Luxury Features for under $30k

I purchased an artic blue TSX 05 with navigation system in April 2005. However, I decided to wait a few months before I posted my review, so that I would be over my new car excitement and give a more objective review.

Let’s start with the price. The Acura website lists this car for $30,080 with navigation, truck tray, splash, and destination fee. The salesperson at the Acura dealership said this car was pretty much a fixed price at $30,100. However, I decided to look around and discovered this car is hard to find in the Missouri area. Turns out there are around 8000 of these cars in the U.S. and only about 10% have the navigation system. And if you are looking for a specific color (like I was) it’s even harder to find. So the downside is you might not have as much negotiating room if this is the exact car you want. The flip side is that if you do buy one, you will have a car that is a little more unique. I am fortunate enough to have a friend that owns a few car lots and he spoke to the general manager at the dealership and sold it to me at cost. I am not telling you the price out of respect for this favor.

As for the car… it is an excellent car of the money. It has a long list of standard features you usually do not find with a car at this price. For example: heated leather seats, dual climate control, heated mirrors, sunroof, navigation system with voice control, sports shift, et cetera. If you are thinking about buying used, the only difference between the 2004 and 2005 is that the 05 has backlit cruise control buttons and a power passenger seat. I have yet to find a used 2004 model for sale. (This car was introduced in 2004)

I feel this car has the roomiest backseats out of most small to midsize four doors. Most of my family and friends make comments that they are surprised at the size of the back seat area.

If you have not already read at the other reviews sites, this car’s acceleration pedal is controlled by a computer chip. In other words, it is not connected directly to engine via a wire. So as soon as I bought this car, I stomped on the gas at the first green light. There seemed to be a one second delay before anything happened. I was annoyed, but after reading the manual I learned that the car ‘learns’ your habits. So now my car seems to expect that I want to peel out at every stop?! One second delay solved. Everything else is great… good acceleration, braking, turning, etc. Two hundred horsepower was enough for me, which is why I did not spend the extra five grand for the TL (270 hp).

Navigation system: Buy it. No doubt in mind this is the best feature of this car. Acura’s navigation system screen is a lot bigger than Cadillac’s and according to the reviews a lot easier to use. I use it almost every time I drive, even five months later. I really like the ETA (estimated time of arrival) which is pretty accurate, which lets me know if I’m going to make it to work on time or not. The voice control is a cool feature because you can control most of the car with it. But I don’t use it because it takes three to five seconds for the computer to process the command. It’s faster to use the touch screen. I also got annoyed with the voice prompts after a few days, so now I’ve silence it. I only turn it on when I’m showing off. I feel the navigation system is what makes this car different. It looks cool and it’s like having yellow pages for the entire country. So if you need to look up a place, it will give the name, address, and phone number, sorting by distance or city area. I would not buy this care without it.

There are only a few downsides to this car. First, there is no ashtray/trash receptacle. I do not smoke, but with my other cars I put my trash in the ashtray. Since this car does not have one I have to put my trash into the door pockets and empty it when ever I get out. Second, they do not make a towing hitch for this car at all! U-haul and a custom hitch shop in town said they can not get a hitch to fit underneath this car. I needed a towing hitch for a bike rack, so now I have to use a trunk mounted version, which I really dislike using on my shiny new car. And third, the black interior leather seems to scuff up easily. It seems like there are lots of white-ish spots everywhere, so I find myself cleaning these up once a week to keep the interior looking nice.

Bottom line: I am still satisfied with this car and feel you get a lot of luxury standard features for the money.