2002 Acura RSX in Costa Mesa

Back in the 1980s, when Acura was just a babe in the woods, Honda's upscale brand sold its cars with the simple tagline "Precision crafted performance." But the ad campaign wasn't merely playing up the epistemological attraction of an invented name (Acura brings to mind accurate, which inspires pleasant thoughts of technological sophistication, superlative fit and finish, and bulletproof reliability). Acuras really were well-honed tools for the driving enthusiast-Honda greatness turned up to eleven, if you will. And although Madison Avenue is a fickle place, and "Precision crafted performance" long since has gone the way of "Fahrvergngen" and "This is not your father's Oldsmobile," the engineers at Honda are anything but fickle. Acura automobiles-from the most exotic offering, the aging NSX, to the most affordable, the RSX Type-S on these pages-are still paragons of mechanical precision and fine craftsmanship.

Introduced in the summer of 2001, the RSX is the successor to Acura's beloved Integra. It was met with some wariness (by us, at least), mostly because it eschewed a model name that had been around just long enough to achieve historic resonance. But at least the new car remained true to the mission of the original 1986 Integra: Provide a thoroughly engaging driving experience in a frugal-albeit premium-package.

The Integra's three generations saw, variously, two-door and four-door hatchback body styles as well as a traditional three-box sedan, but the RSX showed up as a hatchback coupe only (although Acura since has revisited the premium four-cylinder sedan market by way of the TSX).... Read full article