We've always applauded Acura's decision to stick with a high-revving, high-personality, high-efficiency four-cylinder in the TSX. For 2010, Acura's smallest sedan gains an optional V-6, but we're not complaining. So what gives?
Simply put, the market has changed. Once upon a time, twenty percent of TSX buyers opted for a manual transmission. Now, fewer than one in twenty does. The larger and more grown-up second-generation TSX is appealing to a different crowd--and doing so at a very respectable pace despite our disastrous economy--and these buyers are cross-shopping competitors with powerful six-cylinder engines.
Power-hungry buyers can now opt for a TSX with the base TL's 3.5-liter V-6. It produces more torque off idle than the standard 2.4-liter four-cylinder does at its peak, so keeping up with brisk traffic no longer requires repeated forays to the high end of the tachometer scale. According to Acura, the V-6's extra 79 hp is sufficient to knock two seconds off the four-cylinder TSX automatic's nine-second 0-to-60-mph sprint.
Acura maintains that this V-6 model is the sportier version of the TSX, but it's not. Instead, its added speed and refinement make it more luxurious. To wit, springs and dampers have been retuned to cope with the driveline's extra 210 pounds, but the result is a more supple--not firmer--ride.... Read full article