2006 Acura RSX: A Review

Yesterday, it rained.
I decided to go running.
So I did. Of course, it was indoors on a boring treadmill but still.
I returned home driving in the rain admiring the weather.
At home, tired and thirsty I decided to have a beer.
The fatigue and dehydration coupled with the alcohol made me light headed and I decided that I just had to write about my car.
Just one of the many ways I hit upon the stuff to write about here.

So what follows is the pseudo-official review of my first, current, and only car, a 2006 Acura RSX. Some minor specifications that I can rattle of without having to look them up are: 155 bhp, front wheel drive, 4 inline 2 litre cylinders, 2 door coupe with automatic transmission. This is where the specs end. I plan to talk about the pros and cons of the car that exist at a superficial level and can only be gleaned after a good amount of driving (or fantastic leaps of imagination on your test drive).

First the pros:
1) Driving Prowess: This is a somewhat misleading opinion as I don’t exactly have wide-spread experience with a whole bunch of cars to correctly judge where the RSX stands. But one thing I can assure you is that the RSX does not disappoint when it comes to speed and handling. I am no speed-demon and I don’t push the car to its limits. But maneuvering the RSX at highway speeds (75-80) is a pleasure. The pick-up speed is extremely impressive and is particularly useful when merging onto a highway (or when racing other cars at traffic lights).

2) The Sunroof: I really like this feature for the simple reason that it lets more light and air into the car. This is particularly useful while driving on highways and the weather is pleasant. I can feel the breeze while driving without being deafened by the noise that happens when the windows are down at such high speeds.

3) The Audio System: The audio system is fantastic. If it weren’t for my inherent uncoolness, I could have easily pulled off a gangster look slouching in the seat with one hand on the wheel and heavy bass blazing out of my ride.

4) The Steering Wheel: Let’s just say, there have been times when I clasped the steering wheel with both my hands and felt an impulse to change gears by pressing buttons with my thumbs. Yeah, it’s that cool!


5) The Trunk Space: The humongous trunk space is perfect for hiding and getting rid of dead hookers. Plus I can store lots of stuff here. So everybody wins (except for the hookers I guess!)


Ok, now for some features that I am not happy about.

1) The Audio System: As previously listed, this is mostly a pro-point. My only beef is that there is neither an mp3 player, nor a socket to plug in an ipod, nor a cassette player (which I could have used to connect my ipod). The system is built only to play radio and CD’s. I am not happy. I had to spend a good amount of money to get a decent FM transmitter to interface my ipod with the audio system and even that works just ok.

2) The Passenger Side Blind Spot: This is a peeve of mine that I think is serious in a serious way. The windows of the car get narrower as you go from front to the rear and this leads to a not so clear view of passenger side blind spot (at least when compared to most other cars). I am not worried about SUV’s or trucks getting hidden but if it turns out that there is a dude riding one of those funny little bonsai-motorbikes right along side me...WHAM! Disaster!


3) The Cramped-Up BackSeats: This is a natural offshoot of the extra large trunk space. As can be attested by many of my friends, it sucks to be the back seat rider in the RSX. Not just a hassle to get in and get out but also not enough leg room at all! I was complaining about this with some people at work using the phrase ‘the backseat of my car is very uncomfortable’ when someone promptly asked me with a grin as to “how many had told me so?” In a dazzling moment of stupidity, I replied “most of my friends” and continued talking only to realize the subtext involved well after a couple of sentences. Let me tell you, he who laughed last definitely thought the slowest in this case!

4) The Penta-Passenger-Preventer (PPP): I have no idea why a useless plastic piece was put in the middle of the back seat. To separate the boys and girls from sitting too close to each other? What is this? 1999 - Ratna Junior College?


5) The Badly Designed Front Cup Holder: This is a design disaster and I wonder how Acura missed such an obvious flaw. The curved portion towering over the cup holder (to house the audio system) is a natural obstruction to pulling out a coffee cup in a vertical manner while driving. It forces one to tilt the cup away from the curved part causing spillage when the contents are to the brim (as is always the case with gas-station coffee). This is just the beginning. If I am using the power socket then I cannot even use the left holder that is in front of it. And all this applies only to small size cups. Nothing bigger than a small-sized cup can be pulled out easily out of the holder. This is nonsense. I like my cars like I like my women. Able to hold large cups.
(This entire blog was a build up just for this joke. Thank you for reading! :P)


In conclusion, the RSX is a very well rounded car and I would highly recommend it. In the rare case that anyone else wants to know more information do let me know. Incidentally, Acura has stopped making RSXs after 2006. I bought my car in Dec 2006 and probably have one of the last models made! What are the odds that the RSX becomes an antique in the next 2-3 years? ;)