2009 Acura TSX

2009 Acura TSX 2009 Acura TSX
First Drive Review

“Dance, 10. Looks, 3.”

One of the signature numbers in the musical A Chorus Line features a struggling starlet justifying a bevy of elective medical procedures to bring her looks up to par with her talent. “T*ts and *ss,” she claims, are all she’ll need to bring everything into balance. “Keep the best of ya, do the rest of ya,” she croons.

In much the same spirit, Acura has reworked its talented but image-challenged TSX, which is sold in Europe as the Honda Accord. Adding— ahem—size and content where it matters, but retaining the previous model’s handling characteristics and essentially the same powertrain, Acura keeps the 2009 TSX in its sweet spot beneath the larger, pricier, and much more powerful TL while making the TSX a far more convincing premium-brand proposition.

Bigger, but Not Much Heavier

The first thing you notice is that the TSX is bigger—by a bunch. Its increased width (3.0 inches), length (2.2 inches), wheelbase (1.4 inches), and track (2.6 inches) contribute to newfound road presence that, like the lanky nerd you remember from high school who sprouted a full coat of toned muscles over a summer, ought to have Audi A4, Saab 9-3, and Volvo S40 drivers doing double takes. What you don’t see are the TSX’s new structural components, including a stronger rear bulkhead, new roof crossmembers, and integrated frame rails, many reinforced by welds instead of bolts for added rigidity. The trunk space hasn’t grown, however. Meanwhile, Acura’s claim for the accompanying weight increase is a fairly reasonable 160 pounds overall.

More Space, More Goodies

The dividends of the TSX’s larger, more capacious cabin include its ability to closely follow its big-brother TL in style, feature content, and ergonomic sensibility. Even without the optional features-laden Technology package, which includes a navigation system that incorporates not only real-time traffic reporting for 76 markets but also weather reports along the way, the TSX is loaded with features such as leather trim, Bluetooth connectivity, iPod integration, and fantastically snug sport seats.

The Technology package, however, is one box you’ll definitely want to check if only on account of its surround-sound audio system designed by sound engineer Elliot Scheiner of ELS, who was on hand during our preview to personally show us just how sparkling sound can be. Besides its 10 speakers and DVD-Audio capability, it also features a cool “note” function for XM radio that makes it easy to identify and tag songs to recall at a later date. With the push of a button, the note function captures 10 seconds of up to 30 songs and saves the text indicating song title, artist name, and XM channel. Sure beats scribbling song titles down when you’re hustling along at 80 mph.