When the time came to buy a new car, I have devoted a considerable amount of time to research, perusing Internet sites and automotive magazines, talking to friends, and generally doing what accountants refer to as “due diligence”.
The research culminated in three test drives: those of Subaru Impreza, Mazda3, and Acura RSX. Subaru came third; after a considerable amount of soul-searching and pondering, Mazda came second—and the Acura came home with me.
All this happened four months ago. After driving the car for a while, I became convinced that I bought the best car for the money, at least for me. A few minor glitches notwithstanding, Acura RSX is an impressive automobile.
The rest of this review will dissect the car bit by little bit, going through all major subsystems.
Car Overview
Acura RSX is a two-door hatchback based on the Honda Civic platform. The RSX I own is a Canadian “Premium Leather” model with a five-speed manual transmission. “Premium Leather” means that it is loaded with every comfort and convenience available: leather seats, heated seats and windows, sun roof, automatic climate control, (manually) adjustable lumbar support, plus power windows and mirrors. This is the top model in the line-up of 160HP RSXs available. The next step up is a racer-friendly RSX-S with 200 HP engine.
Engine
My Acura is equipped with 2 liter four cylinder engine making 160HP. It manages to do that on regular fuel, which is both an impressive feat and a pleasant bonus: most other luxury cars won’t settle for anything other than premium-grade fuel.
Acura’s two-liter engine is very good, even though it does not immediately impress the driver with power or torque. In fact, engines of the two other cars I considered (the Impreza and the Mazda3) offer more off-idle torque, because of their greater displacement (2.3 liters). The engine is very revvy, very smooth, and shall we say… willing. It pulls well through the entire rev range, and at no point does it sound strained. An RSX will not win a drag race against an american V8, but it can take off very quickly, sometimes deceptively so. Quite often I pull off in what seems like a sedate fashion from a stoplight only to find myself way ahead of all other traffic.
In all real-world situations the power this engine makes is more than sufficient. Accelerating from stoplights, highway merging and passing slower cars on two-lane roads do not present a problem. I will go as far as saying that upgrading to the 200 HP engine is not worth the money! The extra power on the RSX-S is only available between 6000 RPM and red line, which means that the car won’t feel any more powerful in normal driving.
On the highway, the engine is a bit louder than I would like (see more on that below in the NVH section), but once the noise reaches the highway level at about 2800 RPM, it does not perceptibly increase with the revs; 4000 RPM is not much louder than 3000. Since the engine is very smooth, you can find yourself going down the highway in fourth gear without realizing it.
Manual transmission
The manual transmission on this car is a gem. It is the primary reason why I selected this car over all others I’ve test-driven. The shifter action is very easy and smooth—it feels as if the car shifts itself. Each shift is accompanied with a quiet but perceptible “click” which you feel as well as hear—there is never any doubt as to whether the gear is engaged or not.
The clutch effort is light and the friction point is easy to find.
I feel it is safe to say that this car has one of the best manual transmissions currently available.
Handling
The handling limits of this car are far, far above my limits—or my courage. RSX felt solid and planted through even the fastest corners I took it through. Nothing I have ever done while driving it ever managed to seriously strain the suspension and steering. The car also provides good feedback to the driver, and responds well to steering adjustments made mid-corner. As most front wheel drive cars, it handles best when you keep on the gas through a corner; as all cars, it does not like drastic throttle changes mid-corner.
The car has a fairly large turning circle, and it used to bother me in parking lots. Now I got so used to it I don't notice it any more; I even forgot to include this point in the original version of this review.
There is one handling peculiarity that detracts from an otherwise stellar performance: the steering wheel refuses to straighten itself under hard throttle. This can be rather unnerving, because you find yourself heading towards the curb at a rapid pace, and have to straighten the steering wheel yourself.
Brakes
The brakes on Acura RSX are progressive and deceptively strong. There is no initial grab effect, but when you press on the brakes the car stops quite rapidly. The ABS performs well in wet and slippery conditions, but can get confused when going over bumps. Sometimes ABS mistakenly engages when I brake while going over a pothole, even a relatively small one.
Interior Room, Comfort and Storage
This is a two-person car. The driver and front passenger get plenty of room all around—headroom, legroom, hip room, everything. The leather seats are firm and supportive, something you will appreciate during hard cornering. They do give you a sore butt after several hours on the highway, however.
In contrast, the unlucky souls riding in the back are squeezed in every imaginable way. I would not inflict the back seat on any adult for more than half an hour. Smaller kids might find it tolerable for an hour or two, but even then I wouldn’t risk it. If carrying more than one passenger is important for you, do not buy an RSX.
There’s a decent amount of storage in the car – a glove box of course, but also door map pockets, a change tray, two cup holders, and an almost-CD-sized box under the CD player that looks like it’s meant to hold CDs, except that if you put a CD in a jewel case in it, you can’t close the lid.
With the rear seats folded flat, the cargo area is surprisingly large. I can easily carry my bicycle in the back (with the front wheel removed).
Interior materials
Interior materials are of excellent quality, and the fit and finish is very good. The plastics are pleasant to the touch and good to look at, The leather is of high quality and shows no signs of wear after one year of use.
Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH)
This is the only major area where the car doesn’t perform to my expectations. The RSX is loud, and louder than any car that calls itself a luxury car has any right to be. The noise is not that obvious until you accelerate to highway speeds, but once there, it is very pronounced. The two major sources are wind noise coming from the A-pillars and the tire noise. Tire noise can be helped somewhat by switching to quieter, less sporty tires, but wind noise is there to stay for the life of the car.
Gizmos
As I mentioned above, the model of RSX I have comes with every gizmo that you can get on this car. Here’s a brief run-down of my opinions of them:
Sunroof: Nice toy, but I wouldn’t pay extra to get it. If it’s cold outside, you keep it closed and turn on the heating. If it’s hot outside, you keep it closed and turn on the air conditioning. If it’s mild outside you keep it closed to have less noise in the car. The sunroof has been completely waterproof so far, except in the car wash, where a few errant drops can find their way in.
Heated seats: Absolutely invaluable on cold Canadian mornings. I will never buy another car without them!
Cruise control: Mildly useful on longer drives but not essential. The buttons controlling it are not lit, which makes operating it at night a challenge.
Heated mirrors: A real lifesaver in winter; I find them very useful. Again, the button used to turn them on and off is not lit, so turning them on in a dark car with the gloves on is very difficult.
Automatic climate control Useful. You don't have to fiddle with the controls to maintain a constant temperature--the car does it for you.
Adjustable lumbar support: Useless. Really, it is. I played with it once after I bought the car and never touched it since.
Leather seats: Nice status item, but I cannot say I like them better than cloth.
Summary:
In my opinion Acura RSX is one of the best cars on the market today. It is solidly engineered; it comes with a great engine, a remarkable transmission, and good handling. It is very fun to drive, but provides plenty of practicality for a small sporty car. It is safe and its reliability record is very good; it will provide you years of fun and trouble-free motoring. It is not exactly cheap, but provides good value-you get a lot of features for your money. It is good on gas and economical to operate. All these features make it an all-around winner.
The only negative aspects of the car that I have detected are its noisy ride, small interior design snafus (like unlit heated mirror button) and the relatively firm seats.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 19200
Condition: Used Model Year: 2004 Model and Options: Premium leather; manual 5 speed.
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.