 for a TSX with nav. Adding the Technology package adds about $3,000 to the bottom line, taking the TSX up to almost $34,000.
Call it what you will, underdeveloped placeholder in the Acura lineup, badge engineering of car meant for a different market, or the right car at the wrong time, the 2009 Acura TSX plays it down the middle. It's the safe choice, but maybe not the right one.
