Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Also, the special silicone lubricant they put on the rest of the moldings around the window frames seems to have stopped the rattles. The only problem is, this lubricant continues to make smudge marks on my windows. You just can't win!
I agree, it is best to test drive other cars. I found the TSX to be a very comfortable car during my test drive. That being said, I use my car for work and put on 35000 per year. I find the drivers seat to be very uncomfortable. I would consider another car if you have any type of back problems or will be putting on a lot of miles.
The TSX is biased towards the enthusiast driver, hence the supportive seats, quick steering and firm suspension. If you need soft and cushy, you'd best look elsewhere. To each his own.
Also, my version of the '04 has been rattle-free since day one. Very happy with the car overall, after 22 months. :shades:
1) No seat memory. Without memory, power seats are a waste of complexity. Manual would be faster and easier.
2) Mileage is TERRIBLE. I've measured the mileage on every fillup (probably about ten now). I've only used premium gasoline. The best tank has been 19 mpg, most are around 17.
3) The support boosters on the seat backs are too close together. I'm not terribly wide, but I find them to be a pinch.
4) Why no side body moldings? Every time I park in a crowded lot, I return to the car in fear of door dings.
5) No mute button on the stereo. There should be one on the steering wheel.
6) No way to connect an auxiliary music source (iPod, etc.). There is an aftermarket hack, but that involves disabling the CD changer (which I like).
7) Very poor low-end torque from the little 4-cylinder engine. Sure, it's 200 HP, but not 'til you get up to 6000 RPM. It tends to falter, due to lack of torque, when I start moving from a standstill.
In retrospect, I wish I'd taken on the extra $5K in debt and gotten the TL instead. Still no body-side protection, but I imagine the seats are more comfy and the 6-cylinder engine must provide more torque at low RPM.
2. How do you drive. I have a nice short 16 mile all city roundtrip commute daily and average 25 MPG again with Premuim. I don't drive it like I stole it, just nice and easy. On the highway I get 35.6 MPG crusing between 70-80 MPH easily. If I drove down to 65 MPH I get 36.5.
3. Again....umm...did you not do a test drive?
4. You can add them....the TL's fit quite well. I think they destory the beauty of they of the car
5. It would be nice but a quick flick of the wrist and the sound goes down
6. Wasn't there before you bought the car....but has been added for 2006
7. Maybe you should have test driven the TL when you bought the car. The torque wasn't there before you bought the car....I find it adequate. The horsepower while moving is very nice
Sounds like you bought too quickly eh?
The fuel economy problem is unusual for this car. What are your driving habits like? Do you have the AT or the 6 MT? If your best tank is 19 MPG (hwy, I assume), then you must be hammering the throttle. I drive my 6 MT hard, and average 24 MPG in mixed driving, with 31-33 MPG in freeway-only driving.
The day I complain about a car stereo not having a mute button will be the day I know I've left my happy place and crossed over to the dark side.
Keep driving your TSX. It's a great car, and I'm sure you'll come to love it.
The Acura was the clear winner in fit-and-finish, specifications, and feature set for the $$$. The test drive went well, I noticed the seat discomfort, but assumed it was adjustable. I didn't notice the lack of a mute button on the test drive. It's one of those things you don't notice until you've got the kids in the back seat. I noticed the low-end torque problem but, compared to other 4-cylinder cars, it wasn't (and isn't) too bad. Not having body side molding is just ridiciculous. I assumed it would be a dealer option and didn't realize it wasn't until my third trip back to actually buy the car. I didn't consider the TL at the time, because I was trying to stay under $25K. Even the TSX, at $27K, was a bit of a stretch.
Prior to this purchase, I've never driven anything but Volvos (6 of them between the wife and I, starting with a beautiful 1976 262 GL). The previous car was a 1996 Volvo 850, which didn't have any of the shortcomings I've noticed on the TSX. Volvos are great cars to drive: powerful, quiet, full-featured, and comfortable, but the realiability is terrible. The 1996 850 was the first car I ever owned with an automatic transmission, which failed catastrophically at 67,000 miles and the dealer wanted almost $4K to replace it. After that, I swore that the next car would high reliability (i.e. not a Volvo) and would not have an automatic, which is, eventually, what led me to the 6-speed MT TSX.
Another reason for choosing the TSX wsa the promise of better mileage. With the rising gas prices, I hoped to do much better than the Volvo 850, which only averaged 16-17 mpg on my (mostly city) commute. As i mentioned, the TSX is doing about the same, even though I'm using premium gas (and yes, I'm a pretty steady driver). What I don't know is whether my TSX is broken or whether this is just as good MPG as it's capable of on my commute. We'll be taking it on a long highway ride for Thanksgiving. If it doesn't do much better on that trip, I'll be taking it to the dealer.
Yes, I wish I had considered the TL. Perhaps it's my age/income bracket. I think Acura targets the RSX at (rich spoiled) teenagers, the TSX at the 20-something first-car-out-of-college income-without-obligations crowd, and the TL for the 30-something young family. As a 40-something father-of-two, I'm supposed to be driving the TL (according to Acura), or perhaps even the RL but, alas, I'm not quite so wealthy as Acura would like me to be.
Dude, I'm sorry but this is just wrong. A ~20K coupe is targeted at rich spoiled kids? If I was a rich spoiled kid, I think I'd be shooting a little higher than an Acura RSX.
As for the TSX, I'm 44, so I definitely don't fit your criteria. I've seen all demographics represented in this car. Little old ladies. Young women and young men. Middle aged toolers like me.
I bought it because I was looking for something that balanced fun and some luxury with the practicality that a sedan provides. The TSX filled the bill. Most of all, it offered something over and above the usual mundane family hauler. Bottom line: It's not boring, and it offers good bang-for-the-buck.
If you're truly getting fuel economy this bad, and assuming you're not hammering the throttle, you should take the car in and have it looked at. I'd be interested in what kind of driving your commute consists of. Stop and go? Straight freeway cruising? Either way, you should be doing much better than 19 MPG.
Good luck getting your problems resolved. :shades:
Yikes, your AT on the Volvo went at 67k? we have about 195k on ours (don't know exactly because the odo went at 172) and it just recently started shifting hard. I would still be driving it but I have spent $2k trying to find the fuel system problem that causes the car to stall at highway speeds .:mad: No Volvo dealer can figure it out.
My gas mileage did go up after the first oil change at 5k. It does seem to take awhile to break in the engine. Which for me was pretty quick - I have put 9000 miles on in the first three months.
9000 miles in three months? :surprise: Oy! So, are you going to end up with 36,000 for the year, or is this just an aberration?
Keep working with the dealer on the other rattles. They should be able to get them resolved. :shades:
On Wednesday, she had to deliver a 7-year-old home after a playdate at our house. When they got to the kid's house, the kid couln't get his seatbelt off. What started as an amusing situation grew desperate as the adults tried to free the child, and the seatbelt got tighter and tighter until the child was screaming in pain. Eventually, the adults cut the seatbelt off.
Now, I was not personally present, and I won't testify to the seatbelt competance of my wife or the adult parents of the neighbor kid, but I can make the following assertion: Compared to the millions of children who strap in and out of millions of cars every day, it is statistically most unlikely that a kid should get strangled by my brand new TSX on basically the first occasion we strap one in. I suspect that there is a manufacturing or design defect in the seatbelt tensioners.
Before I write a letter to the NHTSA and Acura, does anyone else out there have a similar experience to share?
By the way, for those of you following my ongoing disappointment with my $27K TSX, I'm up to about 1500 miles, 10 tanks of gas, and have still not done better than 19 mpg, averaging about 17 mpg. I was really looking forward to taking it for a long highway drive over Thanksgiving and giving the TSX the best scenario to improve its mpg, but now we're going to have to take the old Volvo on that trip because the TSX is missing a seatbelt.
My driver's seat seatbelt recently (within the past month) stopped working. Fortunately, it was fully retracted at the time, so I was spared your passenger's experience.
Although you'd think this is a BASIC and CRITICAL safety item that would be well-stocked, it took the dealer over a week to get a replacement. (Perhaps they've been replacing a LOT of them.)
Please post what you learn about seatbelt problems.
As for mileage, please check out the TSX mileage thread. My own experience was that mileage improved quite a bit over the first 7,000-10,000 miles. Still, the EPA estimates are not that great. When I do a lot of highway travel, I often beat the EPA (Highway) estimate. In true in-town driving, I NEVER meet the EPA (city) estimate. (But I would definitely take it to 'Grandma's' or where ever it is you're headed for Thanksgiving, unless the seatbelt you lost is one you can't live without.)
I own a 2005 Acura TSX for about 3 months. Recently I noticed that when I start the car, I sometimes smell rotten eggs and sometimes this gas smell. Is this a serious problem? Also, When you turn off your car after driving, is it normal to see transparent/whitish fumes coming out of the exhaust even after you turn the engine off? <---- on a humid day that is.
I'm not a knowledgeable person in cars , so please help.
Thanks,
Brian
If strong enough, the rotten eggs and gas smell is something you might want to have the dealer diagnose - but make sure it's reproduceable.
(2) sometimes when I start the car it will make the spark sound and then not start ...but then it's fine..
does anyone know what the problem is
I'm sorry you're having these problems, but work with your dealer. He will make sure these problems are resolved in your new car, which is under warranty.
In spite of your situation, Acura did not miss the mark with the TSX. To the contrary it's been a success across the board.
Good luck getting these things fixed.
I tried to figure it out by the specs page and in photos but I can't tell.
I can't comment on getting stuck as I haven't opened it much. Did I mention that its been a WET winter? :-)
There are quite a few people who have built a decent system around the OEM headunit.
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
I hope this helps..
I checked the inside of the tube by hand and there appears to be no jagged metal inside the tube, but there is an visible area just on the fuel filler that looks like a part was welded on there before and has snapped off. All of this is possibly nothing, as I never really looked closely before when filling up, but would appreciate any confirmation from fellow TSX owners. Thanks!
Also, I'd like to hear from anyone who might have attempted a stereo speaker upgrade; I'd like more midrange "presence" like the Bose system in my '00 Maxima had. If you've done something, what did you do, to which speakers, and what was the outcome??
At first I thought I just wasn't used to the new car, but i'm not so sure anymore.
Any ideas?
Thanks.