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About a year ago Legal Bill started his search to find a new car to replace his Jaguar. As he tested cars that he thought he might like he began to share his impressions with us. That is part of the inspiration for this thread.
The other part is a conversation that he and I had at the last Spring Fling. We were talking about how we pick the cars that we buy and Bill said that the car, "has to talk to him." It has to inspire him. I thought about that for a while and I have to agree, that is the very best way to pick a car.
Last spring I traded my tired 4Runner for two new Civics, one for my wife (a sedan) and one for my son (a two door coupe). I started to use Liz's Acura TL-TypeS for my daily driver. While I like it a lot, I find it to be too heavy and too big to suit my tastes. Also, since my mother has been in the hospital we've been driving 150 miles every night to see her. Most of the miles have been in Liz's Civic. In spite of it's auto transmission I really like driving the car (the Civic). It is small, light and nimble, for what it is. All of that said, I decided to trade the TL in on an RSX TypeS. Today I went for the test drive.
The dealer handed me the key and the license plate and pointed me towards the car. The tester was a 2005 Magnesium Grey RSX-S with 899 miles on the odometer and almost no gas in the tank. Adam belted himself into the passenger seat and I belted myself into the drivers seat and we were ready to go. The dealer told us to be careful and we smiled and said, "don't worry".
The interior of the car is quite nice. Not nearly so luxurious as the TL but certainly nicer than the Civic. I was struck, however, by how much the car resembled my son
Good review, Rob. You didn't say anything I don't agree with except the shifter.
The throws are longer than the S and much lighter. Front driver is never going to feel as precise as the S but I find it to be quite direct and smooth. I also found that swapping the cheesy plastic RSX knob for the stock S2000 knob made a big difference. A voodoo knob might be even better. Having an S will absolutely spoil a person in terms of gearboxes.
In an effort to be fair, Adam and I went for a ride in the S this morning, and took the TL to the Acura dealer. I wanted to have driven both cars before the test drive.
I agree with you about the front drive. In general it was very smooth, and the car felt very good.
My point about the transmission was the lack of precision that I felt in the shifting. I agree that only very few cars will ever equal the S, but, I expected more from this shifter. I agree that it is very light, but it felt almost too light and not at all precise. That, however, is probably something that I would get used to over time, and probably wouldn't bother me.
The one thing keeping me from "signing on the dotted line" right now is the cabin noise. It did seem very loud, and while I like hearing the exhaust, I'm not sure I want this much volume day after day.
Out of fairness, I am going to test drive the car again because except for these two complaints, I really like the car very much and think that I'd enjoy owning it.
That is exactly the color that I want. The Magnesium with the black leather interior is, in my opinion, the classiest, most formal, most sophisticated color for the RSX-S. My son Andrew's Civic is that color and we both love it.
The 2006 RSX-S will have the side airbags.
Unfortunately my local dealer didn't have the 2006 brochures yet. All he had were a few left over from 2005. You can see all of the 2006 details at www.acura.com or www.honda.com.
If you send me your address, via pm, I'll send you a 2006 brochure as soon as I get it.
I had a silver 2001 Civic EX Coupe before I traded it in for my S. Your mention of body roll is what my wife and my son didn't like. With my S, neither of them mention that. I appreciate your review of RSX-S as I too like that model a great deal. What concerns me is the body lean but I imagine automatic will take care of the shifter problem. Good review!
Originally Posted by frank b,Aug 28 2005, 06:32 AM
I have to also agree that it get very noisy, alomot "boomy" when you accelerate
past 5k. The S gets loud, but in a much better way. It's gearing, thankfully, doesn't require that you spend all that much time up there. The I-VTEC has a bit more grunt. Highway crusing is not loud at all. Bose 7 speaker steeo is like a concert hall when compared to another car I own.
Frank,
Thats why I think I have to test it again before I buy. During this test when I was trying to put it through it's paces, the cabin noise was very loud, and as you said, boomy. I'd have trouble living with it every day. On the other hand, the way I drove it during the test isn't the way I'd drive it every day.
I suspect that you are right about the noise, and that is what I have to try.
08-27-2005, 05:16 PM
Driving impressions-Acura RSX TypeS
