marcelk.org

This is a review of the 2004 Acura RSX S-Type.

[You may wonder why a car, an Acura, is in my "doesn't cost much" category. $25k isn't cheap by most standards, but perhaps what I really mean is that it is a good value. It is possible to spend a lot more money on a different car just as cool.]

It wasn’t until 13 years after graduating college that I got to go shopping for a nice car for myself. I’m still amazed at all the young people that spend a disproportionate amount of their income on vehicles too early in life. On the flip side, my insightful young daughter asked, “Dad, why is it that all the men who drive convertibles are bald?” My answer: “Because that is when they can finally afford one.”

So when I went shopping, I didn’t have a lot of money, but I did want something sporty. I don’t need a lot of gizmos, I just want a car that drives really well and I enjoy being behind the wheel. For me a car is not something to be seen in, it is something to do. Driving is fun. I was shooting for a used car in excellent state at $20k, or a new car in the $25-30k range. Purchase, not lease, because I take care of my vehicles and keep them for a long time, I don’t want to pay for someone else’s depreciation.

There were a number of different manufacturers I was looking at, and of course plowing through the editor reviews at Edmunds and Car And Driver. I highly recommend those sites for anyone shopping for an automobile.

In shopping malls you occasionally see a new vehicle on display, and it is always fun to peek at the sticker price so you can see your eyes bulge in your reflection in the window. Such was the experience when I saw an Acura RSX on display in a mall. I thought, that’s a nice car, but an Acura is outside my price range. So I peeked at the sticker but got a different reaction. Hey, that price starts with a 2 instead of a 3 or 4. And it is a low 2. Hey, I could afford this car!

Had it not been for that experience in the mall, I wouldn’t have even looked at this car and would own something else now.

I got a new RSX Type S. It was the first 2004 model off the truck at the dealership. I also got the protection package (mud flaps, trunk mat, wheel locks, door edge guard), fog lights, and a nose mask. That was 3 years and 30k miles ago. So I’ve had plenty of time to experience this vehicle.

I recommend the Type S over the base. For a $2k increase over the base model, you get a 6 speed manual, a few more horses under the hood, in dash CD changer, and subwoofer. It kind of boggles my mind why anyone would get this car with an automatic transmission. I guess I’m just from the old school where fun driving involves a hand on the shifter and a foot on the clutch.

Pros:

• handling. I love the way this car handles. It goes exactly where I aim it. The car provides easy-to-read feedback from the road through all the controls, while providing ample comfort. This is a car for drivers. It is fun to drive, and it is ready to be driven fast. There are other performance coupes in this category that may be quicker to catch your eye, but this one feels good. Even the steering wheel feels just the right size, with a very nice feel as you turn it. It does provide a rough ride for anyone used to a sedan, but man does it get sticky in the corners. Acura suggests a tire pressure in the low 30’s, but the tires claim a max pressure of 51 PSI. I have found that the tires seem more sticky in corners with a 40 PSI pressure and they don’t squeal.

• overall quality. Try moving the turn signal lever. Go on, give it a try. Feel how it moves solidly though its range, with a definite end of the range, and a confident and quiet notch to let you know it’s engaged. I’ve had my share of turn signal levers that felt like a piece of cheap plastic was going to break off in your hand if you breathed on it too hard. Everything is like this. It’s all real quality, all the designs are thought through as if the designers actually used them. It’s not flamboyant or fancy, and nothing seems cheap. It’s all well executed. It works well and you can count on it.

• high redline. On my previous vehicle, if I ran it up to 4000RPM, it sounded like it was straining. 4000 RPM on this car is just getting started. You can run it up almost to 8000 RPM and it doesn’t sound painful. And the power just gets better the higher you go. Drop the hammer and let out the clutch. Above 4000 RPM it starts to get serious. Just above 6000 RPM and it actually gives another surge of power (that is the VTEC kicking in). Approach the redline in 2nd gear and you’re at 60 MPH. Yup, zero to sixty and I didn’t have to touch 3rd gear. It doesn’t have the throaty roar of a Ford Mustang, but it doesn’t have the artificial sound of a tricked-out sub-compact. It just goes, without putting on an auditory show.

• no unnecessary gizmos. No power seats, touch-screen climate controls, satellite navigation, motorized liftgate, refrigerated picnic baskets, golf ball washers, etc. But I do have everything I’d expect in a modern car for safety and convenience. I didn’t want an SUV, I wanted a car that would be fun to drive, trading gizmos I don’t need for a decent sticker price, and I’m happy with what I got. It has the balance just right.

• easy to read dash. I can see everything I need to quickly and easily. No weird digital stuff. Nice, elegant, analog gauges. At night, the dash goes through a transformation, with a red glow. The lighting is wonderfully uniform, everything has sharp edges and is easy to read. When a passenger gets into the vehicle at night, the first thing they do is look at the dash and say “Oooooh”.

• value. This is probably what I’ve come to be most impressed after the first few months. I spent $25k for everything: this vehicle in top-of-the-line S type, decked out with accesories and taxes/fees/registration and everything. Compared to other vehicles, I think I got a lot of car for the money. I was talking to another friend that had spent $35k on an Infinity sedan, and I struggled to understand what they got for the extra $10k, besides a few more horses and more passenger room. I think the RSX is a real bargain. And I’m consistently getting 30MPG on my commute, which is a combination of urban and freeway speeds. I really like what Acura has done, providing a great quality car, aimed at people that like to drive, and not making it complicated.

Cons:

• short test drive: I did take a couple of test drives before purchasing the vehicle. I did not get an appreciation of the driving characteristics of the vehicle during the test drive. Maybe it was because it was so different than my old vehicle, or perhaps I was too caught up in all the visual differences, or nervous because the dealer salesman and my father in law were in the car too. Or it could have been taking it easy during the test car’s 500 mile break in period, as requested by the dealer. But it wasn’t until I had my own vehicle in my possession for a few weeks (and beyond the break in period) that I began to really appreciate it. A few times to run up the RPMs, stick it in a corner, take a highway offramp that definitely exceeded the recommended limit, etc., then I began to understand how this car really drove.

• lack of HID headlights: the current halogen headlights are adequate, but when driving on a curvy road at night, it needs better lighting. I’m always tempted to flip on the brights, except for all the oncoming traffic. I would suggest this is the one feature that is really missing.

• rear set headroom: I’m 6′0″ tall, with an average torso size. When I sit up straight in the back seat my head is firmly pressed up against the cloth of the roof. If I lean back, my head is brushing up against the glass of the tailgate. If I hold still leaning back, or purposely slouch, then my head can barely squeak around. This may be tolerable if I’m driving some friends out to lunch, not it is not something I would want to subject passengers to for more than 15 minutes. To put it plainly, the back seat is not for adults. Leg room is what you would expect, but headroom is less. So think carefully if you expect to have more than one adult passenger in the car frequently for non-trivial amounts of time.

• poor visibility out rear window when backing up. When I’m backing out of the driveway or parking place, there is precious little I can see while turning my head around and looking out the back window. The height of the lower edge of the tailgate window doesn’t allow me to see the ground behind me. My workaround is to look at my backup path before I get in the car, and then use the left and right side mirrors to see where I am going.

• too low torque at idle. When moving from a dead stop, I have to tap the accelerator petal to get the RPMs up a bit before letting out the clutch. I’ve really been wondering (as perhaps you may be too) that perhaps I’m not as graceful with the clutch/accelerator interaction as I ought to be, but I think I’m doing a decent job. Most any engagement of the clutch at idle speed will come close to killing the engine. I’ve noticed that there seem to be two idle RPMs, it drops to a stable 1000RPM immediately after letting off the accelerator, then after a few more moments it drops down to about 600RPM. Engaging the clutch at the 600RPM level is borderline for stalling the engine. The dealer looked at it and says it is within spec. Additionally, when trying for a fast start it is slow to accelerate from idle. I guess this isn’t unexpected after looking at the graph of the RPM/torque power curve.

• seats uncomfortable for long periods. I can’t speak a lot for this, since the longest single drive I’ve done in the car so far is 4 hours to a destination, and then 4 hours for the return trip on a different day. After about two hours I’m feeling a bit uncomforable. It could also be just me getting old, but I don’t have this problem while driving my wife’s Honda Odyssey. The RSX seat is low enough in relation to the pedals that my posterier gets sore after a couple hours. The seats are firm, but my legs are in a different position from my wife’s Oddysey that shifts my weight and wears in a different spot. However, everythingis just peachy for my daily commute.

• sunroof opening is small. I’ve always wanted a vehicle with a sunroof. I like getting a little sunburn on my head on a nice day. Looking at the exterior of the roof, the sliding glass is a nice size, I assumed it would open most of that size. It doesn’t. Instead, take a look at the roof from the interior. Slide the non-glass screen back, estimate a few inches less than that, and now you’ll get an idea of how large the opening really is. I can assume there are design limitations with the bracket that holds the glass, slope of the roof, etc, but the glass really ought to slide back at least 30% more.

• lack of sizzle in the stereo: if you can’t tell, I’m nitpicking the really small items by now, because there are so few complaints. Even with the S type Bose system playing CDs which sound great on my home stereo, the high frequencies just aren’t there. Cymbals sound dull. The subwoofer provides a nice bass, audible even at highway speeds with road noise. And the RSX stereo has a nice presence in the mid range. And even with the treble turned up a bit, the high frequencies just don’t seem to be there. I had seen other owners complain about the lack of volume, but the amp has plenty of power for me. The other minor compaint about the stereo is the lack of an input jack for my MP3 player. Since the CD changer is present in the S type, there doesn’t appear to be even an aftermarket way to connect an MP3 player into the stereo other than an FM transmitter (yuck) or a cassette adapter (not so bad).

• heater blows cold air. With the climate controls set to “automatic”, the heater will blow cold air when the engine is cold. My wife’s Odyssey has this figured out: it waits a few minutes for the engine to warm up before the fan starts blowing. The workaround is to turn off the climate control and then turn it back on after the engine has run for a few minutes. It works fine when the engine is warm. I find it curious that a 2000 Honda can do it right but a 2004 Acura can’t. This is a very minor thing, but it also seems to be one that could be done right with very little effort.

I’m thinking about getting a vanity license plate that reads “WHEEE!”. That’s not to say it’s 100% perfect, but it is pretty darn close. If I had the chance to do it over, I’d do exactly the same.

If you are in the market for a performance coupe, go take a look at Acura.com for the RSX-S.

Postscript: Argh! I just discovered that Acura will stop making the RSX. Get one while you can! That is just another proof point that “good” does not necessarily equal “popular”.