Posted on Tuesday 8 April 2008
Only a month after the official reveal of the new Accord Euro (Acura TSX) Honda has unveiled a new Sport Pack designed for both the sedan and Tourer wagon models. The new kit includes custom bumpers front and rear, a set of sporty side sills, a blacked-out grille, a discrete bootlid spoiler, integrated fog lights and new 18in alloy wheels.
The interior also gets several new appointments including a titanium finish on some of the dash elements and leather trim on the seats, steering wheel and gearstick. Other features include an optional satnav system, USB port for iPod connectivity and a power operated tailgate in the Tourer model.
The car’s mechanicals have been left untouched, which means 2.0L and 2.4L petrol engines or a new i-DTEC 2.2L clean-diesel. All three engines get a six-speed manual transmission as standard while the two petrol units get an optional five-speed automatic with steering wheel shift paddles.
Those wheel arches look completely contrived. Overall the car looks like it fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. It’s really a shame because the first gen TSX is in my opinion one of the most beautiful cars on sale today. How did they go so wrong?
Altho I do think that the 1st generation was cleaner looking (but also plainer) this is not that much different IMHO. No one would have had to tell me this was the new Accord/TSX.
I ponder if the kit will make it to the US.
Honda/Acura really needs to release the wagon in the US. Even if it is a low volume seller, it could only help & being a 4 banger FWD I doubt it would cut into the RDX sales much.
Lexus is trying to top 1 million sales & is rumored to be bringing a coupe & convertible version of the IS - in addition to the 4 variants already available. Acura needs more options — not as many as BMW but more would be nice.