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..
